Warli Hut – Maharashtra

The Warli tribes’ people inhabit the northern part of the Konkan area of Maharashtra. Their chief source of income is generated from agriculture, and they prefer to erect their homes in the fields in which they work.

A Warli hut, built on a simple earth foundation, square in shape, comprises only a kitchen and a living room, half of which is occupied the by the family, and the other half, by their livestock. The hut walls are constructed of bamboo and reeds, plastered with a binding mixture of cow dung and mud and the hut may be roofed with either dried leaves or straw thatch.

As the hut would be shared between the household and their livestock, a stout pole separates the two, so that the human residents wouldn’t find their four-legged friends helping themselves to food, or worse still, the Warlis wouldn’t get trampled on at night, but apart from that, the householders and the animals tend to lead pretty communal lives.

As the hut would be shared between the household and their livestock, a stout pole separates the two, so that the human residents wouldn’t find their four-legged friends helping themselves to food, or worse still, the Warlis wouldn’t get trampled on at night, but apart from that, the householders and the animals tend to lead pretty communal lives.