Socio-Cultural Dimension of House Form of Magar Community: A Case of Thabang Village, Rolpa

Abstract

Thabang is a village which carries deep and strong political and social history. Previous studies were more focused in its political development and agricultural knowledge. Other aspects of this settlement are not given much attention. Thabang has unique settlement pattern and dwellings. The ecological factors of temperature, nature and environment helped shape the traditional architecture of Thabang. In addition to analyzing the effects of modernization processes on Thabang villages from the perspectives of geographical region, cultural spirit, socio-economic condition, and time dimension, it is necessary to discuss how the traditional social structure of Thabang village is reflected in the spatial distribution of dwellings. Finally, it is important to summarize the importance of the spatial environment and architectural spatial structure of Thabang traditional settlements. Magar settlement is a bounded ecological system where missing a single element will break this chain. Festival is one of the most important elements of this ecosystem. Festival is a thread which connects tangible and intangible aspects along with the elements of ecosystem of Thabang village. The major objective is to study magar settlement as an ecological system. Examine the socio-cultural practice of magar community with respect to house form and festivals. The research method combined a qualitative approach with a descriptive interpretative strategy. Through observation, interview, literature review, and conversation with resource people, primary and secondary data collection was carried out. Thirty respondents were purposively selected for questionnaire survey. Questionnaire survey was conducted for data collection. For qualitative analysis interview was conducted. Desired direction for transformation of the settlement needs to be in ecologically responsive architecture which is inspired from its traditional surrounding architecture. Keeping rural people involved in transforming and managing the landscape. A community's streets, sidewalks, parks, buildings, and other public spaces can all be improved through place creation. This includes both private and public locations.