Housing Culture and Vernacular Architecture Tradition of the Rabhas: A Brief Study

House, as an architectural entity and as a place of residence is very important part of human existence. The house and architecture turns to be a key source and generator as well as depository of culture. The residential architectures or the vernacular architectures are designed to meet the general requirements of the people. However, besides accomplishing the practical demands and functions, these architectures bears varied significances. The architectural, social, and cultural significance of these architectures is immense. These architectures are centre of culture, tradition, and social bonding. Hence, the house and housing tradition of a group or ethnic community is important facet of the culture of the group as it can provide important clues and information on beliefs, knowledge, world view, tradition, culture etc. The Rabha, which is an autochthonous tribe of Assam, is remarkable for their rich cultural heritage. The Rabha tribe has seven clans or sub-tribes which possess individual socio-cultural traditions. This paper is an effort to survey the vernacular architecture stock of the Rabha tribe and ethnic architectural traditions and associated culture with special reference to some socio-cultural sub-groups.