Houses in Chitral: Traditional Design and Function

Abstract

CHITRAL is a semi-autonomous principality among the mountains in the north of West Pakistan. Its external affairs, defence and communications are controlled by the Pakistan Government, and before 1947 were supervised by the Government of British-India. Since 1953, when a minor succeeded to the throne, its internal affairs also have become the increasing concern of the Pakistan Government, but parts of the traditional administration survive. Physically it differs from regions to north and south in its higher mountains, large areas of permanent snow and ice, and deeplydissected arid valleys. Cultivation is possible only where irrigation water the source of which is the melting snow and ice of the highest altitudes can be brought to flat land at altitudes low enough for the grain crops to ripen. Villages are found in the valley bottoms, often at the mouths of tributary valleys, and typically consist of io-Ioo houses surrounded by a clearly-defined area of cultivation by an oasis, in fact (Plate IV). Most of the inhabitants are peasant farmers, with individuallyowned holdings of 2-5 acres. Farmers also have animals: two or three cows and bulls, twenty or more sheep and goats, a few chickens and perhaps a donkey. During the summer most of the animals are taken to the pastures high on the mountains, returning to the village in winter for stall-feeding. An important feature of the combination of cultivation and livestock-husbandry is the collection of the winter's manure, which is applied to the fields and partly accounts for grain yields that are well above the averages for the whole of West Pakistan. The agriculture appears well-adapted,