The house of a malguzar or good tenant stands in a courtyard or _angan_
45 to 60 feet square and surrounded by a brick or mud wall. The plan
of a typical house is shown below:--
The _dalan_ or hall is for the reception of visitors. One of the
living-rooms is set apart for storing grain. Those who keep their
women secluded have a door at the back of the courtyard for their
use. Cooking is done in one of the rooms, and there are no chimneys,
the smoke escaping through the tiles. They bathe either in the _chauk_
or central courtyard, or go out and bathe in a tank or river or at
a well. The family usually sleep inside the house in the winter and
outside in the hot weather. A poor malguzar or tenant has only two
rooms with a veranda in front, one of which is used by the family,
while cattle are kept in the other; while the small tenants and
labourers have only one room in which both men and cattle reside. The
walls are of bamboo matting plastered on both sides with mud, and
the roof usually consists of single small tiles roughly baked in an
improvised kiln. The house is surrounded by a mud wall or hedge, and
sometimes has a garden behind in which tobacco, maize or vegetables
are grown. The interior is dark, for light is admitted only by the
low door, and the smoke-stained ceiling contributes to the gloom. The
floor is of beaten earth well plastered with cowdung, the plastering
being repeated weekly.