Houses and Equipment

The housing pattern of upper Kinnaur is different from that of lower Kinnaur.

In the lower Kinnaur the houses are two storeyed and built of stone and wood. These are either slated roofs or having flat roofs made of layers of bhojpatra (tree bark) covered with earth. The door are often folding and open inwards.

In upper Kinnaur the houses are usually built of stone. These are flat roofed and covered with earth. They are ill-built on account of the scarcity of wood. The houses are two storeyed and doors are small. The ground floor is used as cattle shed and upper storey for living purposes. The size and plinth area of the house depends upon the site available for construction. The houses are white washed in lower as well as upper Kinnaur. Besides these traditional houses, now RCC houses built in modern designs are also coming up.

Usually the households have some wooden chest for keeping grain and dried fruits. In addition most of the houses have separate wooden grain storage structures locally called 'Kathar'. Khayarcha is a mat used for sitting purposes, which is made of goats hair. Pakpa which is skin of sheep or goat or some wild animal as often placed on khayarcha for sitting. Traditionally the people used to use utensils made of brass, bronze and aluminum. However, now a days with the increased outside contact they are fast adopting the china crockery and utensils made of stainless steel--