ABSTRACT
Daanchi is a beautiful village in the Himalayas. Once full of rural houses built with local materials, the vernacular environment seems to be giving way to modern residences. Almost all villagers, inhabitants in the area, and academics we interviewed shared the view that Daanchi is undergoing a natural transformation, from a traditional village to a modern neighborhood. For architectural modernists who welcome this change (Holston 1989), modern architecture (and environment) are capable of transforming traditional communities into modern societies. Admirers of disappearing vernacular architecture say it possesses a romantic form, strictly belonging to a place, and needs to be preserved. This chapter delves into the form and meaning of this change in Daanchi, examining these preservationist views which form the larger discourse that extends far beyond the physical and intellectual boundaries of Daanchi. Daanchi is located about 8 km east of Kathmandu’s ring road. In 1991 it had 1,082 households comprising 5,848 people (Census 1991). Originally a Newar town, Daanchi means a storage place. According to resident Kamal Prasad Poudel, Daanchi was a storehouse of treasure, grain, and ammunition in the seventeenth century. Later, Prithivi Narayan Shah’s administration (1760-1775) established a large number of settlements in the fertile and irrigable Kathmandu Valley. Kanths, as they were called, consisted of 100-500 households and, population wise, fell between cities and villages. Since then, Brahman-Chettris formed the majority of Daanchi. Most families in Daanchi own 20-25 ropanis (2.5-3.1 acres) of agricultural land, estimates resident Sundar Poudel. As Kathmandu expands, there is increasing pressure on kanths to urbanize, Westernize, and globalize, broadly understood as a need to modernize. Some kanths, particularly Lubhu, Nayapati, Bhimdhunga, Dadhikot, and Dhapakhel, have become suburbs of Kathmandu. The livelihoods of the people are shifting from subsistence to market-based activities. Instead of relying solely on farming, many of
their residents also work in Kathmandu and nearby cities. The use of land in the settlements is changing from agricultural to residential, commercial, nursery, and poultry farming. The chapter examines the transformation of Daanchi, particularly how its dwelling environment is produced. The key questions are: Where does the pressure to modernize come from? How do the inhabitants of Daanchi adapt to, resist, and/or negotiate the pressure to modernize? What spaces do they produce in the process? How can the changes be characterized? Following these questions, the study delves in between the vernacular-modern and global-local divides into the lived village and investigates the processes occurring behind the seemingly dichotomous façade(s). We will begin by exploring the transformation of houses and the residents’ views about this change.
