Khimsar - A Small Sand Dunes Village In The Midst of The Great Indian Desert

With the invasion of Mohammad Ghori in 1194, the Kanauj king, Jaichand was defeated whose grandson Sheoji in 1226 in search of a fresh battlefield moved to region around Mandore & conquered some parts of it until 1395 when the twelfth ruler of the dynasty, Chunda acquired full territorial rights of the region around Mandore and it was thereafter known famously as the Rathore Dynasty. In 1459, Rao Jodha was advised to shift his capital base to some hilltop to avoid rising war pressure from external enemies. Subsequently, he built the fort of Mehrangarh and named the human settlement which flourished around it as Jodhpur under the legacy of his own name. In 1465, Rao Bika, the eldest son of Rao Jodha left Jodhpur and built a small fort Rati Ghati in 1485 at a site near to the famous rat temple of Karni Mata which eventually developed itself into Bikaner. Another son of Rao Jodha, Rao Karamsji got encouraged by both his father’s and his brother’s endeavours of building forts and palaces and he moved towards Nagaur which lies somewhere in the middle of the two fort cities built by his family, Jodhpur and Bikaner and built a fort near to the presently lying sand dunes village of Khimsar. It didn’t had any ladies wing however till the middle of the eighteenth century when a zenana mahal was added to the existing structure and the royal family moved here thereafter. Another regal wing was added to it by Thakur Onkar Singh in 1940s. 

Different staggered and distant lying houses and other structures were rising into their existence simultaneously as the development of the fort was undergoing but it remained sparsely populated owing to the characteristics of the site - a state of geographical bewilderment and a small sand dunes village sprouted itself over the period of time in the form of Khismar. The fort was subsequently converted into a heritage hotel offering a chance to the visitors  to experience the lifestyle of the royal families of medieval times. 

Khimsar lies around 100 km North-East of Jodhpur on Jodhpur-Bikaner highway and beholds in itself contrasting images of a beautiful royal palace built to showcase power and wealth on one hand and village shelter houses on the other in the midst of the Great Indian Desert. The material used for construction of the houses is earth and thatch in general which are known to provide a cooling effect which is much needed in the heats of a desert. There also lies a BlackBuck Reserve in its vicinity which has three species of antelopes in itself - the BlackBuck, the Chinkara and the BlueBull. As defined by one of the writers, Khimsar is ‘rustic in appearance, in consonance with its surroundings & these luxurious huts which has been designed to remain eco-friendly’ adds to the overall beauty of the desert which provides in a glimpse of eternity and infinity like the sky above does for keen eyes. 

Images from khimsar, indianholiday, tourism-of-india, itchotels, itchotels, rajasthandirect, khimsar, bp, hotelsinjodhpur, tourismeveryone, trip advisor, goindiaholiday & bp (top to bottom)

Duong Lam - An Early Medieval Vietnamese Village Also Known As A Living Museum of Converted Laterite

Phùng Hưng got his birth with a prodigious physical strength in a rich family in 761 AD who at the age of thirty along with his brother Phùng Hải and Đỗ Anh Hàn, a military strategist led a rebellion against the long ruling Chinese Tang Dynasty in Vietnam since 111 BC and seized the headquarters of the An nam Protectorate which was being administered by a corrupt military leader Cao Chính Bình who shortly died himself due to an illness and power crisis. Phun Hung became the military governor of An nam and a semi-autonomous ruler of the region for a short span of 11 years & his son succeeded him but he couldn’t resist for long and the declining Tang Dynasty found its roots again in the region. The local population were only given a glimpse of independence for a shorter span until 939 when another villager from the same village Duong Lam, where Phun Hung was born, Ngo Quyen proclaimed himself as the King of An Nam, the southernmost province of China during the Tang Dynasty. He founded the first Vietnamese Dynasty in the form of Ngo Dynasty  and renamed the presently known Vietnam as Dai Viet.

Duong Lam is now a commune of Son Tay Town in the region of Hanoi - the national capital of Vietnam. It beholds in itself some houses dating back to as minimum as 300 years which are made up of laterite and clay, both found locally in abundance - the latter was available in the ponds and water bodies present in the vicinity. Its a living example presenting a case of a community and its lifestyle in early medieval times of human developmental story as an agriculture community (rice being the primary source). The structure of a normal ancient house of Duong Lam includes a main gate, a garden, a yard, a main living house, an out building, a kitchen and a livestock barn. Duong Lam has 956 traditional houses built out of blocks of laterite presenting itself to the world as a Museum of Converted Laterite & Clay - the newly built houses has only added to the overall cultural beauty by building in the similar fashion in general. Most of the old houses had a secret door connecting it to the communal house which is a place of worship of the community. All roads and alleys of the village were planned to prevent theft and crime. The roads and the form used in them were special in some parts in the shapes of the bones of a fish out of which few such are preserved till date. There used to be a common well for a group of people - each house has its own in present times but the former one is well preserved by the community as a sign of marked imprints of their ancestors. In 2005, Duong Lam was organised as a complex of national importance by Vietnam which also consist of a set five other villages of the same category - Mong Phu, Dong Sang, Cam Thinh, Doai Giap & Cam Lam. 

Images from vietnamnet, hanoigeckohotel, duonglamtravel, tourtovietnam, vietsensetravel, buffalotrip, seawind-travel, dlisb981yf516, wp, sgotours, explorationvacation, goldenlotushotel, i0 & vietnamnet (top to bottom)

Hahoe - A South Korean Folk Village Enveloped by Water

Yi Seonggye, the main figure behind overthrowing of the Goryeo Dynasty of Korea founded the Kingdom of Joseon in 1392. He was a son of a minor Mongol official from Korea and a Chinese mother. The span of the reign ship of the kingdom established by him lasted for over five centuries when it ended in 1897 when it was officially renamed as the Korean Empire. When the kingdom was growing, a small clan titling themselves as Ryu established their base in one of the sites near the present day bigger city of Andong and named it as Hahoe - 'Ha' is a shorter version for river and 'hoe' means to 'turn around, return & come back’ and the name was kept in the legacy of its geographical position amidst one of the meanders formed by the Nakdong River which also led to its identity in the form of a Village Enveloped by Water. The location is said to be strategically chosen by its founders to provide their community both physical and spiritual nourishment from the surrounding beauty of the landscape and the forest which has also inspired some of the best Poets of the 17th and the 18th century. 

Hahoe has been traditionally a single clan village and they have preserved their ancestral art, architecture and other forms of expressions and hence it acts as a hotspot for studying and knowing about the structure & nature of the times when the Kingdom of Joseon was in power. The perimeter of the village is formed by the Nakdong River and it is located in the foothills of Hwasan Mountains which is an offshoot of the larger range of Taebaek. The centre of the settlement consists of large tile-roofed houses belonging to the original inhabitants of the clan and their preceding generations and the periphery beholds in itself the charming thatched roofs though its not per any geometrical division. Alongside, community pavilions, study halls, learning centres, mud-walled houses for the commoners were also built to thrive in as a community and not as an individual identity. The economy is majorly agricultural with paddy crop being one of the significant ones.

There are various festivals which are organised by the local community of which one of the most famous is Hahoe Mask Dance Drama locally known as Byeonlsin-gut which is said to be a group performance performed for the supreme power & is said to be a part of the Korean Shamanism - it is also listed as one of South Korea’s National Intangible Cultural Properties. Many of the cultural aspects and the quality of their preservation led the village of Hahoe to be listed in the World Heritage List of UNESCO alongside the village of Gyeongju under the title of Historic Villages of Korea in 2010. The human settlement of Hahoe presents an example of a human community which developed independently on its own terms as a clan village, failing and learning itself while cherishing the presence of the natural system around & celebrating their own historicity.

Images from wikimedia, ytimg, onedaykorea, traintokitezh, odk, bohemiantraveler, viator, photobucket, tripsite (top to bottom)

Nako - A Himalayan Human Settlement With Its Private Natural Lake

During the second wave of diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet, Rinchen Zangpo was a principal translator of Sanskrit Buddhist texts into Tibetan. He wasn’t a born Buddhist by belief but his parents supported him in his quest of knowing the world and he came to India to study Buddhism. He is said to be responsible for building various monasteries thereafter including Tabo in the Spiti Valley & Poo in Kinnaur in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 956 AD, a monastery in Nako was build under the inspiration and supervision of the same which eventually accompanied the small human settlement of Nako to sustain and receive its specific identity in the form of Buddhism and its teachings. The monastery at Nako presents a testimony and is different from other sister monasteries in a way that it showcases the Vajranya Buddhist iconography.

Nako lies along the backdrop of Res Purgyal which is the highest mountain of this particular Indian state facing an oval shaped natural lake. The total population of the village in 2002 was 416 and the main occupation of the local community has been agriculture especially in the form of Apples and Sun Dried Apricots while tourism has added to the list lately. Nako for centuries has remained majorly a close knitted community where not many things have changed except the nature of the tourist which used to be traditionally spiritual in nature due to the presence of the monastery to one-day fun & adventure tourists in contemporary times in general. 

Images from mysterioushimachal, happytrips,  jonistravelling, mygola, tripoto, bcmtouring, mangoladydiaries, bp & tripoto 

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Isertoq - A Small Glacial Settlement in GreenLand

Nuuk the capital & the largest city of Greenland lies in the municipal region of Sermersoog which is a newly constructed municipality in Greenland in operations from 2009 formed after merging former municipalities of Easter and South-Western Greenland. Isertoq lies in the same region and is a very small human settlement with a population of 93 in 2010 which has decreased to nearly half from 1991 when it was 171 and by 27 per cent if compared with the levels of 2000. It has a maritime influenced tundra type of climate with temperature limits ranging from -16 degrees in winters to a maximum of around 7 degrees in summers. The conditions must be tough to live at times but the natural beauty around showcasing its ever present serenity would have made it a bit easier, comfortable & meaningful for the local population. 

Images from youramazingplaces, nationalgeographic, toulaho, larslyn, ytimg, panoramio & project-pressure

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