Under the 51st series of its online exhibition by Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, today presented the “Kotha Ghar” a traditional house of Bhumij tribe form Bankura District, West Bengal situated in the Tribal Habitat open air exhibition of Manav Sangrahalaya has been presented online with its basic information and photographs and videos.

About this exhibition, Praveen Kumar Mishra, Director, IGRMS said that – Bhumij are one of the largest tribal communities primarily distributed in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam and Tripura. Etymologically, the term Bhumij is derived from the word 'Bhu' means 'earth'. They call themselves the son of earth. In West Bengal they are concentrated in the districts of Bankura, Purulia, Midnapur and 24 Paragana. They speak Bhumij, but their mother tongue has been fully influenced by Bengali.

Their main occupation is agriculture supplemented by fishing and hunting as their secondary occupation. They prefer to live in the rugged terrains of clad forested areas. A typical Bhumij house is rectangular in ground plan, erected by layers of thick mud wall to keep the interior cool. The house presented here is a double storied house thatched on four slopped roof made with rafters of palm wood and thick bamboo frame, the Bhumij houses are one or two storied in structure.

The plinth of the house is 1 and half ft high above the ground. The upper plan of the house is supported by wooden planks running horizontally across the beams to strengthen the ascribed floor of the room lying upper side. The house has an open court called Uthan, encircled by a low height boundary wall raised with thick mud. The upper portion of the boundary wall is covered with two-sided thatch in order to prevent the direct exposition of rain and scorching sun. It has an entrance called Sadar facing towards the east. The house has two rooms one at the ground and the other one at the top: The room at the top is approached by a staircase raised with mud.