1. INDIA: LESSON V
South India and Jungle Cultures

2. As we move South and West through India, the
dry, arid deserts and great plains become jungle
In this lesson, we will be looking at the two
southern states of Kerala and Tamil
Nadu, each with their own distinctive culture
and particularly interesting architectural
tradition.

3. The jungle stretches for many thousands of
miles, and is thick and dense, and yet cultures
have grown out of it. How do people live in this
environment? Building houses comes with many
dangers….

4. However, the jungle offers many, many building
materials which people have used in many ways

5. You have three options to choose from…
• The Canopy (in the trees, above the jungle floor
• The jungle floor, beneath the trees
• In the swamps and rivers
• Now, in small groups, think of the advantages and disadvantages of
these places, and how you would build a home here. What materials
would you use? How would you use them? Why?
• Fill in the worksheet, and quickly design a jungle home and say
which materials you are using and why (think of the properties)

6. The traditional form of living in the backwaters
and swamps of Kerala was and is the Kettuvallam
These houses are
MULTIFUNCTIONAL.
What functions do
they have? Have
these functions
changed with
modern times?

7. Unlike the barren deserts of last week, the jungle
is incredibly fertile…
• What does this mean?
• What industries could have grown from the jungle, and still exist
today?
• What new industries have been developed here?
• How has the modern world affected these jobs and industries?

8. What is this? How has this affected the jungles?

9. Why do western tourists come to the Keralan
jungles? Why is it also so popular with Indian
tourists, too?
IS TOURISM GOOD FOR THE JUNGLE? WHAT ADVANTAGES AND
DISADVANTAGES DOES IT BRING? DOES IT AFFECT ARCHITECTURE?

10. Fort Cochin/Kochi – the great Keralan city
• Kochi (formerly Fort Cochin) is undoubtedly the most popular and
successful industrial town in the state of Kerala. As the capital of
the communist state of Kerala, it has grown rich by combining the
traditional industries of fishing and coconut and wood trade with
modern tourism, and offering some of the most interesting aspects
of traditional Indian music, dance and cusine.
The most famous icons of
Kochi – what are they?
How do they work?

11. Architecturally, Kochi is…unusual for India
Typical buildings of Kochi. What is
so unusual about these buildings?
Where do they look like they
should be? Why? How?

12. The most southern part of India is in the state of
Tamil Nadu
• Tamil Nadu has never really been ‚part’ of India – they have always
seen themselves as ‚Tamil’, not ‚Indian’ – why might this be?
• Their language, their religion, their architecture, their culture in
general is unlike any found elsewhere in India.
• Perhaps this is because they have always been a jungle
culture, building their cities from the jungle itself, protected from
other cultures and peoples by hundreds of kilometres of forest and
mountains.
• Any ideas of how their religion might look? What might their
temples be like? Why?

13. The most popular deity in Southern India…
What icons can we see? What do
they represent?
Ganesh is the god of ‚plenty’ –
he is fat, rich and surrounded
by fruits and sweets. He is also
the god of travellers, and he is
the ‚clearer of paths’ – why
would this be important for a
god of the jungle?

14. Madurai and the Meenakshi Temple Complex
What are the
obvious
differences
between these
temples and the
ones we have seen
before? Why might
this be?
Read your
information on the
components of the
temple, and tell the
class when you see
‚your’ picture….

19. The Future of Kerala and South India – tourist
haven and horrible modernism… is there
anything good about this? Is there a better way?