Meetei Yumjao

"Meetei Yumjao" - The Endangered Art

Every place and every society has its own art, style, culture and Architecture, so do "The Meetei Society". When we talk about the Meitei Architecture, the first thing that comes in the mind is the Meetei Yumjao, the space and place of birth of the entire Meetei Generation. Meitei Yumjao used to be a perfect dwelling unit of an ideal Meetei family, few generations back. Few people of our generation had the opportunity to live in it and enjoy the essence of it and cherish the life style. Meetei society had stopped constructing Meetei Yumjao since 50 to 60 years back and replaced it with timber post - GI sheet or RCC –brick structures. It will be seen only in photographs or museums in days to come. The essence, importance and specialty of Meitei Yumjao can be seen only when we look deeply into our life style, culture and ethics. Each and every part has been properly designed and detailed to suit the lifestyles of Meitei people and the environment. he "Meetei Yumjao" was of two types by its mode of wall construction. First one was of complete straw reinforced mud thick wall up to the roof height embedding the main load bearing post bamboos with Pungcei in different heights as reinforcement steel grass rod.

Second system of wall was of thick straw reinforced mud half wall up to a height of 4 to 5 feet and above that with split bamboo (Wachet) with uniformly distributed and binded Shinghoot by bamboo strips (chepsi Paya) and straw reinforced and cow dung mix mud plastering in different coats. This thick mud wall gives the required thermal insulation for a comfortable living space. Selection of mud was also one of the factors for creating a smooth, fine texture wall which is an earth-friendly and inventive way to bring a healthy and naturalistic life.