Jatav - Settlements

In villages, where 90 percent of India's Untouchables live, Jatavs live in hamlets separate from non-Untouchable castes, while in cities they live in segregated neighborhoods. In larger settlements in cities these may be broken down into subsections with separate leadership. Houses are densely grouped in a nucleated pattern. Housing style is of two types: kacca and pakka. Kacca homes are generally one room made of mud, sometimes mixed with a special clay for strength, or of unbaked mud bricks. Roofs are flat, although some have sloping thatched roofs to protect against rain. Kacca homes are painted with a mixture of slightly antiseptic cow dung and mud. Pakka homes, mostly found in cities, are of baked brick and cement, the better ones with walls, floors, and flat roofs also coated with cement. Pakka homes frequently have more than one room, a small interior courtyard where cooking is done, and a second story.