At the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, the traditional house of the Karbi tribe residing in the Karbi Anglong district of Assam state has been renovated by the artists from Karbi tribe under the construction workshop.

Assistant Keeper Shri Kant Gupta informed that the Karbi tribe resides mainly in the kachar Hills adjoining Nagaland and north of Nowgong and a hilly district of Southern Assam in Jorhat Shivsagar district known as Karbi Anglong district.

Most of the residents in this district belong to the Karbi community. The Karbi community is of Mongol origin while linguistically they belong to the Tibeto-Burman language group.

It is mainly built from the traditional housing of the Karbi tribe in an area of 43 x 15. This traditional house consists of three parts known as hanmpi, hongfarla, and hongchatai.

The Hogathor Karbi tribe mainly practices both shifting and permanent cultivation. Their main crop is rice which they grow using the primitive method of Jhum cultivation. After doing agricultural work the men and women of the Karbi community take rest in Hogthor. The other part of this house is called 'kaam' in Karbi language. This house is used for women to sleep. The third part of this house is used to keep valuable kitchen items and for the elderly members of the family to sleep. Pagamro is a veranda of 3x15 area on the outside of the house which is used for bathing and drying clothes.

Hongfarla – This house is mainly used for meeting and guest accommodation and serving and feeding is also done in the same house. Important decisions of the family are also taken in this house and from time to time it is used for sleeping.

Hong Chatai - It is situated in the middle of both the houses and dances are performed from time to time and other household items are kept at this place. There is a wooden staircase in the middle of both the houses which is used to go in and out of the house which is called Don Don in the local language.