Wikipedia
Chaupal (Hindi-Urdu: चौपाल or چوپال), or Chopal, can refer to:
- Chaupal (public space), a community building or space in the rural areas of North India and Pakistan
- Chaupal, Himachal Pradesh, a town in Himachal Pradesh, India
- Chopala, a town in Punjab province, Pakistan
A chaupal ( Hindustani: चौपाल or چوپال), or chopal, is a community building or space in the rural areas of North India and Pakistan. It is the hub of community life in villages, especially for male inhabitants. In smaller villages, a chaupal can be a simple raised platform that is shaded by a large tree, typically a neem, banyan or pipal fig tree. In larger villages, the chaupal may be an elaborate structure that also doubles as a community guesthouse (or mehmaan khana).
Indian and Pakistani panchayats (village administrative bodies) usually function and hold hearings in the village chaupal. Indian villages have a strong social norm of village exogamy, and the chaupal is often also the site where the groom's party are received and hosted when "a daughter of the village" is married.
Chaupals are constructed and maintained using community funds, sometimes collected in the village using community donations (known as चन्दा, چندا, chanda).