Indian stepwells

[onlyMark]

Certain areas of India are quite dry for many months of the year. When the monsoon deposits what it will and then leaves, there is no more rain. A solution to the problem of storing and then accessing what could be collected often meant the building of a water deposit and wells and these came in many forms.
One such form is a style called a stepwell.
I found these quite fascinating as I’ve travelled around India and because of the differences in water storage techniques throughout the country, they are not found everywhere. History shows there were many that have now been lost and one factor in this is the advent of British rule. They deemed stepwells to be breeding grounds of disease and didn’t ban them, but put in place better methods which since the British have left, have also fallen to poor maintenance.
So, there are relatively few left in any state of repair.

The idea of a stepwell is that water will percolate through the earth until reaching a level where it collects. A well could then have been dug but this can only serve relatively few people at a time. A solution was needed so that many villagers could access the water as and when required. But then, if you dig a big wide and deep hole, there still needed to be some way to reach the bottom and transport the water back up again. The simple solution was to put steps in.
Stepwells can be square with steps along each face or they can be rectangular with only one of the short faces having banks of steps leading down to the water.

On my last visit to India I went to one of the more famous and well preserved ones after accidently stumbling across and abandoned one on the way there. Reports were filed at the time and are around somewhere. Anyway, this time I decided to focus on a few of them as a way to determine what my route in the country would be. I visited half a dozen ranging from the well maintained to the long abandoned. Here I will mention just one.

However, a couple of photos first of the forgotten ones –

[onlyMark]

Over the centuries the wells developed from being purely a place to collect water to a meeting place in the hot weather and somewhere with religious significance. Depending on who built them the decorations and carvings were more ornate or not.
The following one, Rani Ki Vav in Patan, Gujarat was abandoned and unknown of until the 1960’s when it was excavated and restored. Previous to that it had suffered from flooding and neglect and was completely full to near the top.

This is what you see as you walk towards it. The park surrounds are well kept and make a pleasant contrast to the hustle and bustle nearby. Unless you knew it was here, you wouldn’t see it at all –






Built probably by a widowed Queen called Udayamati somewhere around 1050AD or a little later. The name Rani Ki Vav translates as the Queen’s stepwell.
It is about 64m long, 20m wide & 27m deep and features at the far end a large circular well 10m in diameter and 30m deep. Evidence show that there is also tunnel about 30km long leading from/to the local town of Sidhpur and built apparently as a means of escape by the Royalty.
This is what it looks like as you cut across to it –




On entering you are struck by the richness of the carvings, most in devotion to Vishnu and feature more than 500 main sculptures and over a thousand minor ones.

[onlyMark]

In effect it is an inverted temple.
There are seven levels leading down to a ‘tank’, a water deposit about 9.5m square which was filled by normal flooding but when it became too low the well was used.
I’ll lead you down through the levels and we’ll see what there is as we go –

[onlyMark]

Unfortunately as you got to the bottom it was fenced off by some ugly wood and metal work and I was unable to see through to the tank and well.
I returned back up –




To take a view from the other end –




And the well that I couldn’t get to –






Some of these stepwells are over a thousand years old. Many were built, Many have been lost. Judging from my travels I think it won’t take long before there are only two or three major ones left, the minor ones with little carvings or ornamentation, the day to day working ones, will be covered and forgotten.

[tod2]

Absolutely fantastic Mark. The carvings must have taken forever but some of them - well most really - look weather worn and I suppose even when can't be distinguished clearly will still be a sight to see.

I must say I see lots of highly dangerous places! Surely there must be accidents?

[Deleted]

Thank you, Mark, for these amazing photographs.

[onlyMark]

Thanks lizzy.
tod, dangerous places? You mean at the stepwell? I've no idea about accidents but I have a theory. If you live in a place where there is little or no protection from harm, like not having fencing (though at this stepwell it was quite well surrounded) or railings to hold on to, people are more careful than those who have been raised and brought up subconsciously feeling they are safe from harm because the authorities have placed signs, barriers etc. I bet if there are accidents it is westerners that are involved.

[Deleted]

As I already thought the first time you showed us a stepwell, these places are fabulous, but I am wondering if India is the only country to have invented such a clever system. (Obviously, if they exist also in Pakistan and Bangladesh, that would be normal.) What is truly amazing, though, are all of the elaborate sculptures, which were clearly not "necessary" but which add so much to these places. I guess the various kings really wanted to show what great guys they were by adding so much decoration.

[mossie]

A really super thread again Mark. The carvings are so numerous and elaborate especially considering it served such a mundane purpose. Whoever ordered it certainly believed in well endowed ladies.

[onlyMark]

As far as I know they only exist in India, or what was India. Maybe there are others elsewhere and I'm sure amongst us we would have seen them during our many worldly travels if there were.

mossie, just for your delight (and mine) a selection from other stepwells I visited -

[lola]

Delight and amazement.

Stepwells are a clever concept, so beautifully manifest.

[Deleted]

Just for the fun of it, I googled "Aztec stepwells" to see if anything turned up, and you will be pleased to know, Mark, that they are indeed an exclusively Indian creation. I thought that this article about the subject was pretty interesting.

[onlyMark]

It certainly is interesting. Chand Baori mentioned is one I went to last time and Adlaj is one of those I went to this time. It does seem then to be an Indian thing.

[questa]

This is a variation of step wells used in Uzbekhistan. It is in the desert on the old Silk Road near a large caravanserai. In winter there would be snow and this was packed hard into the well up to the dome. Wagons would carry snow/ ice down from the mountains with reeds and other vegetation packed around it.  Come summer and they had water.
Being Muslim there were no statues but geometric designs outside the well.

[tod2]

What an incredible place Questa!

[Deleted]

Oddly enough, it never even came to mind that a "dry" place would have enough snow in the winter to pack loads of it into a place like this. It is a very clever idea.

[questa]

This is an underground cistern in Istanbul, right under the heart of the old city. Water was carried in aqueducts over 70 km from the mountains and stored here. It is a huge multi columned area, now only storing token supplies. Difficult to get a good photo as the light flickered and flash lost colour.

[Deleted]

Actually the main Montsouris underground reservoir of Paris looks just like that.

celia-blauel.eelv.fr/files/2014/09/9464971236_8862098a52_z.jpg

[htmb]

Wow!!!! Is that a recent photo, Kerouac?

[questa]

You sure get about, K2

[Deleted]

I have never been there myself as it is only opened to the public during the annual heritage days. I read that in the previous centuries they used to stock fish in there as "the canary in the mine."

[tod2]

I want to go there! Find out when the next Heritage days are PLEASE Kerouac. Hopefully there will be one in Sept/October 2015...

[onlyMark]

Remember, I brought these to your attention first, in this report and others.

www.bbc.com/future/article/20211012-the-ancient-stepwells-helping-to-curb-indias-water-crisis

I'm looking forward to going back to India again when it opens up, which may be in the next few months.