Bored Panda works better on our iPhone app
Continue in app Continue in browser

Add post form topAdd Post
Tooltip close

The Bored Panda iOS app is live! Fight boredom with iPhones and iPads here.

I’ve Spent Years Searching For India’s Vanishing Subterranean Marvels
User submission
5.4K
51.3K

I’ve Spent Years Searching For India’s Vanishing Subterranean Marvels

ADVERTISEMENT

Thirty years ago on my first of many visits to India, I saw a form of architecture design entirely unknown to me. Called a “step-well” (but known throughout India by many other names including “vav” and “baoli”). I was stunned after peering over a low stone wall to find the ground disappear beneath me. A man-made stepped chasm plunged six stories underground, full of ornate stone columns and sculpture that seemed to disappear into murky shadows.

Talk about dramatic: it was thrilling, subversive, and disorienting to be staring down into the ancient history of architecture rather than looking up at it. I’d never experienced anything like it.

I’d studied architecture and art, so why hadn’t I ever heard of a step-well? Turns out very few people have, even in India, and consequently these interesting buildings have largely slipped off history’s grid. Four years ago, with that indelible memory still haunting me, I began seeking out more step-wells and found myself utterly obsessed. Now, I’ve seen about a hundred and twenty in seven states, with more soon to come.

The purpose of this clever design was simple: provide water 24/7, all year long. But in India’s dry desert states, accessing groundwater might mean digging a hole nine stories deep, and the only way to reach the buried water was by long stepped corridors. When torrential monsoon rains eventually moved in for weeks or months, the water table rose significantly and many of the steps – if not all – would submerge, gradually revealing themselves again as the water level subsided.

Last year, the largest, costliest, most grandiose step-well of all – Rani ki Vav in Patan, Gujarat – finally became a UNESCO World Heritage Site after many years on the waiting list. Hopefully, this will stimulate more interest, and perhaps in the future, the beautiful places will appear on tourist itineraries rather than on an “extinct species” list.

ADVERTISEMENT
RELATED:

    Mahila Bag Jhalra, Jodhpur, Rajasthan

    Agrasen ki Baoli, Delhi (14th c.)

    Anonymous Baoli, Narnaul, Haryana

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Dada Harir Vav, Ahmedabad, Gujarat (1499)

    Mukundpura Baoli, Narnaul

    Raniji ki Baoli, Bundi, Rajasthan (1699)

    Ujala Baoli, Mandu, Madhya Pradesh (late 15th c.)

    ADVERTISEMENT
    ADVERTISEMENT

    Helical Vav, Champaner, Gujarat (15th c.)

    Panna Meena Kund, Jaipur, Rajasthan (16th c.)

    Rajon ki Baoli, Delhi (1506)

    Rudabai Vav, Adalaj, Gujarat (1499)

    Chand Baori, Abhaneri, Rajasthan ( 9th – 10th c.)

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Indaravali Baoli, Fatehpur Sikri, Rajasthan (16th c.)

    Rajon ki Baoli, Delhi (1506)

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Neemrana Baoli, Neemrana, Rajasthan (1570)

    Assi Khamba Baoli, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh (16th)

    Mirza Alijan Baoli, Narnaul, Haryana

    Ratala Vav, Rampura, Gujarat (15th c.)

    Bhamaria Vav, Mehmedabad, Gujarat (c 1500)

    ADVERTISEMENT

    51Kviews

    Share on Facebook
    Victoria Lautman

    Victoria Lautman

    Author, Community member

    Read more »

    I'm a "seasoned" journalist and lecturer specializing in all things cultural. For a number of years I've focused my work on India, traveling throughout the country to dig up unusual stories, then returning home to write and lecture. Stepwells have been preoccupying me but I have many other interests and directions...

    Read less »
    Victoria Lautman

    Victoria Lautman

    Author, Community member

    I'm a "seasoned" journalist and lecturer specializing in all things cultural. For a number of years I've focused my work on India, traveling throughout the country to dig up unusual stories, then returning home to write and lecture. Stepwells have been preoccupying me but I have many other interests and directions...

    What do you think ?
    Add photo comments
    POST
    JaimeLynn
    Community Member
    9 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    These are so incredible <3 And amazingly interesting! Thank You for sharing!! Though my strange initial impulse was to take a big fishing net and scoop all the trash and bottles out of the resevoirs! Modern humans touch took away from some of the beauty...

    MuhammadRidha
    Community Member
    9 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The great thing is that those buildings are still in shape. But plastic bottles and other trashes are really disturbing :(

    Load More Comments
    JaimeLynn
    Community Member
    9 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    These are so incredible <3 And amazingly interesting! Thank You for sharing!! Though my strange initial impulse was to take a big fishing net and scoop all the trash and bottles out of the resevoirs! Modern humans touch took away from some of the beauty...

    MuhammadRidha
    Community Member
    9 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The great thing is that those buildings are still in shape. But plastic bottles and other trashes are really disturbing :(

    Load More Comments
    Related on Bored Panda
    Related on Bored Panda
    Trending on Bored Panda
    Also on Bored Panda