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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | How India's Extraordinary 'Baolis' Began to Disappear -Malvika Singh

How India's Extraordinary 'Baolis' Began to Disappear -Malvika Singh

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published Published on Jan 26, 2018   modified Modified on Jan 26, 2018
-TheWire.in

In The Vanishing Stepwells of India, Victoria Lautman articulates how a traditional water conservation system was foolishly destroyed when the British took the reins.

It is not difficult to comprehend the importance of water conservation. The resource is as precious and far more valuable than gold. Water will always be scarce and in arid, dry regions, the liquid is worshipped. It is an integral element in rituals that manifest faith. All living organisms are dependent on water. The baoli, the bavri, the vav were elaborate ‘fortresses’ that were constructed to protect this precious resource.

Traditionally, myth and legend, faith and worship in the sub-continent respected nature and saw her as a divine force. The vehicles of the multiple representations of gods and goddesses lived in the forest – Durga and the tiger; Kartikeya and the peacock; Bhairav guarding Banaras with his dog. Plants too were linked to the divine – Shiva and the dhatura as one example. Rivers were sacred. Every habitation had a community water tank, often built at the site of a temple, and a village well. The sun, moon and planets were worshipped in the belief that their movements in the universe determined the fate of individuals, families and the community. Conservation was inherent in the cultural stream of India, it was once a way of life. It was in this frame of life and living that stepwells were conceived and built.

Evidence of water reservoirs and tanks are found in the historic sites of the Indus Valley, Dholavira, Mohenjodaro, Dhank and more. The first stepwells cut into underlying rock date back to 200-400 AD. From that period on, through the ages, up until the time of the great Mughal emperors of Hindustan – who did not intervene in the tried and tested stepwell culture, as it were. They constructed new ones and protected the ones they had inherited. Stepwells were seen as the lifeline for travelers from distant places who paused and rested in these community ‘sarais’. From the ground surface, geometric patterned steps led down to the water source, scattered with covered pavilions en route at different levels, dotted with shrines for worship.

These bavri’s, baolis and vavs, as they were christened in different parts of India, became public spaces where the community too could congregate, shaded from the hot summer sun that scalded the western and northern tracts of India for nine months in the year. And, as Victoria Lautman has articulated in her book that is deliciously peppered with wonderful pictures of these monumental treasures, stepwells in India were consciously allowed to slip away from being what they once were, and a fine, traditional water conservation system was foolishly destroyed when the British took the reins and ruled India.

Please click here to read more.

TheWire.in, 25 January, 2018, https://thewire.in/217271/indias-extraordinary-baolis-began-disappear/


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