Stepwells: Marvels of water and sky

The descent is along a narrow, stone-lined stairway. The stone masonry flanking the stairway on either side is bare, with no imagery of any kind to relieve it. The only relief in the austere-looking stonework is provided by the odd recessed or projecting course. Soon, the stairway turns right from a landing, before veering left again in a long flight downwards. As one descends, the massive stone revetments soar upwards, soon reducing the sky to a narrow strip, striped by the silhouettes of the roughly hewn stone beams which soak up the pressure from the masses of earth held back by the walls. At the base of the steps lies the water, a dark shade of green with algal growth.

. We are in the stepwell within the premises of the Someshwara temple at Lakshmeshwar, also known as Puligere, in Gadag district. The bare stone masonry and rough beams render it starkly beautiful, in contrast to the temple with its ornate and intricate facades. Being close to a temple, this stepwell qualifies as an okkarane bavi, a well which serves as a pushkarini, or temple tank, with its water used for temple rituals. The image of Lajja Gauri — a fertility goddess, enshrined in a nearby temple, was discovered near the stepwell. Since ancient times, water has been associated with fertility, and such images are often found in conjunction with wells and tanks.

. Stepwells are excavations in the earth, their shafts sometimes piercing multiple aquifers, providing water all year around, with steps allowing access to the water level, which often fluctuates with the seasons. Sometimes, this involves cutting through bedrock, with massive stone masonry walls retaining the soil in the upper portions. Stepwells in the Indian subcontinent have an antiquity dating back a couple of millennia and are mostly found in arid regions. They can be relatively shallow, or dizzyingly deep, depending on groundwater levels, and can assume ingenious shapes.

. All stepwells are not austere in appearance. The Nagakunda at Sudi in Gadag district, built a millennium ago by Nagadeva, an official of the Kalyani Chalukyas, is an incredible example of how sculpturesque a stepwell can get. This stepwell is, in the words of the architectural historian Adam Hardy, like an “inside-out temple sunk into the ground!” This is literally true: the articulation of the stepwell’s inner walls faithfully follows the geometry of the outer walls of the Vesara-style temples in vogue during the Kalyani Chalukyan period, such as the nearby Jodu Kalasa temple built by the same patron. Descending to the water in this uniquely crafted stepwell is a surreal experience, with the temple-like walls closely flanking the path before opening out around the shaft of the well. This stepwell, after centuries of neglect, has recently been restored by the Deccan Heritage Foundation.

. Function shapes form

. Stepwells dug for irrigation are typically located in fields, away from habitation, and are generally without ornamentation, whereas those built for the benefit of travellers are usually near transportation routes, and have multiple chambers and pavilions for rest, worship and other activities. Evaporative cooling in stepwells lowers ambient air temperatures considerably in these arid lands. Multitudes of travellers would have gratefully rested and recharged in these cool oases, before proceeding on their journeys.

. The okkarane bavi is usually ornate and embellished with sculptures, though not always, as we have seen at Puligere. Wells created to irrigate fields usually have mechanisms for lifting water to the surface, where it is directed along channels to the fields. These, we know from inscriptions, were called kapileya bavi.

. Wells, which allow users to descend stairways to the water level, are called nada bavi, or nadada bavi, because one can walk down to the water. Tanks with steps on all four sides are known as koneri. In ancient times, water was considered sacred, and the waters of stepwells and tanks were often referred to as Gangamma in inscriptions.

. Aihole, with its multitude of temples from Early Chalukyan period and later eras, has several stepwells, the one at Huchimalli Gudi being particularly picturesque. The Rashtrakutas, who succeeded the Early Chalukyas, also built stepwells, some of which can still be seen among the extensive cluster of temples at Sirival in Yadgir district. Though most of the wells at Sirival do not boast of any embellishment, one stepwell near the Nannayya-Nadayya group of temples is richly decorated with beautiful sculptures from the epics and the Panchatantra.

. Beyond the drylands

. Although stepwells are most commonly found in arid regions, they are not entirely absent in humid, rain-rich areas. In these regions, excavations tend to be shallower, unlike the grand, deep edifices found in the drylands. Even these stepwells can be visually charming, such as the small stepped tank at Shivamogga's Kavaledurga, the forest-fortress of the Keladi Nayakas. Sometimes, conventional wells may have steps leading down, qualifying them as nada bavi, like one near the Shiroor Matha, near Udupi.

. Stepwells cannot be seen merely as utilitarian structures for accessing water, they are alternate worlds in the bowels of the earth, where water communes with the sky. Entering a stepwell, as the Dutch artist Jeroen van Westen says, “One leaves the world’s sense of time and space behind and rediscovers the sky in the infinitely still water at the bottom.”

. (The author is with the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru)

Stepwells: Marvels of water and sky

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