Classical Indian Step Wells.

VASHTARITE RAIN : INDIAN STEP WELL
The typical Late Classical Indian step-well- a design common across the Continent-
is both visually appealing as well as stunningly utilitarian.
It is a triumph of Architectural Design that has few equals.
In the succeeding tweets, I will describe some of their common features.
he Step-well is part of the several architectural & cultural advances made during
the Classical period of India, especially the late Kushana/ early Gupta periods.
They likely arose as an extension of earlier Ring-wells, and even latter examples
often include one as a gauge.
Step-wells are of vital import especially in rain-shadow areas of the Deccan &
Western India where both the geology & climate prevent both easy recharge of
groundwater as well the growth of extensive woodlands.
Many were cut in drainage channels of Watersheds for this reason.

Underground channels provide for easy flow of both cooled air as well & water
vapour- ensuring that the interior stays fresh even as the surroundings- usually
thickly settled- benefit.
Even so, the Step-wells themselves were important sites of commerce & social
functions.
Step-wells were often constructed as part of entire complexes- as the one in
Lakkundi presented underneath, one of the 100+ still surviving in the area. One
might even consider them subterranean urban complexes in themselves.
Next, we will observe how they worked.

6th Century Toorji made by King Toor, near the modern city of Jodhpur, is one of
the oldest and quintessential examples of Step-well design. Despite a few medieval-
era changes, the structure remains unchanged since the Classical period when the
Gupta Emperors still reigned.
The typical Step-well consisted of four essential stages.
1- The Feeder System

2- The Central Tank
3- The Tower Well
4- The Thrust Supports.
Typically multiple chambers would be carved from the rock while brick-&-plaster
apartments would surround the Tank itself above.
1- Designed to channel water, typically from floods or poorly-drained or rocky
soil, the Feeder system consisted of multiple settling tanks which would purify &
strain the water for discharge.
1st Century BCE Sringaverapura built by King Dhanadeva of Ayodhya is a prime

example.
2- Broad channels are sunk into the Earth or Aqueducts constructed in order to
direct the purified water into the Tanks themselves.
The Tanks themselves are primarily for cooling & ground-water discharge- though in
unfortunate times, they are often used for drinking water.
3- The Tower Well creates a steep pressure differential which sucks up air from the
atmosphere, cools it, and forces it through the galleries underneath. This & the
subterranean construction means that Step-wells can be as much as 12 degrees
Celsius cooler than the surface.
4- Thrust supports built at intervals in the passage to support the sidewalls from
inward thrust and thus ensure the stability of the structure. These cross-
constructions ranged from simple beams to elaborate multi-storey pavilions.
housands of such Step-wells dot India even now- albeit mostly in ruins & often
silted or cemented up. Hundreds of thousands probably existed at one point.
They've long been sacrificed to the altar of Nehruvian Liberalism & Western
Modernism- both anathema to the Hindu soul.
Once these magnificent structures were market-places, village-centres, Courts &

Office complexes- serving populations of hundreds and thousands.
Now-- they're reminders of a glorious Indian past that Liberal ideologues would
rather have bulldozed over as quickly as possible.
Imagine entire complexes sunk into the Earth- catching the runoff from metaled
roads & sinking potential flood-water deep into the strata, underground markets &
temples carved into the Earth, cooling needs & costs almost zero in India's
terrible summers.
This media may contain sensitive material.
Nor is it necessary that each Step-well be some gigantic monstrosity requiring
machinery & workers.
Witness how a "small" 3-storey Step-well can serve a single household or

neighborhood adequately, cooling the surrounding buildings & providing a meeting
site for locals.
Step-wells reflect the Hindu ideals of Community, Simplicity, and Beauty perfectly:
What might seem to be a mere wall with a few trees at ground-level reveals itself
to a complex web of galleries, corridors, tanks, & wells.
Even simple pools & tanks are enough to cool the area.
This media may contain sensitive material. Learn more
What answer does the Indian Republic have for 2000+ years of Hindu architectural
tradition?
Gargantuan soulless inhumane ugly concrete furnaces, designed by expensive Western-

trained intellectuals, that only a Liberal or a Bureaucrat can love.
Birkha Baori, built by Mr A Mridul- the only Step-well built in the 21st Century-
saves its funders- the Umaid Heritage Group- over 17.5 million liters of rainwater
every year, more than enough for daily household work of the people living in the
Umaid Heritage heritage society.
On March 19, 1955, the brand new High Court building in Chandigarh, designed by Le
Corbusier was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru.
Why not? Only the grim grey soulless inhuman totalitarian tyrannical heart of a
Liberal can love such Architecture.
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"...A new town, symbolic of the freedom of India, unfettered by the past",
Chandigarh is a standing insult & assault upon the Hindu builders' soul, long
trammeled & suppressed by the concrete & asphalt machinations of Liberalism in
general & Modern Architecture in particular.
This media may contain sensitive material.
Despite the odds, Hope & Beauty remains wherever the Indian stands strong.
The villagers of Mukundpura might lack roads even now, but their respect & care for
their Step-well persists. If there is hope for our Faith & Land, it lies in such
villages.
NB: https://jatinchhabra.com/a-rainy-road-trip-to-see-neemrana-and-narnaul-baolis/
�
As is all too common, the only major commercial work that exclusively concerns
itself with Indian Step-wells is by someone as far removed from the Indian Republic
& its sins as possible- the journalist & historian Victoria Lautman. We all owe
much to her.
https://www.amazon.com/Vanishing-Stepwells-India-Victoria-Lautman/dp/1858946581 �
If the Gods will it & the Bharata shake off their stupor, it is not impossible that
these long-forgotten icons of the Past will be freed as Indra freed the cloud-
cattle from the clutches of Vritra.
#Thread_PV_TAM

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VASHTARITE RAIN : INDIAN STEP WELL

It is a triumph of Architectural Design that has few equals.

In the succeeding tweets, I will describe some of their common features.

Many were cut in drainage channels of Watersheds for this reason.

Next, we will observe how they worked.

1- The Feeder System

1st Century BCE Sringaverapura built by King Dhanadeva of Ayodhya is a prime

Once these magnificent structures were market-places, village-centres, Courts &

Witness how a "small" 3-storey Step-well can serve a single household or

Gargantuan soulless inhumane ugly concrete furnaces, designed by expensive Western-

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