Chand Baori: an Engineering Marvel

Chand Baori: An Engineering Marvel In 1864, the French adventurer Louis Rousselet, while in India, described “[a] vast sheet of water, covered with lotuses in flower, amid which thousands of aquatic birds are sporting at the shores of which bathers washed, surrounded by jungle greenery.” This was not about the shores of some picturesque lake or even one of the famous River Ghats common in India, but an ancient stepwell. When the form, transcends the mundane utilitarian considerations behind it, the result is often recognised as a work of art. This stepwell known as Chand Baori is about a hundred kilometres east of Jaipur in the Dausa district of eastern Rajasthan at a place called Abaneri, a shortened version of its original name of Abha Nagari, or the City of Lights. Though there are no records of the commencement of the construction of the baori, the architectural style and its embellishments place its original structures in the second half of the eighth century AD. These original structures remain a legacy of the technical finesse achieved, more than a thousand years back. Unlike most other step wells Chand Baori was refurbished often, including the addition of an enclosure, verandahs wall and pavilions in the upper layers, incorporating arches, during the Mughal era in the eighteenth century. Built in a square format with each of the sides thirty- five meters in length and reaching down to a depth of nineteen and a half meters, it is one of the oldest, largest and the deepest step wells in India. This engineering marvel, built like an inverted pyramid, was conceived and executed with remarkable mathematical precision. The fusion of the function and the symmetrical form created by the repeated pattern of steps is brilliant in its conception. With every inward projection of a mere eighteen inches, a descent of eight feet has been managed by each of the thirteen flight of steps. There are a total of 35,000 steps covering three sides of the stepwell with a storied pavilion on the northern side for the royalty. Statues of Durga as Mahisasurmardini and Ganesh are placed in the bottom- most layer of the pavilion, that is occasionally submerged in the monsoon. Entry into the stepwell itself is no longer permitted but one can very well imagine the visual experience of going down those steps. Moving in a sideways direction, one would momentarily turn around to face the inviting pool of water at the bottom of each landing as one descended. Then the eyes would go back to the next flight of steps, with each lower landing bringing the person progressively closer to the water. Sunlight, while being central to our visual faculties, also paints and breaks up forms with its ever-changing play of light and shadow, creating a mesmerising symphony of shifting shapes. The builders understood that principle and used it to their advantage. The Chand Baori was constructed primarily for water harvesting given the hot and dry climatic conditions around it. However, being right next to the Harsat Mata Temple, it must have had a significant role to play in the contemporaneous religious rites and rituals. Owing to its structure and the presence of a significant body of water within it, the inside of the baori is even now cooler than its surrounding areas by at least five to six degrees. It would have provided a cool sanctuary for the people, especially inside its pavilions. One can also imagine it being a focal point for the local inhabitants as also the travellers to the town, not only for its drinking water but also for washing clothes and bathing and as a meeting place for social, cultural and religious purposes. .

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