Digging in to revive heritage stepwells, 1,650 mapped across Maha

The stepwells uncovered by Kale have fascinating shapes (L, Z, U, V), apart from having one-sided entrances to access from all sides

PUNE Historically, they served as sources of water for entire villages and towns apart from being places of social, cultural and religious significance. Over time however, they became redundant and were lost or forgotten. Once again though, these ancient stepwells (barav) are all set to enjoy their moment in the sun, thanks to the efforts of one Rohan Kale, an explorer and history lover, who with the people’s participation has managed to uncover and maintain 1,650 step wells across Maharashtra. So much so that these stepwells were lit up with diyas on the occasion of Mahashivaratri on March 1.

Rohan Kale, an explorer and history lover, who with the people’s participation has managed to uncover and maintain 1,650 step wells across Maharashtra.(In pic) Stepwells were lit up with diyas on the occasion of Mahashivaratri on March 1. (HT PHOTO)

It was during a work-related trip to Gujarat that Kale was inspired to begin a campaign to save this historical heritage. “I have travelled 14,000 km across Maharashtra on my motor bike from October 2020 to March 2021 and personally explored 400 stepwells with the help of locals, while being briefed by heritage explorers, Indologists, archaeologists, geologists and historians, and gathered huge support from them to map 1,650 stepwells in Maharashtra thus far,” said Kale, on a mission to create awareness about these historic places.

Besides locals, many government agencies extended help to Kale in the course of his campaign namely, the state archaeology head Tejas Garge; state gazetteer head Dilip Balsekar; state ground water survey development agency former head Dr Mallinath Kalshetty.

During his study of stepwells, Kale came across the British Gazetteer published in 1881 that mentions stepwells in Satara (5,990); Solapur (4,700); Pune (3,500); and Ahmednagar (1,500) - most of them belonging to the Yadavas or the Chalukya regime. This made him think that if there are 15,000 stepwells in four to five districts of Maharashtra, there might be more than 50,000 stepwells across the entire state. With this idea in mind, he began mapping these stepwells. “Some stepwells have been destroyed during the widening of roads or in other urban development and in some cases, these step wells are used as garbage pits thus rendering the loss of historical and cultural value further unpalatable,” said Kale who is also an avid trekker.

The stepwells uncovered by Kale have fascinating shapes (L, Z, U, V), apart from having one-sided entrances to access from all sides. Kale has laid out a five-year plan to map and document thousands of step wells, heritage conservation, water conservation, tourism development, and studying and maintaining in original condition ancient/medieval trade routes under the aegis of the Maharashtra Step wells campaign, which works on the preservation and conservation of step wells through people’s participation.

Indologist Manjiri Bhalerao said, “Step wells were extremely important in Harappan times and even today, for they had very good water management system. These catchment areas for perennial water streams and underground streams, were accessed by a flight of descending steps. Kale is helping the government in a way by documenting these step wells and creating awareness. Many of them have now sunk into the ground. Stepwells had social, cultural and religious significance and were known to be sturdy structures that could survive earthquakes.”