What I Learned

Attached are photographs of a magnificent ancient Bawadi (stepwell) situated at Vela (Harishchandra) about 12 KMs from the zero mile, Nagpur. The Bawadi still has good clean water that is being used by the Church nearby. The structure is ill maintained like most other ancient structures in India and needs immediate attention from the Archaeological survey of India. We in India are so blessed by our forefathers to have these stepwells! It will be foolish of our generation to let these disappear without protection and care. All these stepwells should be declared heritage sites and protected with participation from local governments. It may be a good option to involve some corporates to augment resources for the maintenance of the historically and culturally important water bodies in these times of water scarcity. At a broader level, our whole country has thousands of such ancient monuments from Mahakali caves in Mumbai to Markanda in Vidarbh to L...

Manish Sawankar and I recently (around May 20, 2009) visited a magnificent ancient Bawadi (a well with staircase and community space) situated at Vela (Harishchandra) about 12 KMs from the zero mile, on Wardha road, Nagpur. The Bawadi still has good clean water that is being used by the Church nearby. The structure is ill maintained like most other ancient structures in India and needs immediate attention from the Archaeological survey of India. It may be a good option to involve some corporate sponsorship to augment resources for the maintenance of the historically and culturally important water-body in these times of water scarcity in India. Photos are available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/29473404@N08/3603117284/