So, in the prior step well post (http://writtenpost.blogspot.com/2016/01/anatomy-of-step-well.html), I was showing you a well that had partially collapsed, and then was cleaned up and all the debris removed. The result was a structure you could "see into," one that had been opened up so the supports, the construction, the complexity of it all, could be seen more clearly.
This second well (Adalaj Stepwell, actually the first one we visited that Saturday) is almost completely intact, and so having seen the other, maybe you can understand better what's going on.
Here, I'm standing at a high point, above the place where the steps are just beginning to go down. I'm facing toward the "well end", you can see the top of the well shaft at the far, upper left of the photo. This well is smaller than the first, maybe half as wide and two-thirds as deep, maybe that helped its survival, as it was built in a similar period.
Here, we have begun to descend, and I've turned to look back up the steps.
In this one, because the structure is fully sound, you can reach the lowest level. At this moment, with the quiet of a church, you could feel a certain reverence to the place. As I mentioned in the other post, these places were far more than just wells, as evidenced by the volume of carvings. They had the look and feel of temples and were likely used as such from time to time.
Here again, we are looking through the several sets of supports. The ones in this well were closer together along the length, and so a bit more numerous, almost continuous, which may be a reason for their intact condition.
You can see into the lowest part of the well if you look through the arched doorways, to the most distant wall, which is the far side of the well shaft.
From the blue pool, you look up the 6 or 7 levels, to the sky. Imagine this, after dark, at ceremony time, with people crowded onto every level, candles and torches in hand...
I love to take photos of people taking photos...
...and here the other photographer and his friend are grinning,
...because he is taking a photo of me taking a photo of him.
But in a moment, all that chruchly quiet rushed like smoke up out of a chimney...as several busloads of kids, young teens maybe 12 to 15 years old, came in for a visit. These young ladies were more well behaved and quiet, while their young male counterparts made enough noise to clear the pigeons out of the place (kids are very similar around the world, no matter which language they are speaking !).
We had seen the kids and buses at a local rest stop before arriving at the well. I'm guessing that they were a school group, making a special Saturday field trip, likely driving from another local town as we had, to see these historic places.
So, okay, a little noise...but what are these monuments, these things that show us the history of a place, without the interactions we have with the other people that we see, there and along the way. Such places can be cool, but it's the people that make then more interesting, more fun !
And, speaking of people, here's a gentleman we encountered as we drove along the back roads to get to the wells, Just had a second to get the window down and snap. I like the photo, I just had it printed on metal, for my photo-wall. ;-)
Next Stop: The Sun Temple !
Y'all take care !
- Mark
Adalaj Stepwell: In the village of Adalaj, near Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The stepwell was built in 1499
by Muslim king Mohammed Begda for Queen Rani Roopba.
Phone: +91-99428
02787
