Duo dives deep to promote stepwells across Maharashtra

Mumbaikar Rohan Kale and Lonavala resident Manoj Sinkar

Two explorers on a mission to map historic stepwells in Maharashtra have visited as many as 61 stepwells in the past nine days. They plan to cover all districts to first map the wells on Google before documenting them.

Mumbaikar Rohan Kale and his friend from Lonavala Manoj Sinkar said this glorious heritage needs to be put in public domain to ensure its conservation.

"Stepwells were built for water conservation and can be reached through a descending series of steps and are constructed in different architectural designs. We are presently on a journey of stepwells explorations across India and want to spread awareness about the stepwells and inculcate interest amongst the youth about our glorious past," said 37-year-old Kale.

An HR professional on a break, Kale said he and Manoj, a businessman, will begin the documentation after mapping about 1,500 stepwells in the next one and half years.

While the government conducts heritage surveys and lists them, Kale said, the information is limited and not in public domain. "We are locating them, mapping them, visiting them and documenting them. Once this is done, we plan to push for conservation and have drawn up an action plan. A huge number of them have fascinating stone architecture," Kale said.

Sunk into the ground, stepwells have their social, cultural and religious significance and many of them have been proven to be sturdy structures, surviving earthquakes.

Together, Kale and 38-year-old Sinkar have visited Western Maharashtra and Konkan belt and plan to check stepwells in Khandesh, Marathwada and Vidarbha. "I have been visiting region wise and in the last year despite pandemic I visited western Maharashtra and Pune and found about 140 such stepwells in 40 days. In the past nine days, we came up with 61 of them. There is so much to be explored," Kale said.

Experts laud efforts

Architect and heritage expert Rahul Chemburkar of Vaastu Vidhaan, which works towards saving the ‘pyaus' in Mumbai, said, "Besides Gujarat and Rajasthan, Maharashtra too have several impressive big and small stone stepwells and documenting them would be the first step towards recognising them."

Mayur Thakare from Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Maharashtra, lauded Kale and Sinkar for putting their own resources to promote stepwells and appealed to like-minded people to join the cause. He said, "I had suggested to Rohan earlier to submit a letter of his project to us so that we can issue him a letter granting permission to document the stepwells in a more technical manner. Even the present format of theirs is good as it gives basic information like location, dimension of the structures with photographs and geo coordinates."

Exploration and documentation require permissions from the Archaeological Survey of India or other authorities, said Thakare. He added, "It is always good to get them as it will help the project conducting team while dealing with the local authorities and even the local stakeholders."

1,500
No. of stepwells Kale and Sinkar plan to explore in next one and half years

Well-planned

. Form a team of stepwell explorers, upload GPS coordinates on Google map
. Drone shots to be uploaded on the customised map
. Collect details about architectural designs if they get more volunteers
. Share the findings with locals to motivate them to conserve the wells
. Highlight neglected or dilapidated stepwells
. Celebrate festivals with diyas and rangolis at the stepwells
. Organic purification of water as per local needs
. Organise free study tours for students, hold cleanliness drives

www.indianstepwells.com