| Flowing through tradition |
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| MAHARASHTRA: BAORIES, KYNDIS |
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Traditionally, well irrigation was the principal form of irrigation. Well water was used for drinking and washing cattle. In Amravati, brackish water from wells was used for producing salt.The famous Daulatabad fort has four wells, which, along with a tank, are its main sources of water supply.
In the Ramtek water-harvesting model, runoff is harvested through tanks, supported by high yielding wells and structures like baories, kundis, and waterholes. |
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| ANDHRA: BAVI, REVU |
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| In Andhra Pradesh, small tanks were built to feed bavi (wells) by percolation. Kunta, a system of storing rainwater in a percolation tank, recharged the groundwater table. And Revu, a process of collecting streamwater, diverted it into a nearby well through a connecting channel. Wells dotted the districts of the erstwhile Hyderabad state, Atraf-I-balda, Nizamabad, Medak, Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda, Warangal, Karimnagar and Adilabad. |
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| RAJASTHAN: KUA, KOHAR, JHALARA, BAVDI |
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 Rajasthan is one of the most well-rich states. It offers an amazing variety. A kua (well) is usually owned by an individual. There are the larger kohars, which are owned by the community. Then there are baolis and jhalaras (stepwells, but different in structure and architectural pattern). Baolis usually have a religious significance and were constructed as a philanthropic deed for punya. People have also named various wells, such as sagar-ka-kua, seer-ka-kua, sajay-ka-kua, and so on.
Smaller wells and stepwells (kuis and beris) were built below tanks and other types of water storage structures like talabs to collect the seepage from them. All the major forts of Rajasthan had an intricate system of wells and stepwells.
In western Rajasthan – the state’s desert tract comprising of Bikaner, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer – wells were the most important source of water, both for irrigation and drinking purposes. The early British gazetteers report that villages (clusters of huts) were established around a well. The eastern part of Jodhpur was full of wells and the land irrigated by wells was referred to as chahi.
Irrigation by wells was also very common in Aravalli hills and the associated highlands. Numerous wells and bavdis were built here. In Udaipur, there were as many as 100,000 wells around the turn of the century. The seepage from the lakes collected by wells and stepwells was used for drinking purposes.
Then there were emergency wells known as dakeriyan. These were shallow wells dug in harvested fields where rainwater is impounded for kharif cultivation. The water that seeped into the ground was, after the harvest, harnessed through wells.
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| Watering holes across India |
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| GUJARAT: VAVDI, VIRDA |
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It was widely believed that the water of a stepwell called sari, in southern Saurashtra, added to the temper and sharpness of swords. Minerals and salts dissolved in it had the quality of making metals stronger and brighter
Wells and tanks were the principal means of water harvesting. Stepwells are found all over the state, and are known as vav or vavadi. They are used for various reasons – for cooling, as resting places for travellers, for irrigation and so on. It was widely believed that the water of a stepwell called sari, in southern Saurashtra, added to the temper and sharpness of swords. Apart from vav, there are shallow wells dug in low depressions called jheels (tanks) known as virdas. |
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| DELHI: BAOLIES |
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There are many baolis (stepwells) in Delhi built by sultans and their nobles. These baolis were secular structures from which people of all communites could draw water.
Some examples are Gandak-ki-baoli, Rajon-ki-baoli, Muradabad-ki-Pahad-ki-baoli, and so on. The Tughlaqabad Fort contains ruins of three extensive baolis, besides numerous deepwells.
Wells were a major source of water in the rural areas as well as the main city. Like the Indara kuan near the present Jubilee cinema, Pahar-wala-kuan near Gali-pahar-wali, and Chah Rahat near Chhipiwara (feeding water to the Jama Masjid). In 1843, Shahjahanabad had 607 wells, of which 52 provided sweetwater. According to the early gazetteers, 19 per cent of the irrigation was done using wells.
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| KARNATAKA: TALPARIGES |
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Springs locally called talpariges were used for irrigation. Though quite common, they were not the chief source of irrigation. Channels or pats carried water from them. Many dugwells in Kolar district have a garanda in them. Garanda or Pilla bhavi is a mini well constructed within a dugwell to capture lower level springs and percolation water. In Shahapur, Ali Adil Shah I (1557-1580) built a large well known as Chand’s well, and made channels to lead the water through the town.
Various taxes, like Kulia sunka, were imposed on wells in a garden to encourage judicious use of water, and prevent wastage by excess use |
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| Flowing through tradition |
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| PUNJAB: KUANS & JHALARS |
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The cultivated area in Punjab was traditionally irrigated with the help of wells. British documents report that irrigation in the Beas-Sutlej doab (the elevated region between two rivers) was almost entirely done by wells. During a drought year, hundreds of lever-wells were run. In Kapurthala, irrigation was done by floodwaters of the rivers using wells and jhalars. Jhalars are shallow wells excavated on the banks of the streams, from which water was lifted using Persian wheel. The Punjab Malwa plain was also irrigated by wells.
The digging of a well was a major occassion. People would consult priests before sinking the cylinder for making a well, and celebrate it in a grand way. |
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| TAMIL NADU: KINARU, KENI |
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Wells were generally known as kinaru or keni. Their water was profusely used in Coimbatore. The number increased after 1800.
Water was stored behind small bunds to recharge the wells. The ancient tanks, eris, recharged the groundwater in the surrounding areas.
As much as 10.5 per cent of the dry area was irrigated by wells, and these supplemented tank water supply which was often scanty.
Ancient tanks called eris recharged the groundwater in the surrounding areas, which in turn, fed the wells |
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| HARYANA: KUAN |
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Wells played a major role in irrigation. Waters from tanks called abi were mainly used as an auxiliary to wells situated in homestead lands.
A unique kind of abi irrigation was practised on the Ghaggar and its tributaries. Wells, sometimes lined with masonry and sometimes kuchcha, were dug near the banks of the river, and carried down to a level lower than its bed. In the case of a masonry well, its mouth was exposed on the river side, and a channel from the river led water into the wells through an arch or jharokha. |
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| UTTAR PRADESH: KUAN |
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| Wells were a major source of irrigation because the groundwater level was very high, and hence boring of wells was easy and cheap in most districts. But in the sandy lowlands along the rivers, the wells, unless made of masonry, broke down during the rains. Tanks had kuchcha wells reaching to the spring level in the center. According to the elders in Kandhla (situated some 46 km from Muzaffarnagar town in western UP), most of the wells here had sweetwater, and a couple of them had khara or brackish water, which was bottled and used to cure a number of ailments. |
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| People’s lifeline across India |
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| BENGAL: PUKURS |
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 Most of the drinking water used to be collected from open dug wells and pukurs (open wells constructed in the down stream of ponds). Almost all villages have at least one pukur, and some have several. Many well-off families have their own pukurs. They are also used for domestic purposes, like taking bath, washing clothes and utensils, while some are exclusively reserved for drinking water.
Now, almost all districts of West Bengal, including the rural communities, depend heavily on tubewells and hand pumps. Nearly 70 per cent of irrigation is done through shallow and deep tubewells.
Open dug wells and pukurs are being increasingly replaced by tubewells |
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| ISLANDS: DUGWELLS, STEPWELLS |
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 In Car Nicobar, tribals built circular dugwells using stones, wood and even utensils thrown from passing ships. The wells were usually lined with blocks of bullet wood, as it does not decay in water.
Amongst the Jarawas, the community leaders who worship deer also act as water diviners. By thumping the ground with their feet and judging the resonance they can predict the presence of water, including its depth. The Nicobarese here could determine where to dig for sweet groundwater, relying on the coconut for information. If the taste of the coconut water is sweet, the groundwater there is likely to be saline, and vice versa.
In Lakshadweep Islands, people have been using wells (many of them stepwells) to meet their drinking water requirements. Almost every household has a dugwell for domestic purposes. |
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| KERALA: SURANGAMS |
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 Open wells found here are one of the very few traditional systems still in extensive use, but mainly for domestic purposes where organised water supply systems are not available. Traditionally, people used the Middle Eastern technology of Qanats to build subterranean structures or rather horizontal wells called surangams (also known as thurangam, thorapu, mala, etc.). They tapped the water seeping down the hillsides for use as drinking water.
Traditionally, people used horizontal wells, called surangams, which tapped the water seeping down the hillsides |
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