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Conserving water as a
scarce resource used to be a socially appreciable practice in our
village communities. In today’s milieu of fast changing lifestyles,
we have somewhere forgotten the traditional and time-tested
conventional and durable modes of obtaining clean and potable water
through our wells, kundis, kunds and baolis. Since
availability of sweet and clean potable water will become scarce in
near future, we need to quickly look into, re-evaluate and re-assess
the utility of our traditional sources of water and the social and
cultural strength behind them, especially with reference to our rural
communities.
 Most village estates in Haryana are fairly old, many of them over six
centuries, but there are also such village estates as were settled as
recently as 40 years ago. Every village has at least three wells from which
the different communities in accordance with the Hindu varna system
could draw water. Fairly old and large village estates had over 20 wells,
some of them built in a most magnificent architectural style of the era. The
construction material, depth and diameter of the well cylinder, its location
and the style adopted for its superstructure obviously depended on the
nature of the soil and terrain, the amount of average rainfall, purpose of
location and availability of masonry expertise. Further, various design
features and the size of the well which could be adopted and added to the
superstructure were mainly due to the depth from which the water was
required to be lifted.
The sub-soil water level
was low in the nardak and khadar regions of Haryana,
comprising the erstwhile district of Karnal (now Kaithal, Kurukshetra,
Panipat and Karnal) and the tract along the Jamuna forming parts of old
Rohtak and Gurgaon districts. In the central and south-western districts of
Haryana comprising Jind, erstwhile Hisar, Mahendragarh and Narnaul area, the
sub- soil water level was both brackish and deep. Substantial efforts in
terms of manpower and time were needed for lifting water from a great depth,
normally exceeding 60 feet, reaching to a 250 feet at some places. It
required great ingenuity and expertise to construct a well cylinder in sandy
soil or morass of the Jamuna khadar.
The district officers in
the British period recorded evidence that in the Jamuna khadar, special
techniques were developed and used for selection of material for well
cylinders and to sink it. Since the khadar belt soil mostly remained
marshy or waterlogged especially in the rainy season, the jhera or
dug wells in that area were soon rendered useless. In a quagmire, the
cylinder of a well could be neither made up of burnt bricks nor of heavy
masonry stones, therefore, it could not be sunk and utilised. In this
situation the traditional wisdom contained in our old texts was found to be
of immense value to the builders of wells.
Wood obtained from the dhaak
trees, available in plenty in natural, community forests around village
estates and countryside of Haryana, was shaped as crescented and oblonged
blocks. These blocks were shaped in such a way as would interlock with each
other like a wheel cog. Upon the wheel-shaped bottom, whose underside had
been fixed with several thick one feet long spokes of iron, were then put
one upon the other. Thus, when one wheel-shaped line was complete, another
would be placed on it until the desired depth of the cylinder was obtained.
It were the vestiges of such wooden wells that the British officers found
and recorded them in official documents.
Dargoo wallah well at Dujana (Jhajjar district)
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At other places in Haryana,
the wells in the upper khadar area, where the earth is comparatively
stiff and stable burnt bricks were efficiently used to construct wells.
Since the sub-soil water table was available at a depth of 30 to 40 feet,
only a metre-high platform was added around the upper part of the cylinder
of the well. Such wells were named as boria wells because they did
not contain the usual four pillars raised on the rim of the cylinder and the
superstructure for fixing big and sturdy pulleys at some height to help lift
water from a depth. The platforms around a boria well were usually
designed in a circular shape but were also done in squares, pentagonal and
hexagonal shapes. One such square shaped platform with beautiful chhattaris
on all its four corners was discovered by me at Sanghi, a large village
of Hooda Jats near Rohtak. Some fine specimen of Banjara wells built
with kankkar blocks still exist in a large number of village estates.
Banjara traders, a nomadic community, who carried various merchandise
on the back of thousands of bullocks and traversed great distances, had
built a large number of wells near old village sites in the medieval era. A
fine specimen of this genre still exists in village Samchana, near Rohtak.
Most of the large and big
wells with magnificent superstructures raised on them still exist in scores
of villages in central and south-western Haryana viz., village of Meham
Chaubissi, Bhiwani, Rohtak and Jind. Some of the fine specimen and several
others of this genre are Baniyon wallah kuan at village Farmana Khaas
near Meham, Dargoo wallah kuan at village Dujana, Dalmia Sethon
kee baghichi wallah kuan at Bhiwani town, Saravbhoo Seth ka kuan
at Sewani town, Jangi walon ka kuan at Beri town and Dadoo
panthion ka kuan at Kalanaur town. Other wells with magnificent
superstructures were found by me at following villages Hada baniyon key
kuen at Kharak Kalan, Ramdiya seth ka kuan at Lakhan Majra, Seth
Kripa Ram ka kuan at Chhara, Banjaron wallah kuan at Bhaini
Chandrapal, Pitron wallah kuan at Meham, and other at village Chiria,
Devsar, Jui and Beri.
In this region some
builders even thought of erecting chhattaris or a parabolic cover, on
the well so that airborne dust and pieces of straw and twigs could be
prevented from falling into it and spoiling the water. Such wells, called chhatri
walley kuen, are in village estates of Majra (Doobaldhan), Beri, Rithal,
Lohani, Mundhal kalan, Kalanaur and Barwaa. The parabolic cover on the well
at Barwaa combines features of both a kundi and a well.
Those wells, which were
built by village headmen or philanthropic individuals or had a combined
ownership, were maintained and cleaned periodically by themselves while the
others belonging to the village community as public wells were a joint
responsibility. The months of Baisakh or Jayestha when the
water level in the well was at the lowest were considered ideal for
cleaning. Besides the well, the adjoining pond or a masonry tank was
invariably cleaned by removing dry silt and using silt blocks and loose
earth for strengthening their banks or bunds Nevertheless, mounds of
excavated earth was carefully fixed around the big trees planted on the
banks and sites were also prepared for planting new saplings in the ensuing
rainy season.
The superstructure on three
wells, one at Siwani, another at Bhiwani and the third at Dujana are very
impressive. The Dargoo wallah well at Dujana has eight pillars on the
rim of its cylinder having space for affixing twelve pulleys on it. At
Siwani, underground shelters and spiral steps were provided around the rim
of the well, while at Bhiwani the upper storey of an adjoining rest house
was connected to the well by a bridge so that water can be pulled up without
coming at the ground level. Nowhere else in Haryana I could discover such
unique features added to the superstructure of wells as the above three.
Apart from these features, provision was always made on big and deep wells
to draw water with the help of charas, an animal skin basket, by
using a pair of bullocks or a camel.
Irrespective of the style
or design, the wells built on the banks of natural ponds or masonry tanks
ensured availability of sweet and potable water for generations provided
that both were also regularly and simultaneously cleaned. Apart from
geographical and technical aspects of the wells in Haryana their
socio-cultural significance provided fascinating scenes on several
auspicious occasions. Firstly, the builders and masons never forgot to
depict the life and events of the people, out of the regional cultural
history, through wall painting, in tempera, made on the superstructure of a
well and the adjoining shelter or a corner chhattari. At some places,
idols of deities were also made in relief in the niches made at suitable
places in the superstructure. These were made in relief either on the buff
sand stone or carved of fine lime mortar.
The deserted, abandoned or
defunct well sites which abound in Haryana, in fact, can become sort of
village level monuments. Gone are those fascinating times when by operating
a charas , a leather bucket, on a deep well substantial quantity of
water, a very economical activity, could be lifted to fill the tanks and
adjoining bays (khel aur kothey) made into and around the platform.
Village belles, attired in all sorts of beautiful costumes and jewellery,
would come and go in groups singing melodious folk songs. One wishes that
those glorious day are resurrected to again spread charm of the unusual
kind.
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