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Architecture and Water

Indian cosmology perceives water as a purifying and regenerative element, and it is an essential part of prayer and consecration. Water is also held in reverence because of its scarcity in many parts of the country. India depends on the monsoon rains to replenish its water sources and for irrigation. Failure of the monsoon means death and famine to many, while its timely arrival is an occasion for rejoicing.

Adalaj Vav, built in 1499 by Rudabai, the wife of a local chieftain, is covered with sculptures of dancing maidens, erotica and images of Shiva. It comprises a series of platforms and galleries raised on pillars on the sides of the stepwell.

The sacredness of water finds acknowledgment throughout the subcontinent through extraordinary and monumental architecture that displays the acme of engineering achievement.

Stepwells or Vav

The concept of the vav, or stepwell, was a response to the harsh climate of Gujarat and Rajasthan in the west of India and the acute shortage of water. Since wells access ground-water, they are the most reliable source of a continuous water supply. The best examples of the vav in Gujarat are those created by the Solanki kings in the 12th and 13th centuries. Later, the Muslim rulers of the state carried on this architectural tradition.

The vav came to be associated with more than just a water source. The architecture around the original well was designed in such a way that the vav came to be a subterranean retreat. The vav consists of two elements. The well itself is a vertical shaft with a thick surrounding wall to maximize water retention. A series of imposing flights of steps, built over an inclined passage, broken at various regular levels by landings, leads from the ground level to the water level deep below.

Rani-ki-vav at Patan, Gujarat's largest stepwell, was built in 1050 in the Solanki period and extensively restored in the 1980s.

The flights of steps, built between two massive retaining walls, are covered at various levels, as are the series of pillared galleries and chambers that open out from each landing. The Rani-ki-Vav at Patan, which descends to seven stories beneath the ground level and measures 36 meters by 4 meters, gives an idea of the scale. Pillars, capitals, railings and walls, all made of local stone, are sumptuously carved, with a mixture of decorative motifs and iconography, creating a unique architecture.

Reservoirs and Tanks (Kunds)

A combination of practical water storage with pleasure and palaces on the one hand, and with temples and rituals on the other, is common in Indian water architecture. The balance of sacred and royal aspects is different at every site. In Rajasthan, the temple tank or kund takes the form of a deep storage basin with long and narrow flights of stairs leading down to deep reservoirs. The design of these tanks combines the cooling features of wells with those of a water basin conducive to purification rituals.

Ghats

The ghat, meaning "riverbank" or "steps leading to water," is a common feature of many temples situated on the banks of rivers. In Hinduism, every river is representative of the Ganges, believed to flow out of the hair of the god Shiva, and whose waters are therefore considered to be most sacred.

Hindus believe that death in this life is but a stage in the journey of the soul. Hence the ashes of those who are cremated are immersed in the waters of sacred rivers, to mark the beginning of this onward journey. The ghat provides the physical place to commemorate this, and some of India's most colorful architecture has developed along the banks of sacred rivers, in joyous but respectful celebration of the journey of the soul.

A section of the ghats at Benaras.

The kund adjoining Moosi Rani ki Chhattri, a cenotaph behind the City Palace at Alwar. The monument is the cenotaph of Raja Bakhtawar Singh (1790-1815) and was named after his mistress who performed sati here when he died. The kund is a reservoir with steps leading down, replicating typical ghat architecture, associated with sacred rituals

A commemorative cenotaph by a lake, most probably built where the ashes of the dead were immersed.

A well encompassed by four minaret-like towers on a raised platform in Shekhawat, north of Jaipur.

The ghats at Varanasi (Benares) are the most sacred. The city derives its name from the two ghats that mark its extremes. The Varana Ghat is located at one end of the nearly 4-kilometer stretch that ends at the Asi Ghat. The riverfront is bordered by steps that lead down to the river, interspersed with temples, chhattris and shrines, palaces, dharamshalas or pilgrim shelters, and other buildings. These ghats were built over many hundreds of years by royal and noble patrons. Amongst the nearly 80 ghats that constitute the architecture of the Varanasi riverfront, the Manikarnika Ghat is specially devoted to cremation rites.

Water Palaces and Pavilions

In the hot, arid climate of the northern plains, the onset of the monsoon is associated with intense pleasure and is a time of celebration. This joy and exuberance has found expression in music, art, literature and, of course, architecture. In many palaces and forts, specially designed pavilions and terraces were created with the express purpose of enjoying the rain and cool moisture-laden breeze.

The bathing pool at the northern end of the Jahaz Mahal at Mandu.

The Water Palace, Deeg

Perhaps the most extravagant tribute to the magic of the monsoon is the Water Palace built by Raja Suraj Mal of Bharatpur in the late 18th century. The palace is located at Deeg, where the Bharatpur kings had their summer capital, and is an elaborate complex of marble and sandstone pavilions, a large tank, pools, fountains, waterways and gardens.

The complex is built within a charbagh (paradise garden) comprising a central octagonal pool with fountains, from which four paved pathways lead to the various pavilions and palaces. Two tanks flank the complex. A huge reservoir, that originally took two days to fill, feeds the elaborate network of water channels that form part of the cooling system of the palace complex. The various palaces and pavilions contain many ingenious ways to experience the rain and to simulate the monsoon.

The Deeg Water Palace, once a romantic summer retreat for the Jat kings of Bharatpur. It is a fine example of the skill with which an elaborate cooling system was devised, drawing water from a huge reservoir.

The months of Sawan (July) and Bhadon (August), when the monsoon is at its strongest, lend their names to two pavilions that project out over the Gopal Sagar tank. They are roofed over with a sandstone replica of the bangla roof (see p. 87), which contains a clever water system creating a semicircular arc of falling water. The pavilions flank the Gopal Bhawan, the main palace situated by the tank, making it look as if it is rising out of the water.

An elegant pavilion, the Keshav Bhawan, overlooks the Roop Sagar tank on the other side of the complex. It is a flat-roofed building with deep projecting eaves or chhajjas resting on symmetrically placed pillars with arched openings. The pillars are hollow and within them run pipes which continue within the structure over the arches. Heavy stone balls used to be placed on the roof so that when water gushed up through the pipes, these stone balls rolled to produce the sound of thunder.

The Nand Bhawan, another palace, uses a traditional, indigenous method to keep its interiors cool. Between its double roof are sandwiched upturned earthen water pitchers that serve the function of insulation. Fountains sprayed jets of colored water that created rainbows. Immense marble urns filled with water and a number of small pools further enhanced the enjoyment of water.

The Jahaz Mahal, Mandu

The Jahaz Mahal, or Ship Palace (seep. 98), was built in the 15th century by Ghiyas-ud-Din Khalji, much of whose 30-year reign was spent in amusement and pleasure. Standing on a narrow strip of land between two lakes, it is 122 meters long and a little over 15 meters wide. The façade is a bout 10 meters in height.

The lower part of the building has a series of continuous arcades, over which rests a wide chhajja on stone corbels. The upper part is articulated by a series of built-in arches over which runs a wide parapet decorated with glazed tile, in the typical provincial style of the region. The ground floor consists of three huge halls separated by corridors, with small enclosures at the extremities. At the rear of each hall, a small pavilion projects out into the lake.

The island palace of Jag Nivas, Udaipur, now converted into the Lake Palace Hotel, was built between 1743 and 1746.

The central pavilion is the largest and has a domed ceiling decorated with blue and yellow tiles. The other smaller pavilions were meant for the harem, and one can still see the stone frame-works that were used to hang curtains to ensure privacy. The room at one of the extremities has a channel from which the cistern was filled. The cistern was used also as a swimming pool. It has an elegant shape, and is one of the special features of the palace. On the upper floor is another cistern, fed with water through elegant spiral-shaped channels.

Water within Architecture

Even though the presence of water in the form of temple tanks had been a part of sacred architecture in India for many centuries, it was really the Mughals who perfected extraordinary ways of integrating it within the building. The concept of the charbagh had originated with Babur and found its most perfect expression in both Humayun's Tomb and the Taj Mahal, and in the pleasure gardens of Kashmir. Evolving from the fountains and channels of the charbagh, Mughal architects designed a system of water courses that ran under the building, creating an elaborate network of waterways that kept the floor cool during summer. In the Rang Mahal of Delhi's Red Fort, built by Shah Jahan, the main water channel that brought the water from the River Yamuna, along whose banks it was built, wove its way through the complex. Known as the Nahar-i-Bahisht or Stream of Paradise, the channel fed a warren of smaller channels that ran underground. Within the zenana of the Rang Mahal, this channel cascaded over a sloped and carved marble ramp to end in a shallow marble pool sculpted in the shape of a flattened, fully blooming lotus (see p. 114). From each petal of the flower spurted a jet of water, so that the petals and inlaid leaves seemed to move gently with the ripples.

In a pavilion at Mandu, spring water from the rockface crosses the marble floor in an inlaid channel and cascades down before it reaches a square pool, then exits through a delicate spiral.