I recently stumbled upon a photo of what looked like a reverse temple and had to investigate. It was a stepwell. A stepwell is exactly what it sounds like: steps down to a well. The earliest stepwells date back to about 550 AD and were developed in India as a necessity for areas suffering from torrential seasonal monsoons. Many of these functional structures were commissioned by wealthy or powerful philanthropists (nearly a fourth of whom were said to be women) as spiritual, earthbound bastions built to last for an eternity. I mean, how stunning are these pieces of forgotten architecture? And could you imagine carrying a buckets of water up all those stairs?!
(via CNN, My Modern Met, & 121 Clicks)
You have to see a movie called THE FALL. It is beautiful fantasy film and they shot some of it in this location. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460791/
Looks totally stunning. Haha I don’t won’t to carry buckets of water all the stairs up 😀
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Amazing India….
xoxo
Yael Guetta
http://www.ftwwl.com
Wow! This is the first time I hear of this… they look so awesome.
http://www.madeinmoments.com
These look so beautiful and trippy!
Eugenia
http://www.diamondsandspikes.com/
fashion / lifestyle / beauty / moscow-budapest
I have actually heard of those stepwells before, but I’m still mesmerized by those photos. Beautiful!
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These are really beautiful but the more I look at them in a practical sense the more my knees ache!
These stepwells look really majestic and impressive, thanks for sharing!
Prudence
http://www.prudencepetitestyle.com
So beautiful my jaw has hit the floor – although you wouldn’t want to miss a step – eek!
they are centuries old… oldest form of water harvesting / conservation
Pretty insane!
They are also featured in the lovely Bollywood movie Paheli with Sharuck Khan and Rani Mukerji
See at 12:30: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3NixdyOpj4
Appreciating the dedication you put into your blog and in depth information you provide.
It’s great to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same unwanted rehashed material. Excellent read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds to my Google account.
Good but not excilent
Good but not excilent
They most definitely had to be an inspiration for the “Monument Valley” video game. How beautiful these spaces are!
One of my favourite structures in India!
https://www.instagram.com/p/0QgvPBmEUX/?taken-by=hannahmsears
Thanks, Lauren!
I liked your calling them ‘Reverse Temples”. That fits! I’ll think of them as that from now on.
Take care!
great place…
I would like to use the picture of old Rajasthan well in a book I am writing. Who owns the copyright for the pictures? Do I need permission to use them? If so, whom do I contact?
Dear Sir/Madam
I request you to allow and permit me to use the photographs in my research work. I will solely use the photographs only for our educational and research purposes. The due acknowledgement will be given by citing the website in our Reference Section.
Topic Name: Ancient Stepwells of India
Dated: NOVEMBER 22, 2015
By: LAUREN
Link: https://honestlywtf.com/travel/ancient-stepwells-of-india/
Regards
Dr NIRBAN LASKAR
Mizoram University
WOW! You have Explained a detailed Ancient Step-wells in India, Looking to visit soon, Great Research and Thank you for providing valuable Information, Keep posting.