The British introduced power-driven piped water supply in cities and towns of India. But, the villages depended on traditional sources such as streams, rivers, tanks, ponds and wells. Planners of independent India attempted to induct technology of piped water in rural India and it was a disastrous failure with crores of rupees going down the drain. The villagers certainly needed water, but pipes, uncertain supply, poor maintenance completely alienated them from poorly conceived and executed facilities. Traditional water sources were shared by the whole community and rich folklore developed around the romance of an experience called a well! But the new water drawing points in the piped water supply scheme became arenas of conflict and discord. The indigenous technologies for obtaining drinking water that evolved in Indian society were in harmony with the environment and rich in philosophy, became the victim of neglect and oblivion. The natural process applicable to building of a well in our rural society was quite different from building & energising a modern water supply scheme. The socio-scientific character and traditional wisdom involved in this process had seldom been a subject of research. Recently, The society for People’s Advancement, Technology & Heritage (SOPATH) completed a field survey and interviews around Rohtak to understand the various practices associated with wells. Six decades ago when a need to build a well was recognised to augment drinking water due to increase in population or drought conditions, a surveyor would be summoned by the head of a family or community. The Surveyor over a period of time and as an apprentice to a senior by a generation acquired expertise as to how to identify a site for a new well. Often, it was on a community land. The surveyor would keep in mind the proximity of the site to the dwellings, the texture of the soil, the water the new well may yield, water needs of the people, financial resources with the commissioning family or community, the capability of the terrain and adjacent pond for recharging the aquifer and the vegetation cover at the premises. When so many parameteres were considered who would say we were unscientific? The true significance lies in the depth of this traditional knowledge gradually developed and successfully utilised by a village surveyor with no formal education. In the next phase, a master mason would be chosen to undertake construction on behalf of the family or community. The master mason, the surveyor, and the ‘head’ of the family or community would deliberate upon the size, depth and the design of the well. Till fify-sixty years ago, lime stones excavated from the community land and locall known as’rori patthar’ were shaped and sized according to construction plans of a well. The masons shaped these blocks with primitive tools but exceptional skills. Later, brick masonry was introduced. The mud bricks were locally made and burnt with available fuel of wood and agro-wastes. Only good quality, selected bricks were used for construction of side-walls of a well and its superstructure. The diameter of the wells found in Haryana ranged somewhere between 3 to 5 meters The quality of binding material or mortar for bricks consisted fo limerock, accacia seeds (kakroli) or guar seeds, white jute (called sun or patsun), wholesome seeds or urad pulse ground with water-thoroughly mixed and pounded. When the wall of a well was sufficiently raised, a chahootra (platform) would be built around it. The final structure of a well were the chabootra, burgee (minarets) and khels kothe (tubs). The whole structure exhibited a kind of excellence with regard to perception of its design. The ruggedness of masonry was remarkable in the sense that it withstood ravages of time for 100 to 150 years. The structure of many of the community wells in Haryana is visibly intact even today. Four-pillar wells with four pulleys were commonly built in Haryana. But wells with eight to twelve pulleys were also built a hundred years ago at Beri, Dujana and Manheru villages in Haryana. With wells, the function determined the form and the richness of forms communicated a warm relationship between the people and the environment. The local artists decorated the walls of ‘shelter’ constructed in the premises with devotion by drawing figures of saints, soldiers&vignettes of day to day life. Many of the paintings can be identified with the Kishengarh style of the Rajputana School. Regretfully, the art work on most of the wells in villages of Meham and Jhajjar blocks including Beri has either faded or been defaced and soon will be lost forever. It was necessary to fix heavy wooden pulleys for drawing water from a depth of 150 to 200 feet with the help of draught animals. A working’charas’ on a well could be anybody’s delight today. This charas was a large leather bucket. Two persons, one at the well;’s end and the other t the animal’s end would coordinate this activity. Bullocks and camels were deployed to pull the charas. The heavy charas holding upto 500 litres of water required full time services of muscular men to operate the system, particularly for discharging the charas into the huge troughs constructed for storing the water. Animals were brought to the troughs specially reserved for them for quenching their thirsts. Women folk filled their pitchers and carried them home from another reservoir. There was utmost economy in the use of water. Wells are an object of our rich cultural heritage. A culturally sensitive relationship evolved between wells and our rural people, especially in semi arid south west Haryana, and adjoining Rajasthan. A 120 year old well with chhatri built at Kalanaur by followers of renowned saint Dadodaya is a fine example of one such heritage. The socially significant custom of cermonially taking a bride to the well is on the decline. In the days of yore, the new bride wore colourful dress in the evening and decorated herself with heavy jewellery of gold and silver. She then strode gracefully towards the well singing folk songs in chorus in the company of senior women of her husband’s clan as if to be introduced to an important personage! The premises of the well hummed with colourfully dressed women fold twice during the day – late mornings and early evenings. Women did not go to a well at night excpet for a tryst! Nowadays, most of the ancient wells are in a dialpidated state. Decaying old trees stand mutely in the company of the deserted wells. The ancient wells are a part of oru national heritage. Some of them could even be reactivated. The least that is rquired to be done is to adopt some of the wells, carry out restroation work and preserve them for posterity as an example of lost traditional knowledge and vanishing rural culture, rituals and festivities. The question is who is to do it – ASI, the State Culture department or INTACH? |
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