Step wells in the form of overturned pyramids have been built all over the world. The wells resemble inverted pyramids with thousands of steps and sometimes additional rooms. Wells were built in the arid regions of the country, where the soil, due to the large amount of salt, could not retain water for a long time. Wells were used not only as reservoirs for collecting and storing water, but also played the role of temples where the corresponding rituals were held.
Chand Baori (Hindi चाँद बावड़ी) is a stepped well, a structure of ancient architecture. Its depth is over 30 meters. Built between the 9th and 11th centuries near the temple in the town of Abaneri, 95 kilometers from Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Historians still cannot name even an approximate date for the appearance of the largest well in the world in India. Many experts claim that Chand Baori was built approximately between the 9th and 11th centuries (the official version at the moment), while others say that a huge reservoir for collecting drinking water appeared 600 years before the advent of our era. Alas, no chronicles that mention the construction of this architectural miracle have survived to this day. True, there is an ancient legend, in which almost the entire population of Abaneri believes: it says,that the Chand Baori well was built … in just one day. Naturally, only otherworldly forces could meet such deadlines: according to legend, demons built a water tank.
It is believed that stepped wells were needed for something else, but not for storing or domestic use of water, since water is not suitable for drinking, as it would follow from the name "well", nor for religious ablutions, according to bacteriologists and parasitologists, it is able to "kill a person in 2-3 days." The properties of a hollow inverted pyramid and an ordinary pyramid are radically different from each other.
The first five photos show Chand Baori, the sixth well Surya Kunda (India), the seventh photo Angkor Wat (Cambodia), the eighth Xiangfan (Central China).
Alexey Velikov
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