Care to look in? Deepest well in the world, Jaipur
The word ‘baori’ has its roots in Persian, and means well or underground water pit. Imagine a well more than 30m deep. The Chand Baori, located in Abhaneri village, about 90km from Jaipur, is just that. It was built in the 10th century. What’s more, this huge and mesmerising well has been pictured in the Hindi movie, Paheli and the English movie, The Fall.
Northern and northwestern India faces dry climate for most part of the year, and so, deep wells that go down several metres is commonly found here. The Chand Baori in Rajasthan is the deepest stepwell in the world. It goes down 13 levels and one has to descend an awesome 3,500 steps to reach the lowermost area. Three sides of the well are covered by steps, while on the fourth side there are look-outs and resting rooms.
The seventh century Harshat Mata Temple is right opposite this big well. The village of Abhaneri was established by King Raja Chand. Earlier known as Abha Nagri, because of goddess Harshat Mata who is believed to spread ‘abha’ or ‘brightness’ all over the place, the city still has glorious ruins of its past. There are carved sculptures, relics and paintings which you can find.
Abhaneri is off the Jaipur-Agra Highway and so buses are plenty. You can also take a train via the Delhi-Ahmedabad railway line.
