Delhi: Agrasen Ki Baoli
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A backgrounder
Anuja Jaiswal, April 23, 2024: The Times of India
The well with 108 steps, located on Hailey Road, is also reminiscent of Bollywood movie scenesNew Delhi: Agrasen Ki Baoli, believed to have been built by Maharaja Agrasen during the era of the epic war of Mahabharata, is set to get a makeover as conservation work will start at the site in the next couple of months.
The well with 108 steps, located on Hailey Road near Connaught Place, is not only known for its unique design and ancient charm. It is also reminiscent of Bollywood movie scenes such as in PK, Sultan and Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. Superintending archaeologist (Delhi circle) Praveen Singh said desilting and structural conservation is likely to happen this year.
Sources said that as of now, water up to the level of 9 metres is in the baoli as well as in the well near it. The last time desilting was done was almost 10 years ago. The conservation will include desilting, flooring, change of brackets along with gap fillings. Though annual maintenance work is done, conservation work is conducted after 5 years, ASI officials said. The baoli serves as a swimming pool in summer.
Recently, a team of the central ground water board also visited the baoli to check hydrogeological parameters which will be subsequently used as an input for groundwater flow and transport modelling purposes. They will give their report to the national monument authority.
Conservation assistant BS Rawat said that people can enter the baoli without any ticket. At least 400-500 domestic as well as foreign tourists visited the stepwell daily.
According to former ASI official YD Sharma’s book Delhi and Its Neighbourhood, “measuring 60 metres long north-south, and 15 metres wide at the ground level, and built with rubble and dressed stones it is one of the finest baolis in Delhi.”
The architecture of the baoli is rather interesting. The deep flight of steps going down to the well are flanked by a thick wall that has two series of arched niches. The lower steps are partly under the water, and the upper ones are merely recessed from the surface. It makes for an impressive sight. There is a circular well at the northern extremity, but between the flight of steps and the well is a covered landing with a terrace or platform at the ground level. Above the flight of steps on the west is a small mosque faced by three openings. It has a ‘whale-back’ roof.
Four pillared columns of red sandstone are carved with chaitya-motifs and stucco medallions in spandrels. The mosque has a unique structure. It is raised on a solid filling with underground dalans on the sides. Parts of the entrance complex of the baoli may have disappeared.
