Workers cleaning the historical Jahaj Ki Bawdi open well in the backyard of Multani Pasha Dargah found a door with an arch at the bottom of the well here on Saturday.
The 10-ft tall structure has a big corner stone in the middle and two supporting beams on two sides. It has a set of stairs on its left and right sides.
“It is either a new channel of the ‘surang bavi’ or ‘karez’ underground drinking water system built in the Bahmani period or an additional set of stairs to reach the top. We will send the details to experts and get their opinion,” Kishor Joshi, Assistant Director of Tourism, said. Six-ft deep silt would have to be removed at the bottom. Once that was taken out, we would get a clearer idea of the design of the well, he said.
Jahaj Ki Bawdi (The ship-shaped well) is a huge step well built in the medieval era behind the burial ground adjacent to the dargah.
It was filled to the brim with garbage after it dried up three decades ago. It is bigger than a football field, says Vinay Malge, coordinator of Team YUVA that is overseeing the cleaning and dredging of open wells and tanks taken up by the district administration.
Workers have removed 85 ft of garbage and silt from the bawdi and dug at least 20 ft. below the ground before discovering multiple springs at the bottom. “It has six ft of standing water now,” Abdul Samad, leading a team of workers that is cleaning the wells, said.
