A team of young explorers stumbled upon a well built around 600 years ago in Hamilapur village near Bidar.
Team Yuva, a Bidar-based NGO that is documenting historic water bodies, heard of an old well in farmer Ajmer Patel’s sugarcane field. When they visited it a couple of days ago, they were looking at the Baram Bavadi, an octagonal, three-storeyed structure with beautiful arches supporting several domes. Built with black basalt stones, it has steps leading down to the lowest water-level, changing rooms and resting platforms, circular stairs, a tank with pipes carved in basalt and two separate outlets leading to different canals in the farm.
Experts say it was built in the Behmani era. It may have been a community bathing area and not just a Persian pulley well, says historian Abdul Samad Bharati.
It has a Persian pulley that was once attached to a ramp on which bullocks ran up and down to draw water. The ramp is derelict now. The bottom of the well, dug up repeatedly by farmers whenever the well went dry, has exposed layers of soft basalt. The lime and mortar roof is leaking and could collapse if not repaired soon, according to Govindan Kutty, geologist from Kerala University. “We are excited about it,” says Vinay Malge, Team Yuva coordinator. “If repaired and beautified, it could attract tourists.” However, Mr. Ajmer Patel was indifferent to all the excitement. “I am a small farmer. When I find it hard to pay crop loans, how can I afford to spend money on its upkeep. I know it’s a unique well. Ghar mein Kohinoor hai to kya hua. Khana to roti hee hai na? (What if I have the Kohinoor at home, I have to live on rotis.).”
Bidar-based NGO finds 600-year-old Persian pulley well built in the Behmani era
