Stepwell into the times that were

There is an apocryphal story which talks about the construction of a baoli (stepwell) in a Sufi’s khanqah (resthouse) in Ghyaspura or Nizamuddin. It happened at the time when Ghayasuddin Tughlaq, commenced the construction of his capital city of Tughlakabad. Architects, masons and labourers were employed in full strength in building Tughlakabad. The Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya devised a plan according to which the labourers worked at the baoli at night, and at Tughlakabad during the day. Upon finding a labourer sleeping during his working hours in the capital, the king banned the sale of burning oil in the city so as to force the Sufi to halt the construction of his baoli. Not one to be cowed down by such tactics, Nizamuddin asked his disciple, Nasiruddin to light the lamps with the baoli water. Nasiruddin managed the incredible feat and was conferred the title of Roshan Chiragh-e-Dehli. The baoli was completed in 1321-22, and as legend has it, its waters were said to have miraculous powers. 

Heritage activist and educationist Vikramjeet Singh Rooprai’s book Baoli, published by Niyogi Books, as part of Delhi Heritage Top Ten series in 2019, is replete with such tales and rich detail. The book was a labour of love. But Rooprai’s engagement with monuments is a 24X7 fascination, 365 days a year.

Stone stairway leading down to eastern chamber of Red Fort Baoli | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

This week he wrapped up a heritage workshop at Sunder Nursery for students and teachers aimed at promoting a better understanding of monuments, particularly baolis; the idea being to understand why a particular element, say, sulphur, is present in one and not in another. “Many people think sulphur is present only in Sohna. Such workshops help to drive away wrong notions,” he says.

Talking about the book which took five years to complete and has just gone into reprint, Rooprai says the foreword, by Sohail Hashmi, itself took a long time.

“He is like mentor to me. After I finished writing the book, I approached him for a foreword. He did not commit but a month later, he asked me to address his queries. He wrote the foreword only after he was satisfied with all my answers.”

The queries raised by Hashmi were relevant to understanding the history of monuments, says Rooprai and that is what he seeks to promote through workshops. For instance, he talks about the baoli of Meherban Agha’s Mandi — Arab ki Sarai near Humayun’s tomb.

“As the story goes, the wife of Humayun, Hamida Banu Begum, brought 300 Arabs from her pilgrimage to Mecca and settled them in Delhi. She built a caravan sarai for them, now popular by the name Arab ki Sarai. The sarai is sandwiched between Isa Khan’s tomb and Humayun’s tomb enclosure. To the south of this sarai, a fruit and vegetable market was built during the reign of Jahangir, by a eunuch named Meherban Agha. Maulvi Zafar, in his English listing, spells him as Mihir Banu.

A 1919 view of the baoli’s entrance | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Cosmopolitan effort

A baoli for a Sufi, a baoli built by a eunuch, Delhi has had all this and more. Take the case of the relatively better known Ugrasen ki Baoli, located at a whistling distance from Barakhamba Road. Some pronounce it as Agrasen and associate legends and myths with it though nobody knows when exactly Urgrasen ruled or even lived. Again Rooprai clears the air, “Poet-writer Bhartendu Harishchandra in Agarwalon ki Utpatti claims that Maharaja Agrasen was a contemporary of Krishna. His findings are derived from Sri Mahalaxmi Vrat ki Katha in Bhavishya Purana.”

But that is only one aspect of this baoli. Like any work of the past, this too is subject to modern interpretation. In the view of scholar Bashiruddin Ahmad, the baoli was built by a Hindu man; and given its enormous size, it was probably built by some big person. But there is a mosque attached to the baoli. So was it actually built by a Muslim ruler? Not likely as there were many Hindu rulers who were known to construct places of worship of other faiths. 

Incidentally, the baoli was built in Narhaula, a village near Madhoganj. The village retreated to history when New Delhi was built by Edwin Lutyens. The baoli stays as majestic.

For Rooprai, learning about each baoli is like a a marathon test of patience and skill. Each baoli hails from a different period in history and that is what makes the structure intriguing. For Rooprai, it also entails learning Urdu to comprehend contemporary texts. “I learned Urdu; I refer to Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s Asrarus Sanadid and works before him.”

Help often comes from unexpected quarters. “For my research, I have consulted a University of Tokyo expert who was project manager of the cultural division of UNESCO in Delhi, Ratish Nanda (famous for the restoration of Humayun’s tomb to its old glory) and historian Narayani Gupta.”

The result? The content he creates on baolis are more profound than the waters the baolis once contained. But Rooprai is not done yet. His book on 10 forts of Delhi is coming soon. Then there is another upcoming workshop on the baolis of Delhi in yet another monument.