India’s Vanishing Subterranean Marvels (Part I)

Thirty years ago on my first of many visits to India, I saw a form of architecture entirely unknown to me. Called a “stepwell” (but known throughout India by many other names including “vav” and “baoli”). I was stunned after peering over a low stone wall to find the ground disappear beneath me. A man-made stepped chasm plunged six stories underground, full of ornate stone columns and sculpture that seemed to disappear into murky shadows. Talk about dramatic: it was thrilling, subversive, and disorienting to be staring down into architecture rather than looking up at it. I’d never experienced anything like it.