After the Women Arts Center we leave the Ranthambore area driving north towards the only touristy stop for the day, Chand Baori Stepwell. For that we have to basically almost return to Jaipur to reach the Jaipur-Agra highway and then continue towars the stepwell. We pass through small villages and minor cities keeping an eye out for anything interesting like camels and elephants on the road, which are actually quite common.
There are many market areas in the cities along the way and one of the games we play is trying to identify the fruits sold, with little success really.
Chand Baori Step Well is located in Abhaneri and is a little out of the way so we are surprised at the number of foreign tourists here. Some seem to have teleported here asking us where they are (?) and what the name of the step well is. We walk resolutely to the step well ignoring the “guides” and “friendly locals” that loiter near the entrance and inside. And then we reach the interior and it is quite worth it, it is magnificent and quite impressive.
Along the perimeter there are many remains of what we assume was an original building, the existing top level does not fit the previous icons, building defect or intended?
It takes a bit to find a spot to take a photo that can encompass both the water level and the whole well, it is for certain the deepest step well we have seen during our India trip. It is also quite old, as it is dated to the 8th century with the palace like structure being built afterwards.
The stepwell and surrounding area were conquered by the Mughals who destroyed most faces in the carvings in keeping with the tenets of Muslim religion. So it is a bit unusual to find a few that escaped the fervor of destruction, some of which are exhibited at the top level.
We walk around the Step Well and hope to exiti on the other side however there is a “friendly person” waiting for us there so we decide to stop and turn around and exit where we entered. This is to avoid any additional expected tips for allowing us to pass through a possibly “restricted area”.
After we exit the stepwell area and before returning to the car we walk across the street to the Harshat Mata Temple. The temple is free to enter and was likely constructed after the step well in the 9th century. The original builder is unknown but it was likely a local king with the help of vassals.
Whiile a protected archaeological site it is also used as an active temple so we need to take our shoes to enter the top platform to reach the small remaining temple dedicated to Lakshmi as far as we understand.
We wander around the perimeter on the lower platform where we don’t have to take off our shoes, it is also less popular so we can take better photos.
Similarly to the step well there are some beautiful decorations with many of them defaced by the Mughals after they conquered the area.
There are lots and lots of carvings in fact with the animals ones mostly surviving intact, pointing to the fact that the Mughals were not as extreme as they could have been. And then after finishing our tour around the temple we return to the car for the remaining drive to Bharatpur where we will stay for the night.
