A queen, a drought and a gift of water
The date: usually around 1740, in the reign of Maharaja Abhay Singh, who ruled Marwar from 1724 to 1749.
A building age: Abhay Singh was raising the gilded Phool Mahal in the fort above at the same time.
The queen: tradition credits the stepwell to Rani Tanwarji, a princess of the Tanwar clan.
- Built
- Around 1740
- Built by
- Credited to Rani Tanwarji, a queen of Maharaja Abhay Singh
- Open
- An open public space in the old city
- Allow
- Half an hour to an hour
- Best time
- Early morning, or late afternoon for warmer stone
- Photography
- Welcome, ask before photographing local people
- Getting there
- On foot, about ten minutes from the clock tower
- Tanwarji to Toorji: in the Marwari way of speaking the name softened, and the stepwell took it.
- Honest guides: ours will tell you no inscription has been found to confirm it. But the attribution is old, and every family in the old city repeats it.
- What a jhalra is: a stepped water tank, usually rectangular, built so people can walk down to the water in any season.
- The city's reserve: in Jodhpur, where rains are short and uncertain, these tanks held it.
- Daily life: women came down with brass pots on their heads, and the tank served for bathing, washing and ritual.
- Punya: building one was an act of religious merit, and a public one. A queen who gave the city a jhalra was remembered by name for centuries.
- The founding curse: when Rao Jodha built Mehrangarh in 1459, the hermit Cheeria Nathji, forced from the hill, is said to have cursed the fort with a shortage of water.
- Three centuries of answers: the city's kings and queens built lakes, tanks and stepwells to answer it. This is one of the finest, in a quarter that once depended on it every day.
Why so many stepwells were built by women
At the top of the steps, picture it full of life: women in red and saffron odhnis coming down with pots, children splashing at the edge, a priest at one of the shrines and somebody's grandmother resting her knees on the landing. That is the world the queen built for.
Women's work: fetching water was women's work in the desert, and still is in many villages.
A women's place: a stepwell was where women gathered morning and evening, away from the men of the household, to talk, rest and pray.
- A queen's gift: royal women knew this, and many chose water as their public gift.
- Rani ki Vav, Patan: the most famous example, built in the eleventh century in Gujarat by a queen in memory of a king, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- Raniji ki Baori, Bundi: built by a queen at the end of the seventeenth century.
- Jodhpur's network: the old city has several water structures linked to royal women and court favourites.
- Gulab Sagar: the nearby lake, credited to Gulab Rai, a favourite of Maharaja Vijay Singh in the late eighteenth century.
- How it worked: tanks and lakes together caught the little rain that fell on the rocky slopes below the fort and kept it within reach.
- The wider story: our journal piece on the stepwells of Rajasthan.
Lost under rubbish, and brought back
Piped water: it reached the old city in the twentieth century, and the stepwells fell out of use.
Silt and rubbish: without a daily purpose they silted up, and people began throwing rubbish in. Some became open dumps, this one among them.
By the early 2000s: much of it lay buried under silt, garbage and debris, and the water at the bottom, when there was any, was foul.
- Abandoned
- When piped water came, twentieth century
- Early 2000s
- Buried under silt and rubbish
- Restored
- In the 2010s
- Led by
- The family behind RAAS Jodhpur
- Uncovered
- Elephants, lions, cows and niches for the gods
- Our elders remember: being told it was unsafe.
- The clean-up: in the 2010s, a project led by the family behind RAAS Jodhpur, a short walk away, cleared it. Workers removed huge quantities of rubbish and silt by hand.
- What appeared: carvings most of the city had never seen, elephants, lions, cows and niches for the gods, deep in the lower levels.
- Repairs: the water was cleaned, the stone repaired and the surroundings turned into a small square of shops and cafes.
- The critics: some feel the square has become too commercial, with cafes and boutiques where there were once houses and workshops.
- The answer: without it, the stepwell would still be a dump.
- Our view: the stepwell itself has been treated with care, and it is best enjoyed early, before the square wakes up.
How a jhalra works
Not a well, not a pond: a deep, stepped tank dug into the ground, usually below a lake or slope.
Two sources: water seeps in from the surrounding soil and rock, as well as from rain falling straight into it.
- Fed by
- Seepage from soil and rock, and rain
- Fills
- July to September, the monsoon
- Fullest
- The months just after
- Lowest
- Spring and early summer
- Follow the water: steps run down all or most sides, so as the level drops in the dry months, people can follow it down.
- Good years and bad: in a good year the water reached close to the upper landings. In a bad one it shrank to a pool at the very bottom.
- Still working: it fills in the monsoon and is fullest in the months just after. In dry years the bottom may be almost empty by spring.
- Natural cooling: deep in the stone, out of the sun, it can be several degrees cooler than the lane above.
- A summer refuge: in the old days the lower landings were a refuge from the heat. Sit on a low step on a warm afternoon and you feel it.
A walk down the stepwell
From the top edge
Look straight down: the flights zigzag in a geometric pattern, crossing and recrossing, down to the water.
- Three sides: steps run all the way down.
- The fourth side: a building facade with a great arch, a row of blind arches and small projecting balconies.
- Early light: the stone is rose-pink and the pattern at its sharpest.
The first landings
- Go down a few flights: carefully, then turn around. The square vanishes and the sounds of the old city fade.
- Uneven steps: some low and easy, some steep, cut for practical use by people carrying heavy pots.
The carved animals
Where: the lower levels, uncovered during the restoration.
- What: elephants that seem to be dancing, lions and cows, cut into the sandstone.
- Still crisp: buried for decades, their edges are sharp.
- For children: a treasure hunt.
The niches and shrines
Once for the gods: small wall niches held images, and some still carry traces of worship.
- Sacred water: a stepwell was holy as well as practical, and water was treated as a goddess.
- Leave them: as you find them.
The arched facade
The fourth side: a large, slightly pointed arch, a blind arcade and jharokhas.
- An open-air hall: with the water as its floor.
- In soft light: it looks almost like a stage set.
Looking up
From the bottom landings: look back up.
- The fort above: on a clear morning the walls of Mehrangarh appear over the rim, high on their cliff.
- Few look: one of the most beautiful views in the old city, and very few visitors look for it.
The architecture, in plain words
The stone: the same rose-red sandstone as the fort and the old city houses, cut in large, well-fitted blocks.
Through the day: its colour moves from pink at dawn to orange at noon and deep red in the evening.
Palace masons: the builders came from the same families who carved the palaces above, and the quality shows.
- Stone
- Rose-red Jodhpur sandstone
- Plan
- Crossing diagonal flights of steps
- Colour
- Pink at dawn, orange at noon, red at evening
- Masons
- The families who carved the palaces
- The geometry: crossing diagonal flights draw the eye back and forth, deeper and deeper, to the water.
- Practical and beautiful: the pattern let many people go up and down at once, and it is deliberately lovely.
- A long tradition: western Indian stepwells, from the great Chand Baori at Abhaneri to the baoris of Bundi.
- How they evolved: our architecture guide explains.
- Smaller and plainer: it lacks the many-storeyed galleries of Rani ki Vav.
- Its beauty: proportion and colour, and its place in the middle of an old city neighbourhood rather than a village or field.
The square and the lanes around it
Our favourite way to arrive is on foot at first light, from the lanes below the fort. Women sweep their doorsteps and draw chalk patterns, a milkman pedals past with steel cans on his handlebars, and a bell rings at a small shrine. Then the lane opens, the stepwell drops away at your feet, and the old city goes quiet.
The square: rebuilt as a small public space, with a few cafes, shops and galleries in old buildings around the edge.
Busy hours: late morning and evening, with visitors and Jodhpur families.
- Before nine: mostly empty. You share it with pigeons, a sweeper and perhaps a cow.
- The lanes: old havelis with carved stone facades, small temples, tailors and tie-dyers, and the way to the lake of Gulab Sagar.
- Uphill: the blue houses below the fort.
- Downhill: a few minutes to the clock tower and Sardar Market.
- Walk with locals: our heritage walks usually pass through, with guides who grew up here.
- Afterwards: walk on to Gulab Sagar, where the lake reflects the fort in still weather.
- Breakfast: a kachori from a lane stall and a cup of chai. Our guide will know where the oil is fresh.
- Or sit: our team can arrange breakfast on a rooftop with the fort in view.
Other stepwells to see in Rajasthan
Our stepwells experience gathers the great baoris of Rajasthan in one place.
Chand Baori, Abhaneri
- The deepest: the most dramatic stepwell in Rajasthan, with thousands of steps in a vast inverted pyramid.
- Where: beside a ruined temple, in a village between Jaipur and Agra.
The baoris of Bundi
- Dozens of them: the finest is Raniji ki Baori, with its carved arches and pillars.
- Our favourite day: a morning walking from one to another.
Rani ki Vav, Patan
- Over the border: the queen's stepwell of the eleventh century in Gujarat, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with hundreds of carved figures.
- How to fit it in: on our journeys through Gujarat and Kutch.
The best hour and the best season
Sunrise to nine: the square is empty, the light soft on the stone and the water still. The hour for photographs, sitting and hearing the old city wake.
Late afternoon: second best, when the light warms the stone again, though the square is busier.
- Best hour
- Early morning, or late afternoon for warmer stone
- Quietest
- Sunrise to nine
- Fullest water
- August to November
- Winter
- December to February, lower water, clear mornings
- Lowest water
- April and May
- For the water: come between August and November, after the monsoon has filled it.
- Winter: from December to February the water is lower but still good, and the mornings cold and clear.
- Spring: by April and May the level can drop a long way.
- Summer mornings: the lower steps stay cool, a pleasant early stop.
- Month by month: our best time to visit Jodhpur guide.
How long to allow
Ten minutes: enough to stand at the top edge, look down the zigzag flights and take the classic photograph.
Half an hour to an hour: time to walk down to the lower landings, find the carved elephants and lions, and look up for the fort.
- A slow morning: arrive at first light, sit on the steps, walk on to Gulab Sagar and finish with kachori and chai in the lanes.
- With children: small ones should hold an adult's hand and stay on the upper landings, so allow time for the treasure hunt from above.
- On a longer walk: combined with the blue lanes from the fort and the clock tower, it becomes the middle of a half-day on foot.
How to visit well
Walk in: from the clock tower or from RAAS, through lanes cars cannot use.
Take it slowly: the steps are steep, irregular and polished. Keep an eye on children.
- Arrive
- On foot, cars cannot get close
- Footwear
- Shoes with good grip
- Handrails
- None on most flights
- Access
- Not suitable for wheelchairs
- Stay dry: don't swim, wade or throw anything into the water. Local boys jump in on hot days, which we don't recommend for visitors.
- Limited mobility: enjoy the view from the top edge, where the best photographs are taken anyway.
- Photography: welcome. Be considerate of other visitors and ask before photographing local people.
- Respect: treat the niches and shrines with care. Water is sacred here.
- Time: half an hour to an hour, or longer at one of the cafes.
Photographing the stepwell
Before nine: empty steps and soft, even light.
Straight down: from the top edge, to show the zigzag geometry. Use a wide lens if you have one.
- For depth: go down to the first landing and shoot across the water towards the arched facade.
- Frame the fort: from the lower steps, with Mehrangarh above the stone rim.
- After the monsoon: still water gives a clean reflection of the steps.
- In spring: the bare lower levels show the carvings best.
- More spots: our photography tips and best photo spots in Jodhpur cover the rest of the old city.
What most visitors miss
The fort from below: the view of Mehrangarh from the lower landings.
The animals: carved elephants and lions on the lower levels, hidden for decades.
- The cool: the lower steps on a warm day, a lesson in why stepwells existed.
- The seasons: the change in water level between the monsoon and spring.
- The havelis: carved facades in the lanes just beyond the square.
- Dawn: the stepwell then feels like a completely different place from the stepwell at noon.
Who will love it, and who won't
Repeat visitors who have seen Chand Baori sometimes find it small. We suggest they see it for what it is: not the grandest stepwell in India, but a living one in the middle of a living city.
Architects and photographers: and anyone who loves geometry will want an hour.
- The curious: travellers interested in water, ecology and how desert cities survived. It explains them better than any museum.
- Families: an easy, short stop between the fort and the market, and children enjoy the carved animals.
- Wary of steps: enjoy it from the top edge, which costs you nothing in beauty.
- Dislike fashionable places: come at dawn, when the cafes are shut and the stepwell belongs to the neighbourhood again.
What to pair it with
Our things to do in Jodhpur and Jodhpur itinerary guides put the stepwell into a longer stay.
- Mehrangarh
- Above, through the blue lanes
- Clock tower
- Ten minutes' walk downhill
- Gulab Sagar
- A short walk
- Jaswant Thada
- A drive up the ridge
Mehrangarh, above
- Either way round: the stepwell at dawn, then the fort at opening time, or walk down from the fort through the blue lanes to the stepwell.
The clock tower, below
- Ten minutes downhill: Sardar Market and the Ghanta Ghar are the natural next stop.
- What to order: mirchi bada and lassi.
Jaswant Thada, in the afternoon
- After a rest: drive up to the marble memorial on the ridge for the late light.
Where to stay close by
RAAS Jodhpur
Where: a few minutes' walk away, below the walls of Mehrangarh.
- The connection: the family behind RAAS led the stepwell's restoration.
- Best for: an early-morning visit.
Havelis in the old city
- Family havelis: a few in the lanes around the stepwell take guests.
- What to expect: simpler than the palace hotels, and we recommend only those we know. See our heritage havelis page.
The palace hotels
- A short drive: Umaid Bhawan Palace and Ajit Bhawan.
- Compare them all: our luxury hotels in Jodhpur guide.
