Venkatappa Baavi - The forgotten well

By Tharangini

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After a long sabbatical, thanks to the pandemic, I am here again trying to connect with my writing side and hope I can hold on to your attention for maybe about 3 mins, for that's how long this article is. 

 

 Our Friday morning started off pretty comfortably, without the regular hectic agenda we usually pack into our trips. But after having to abandon our visit to the Vaali caves, due to an unfortunate leopard attack in the area earlier followed by the multitude of hurdles we had to cross to visit the megalithic paintings, (visit Meera's article here ) we were not sure what to expect at the Venkatappa Baavi. 

 

A view of the beautiful structure

Our growling stomachs made lunch imperative. We had a brief stop at a surprisingly crowded Shri Krishna Veg Hotel at Gangavathi. After lunch,  Meera, Adhikari and myself along with Sarbesh, our enthusiastic, cheerful, and very enterprising guide for the day proceeded towards Venkatappa Baavi in Kanakagiri.

 

We knew little about this place except that it looks amazing. The dusty winding roads in the little town took us to the well.  As we came to seemingly flat ground, our guide announced, we have reached. 

All I could see was a long wall and a guy enjoying a blissful afternoon siesta on it.  Since he was occupying the prime viewing spot, we went around a bit, and the most gorgeous structure built deep into the ground came into view.  

 

A view just before descending

Built by Venkatappa Nayaka in the 16th century, during the Vijaynagar reign, the stepped well is extremely well planned with four levels. Not much information was available on the history of this sadly neglected masterpiece. 

 

 There is no clarity if this was a recreation center or a queen's bath. The local people however call it  'baavi' or well. 

 
Our guide who was telling the history to Meera informed us that around two decades back, it had some water. But since there were no surrounding villages, it was never used for any purpose. 

 

It is inside APMC land but is maintained by ASI. He said the well is considered the pride of Kanakagiri i.e. the hills of gold and this well had a connection to the nearby big temple complex during those days

 

A view from the viewing gallery

A partially damaged
viewing gallery

The top-level with the viewing gallery was similar to the Queen's bath in Hampi, though less ornate. Treading carefully to avoid all the broken glass and innumerable cigarette butts lying around, I inched closer towards one of the damaged windows and was presented with an incredible view. 

The viewing gallery is adorned with carvings of musicians and wrestlers. It also has its fair share of erotic carvings. 

One of the carvings in the gallery

Wrestlers

Some more carvings

Carvings on 
another side

Some musicians

Just below the viewing gallery at the second level are two ornate but highly damaged lion carvings. These carvings seem to be on either side of a possible diving platform. Our guide told Meera, that during its prime and maybe even till later if a bullet was placed in this carving, one could hear a lion's roar.

 

View from the diving gallery

The ornate lions

Right now all I could hear was the well reverberating with the snores of one more guy, who was deep in his alcohol-influenced siesta. This well seemed to be offering the perfect getaway for all these afternoon naps. 

The viewing area can be accessed by descending staircase on either side and right opposite it is the main access to the Baavi or the well.  Interestingly on all far corners, there are small, almost unnoticeable openings in the ground. I did not pay much attention to it, till I realized they were actually smaller staircases leading to the lower level.  

One of the almost
 hidden smaller entrance

All these passages were heavily littered too, I safely stuck to the main wider staircase to explore the second level. 

 

The second level had 3 sanctums for Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. But only empty places with a strong bat odor greeted us there. Beautiful columned passages run all around this level. 

 

The beautiful passage

One of the ruined sanctums

Our guide told us that this place gets cleaned fully only when they have some shooting for movies or serials here. Kind of reminded me of the times when as kids, we used to hurriedly and temporarily clean up the house to impress guests. If the guests came unannounced, it was a different story. We felt like unannounced guests there.

The third level is just a few steps that lead us closer to where the water would have been at its fullest. A comfortable landing flanked by an arched doorway forms this level. The fourth and the bottom-most level is the base of the well, now overgrown with weeds and strewn with litter. 

 

A closer view from the arched gateway

The arched gateway
from the viewing gallery

 

One can only imagine how this place would have looked in its prime, brimming with water and cheerful voices getting together at this place. 

 

I would strongly recommend a visit to this place. Maybe if the popularity grows, some more effort would go into the upkeep of this precious heritage structure, rather than it becoming a den for unsavory practices.

Location map: