Abstract
Water is fundamental to survival, yet in many cultural contexts it also embodies spiritual, social, and ecological meaning. In the Indian subcontinent, water has long been understood as both a material necessity and a sacred presence, shaping architectural forms that mediate between environment and community. Stepwells emerge from this synthesis, as highly adaptive structures that accommodate fluctuating water levels while cultivating spaces of gathering, ritual, and reflection. Despite their historical significance or strong presence in other states of India, stepwells in Dhar today are increasingly marginalized—physically deteriorating, functionally displaced, and conceptually overlooked within dominant frameworks of heritage and urban development.
The thesis investigates the stepwells located in Dhar which serves as a historical city within Madhya Pradesh the central Indian state, comprising structures that range from approximately 150 years to over three centuries in age, reflecting layered histories of use and transformation. The research shows how they lack formal documentation which prevents their existence from being recognized in archive collections and preservation efforts. The research presents documentation about 27 stepwells which include many unrecorded sites to demonstrate how these locations continue to exist in daily life while being neglected, altered or erased. The ongoing use, abandonment and transformation of these areas demonstrate how the community relationships with infrastructure and memory have evolved, which shows how these areas exist in a state of vulnerability during present-day urban environments.
Positioning documentation as both method and argument, this study reads stepwells as an organic urban network rather than isolated monuments. The research demonstrates how patterns of settlement and development have historically coalesced around these water infrastructures, even as they remain excluded from institutional recognition. By interrogating the biases of heritage discourses that privilege monumentality and economic visibility, the research argues that the neglect of stepwells operates as a form of spatial and cultural exclusion. In response, I propose an alternative framework centered on endurance, care, and memory, asserting the value of stepwells as critical sites through which more ethically attuned understandings of heritage can emerge.
