2019年经济学人 印度阶梯井(3)（在线收听）

And, as you descend into them, what mind-boggling structures these wells are. Their early builders were capable of astonishing feats of engineering. The Chand Baori in Abhaneri, east of Jaipur (the capital of Rajasthan), resembles an inverted ziggurat. Its 13 storeys and 3,500 narrow steps prefigure M.C. Escher’s “impossible objects” by centuries. The Panna Meena Ka Kund stepwell, also near Jaipur, is another elaborate masterpiece. Hindu embellishments to baolis included covered arcades and pavilions that served as refuges from the heat and even as lodgings. Sculptures and friezes were crammed with gods, animals and humans. Spreading Muslim rule introduced a more austere, though no less impressive, architecture of arches and jaalis (stone lattice windows).

当你深入其中，你会发现这些井的结构是多么令人难以置信。早期的造井者具有惊人的工程才能。在斋浦尔(拉贾斯坦邦的首都)以东的阿巴涅里，Chand Baori就像一个倒立的金字型建筑。13层楼和3500个狭窄的台阶，预示着M.C.埃舍尔的“不可能图形”将存在数百年。同样位于斋浦尔附近的Panna Meena Ka Kund阶梯井是另一件精致的杰作。印度人对baoli的装饰包括有顶的拱廊和亭子，用作避暑的庇护所，甚至是住所。雕塑和楣板上刻画了神、动物和人类。穆斯林统治的扩张带来了一种更为简朴，但同样令人印象深刻的拱门和贾里斯(石格子窗)建筑。

But all this was abandoned. The decline of the stepwell began with the British raj, which insisted baolis were unhygienic havens of vermin and disease. They called for them to be filled in or barricaded. The raj’s administrators were blind to their role in socialising and as subterranean caravanserais. Independent India’s encouragement of diesel-powered borewells proved to be the baoli’s death-knell.

但这一切都被抛弃了。阶梯井的衰落始于英国拉贾斯坦邦统治时期，当时的英国坚持认为，baoli是害虫和疾病的不卫生庇护所。他们要求将其填满或设置路障。拉贾斯坦邦的管理者对他们在社交和地下商队中的角色视而不见。独立后的印度鼓励以柴油为动力的钻井，这是baoli的丧钟。

Yet these borewells’ impactonthewater table, plus untrammelled urban development, have led to a drastic depletion of natural aquifers and a countrywide water crisis. That is one reason why the restoration efforts of the AKTC and like-minded groups have struck a chord: more Indians are wondering whether old-fashioned water-conservation methods have lessons for today.

然而，这些钻井对地下水位的影响，加上不受限制的城市发展，已经导致了自然含水层的急剧枯竭和全国性的水危机。这就是为什么阿加汗文化信托基金和志同道合的团体的恢复努力引起了共鸣的原因之一：越来越多的印度人想知道传统的节水方法对今天是否有借鉴意义。

At Nizamuddin dargah, the trust has saved the baoli. Its workers cleared the tank of tonnes of sludge, and relaid the neighbourhood’s sewage pipes. Marrying traditional workmanship with laser scans and ground-penetrating radar, the trust rebuilt the baoli in a form as close to the original as possible. In the process, a subterranean passage from the saint’s tomb to the tank was uncovered, along with water springs and the well’s wooden foundations.

在Nizamuddin dargah，信托基金拯救了baoli。工人们清理了水箱里的数吨污泥，并重新铺设了附近的污水管道。该基金会将传统工艺与激光扫描和探地雷达相结合，以尽可能接近原始的形式重建了baoli。在这个过程中，发现了一个从圣人的坟墓到水槽的地下通道，还发现了泉水和井底的木质地基。