A Place for Water

Do we wait for a structure/system to tear apart to call it a ruin and beautify it? Thinking about the edge if water means no less than imagining a city and a community. Cities have had strong relationships with water bodies. In many ways, water was intimately connected with the very idea of being alive. Water is not just a physical fact but has a deep psychological presence.

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Burhanpur, a town in Central India was an active trade centre and the boundary of the Mughal empire. The town is situated on the banks of the river Tapi, a perennial river that flowed through other kingdoms too and due to frequent battles with the Mughals, there was always the possibility that the river could be poisoned if a war broke out, and so depending solely on the river became questionable. This led to the conceiving of an indigenous groundwater-based system in 1615 in order to provide the people of the town with fresh water.

 

Various age-old water systems that served a purpose and importance have been dilapidated. Today, while most of households are served with tap water, those collection tanks and abandoned and used as garbage dumps. The water system is one of its kind and even though it might not serve its purpose anymore, should be conserved. Taking into account the water crisis, traditional systems could be looked at as a secondary way of sourcing water. This serigraph intends to create an awareness of the preservation of water structures.