Rajon ki Baoli: Brainchild of a ‘disgruntled nobleman’, a tribute to masons

Speaking to The Indian Express, Shah Umair, a numismatist and an amateur historian, said, “The name Rajon comes from the masons who were living at the baoli and using its water. They were called Raj Mistri, hence the baoli is called ‘Rajon Ki Baoli’. In the 20th century, when people from different parts of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana started shifting to Mehrauli, it was ghettoised and a lot of people started living on the baoli premises.”

Narrating the history of the baoli, Umair further said, “Daulat Khan was the governor of Punjab during the era of Ibrahim Lodhi, he built this baoli in Mehrauli… this man was also the person who invited Babur to invade India. Babur promised him that if he wins, Khan will be given Punjab to rule. However, Babur had other plans … Daulat Khan was later sent to exile where he passed away…” He further said, “There is a mosque and a grave on the premises of the baoli but we don’t know who is buried in the tomb.”

In 2022, a study conducted by Jamia Millia Islamia’s Faculty of Architecture and Ekistics, under ‘Mission Amrit Sarovar – Jal Dharohar Sanrakshan’ to protect traditional water bodies, described the structure as a “U-shaped baoli with its natural springs as source water”. It further said, “… (It) is an Indo-Islamic design…The step wells consist of four levels and have arched colonnades on the east and west walls and steps on the south side, which lead to the water.”

The study further stated that, “In 1875, there were 66 steps but now, because the stepwell is partly filled, there are three storeys and 41 steps, the walls of the lowest visible storey are decorated with deeply recessed arches. The top storey is surrounded by an arcade with massive piers. The top storey and chajjas have now disappeared.”

In her book Where Stones Speak: Historical Trails in Mehrauli, the First City of Delhi, author and historian Rana Safvi wrote, “The well, which provided water, is a mute spectator and testament to the bygone days when it was a source of life and not a residue of trash. In the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, a group of masons started living in it.

During this period, people, some who had come from distant villages and some from villages nearby, occupied many such monuments because they offered shelter.”

Describing how the monument got its name, Safvi stated: “Though they lived there only for a short period in its history, the masons were responsible for its nomenclature.”

Sam Dalrymple, a writer and historian, wrote on Instagram: “This is Rajon ki Baoli, a stepwell built by the disgruntled Lodi nobleman Daulat Khan. Khan was governor of Punjab and employed Guru Nanak’s brother-in-law. Daulat Khan was horrified with his Lodi rulers, and one day in 1522, he decided to turn coat, inviting Babur to invade Hindustan and seize the throne of Delhi. He sent Babur, ‘as a present, half-ripened mangoes preserved in honey’. Babur was convinced and accepted the gift ‘as a sign’. That very day, he began ‘preparations for a move on Hindustan’… Daulat Khan’s mango chutney had changed history forever.”