Stepwell

Stepwells, also known as vav in Gujarati or baori in Hindi, are wells, cisterns or ponds with a long corridor of steps that descend to the water level. The cited article says stepwells played a significant role in defining subterranean architecture in western India from the seventh to the nineteenth century, that some stepwells are multi-storeyed and can be accessed by a Persian wheel which is pulled by a bull to bring water to the first or second floor, and that they are most common in western India and also found in the other more arid regions of the Indian subcontinent. Buildings recorded in the atlas as stepwells are grouped under this concept.