Muktai Barav: Reviving a Water Heritage Through Youth and Community

In the village of Pichadgaon, Taluka Nevasa, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, stands Muktai Barav, a historic stone stepwell tied to the region's water heritage, architecture and community traditions. A barav is a traditional Indian stepwell designed to provide access to water through a series of descending steps. According to project documentation, Muktai Barav dates back to the 13th century and is associated with Muktai, sister of the saint-poet Dnyaneshwar.

Like many traditional water structures, the Barav had gradually deteriorated. Vegetation, silt and debris had built up, and several stone elements were damaged or displaced. Yet it continued to hold deep cultural and community significance. Its restoration became an opportunity to look beyond the physical structure and understand its relationship with water, landscape, people and memory.

A Fellowship Built Around a Real Project

The Winter Youth Fellowship, run by India Flying Labs and hosted by MKSSS - Institute of Sustainability & Development Studies (ISDS), was created to engage young people in meaningful community programmes and give them the chance to learn through real-world experience. Muktai Barav became one such opportunity.

This was not a classroom project studied after the fact. The fellowship was embedded within a live heritage restoration project, developed in partnership with Sevavardhini, an NGO working closely with communities and leading the restoration initiative. For the fellows, this meant a real site to understand, real people to interact with, real constraints to work around, and a real outcome to contribute to.

Documenting a Living Heritage

Before a place can be conserved, it needs to be understood and documented. The fellows worked on architectural drawings, photography, research, photogrammetry and 3D surveying of Muktai Barav, building a digital record while also studying the surrounding landscape and water systems connected to it.

Working on site introduced them to the realities of heritage documentation. Dense vegetation, difficult access, irregular geometry and changing field conditions meant the work required patience, observation and problem-solving. Technology became a tool for understanding the place, not an end in itself.

This is also where it became clear that Muktai Barav could not be understood as an isolated architectural object. The fellows explored its relationship with the surrounding water system, landscape and community; its channels, drainage patterns, seasonal water movement and connections to other water structures. This shifted the project's understanding from restoring a stepwell to reviving a water heritage system: an older way of thinking about water, where architecture, geography, seasonal cycles and community use were closely connected.

Restoration in Practice

While the fellows documented and studied the site, restoration work progressed through the efforts of Sevavardhini and the project team. This included controlled dewatering, desiltation, removal of vegetation and debris, conservation and reinstatement of stone elements, and attention to the Barav's hydrological and water-quality conditions.

The work showed that heritage restoration is not simply about making an old structure look new. It requires understanding what should be retained, what needs intervention, how traditional materials and construction can be respected, and how the structure can continue to function within its landscape and community. For the young fellows, witnessing this process as it happened offered an experience no classroom exercise could replicate.

Where Technology Meets Traditional Knowledge

The project also showed the value of bringing modern technology into the study of traditional heritage. Photogrammetry and 3D documentation created a detailed digital record of the Barav, while local knowledge and community narratives explained how the place had been used and understood over generations. Neither approach was enough on its own: technology helped the team see and measure the structure, while community knowledge helped them understand its meaning. Together, they built a far richer picture of Muktai Barav.

From Fieldwork to Publication

The fellowship's work eventually came together in "Echoes of Muktai Barav - A Case of Rejuvenation," a publication bringing together the site's history, architectural documentation, 3D survey, restoration process, community narratives, rituals and future conservation considerations. Documentation should not remain only as field notes or photographs. A well-documented heritage site creates a record that can be shared, studied and used by future generations. Through this, the fellows experienced the complete journey, from field observation and data collection to interpretation and communication.

From Fellowship to Lokarpan

The journey came full circle on 19 August 2026, when the restored Muktai Barav was formally inaugurated through a Lokarpan, a ceremony marking the dedication of a restored place to the community. The occasion celebrated the restoration and the Barav's return to community life, including Jal Pujan (a traditional water worship ceremony) and a Jal Dindi (a community water procession), bringing together the local community and everyone who had contributed to the project.

For the young fellows, this was a particularly meaningful moment. They had seen the project move through documentation, understanding, restoration and community celebration. What had started as a learning opportunity had become part of a much larger community journey.

Beyond the Technical Skills

The Muktai Barav project reflects the larger philosophy behind the India Flying Labs Winter Youth Fellowship. Its purpose is not simply to teach young people a technical skill, but rather it is about creating opportunities for them to engage with communities, encounter real challenges, work with practitioners and use their skills to contribute to something meaningful.

At Muktai Barav, this meant bringing together youth, technology, heritage, community and action. The fellows learned architectural documentation and digital surveying, but also how to listen, observe, collaborate and work within the realities of a community project, and they saw that their work could contribute to something tangible.

A Partnership for Living Heritage

This journey was made possible through collaboration between India Flying Labs, MKSSS–ISDS, Sevavardhini, the Taiwala Foundation, technical experts, local leaders, volunteers and the Pichadgaon community. Each partner played a different role: Sevavardhini connected the restoration with the community, India Flying Labs created the platform for youth engagement and technology-led learning, and MKSSS–ISDS supported the fellowship's interdisciplinary approach. The fellows brought curiosity and new ways of looking at the site, and the community brought its knowledge, memories and continuing relationship with the Barav.

The Story Continues

Muktai Barav is now restored, but restoration is only one part of preserving heritage. The longer-term challenge is to ensure the Barav remains understood, used, maintained and valued by the community — perhaps the most important lesson from this project.

A heritage structure does not truly come alive when the restoration work ends. It comes alive when people reconnect with it. And when young people are given the opportunity to participate in that process, they become not just learners, but future custodians of the places and knowledge around them.

Muktai Barav has been restored. Its story has been documented. Its water heritage has been rediscovered. And a new generation has become part of its story.

This is what meaningful youth engagement can look like; learning by doing, contributing to communities, and helping living heritage find its place in the future.