Hyderabad: Bowlis quenched thirst in Nizam era

Hyderabad: Wells, or bowlis, were so famous, and so crucial, that several areas in the city like Gachibowli, Enginebowli, Gangabowli and Rethibowli were named after them. The Nizam followed the Kakatiya way to conserve water keeping in mind that Hyderabad was an arid region.

Heritage enthusiast Mohammed Safiullah said, “Every big house and locality had a bowli, the entire dependence was on groundwater in that era as there was no canal system. The Godavari and Krishna rivers were out of bounds.”

He said the Kakatiyas realised the importance of water and developed an irrigation system to conserve rain water. The Kakatiyas, who ruled for over 400 years, realised that in the absence of excess rainfall, there was a need to manage with what they got.

“They studied the topography of the land and if a lake got filled downstream, they created other lakes in a chain. The essence was to store rainwater. Bowlis were used to raise groundwater levels,” Dr Safiullah said.

Water from Enginebowli well was used to run steam engines. Rethibowli had more sand content, while Gangabowli was a well with steps. Gachibowli was a limestone well, he said.

“Nizam VII Mir Osman Ali Khan drank local spring water. There are other famous bowlis like Bum-a-Rukn-ud-Dowla, located near the zoo. Bibi-ka-Chashma, a water spring, was located between Charminar and Falaknuma and the area is named after that,” Dr Safiullah said.

Heritage activist Anuradha Reddy said, “The Golconda fort had bowlis. There was Doodhbowli. These wells are no longer operational, but their names survive.”