Vāpī

Vāpī · vāpī, “a step-well”

Grammar: feminine noun: “a step-well”, in Hindi bāvalī.

Meaning: a step-well, a work of ishṭāpūrta (works of public good).

In the scriptures: the Bhavishya Purāṇa gives these rules:

• New tanks, step-wells, kuṇḍas and water stalls need saṃskāra with pūjā of Gaṇeśa and others, and havana. Into new water works is poured holy water from a vāpī, a pushkariṇī and the like, with Gaṅgā water (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 1, Chapter 9).
• Vāpīs and tanks should stand between the dwellings of the vipras and the devatās. They must not be built on a river bank or near a śmaśāna (Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 1, Chapter 9).
• One who again and again cleans or restores a vāpī, well, tank, garden or water outlet gains the fruit of mukti. One who does not perform the pratishṭhā of a vāpī, temple and the like incurs fear of misfortune and a share of pāpa (Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 1, Chapter 9).
• If one digs a vāpī or well without vidhi, or plants mango and other trees without vidhi, he gets no fruit, only a downward course (Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 1, Chapters 10–11).
• Taḍāga, vāpī, devālaya and trees of thick shade: these four raise one from this saṃsāra. He who builds vāpī, kūpa, taḍāga, dharmaśālā and the like, gives food in dāna and whose speech is very sweet: even Yamarāja does not speak his name (Uttara Parva, Chapters 127–129).

Related terms: Ishṭāpūrta · Kūpa · Taḍāga · Pratishṭhā

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 1, Chapters 9–11; Uttara Parva, Chapters 127–129