“Water is life’s matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.”
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
Mulji Jetha Fountain, Mumbai
A dictionary meaning of the word ‘fountain’ is, ‘a stream of water that is forced up into the air through a small hole, especially for decorative effect, or the structure in a lake or pool from which this flows’. Now, this is restrictive if we look at fountains in the Indian context. In a tropical country, water is a resource to quench one’s thirst and get relief from the heat. Therefore, merchants in Mumbai took significant efforts to construct many drinking fountains across the city, in the times before packaged water became a norm.
Mumbai’s colonial past gave it its most iconic monuments, but even the local entrepreneurs and philanthropists made immense contributions to its architecture. Ruttonsee Mulji, one such cotton merchant, commissioned a Pyaav or Pyau (drinking water fountain) in 1894.
Raison d’être
In the Indian subcontinent, offering water is a good deed, good enough to merit one a place in heaven. And so is a memorial. The two reasons Ruttonsee Mulji erected this fountain. He lost his son, aged 15, to a disease in 1889 and built this structure to commemorate his passing.
For a fountain, location is also important. If we track the locations of Pyaus throughout Mumbai, we find they are present near bazaars, old tram routes, traffic islands, etc. Places which saw a heavy movement of people and goods; and as a result, animals too. They were resting places, for tired feet and overworked beasts.
Features of the fountain
The design by Frederick William Stevens, supported by the decorations by John Griffiths include interesting features. Chief amongst them is the statue on top of the Mulji Jetha fountain – the statue of Dharamsi Mulji, whose memorial it is. The statue depicts him with a book as he loved reading and was always seen with some book or the other. There is also a plaque mentioning the fountain as a memorial.
Indo-Saracenic architecture is the style in use. Design elements like a jaali (latticework screen), animal heads, leaf patterns are prominent. The designer decorated the water spouts with the heads of lions, buffaloes, rams, and elephants, each with exquisite detail. The base of the fountain has a trough to store the water overflow for animals to drink from.
Restoration
After a century of neglect, many of these drinking water fountains are now being restored to glory by noted conservation architects. The Flora Fountain and the Mulji Jetha fountain, along with others, have had a revival by Vikas Dilawari. The restorers have brought the old hydraulic system and the masonry to its original state. In 2018, UNESCO awarded this restoration project with an ‘Honourable Mention’ at the Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.
Of water and air, the two free things that nature gave us, heavy commercialisation of water has occurred. To bring back a sense of community and giving, the functionality of pyau is most needed.
