The festival at a glance
What it is: two days of folk music, dance, puppets and village crafts staged at one of the deepest stepwells in India.
What it is not: one of Rajasthan's great festivals. It is modest, local and charming, and its pleasure is the setting.
- Length
- Usually two days
- Recent dates
- 26-27 September 2025
- Organiser
- Rajasthan Tourism
- Setting
- Chand Baori and Harshat Mata
- Allow
- Half a day, or a full day with the evening
- Good for
- Folk music lovers, families, photographers
- Why we like it: folk artists perform at a monument that was built, in its own time, for exactly this kind of gathering.
- Where it fits: on the road day between Jaipur and Agra, which most Golden Triangle journeys already drive.
- The catch: the dates are set by the state each year and often announced only a few weeks ahead.
The stage: Chand Baori and Harshat Mata
The village: a farming place of low houses, neem trees and buffalo, a few kilometres from the railway town of Bandikui in Dausa district.
Its golden age: the eighth and ninth centuries, under the Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty, when temples rose across the region in a confident, richly carved style.
The shape of the well: square, narrowing as it descends, like a pyramid turned upside down and pressed into the earth.
- Built
- 8th or 9th century
- Depth
- About 30 metres, 13 storeys
- Steps
- Some 3,500
- Temple
- Harshat Mata, about 800 to 825 CE
- Old name
- Abha Nagari, city of brightness
- The steps: three sides are lined with small double flights that zigzag down to landings. From the rim, the walls dissolve into thousands of triangles of light and shadow.
- The fourth side: tiers of pillared galleries, where people once came to pray, rest and cool down. The bottom is said to stay five or six degrees cooler than the ground above.
- The name: local tradition credits the well to a Raja Chanda, or Chand, of the Nikumbh clan.
- Harshat Mata: the goddess of joy, whose temple stands on two stone terraces across the lane. The art historian Michael Meister dated it to around 800 to 825 CE.
- Its carving: soft and full in the Pratihara style, with rounded limbs and calm faces. Many of the best sculptures were taken to museums in Amber and Jaipur.
- Worship today: a Lakshmi image is worshipped as Harshat Mata, and village women still come with marigolds and coconuts.
Abhaneri's history in a few lines
The Pratihara age: in the eighth and ninth centuries the Gurjara-Pratiharas held much of north India together, and Abhaneri received its well and its temple.
Raja Chand: local tradition names a ruler of the Nikumbh clan as the builder of the well, and the well still carries his name.
- The damage: Harshat Mata was badly damaged centuries ago. Local tradition blames Mahmud of Ghazni, the raider of the early eleventh century.
- Scattered treasures: pillars and panels from the temple ended up in the stepwell verandah, and many of the best sculptures went to museums in Amber and Jaipur.
- A theft: in the twentieth century the original image of the goddess was stolen from the sanctum, and a Lakshmi image now stands in its place.
- The Kachwaha country: Dausa district is old Dhundhar, the land of the Kachwaha Rajputs who later ruled from Amer and Jaipur. Our Dhundhar page tells their story.
- Protection: the Archaeological Survey of India now protects the stepwell, and the barriers at the rim keep both the steps and visitors safe.
- Wider reading: our short history of Rajasthan places the Pratiharas among the dynasties that followed.
Why a festival at a well
In the dry country of eastern Rajasthan the water table rose and fell with the seasons, so villages built down to it. Whatever the level in May or September, someone could always walk down and fill a pot. Because everyone needed water, the stepwell became the place where village life happened.
Meeting places: women met at the well every morning, and travellers on the old trade routes rested in the galleries through the hottest hours.
- Sacred places: many stepwells carried shrines on their landings and images of gods in their walls, and festivals and weddings were celebrated around them.
- The long silence: when piped water arrived in the twentieth century, most stepwells fell out of use, and many were filled with rubbish or forgotten.
- Why Chand Baori survived: it was too large and beautiful to ignore, and the Archaeological Survey of India protects it.
- Why the festival exists: Rajasthan Tourism created it to celebrate the stepwell and village culture, and to draw travellers off the highway.
- Read more: our journal piece on why stepwells matter and our page on the stepwells of Rajasthan.
When the festival is held
Recent pattern: the weeks after the monsoon. The 2025 festival ran on 26 and 27 September, and listings for 2026 placed it in mid-October.
Not every year: some earlier editions were held at other times, and in some years the festival has not been held at all.
- 2025 edition
- 26 and 27 September
- 2026 listings
- Mid-October
- Usual length
- Two days
- Announced
- Often only weeks ahead
- Weather
- Warm, green and drying out
- How we handle it: we confirm the dates each year as soon as they are announced, and we never ask you to fix flights around a rumour.
- The landscape: fields of millet and maize, green countryside, and a stepwell that may hold more water than at any other time of year.
- The weather: late September can still be warm and humid, with days in the low thirties Celsius. By late October it is settled and dry.
- Village festivals too: in many years the festival falls close to Navratri and Dussehra, when the goddess shrines around Abhaneri are decorated and evenings fill with songs.
- Month guides: Rajasthan in September and Rajasthan in October describe these weeks.
What happens at the festival
Kalbelia dancers
Who they are: a community once known as snake charmers, famous for women dancing in black skirts embroidered with silver and mirrors.
- The music: the been, a gourd pipe, and the dhol, a barrel drum. UNESCO recognises Kalbelia songs and dances as intangible cultural heritage.
- Why it works here: the spinning skirts against the geometry of the steps is the picture most people take home.
Folk musicians
- Who plays: musicians from across Rajasthan, from the desert songs of the Manganiyars and Langas to the devotional music of Dhundhar villages.
- The acoustics: the stone of the stepwell carries sound beautifully, so sit close to the rim.
Ghoomar, Bhavai and kachhi ghodi
Ghoomar: the swirling dance of Rajput women, skirts flaring in slow circles.
- Bhavai: a dancer balances a tower of brass pots on her head, sometimes while standing on a plate or glass.
- Kachhi ghodi: dancers on dummy horses stage mock battles and comic heroics.
Puppets
- Kathputli: string puppets of kings, dancers and snake charmers, with a puppeteer's whistle for their voices.
- Who loves it: children, and every adult who pretends not to.
Crafts and a village fair
What is sold: block-printed cloth, lac bangles, pottery, carved stone and wooden toys.
- Food: village stalls fry pakoras and kachoris. Eat where the oil is fresh and the queue is long.
- Extras some years: rural sports, camel or bullock-cart rides and workshops for visitors.
Lights on the steps
- After dark: when the programme runs into the evening, the stepwell has been lit, its steps catching the light.
- Worth it: a completely different place from the stepwell of a bright morning.
The instruments you will hear
Kamaicha: a bowed instrument with a round, skin-covered belly, played by the Manganiyar musicians of the western desert. Its deep hum carries well in stone.
Sarangi: a smaller bowed fiddle with many sympathetic strings, played by Langa and other musicians. It sounds almost like a human voice.
- Bowed strings
- Kamaicha, sarangi
- Wind
- Been, algoza
- Rhythm
- Dhol, dholak, khartal
- Who plays
- Hereditary musician families
- Been: the gourd pipe of the Kalbelia, with a drone and a melody, once used by snake charmers.
- Algoza: a pair of wooden flutes played together, one for the tune and one for the drone, a sound of the herders.
- Dhol and dholak: barrel drums, the big dhol for dancing and processions and the smaller dholak for songs.
- Khartal: pairs of wooden clappers held in each hand and played with astonishing speed, often in solos that bring the crowd to its feet.
- The singers: many musicians belong to hereditary families who have sung for patrons for generations. Our page on the Manganiyar singers tells their story.
A festival day, the way we would spend it
Early morning, leave Jaipur
- Timing: leave Jaipur just after breakfast, while the light is still low.
- The drive: about two hours, on the highway towards Agra and then a short road through farmland.
Mid-morning, the stepwell first
- Before the crowds: see Chand Baori with our guide while the eastern steps still throw long shadows across the western flights.
- Then the temple: walk across to Harshat Mata and read the fragments in the verandah.
Late morning, the performances
- Where to sit: the shade of the pillared verandah around the rim.
- Then shop: buy something from the makers at the craft stalls.
Lunch, a picnic
- Our habit: we pack a picnic from your Jaipur hotel and set it out under a tree.
- Or later: lunch further down the road towards Bharatpur or Agra.
Afternoon, onwards
- Fatehpur Sikri: Akbar's red sandstone capital, for the late afternoon light.
- Agra by dinner: or stay later for an evening programme and sleep at Bharatpur.
Good manners at a village festival
Stay behind the barriers: the steps are steep and worn, and visitors are not allowed to walk down. The view from the rim is the best one anyway.
Don't climb on the carvings: the stones in the verandah are fragments of a ninth-century temple.
- At the temple: take off your shoes and dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered.
- Photographs: ask before photographing performers up close, and before photographing villagers.
- Give back fairly: tip performers you enjoy and buy from the craft stalls.
- No handouts: don't give money or sweets to children. It changes the village for everyone who comes after you.
- No drones: flying over a protected monument is restricted, and it disturbs the birds that roost in the well.
- Respect the shrine: if worship is taking place at Harshat Mata, wait quietly at the back and keep your camera down.
What most visitors miss
The verandah sculpture: gods, river goddesses and dancers from Harshat Mata, laid out by the Archaeological Survey of India in the shade around the rim.
Look across, not down: stand on one side and look at the far wall. The flights of steps seem to move as your eye follows them.
- The galleries: the pillared tiers on the fourth side, with balconies looking across the void, where the well's sacred life was lived.
- The temple terraces: walk the lower terrace of Harshat Mata slowly. Some carved panels are still in place on its base.
- The village lanes: painted doorways, buffalo in the lanes and women drying cow-dung cakes for fuel.
- Stepwell words: a baori or bawdi is a Rajasthani stepwell, a vav the Gujarati form, a kund a rain-fed stepped tank and a jhalra a tank fed by seepage.
Photographing the festival well
The geometry shot: stand at the centre of one side and shoot straight across. Morning side light gives the steps depth.
Dancers and steps together: find a place on the rim where the performers stand in front of the zigzag flights, and wait for a turn of the skirts.
- Lenses: a wide lens for the well, a short telephoto for faces and hands. Leave tripods at home in the crowd.
- People first: ask before photographing anyone up close, and show them the picture afterwards. It often leads to a conversation.
- The lit well: if the evening programme runs, the lights on the steps make a very different picture. Steady yourself on a pillar.
- Read more: our photography tips for Rajasthan cover light, etiquette and kit.
The country around the festival
The carving yards of Sikandra
Where: on the highway near Sikandra, shortly before the turning for Abhaneri.
- What you see: yard after yard of carved sandstone, from temple pillars and latticed jalis to elephants of every size.
- Why stop: the descendants of the hands that carved Harshat Mata still work the same stone a few kilometres away.
Bhangarh
- What: a ruined town in the Aravalli hills, famous for its ghost stories.
- How: pairs with Abhaneri on a long day out of Jaipur.
Bharatpur and Keoladeo
- What: the great wetland of Keoladeo National Park, east towards Agra.
- In October: the first migrant birds arrive. Sleep at Bharatpur and enter the park at dawn.
Other stepwells
- Panna Meena ka Kund: a smaller stepped tank below Amber Fort with the same criss-cross steps, easy from Jaipur.
- Raniji ki Baori, Bundi: narrower and more ornate. Where Chand Baori is geometry, Bundi's is decoration.
How long to allow
Ordinary day: an hour and a half covers the stepwell, the verandah sculpture, Harshat Mata and a walk round the village.
- Stepwell and temple
- 90 minutes to two hours
- With the festival
- Half a day
- With the evening
- A full day, night at Bharatpur
- Best hour
- Early morning
- Festival day: add two or three hours for the performances, the crafts and lunch.
- Evening programme: plan to sleep at Bharatpur, about an hour and a half east, rather than drive on to Agra in the dark.
- From Jaipur and back: possible as a half-day trip if you are staying four nights or more in the city.
Where to stay
- Jaipur
- About two hours west
- Agra
- About three hours east, with Fatehpur Sikri
- Bharatpur
- Best for an evening programme
- Book
- Two to three months ahead in October
Behind you in Jaipur
Rambagh Palace: the grand old residence of the maharajas.
- The Oberoi Rajvilas: a calm walled garden on the edge of the city.
- The Leela Palace: a modern palace on the road towards Amer.
Ahead of you in Agra
- The Oberoi Amarvilas: a view of the Taj Mahal from every room, the right ending for a day that began at a ninth-century well.
- ITC Mughal: large gardens, good for families.
At Bharatpur
- When: if you want the evening programme and then the birds at dawn.
- What to expect: hotels that are comfortable rather than grand. We choose them carefully.
Journeys that pass Abhaneri
The Golden Triangle: our classic Golden Triangle drives the Jaipur to Agra road. In festival week we simply time that day.
The route itself: our journal has the full Agra to Jaipur via Abhaneri drive.
- Five nights in luxury: Delhi, Jaipur and Agra in luxury can include the festival, with a picnic beside the stepwell.
- With tigers: Ranthambore reopens on 1 October, and the Golden Triangle with Ranthambore can catch an October festival.
- With the autumn festivals: in years when it falls near Navratri and Dussehra, Jaipur's evening celebrations join the journey.
- Samode instead of Agra: if you are not heading east, combine Abhaneri with Bhangarh and return to Jaipur, or spend a night in the painted palace at Samode on another day.
Before you go
See the well first: before the programme starts, while the light is low and the rim is quiet.
Sun: bring a hat, sunglasses and water. The festival ground has little shade at midday.
Cash: small notes for performers, crafts and tea.
- Shoes: ones you can slip off at the temple.
- After dark: if you stay for the evening, sleep at Bharatpur rather than driving to Agra at night.
- Dates: ask us early. They are often announced only a few weeks ahead.
- Toilets: facilities at the festival ground are basic, so plan a stop at your hotel or on the highway.
- Dress: light, modest clothes that cover shoulders and knees, comfortable for heat and for the temple.
- Bring a scarf: useful for the sun, the dust and covering your head at the shrine if you wish.
Who it suits, and when to skip it
You will love it if: you are driving between Jaipur and Agra on the right day and you enjoy folk music and dance.
Families: children enjoy the puppets, the dancers and the fair.
- Photographers: dancers against the geometry of the steps are irresistible.
- Skip it if: you would plan a whole journey around it. The festival is small and its dates are set late.
- What you lose if you miss it: very little. Chand Baori at eight on an ordinary morning, with our guide reading the carvings, is one of the great quiet hours in Rajasthan.