A heritage storyteller and archivist called Bharat Singh, who lives in Jaipur, is passionate about obscure stories. One of them is of Panna Miyah’s kund, a restored reservoir few steps away from Amber aka Amer fort. In its green waters, broad-backed turtles glide through, with tiny hatchlings trailing behind. Singh believes its Panna Miyah’s kund, which he refers to as “Amber Kund” as a careful religious compromise. The official boards, however, have stuck with Panna Meena.
“The name change is more of an ’80s thing, when the Meena community quietly changed Miyah to Meena,” observes Singh. Panna Miyah, he points out, appears in undocumented history alternatively as a Muslim eunuch brought to Amer by Vishnu Singh, father of Jai Singh II. Another honours Panna Meena, a warrior of the Meena clan, long before the Rajputs invaded Amer—the conflicts between the Meenas and the Rajputs, culminating in the Kachwaha Rajputs seizing control of the Dhundhar region (later known as the Jaipur state) mainly unfolded during the 10th and 11th centuries AD. There are naturally conquest stories, repeated so often they’ve hardened into folklore.
It is said that the baoli was built to honour Panna’s name, or he constructed it himself. It is believed that it dates back to the 16th century. Panna’s haveli and grave still welcome visitors in Jaipur. However, there is a complication; Panna Meena ka kund is supposed to be a step tank, not a stepwell— the first is a deep, often ornate vertical water-access structure, while a step tank is a temple-associated stepped reservoir primarily for storage and ritual use.
Eight storeys of inverted zigzag steps plunge into a square pool here, their geometry so precise that it feels hypnotic. The symmetry recalls Toorji ka jhalra (a popular stepwell in Jodhpur), but this one is softer, framed by chhatris (dome-shaped canopies), landings, with zigzag architectural rhythm.
Across Rajasthan, water structures like Amber kund dot the landscape—Chand baori, Neemrana baoli, Raniji ki baori—each shaped by the scarcity of Jaipur’s arid land and the ingenuity to overcome the challenge. Visually, the kund is a deftly and aesthetically planned water body to meet the needs of the times. Stand at its edge and let the limestone do the talking. The chhatris cast a patterned shade and on the northern wall, is a ceremonial platform that suggests the people of Amber gathered there, drawn to the comfort of water.
The kund was restored recently, but it wears its age lightly. Call it Panna Miyah, Panna Meena, or something safer altogether, the kund doesn’t advertise itself.