VERTICAL LIVES, DELICATE RIDES

'Well of death’—a collective dance with danger

- TEXT AND PHOTOS BY KRITAJNA NAIK

The mist hangs low on the hilly grasslands of Surajkund—a little temple town some 30km from Hazaribag in Jharkhand. The grass stands still, its tips beaded with cold dew. No birds, no wind—the silence feels almost deliberate. “It used to be a farmland in the middle of nowhere,” the locals say. One night, the irrigation well began to steam—and it never stopped. A temple was built around it, and the place came to be known as Surajkund Dham.

For most of the year, the landscape remains lifeless, suspended in its own quiet myth. But, as winter deepens and the year turns, the empty grounds stir awake. The natural springs—spitting hot water round the clock—become a refuge from the cold. And, then, Surajkund bursts into colour.

It is time for the Surajkund Mela. Giant wheels creek into motion. Roller coasters rise against the pale sky. The Columbus swings. And at the centre of it all stands an upside-down dome, with steel rods jutting outwards like roots gripping the earth. This is the well of death—the Maut Ka Kua.