Monsoon architecture: from an ecofeminist lens

Abstract

Rivers in India are understood as feminine, sacred ecologies, yet colonial and industrial interventions have silenced these relationships. The submersion of Old Tehri beneath the Tehri Dam exemplifies this erasure, where a living river was transformed into a controlled reservoir. Through an ecofeminist lens informed by Vandana Shiva, this thesis examines the parallel marginalization of nature and women in India. Engaging the work of Dilip da Cunha, the thesis also challenges the idea of the river as a fixed boundary, and instead understands water as continuously present within the landscape. Drawing from historic stepwell typologies, it proposes a contemporary reinterpretation of water architecture in Tehri guided by acts of descent, humility, and reverence. These concepts work together to re-establish an embodied relationship between humans and nature. This thesis proposes a reciprocal approach to water that challenges extractive practices and restores cultural and ecological relationships.