diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 28a59dc..f3ba0ad 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 node_modules
 npm-debug.log
 test/fixtures/README.md
-test/fixtures/not-found.txt
\ No newline at end of file
+test/fixtures/not-found.txt
+.idea
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/cradle/database/documents.js b/lib/cradle/database/documents.js
index d01ffe0..0491d1a 100644
--- a/lib/cradle/database/documents.js
+++ b/lib/cradle/database/documents.js
@@ -95,7 +95,6 @@ Database.prototype.save = function (/* [id], [rev], doc | [doc, ...] */) {
 Database.prototype._save = function (id, rev, doc, callback) {
     var options = this.connection.options;
     var document = {}, that = this;
-
     // Bulk Insert
     if (Array.isArray(doc)) {
         document.docs = doc;
@@ -113,9 +112,13 @@ Database.prototype._save = function (id, rev, doc, callback) {
         // PUT a single document, with an id (Create or Update)
         if (id) {
             // Design document
-            if (/^_design\/(\w|%|\-)+$/.test(id) && !('views' in doc)) {
-                document.language = "javascript";
-                document.views    =  doc;
+            if (/^_design\/(\w|%|\-)+$/.test(id) && !('views' in doc) ) {
+                if( !doc.indexes ){
+                    document.language = "javascript";
+                    document.views    =  doc;
+                } else {
+                    document.indexes = doc.indexes
+                }
             } else {
                 document = doc;
             }
diff --git a/test/database-test.js b/test/database-test.js
index 64cf135..6b5a99d 100644
--- a/test/database-test.js
+++ b/test/database-test.js
@@ -71,6 +71,22 @@ function shouldQueryCouch(name) {
                 },
                 "creates a new document (201)": macros.status(201)
             },
+            "with indexes as root node" : {
+                topic: function (db) {
+                    db.save('_design/search_couch_lucene', {
+                        indexes: {
+                            search_name:{
+                                index: function(doc){index('default', doc.name);
+                                }
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }, this.callback);
+                },
+                "creates a new document (201)": macros.status(201),
+                "returns the revision": function (res) {
+                    assert.ok(res.rev);
+                }
+            },
             "with a '_design' id": {
                 topic: function (db) {
                     db.save('_design/horses', {