- Rani Ki Vav (Queen's Step Well)
Rani ki vav is
an intricately constructed stepwell situated
in the town of Patan in Gujarat, India.
It is located on the banks of Saraswati River. Rani ki vav was built as a
memorial to an 11th century AD king Bhimdev I It was added to the list
of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites on
22 June 2014. Stepwells are a distinctive form of subterranean water resource
and storage systems on the Indian subcontinent, and have been constructed since
the third millennium BC. Rani ki vav was built in the complex Maru-Gurjara
architectural style with an inverted temple and seven levels of stairs and
holds more than 500 principal sculptures.Rani ki Vav bagged the title of
“Cleanest Iconic Place” in India at the Indian Sanitation Conference (INDOSAN)
2016 in New Delhi in October 2016. The monument was felicitated at the
conference, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.This magnificent east-facing step well measures approximately 64 m
long, 20 m wide & 27 m deep. A stepped corridor compartmented at
regular intervals pillared multistory pavilions is a unique feature. It was one
of the largest and the most sumptuous structures of its type. It became silted
up and much of it is not visible now, except for some rows of sculptured panels
in the circular part of the well. Among its ruins one pillar still stands which
is an excellent example of this period of design. A part only of the west well
is extant from which it appears that the wall had been built of brick and faced
with stone. Rani ki vav, or Ran-ki vav (Queen’s step well) was constructed during the
rule of the Chaulukya dynasty. It is generally assumed
that it was built in the memory of Bhima
I (r. c. 1022–1064) by his widowed queen Udayamati and probably
completed by Udayamati and Karna after his
death. A reference to Udayamati building the monument is in Prabandha
Chintamani, composed by the Jain monk Merunga Suri in 1304 AD.The stepwell
was later flooded by the nearby Saraswati River and
silted over until the late 1980s. When it was excavated by the Archaeological Survey of India,
the carvings were found in pristine condition.
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