- Rani ki Vav or Ranki vav (lit. 'Queen’s stepwell') is a stepwell situated in the town of Patan in Gujarat state of India.
Engineering sketch plan of the step-well.
- It is located on the banks of Saraswati river. Silted over, it was rediscovered in 1940s and restored in 1980s by the Archaeological Survey of India.
- Rani-ki-Vav was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 2014.
Its construction is attributed to Udayamati, daughter of Khengara of Saurashtra, queen of the 11th-century Solanki dynasty and spouse of Bhima I.
As the history goes, Patan where the stepwell is located was the capital of Gujarat when King Siddharja Jaysingh was in power. Then, it was known as Anhilpur Patan. The construction of Rani Ki Vav was commissioned in the Solanki or Chalukya regime. It is said that the stepwell was built as a tribute to Bhimdev the First whose father had founded the Solanki dynasty in 1050 AD. The construction was proposed by the queen Udayamati, wife of Bhimdev the first.
- The entrance is located in the east while the well is located at the westernmost end and consists of a shaft 10 metres in diameter and 30 metres deep. The stepwell is divided into seven levels of stairs which lead down to deep circular well.
- The finest and one of the largest examples of it's kind and designed as an inverted temple highlighting the sanctity of water, the stepwell is divided into seven levels of stairs with sculptural panels; more than 500 principal sculptures and over a thousand minor ones combine religious, mythological and secular imagery.
- The walls, pillars, columns, brackets and beams are ornamented with carvings and scroll work. The niches in the side walls are ornamented with beautiful and delicate figures and sculptures. There are 212 pillars in the stepwell.
- The structure was flooded by the Sabarmati River and remained silted till the late 1980s, when the ASI excavated it.
- The steps lead to the deepest bottom through several pillared pavilions. The lowermost step ends at a small gate which opens to a 30-km tunnel. It is supposed to have been used as an escape to the nearby town Sidhpur in times of invasion by enemies.
The World Heritage Site status has made Rani Ki Vav the queen of stepwells in India, for its sheer magnificence, intricate carvings, celestial sculptures, and water-preserving technology.Since July 2018, the new 100 rupee banknote features rani ki vav in its rear side.
The beauty of this step-well architecture is beyond the words.
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