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. It was added to the list of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites on 22 June 2014. The stepwell, which had been constructed in the third millennium BC, is a subterranean water resource and storage system. 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 principle sculptures. Famous Telugu Star Mahesh Babu movie Dookudu was filmed in this location which was a Huge Blockbuster.
History
Rani ki vav, or Ran-ki vav was constructed during the rule of the Solanki dynasty.
It is generally assumed that it was built in the memory of Bhimdev I (AD 1022 to 1063), the son of Mularaja, the founder of the Solanki dynasty of Anahilwada Patan about 1050 AD by his widowed queen Udayamati and probably completed by Udayamati and Karandev I 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.
