Rudabai Step Well

Rudabai ni Vav also known as Adalaj ni Vav is located in Adalaj a small village near Ahmedabad. The Vav has a tragic story related to Queen Rudabai who sacrificed her life to get it completed. Its construction was started by Rana Veer Sinh to reduce the acute shortage of water and to give relief to his people. Unfortunately Rana was killed in a battle with Mahmud Begada and couldn’t complete the Vav. Mahmud Begada fell in love with Queen Rudabai and wanted to marry her. Queen Rudabai agreed to marry him on the condition that the unfinished work of Vav would be completed first. On completion of the work Queen jumped into the well of the Vav and killed herself. The Vav is octagonal in shape and is five storied deep. It is beautifully designed and planned. The walls have beautiful sculptures of Hindu and Jain Gods. The pillars are beautiful to look at with geometric shapes and patterns. Carvings on the walls and pillars also have designs of elephants, dancers and musicians. The temperature at the lowest floor is less than the outside temperature. Sun light opening on top of the Vav has been closed by steel jally to avoid any type of mishap. The Vav has three main entries which is really interesting. There is a tomb of six masons nearby who built the Vav. Mahmud Begada didn’t want the same Vav to be rebuilt elsewhere and so he sentenced death to them. Entry tickets are required to be purchased. Mobile phones are allowed inside the premises. Time needed to explore the Vav is approximately one hour. Parking place is available. Archeological Survey Of India maintains and takes care of the site.

I am sharing some images of beautiful structure called Rudabai's Vaav, Adalaj Step Well, Ahmedabad, constructed some 500 years ago, you may need to search a little history to know more.