History, Archetecture and Significane of Adalaj Step Well, Gujarat
The Adalaj step-well also called Adalaj ni Vav or Rudabai Vav, located in small village Adalaj near Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad, Gujarat is unique in design with descending five stories deep. The main purpose behind building this well is to hold water which can be useful for locals.
King Rana Veer Singh had started construction of the step well in Adalaj but unfortunetley before completion, Muslim King Mehmud Begada attacked on King Veer Sing and killed in war and acquired territory. Rana Veer Singh's widow, queen Roopba, a beautiful lady wanted to perform Sati behind her husband. But Begada stopped her from giving up her own life and proposed marriage, she agreed to this proposal on condition that he had to first complete the building of the stepwell. King Begda was deeply infatuated by queen's beauty, thus agreed to build the well and it was completed in 1498. Thus step well architecture is bit influence by muslim design. The queen Rudabai achieved her objective of completing the stepwell initiated by her husband thus decided to end her life and jumped in to well. Fortunately King Begada did not destroy the structure or the Hindu ornamentation as per their normal practice of destroying temples of other religions.
The entire building is enclosed with carvings and monuments with combining Indo-Islamic architectural elements. Hindu and Jain deity ornamented on the walls so stepwell also serves as a temple. It is said that local people came in the morning to fill water and offer prayers to the deities carved into the walls. Design of step well is such that direct sunlight does not touch the flight of steps, thus atmosphere inside the well will be six degree less than outside. Another notable feature of stepwell is that all three entrance stairs meet at the first storey. With the interesting history and beautiful carvings attracts lots of tourists on daily basis.
