How it began
UNESCO describes stepwells as a distinctive form of subterranean water resource and storage system on the Indian subcontinent, constructed since the 3rd millennium BCE. They evolved over time from what was basically a pit in sandy soil toward elaborate multi-story works of art and architecture. The tradition reached its height in western India. Rani-ki-Vav, the Queen's Stepwell at Patan in Gujarat, was built in the 11th century on the banks of the Saraswati River, and its construction is attributed to Udayamati, queen of the Chaulukya king Bhima I.
How it works
A stepwell gives people direct access to groundwater by a stair instead of a rope and bucket. Rani-ki-Vav combines all the principal components of the type: a stepped corridor beginning at ground level, a series of four pavilions with an increasing number of stories toward the west, a tank, and a well in the form of a shaft. It measures about 65 m long, 20 m wide and 28 m deep. The well shaft is 10 m in diameter and 30 m deep. Horizontal bracing beams span the corridor to resist the pressure of the soil on the deep side walls.
Who pushed back
Stepwells depended on a stable water table and were vulnerable when it shifted. After geotectonic changes in the 13th century altered the bed of the Saraswati River, Rani-ki-Vav stopped functioning as a water well and was flooded and silted over. By the 1890s, when Henry Cousens and James Burgess visited, it was buried, with only the well shaft and a few pillars visible. The silt is also what preserved it for more than seven centuries.
What changed first
UNESCO states that stepwells belong to a stage of human development when water was drawn mainly from groundwater streams and reservoirs through communal wells. They were built as religious as well as functional structures. Rani-ki-Vav was designed as an inverted temple highlighting the sanctity of water, with seven levels of stairs, more than 500 principal sculptures and over a thousand minor ones.
Where it stands today
Excavations in the 1940s revealed Rani-ki-Vav, and the Archaeological Survey of India restored it between 1981 and 1987. It is protected as a monument of national importance and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since June 22, 2014. UNESCO describes the stepwell as an architectural type of water system widely distributed across the Indian subcontinent. Because of the altered groundwater level, Rani-ki-Vav no longer holds water in its original way.
