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Question 13 of 136 · Monuments & Religious Places
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The 'Rani ki Vav' (Queen's Stepwell), on the banks of the Saraswati river, is located in:

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Answer: Option B — Patan, Gujarat

Detailed Solution

The Rani ki Vav ("Queen's Stepwell") is located at Patan, in Gujarat, on the banks of the Saraswati river.

About the Rani ki Vav:

  • It was built in the 11th century (around 1063 CE) by Queen Udayamati, in memory of her husband, King Bhima I of the Chaulukya (Solanki) dynasty.
  • Patan (Anahilwad Patan) was the capital of the Chaulukya kingdom.
  • It is built in the "Maru-Gurjara" architectural style.
  • It is designed as an inverted temple, with seven levels of stairs leading down to the water.
  • It is about 64 metres long, 20 metres wide and 27 metres deep.
  • It contains more than 500 principal sculptures and over 1,000 minor ones, depicting Hindu gods and goddesses, especially the avatars of Vishnu, as well as apsaras and scenes from daily life.
  • Over the centuries, it was flooded and covered with silt from the Saraswati river, which helped preserve its carvings.
  • It was excavated and restored by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) from the 1950s to the 1980s.
  • It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014.
  • Its image appears on the reverse of the lavender-coloured 100-rupee note issued by the RBI in 2018.
  • It was named the "Cleanest Iconic Place" in India in 2016.

About stepwells:

Stepwells (called "vav" in Gujarati and "baori" or "baoli" in Hindi) were built in western India to store water in dry regions and also served as cool resting places and social spaces.

Other famous stepwells:

  • Adalaj Stepwell: near Ahmedabad, Gujarat (1499).
  • Chand Baori: Abhaneri, Rajasthan; one of the deepest stepwells, with about 3,500 steps; built in the 8th-9th century.
  • Raniji ki Baori: Bundi, Rajasthan.
  • Agrasen ki Baoli: New Delhi.

Why not the other options?

  • ✗Bundi, Rajasthan, has the Raniji ki Baori.
  • ✗Abhaneri, Rajasthan, has the Chand Baori.
  • ✗Adalaj, Gujarat, has the Adalaj Stepwell.

Quick tip

Remember: Rani ki Vav = Patan, Gujarat (built by Queen Udayamati for Bhima I, about 1063; UNESCO 2014; on the 100-rupee note); Chand Baori = Abhaneri; Raniji ki Baori = Bundi.

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Monuments & Religious Places — Preparation

This question tests your understanding of Monuments & Religious Places, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.

This topic covers India's important monuments, temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras and pilgrimage sites, who built them and when, their architectural styles, and India's UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Questions ask who built a monument, where it is located, or which dynasty or style it belongs to. For example, the Qutub Minar was begun by Qutbuddin Aibak, and the Sun Temple at Konark was built by the Eastern Ganga king Narasimhadeva I. Revise the UNESCO World Heritage Sites as a list, noting the most recent additions. Practise the monuments and religious places questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.

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