Famous Historic Step Vaav at Sevasi (Vadodara)

India / Gujarat / Vadodara
 archeological site, stepwell
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Please see photographs for an extract from the book The Stepwells of Gujarat: In Art-historical Perspective
By Jutta Jain-Neubaue
On the way to Sindhrot in the ravines of Mahi river is a 500-year-old vav,considered as the oldest and most beautiful vav of Sultan Mehmud Begada’s time in 16th century.A clutter of shops hides this treasure.Sevasi Vav was built to commemorate a spiritual leader,Vidyadhar,who died early and was revered in Sevasi village.The money used in building the vav came from state the treasury.The brick and stone vav is in east-west direction and goes seven storeys below ground level.The second storey has leaf patterns and magnificent sculptures.Some of the walls have scriptures on festivals celebrated by communities of that era.
A stone masonry at the entrance has a name inscribed in Devnagri script.The gate has two tigers carved on the left and two elephants on the right.Stepwells were used to store rain water,and also became sources of legends.It is said,young girls decked in gold were sacrificed at Sevasi stepwell on full moon nights,for prosperity.
Sevasi Vaav (Vaav means Well in Gujarati) is another classic example of an ignored historic architecture. Laid off the road right at the entrance of Sevasi village, you would almost miss it. Take a left turn at main Sevasi bus stop and it is located immediately on the left. Only when you look at it carefully, do you see the whole length of the well.It is actually quite magnificent and still in good condition. Only thing that prevented us from going further was the slight stink and staleness of the place. It looked totally unheeded and unattended. I was sure no one ever goes there though the local old Chacha, who had strolled in after our arrival had indignantly said that they do get visitors there.The well, which is architectural brilliance, was built around 550 years ago. There are delicate carvings on the pillars and columns showing flowers, animals and other motifs. The columns and pillars are still intact; only the intricate stone carvings have rubbed off and lost their sharpness.

SEVASI VAV : On the way to Sindhrot in the ravines of Mahi river is a 500-year-old vav, considered as the oldest and most beautiful vav of Sultan Mehmud Begada’s time in 16th century. A clutter of shops hides this treasure. Sevasi Vav was built to commemorate a spiritual leader, Vidyadhar, who died early and was revered in Sevasi village. The money used in building the vav came from state the treasury. The brick and stone vav is in east-west direction and goes seven storeys below ground level. The second storey has leaf patterns and magnificent sculptures. Some of the walls have scriptures on festivals celebrated by communities of that era. A stone masonry at the entrance has a name inscribed in Devnagri script. The gate has two tigers carved on the left and two elephants on the right. Stepwells were used to store rain water, and also became sources of legends. It is said, young girls decked in gold were sacrificed at Sevasi stepwell on full moon nights, for prosperity.

text extracted from the following:

travelrage.wordpress.com/2012/08/04/sevasi-step-well-va...
lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/mobile.aspx?article=yes&pa...


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Coordinates:   22°19'5"N   73°7'8"E

Comments

  • this is one of the historic vaav in baroda
  • thank u to give me map to see this historical place.
This article was last modified 11 years ago