A Stepwell in India and Devi

In one of the Archaeology magazines I read about the Ritual wells of ancient India. I learned vavs are stepwells which have stairs leading to the water located at the bottom. So after desending a few levels of stairs you are rewarded with water. Possibly they were meant to have group gatherings and to socialize. Though mostly the purpose was for retrieving water. It was directed towards women, because they were to be the ones who had to collect the water. A famous vav in Gujarati is the Rani Ki Vav(Queen Stepwell). It had orignially seven levels but only five of the levels exist now. It is decorated in reliefs that depict the attendents of Vishnu and Shiva. The Rani Ki Vav is a place to calm down and pray to Devi, who is the mother-goddess. I guess it makes sense that they would pray to her, because the women are the water collectors.

Here is a part of the Rani Ki Vav. There is so much movement and patterns crammed into these reliefs.

http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/press-room/exhibitions/2011/mother-india-the-goddess-in-indian-painting

From EBSCOhost I learned a little about The Mother-Goddess. Devi is a Hindu goddess and is considered The Great Goddess Devi. She is best known to Hindus as of holding all of the essense of womanhood. Though, she is an assortment of many personalities. She is a mother, a lover, a holder of wisdom, and a warrior. She is an extremly strong warrior who had destroyed a buffalo demon in one of her stories. She did that while riding a tiger and she had eighteen arms. It is interesting that there are so many characters in bizare stories from different cultures. People could  believe in the tales either literally or figuratively.

A video showcasing Rani Ki Vav: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBnsjyu2Bl0

Works citied:

Hathaway, Bruce. "The Great Goddess Devi." Smithsonian 30.3 (1999): 114. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Sept. 2012.

 

Patel, Samir S. "India's Underground Water Temples." Archaeology Magazine. Archaeological Institute of America. May/June 2011. Print.