Hinduism is the primary religion of India and one of the largest religions in the world, based on the number of followers. These Indian women are lighting lamps for a major Hindu festival called Diwali, celebrated by Hindu communities worldwide.
Credit: AP/Wide World

Happy Diwali! It is a time for family, flowers, fireworks, lights, sweet treats, and vibrant silks. Diwali,also spelled Divali or Dipavali, is a major Hindu festival. It is sometimes called the festival of lights. It is celebrated in all parts of India, where it is a national holiday, and in Hindu communities worldwide. Just recently New York City Public Schools announced Diwali will be recognized as an official holiday starting in 2023. Diwali is scheduled based on the phases of the moon. The festivities normally fall after India cools down from summer but before monsoon season begins.

Diwali lasts from two to five days, depending on local custom. It falls during the Hindu month of Kartika (October to November). The high point of Diwali is the day of the new moon, which is New Year’s Day in some parts of India. Dipavali is a Sanskrit term that means row of lights. During Diwali, people decorate their homes and Hindu temples with small earthenware oil lamps. They also may visit each other, exchange gifts and greeting cards, and wear new clothes.

During Diwali, a major Hindu festival, people decorate their homes and temples with small earthenware oil lamps. The name Diwali comes from a Sanskrit word meaning row of lights. This picture shows a man in India lighting Diwali lamps that are decorated with flowers.
Credit: © Bob Krist, Corbis

Diwali has different meanings for different groups of Hindus, but it usually honors Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Thus, Diwali has a special importance for business owners, merchants, and shopkeepers, who pray to Lakshmi during the festival. For these people, Diwali lamps are meant to help Lakshmi find her way into the homes of the faithful to give them prosperity. For others, the lamps light the path of ancestors who have visited earth. The lamps also symbolize the turning of the seasons and of the human spirit from darkness to light.

Diwali also commemorates the return of Rama and his wife, Sita, to the holy city of Ayodhya after 14 years in exile. Rama is the hero of the ancient Sanskrit the Ramayana. The Diwali lamps serve to welcome the returning couple. In West Bengal, Diwali is associated with Kali, the goddess of destruction.

Followers of the Sikh religion also celebrate Diwali. It marks the release from prison in 1619 of Guru Hargobind by the Mughal emperor. Guru Hargobind was the sixth Sikh guru (spiritual leader). Like Hindus, Sikhs exchange gifts and light lamps in their homes and temples during the festival.

Vira-nirvana, a one-day Jain festival, coincides with Diwali and shares some of its features. Vira-nirvana marks the passing of Mahavira, who organized the Jain religion, into nirvana. Nirvana is a state of perfect peace outside the cycle of birth and death. Many Jains devote this day to fasting and meditation. They also light lamps to mark Mahavira’s passing.

September 13, 2019

Last week, on September 6, an up-and-coming space agency fell just short of its goal. About 1 mile (1.5 kilometers) above the moon’s surface, the India Space Research Organization (ISRO) lander Vikram deviated from its landing course and disappeared from radio contact. Vikram was to be the crowning stage of Chandrayaan-2 (Mooncraft-2), ISRO’s second lunar mission.

This artist’s depiction shows Chandrayaan-2′s lunar lander, Vikram, approaching the moon. Credit: © Raymond Cassel, Shutterstock

India was endeavoring to become the fourth country to make a soft landing (a landing that does not destroy the craft) on the surface of the moon, after the United States, the former Soviet Union, and China. Vikram would have been the first lander near the moon’s south pole, a region full of water ice and other minerals that could one day be the site of a permanent base. Vikram would have deployed a rover to explore the landing site. The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, which had launched Vikram, located the lander on the surface of the moon a few days after its disappearance. ISRO reported that Vikram had apparently made a “hard landing,” and the lander did not respond to contact attempts.

Before the recent failure, ISRO had been riding a wave of success. In 2008, the agency deployed its first lunar satellite, Chandrayaan-1. Chandrayaan-1 mapped the moon’s surface for about a year. The satellite also released a hard lander that impacted the lunar surface. In 2013, ISRO launched the Mars Orbiter Mission, called Mangalyaan (Marscraft). The satellite overcame a minor engine failure to reach Martian orbit in September 2014.

ISRO’s failed soft landing on the moon comes on the heels of another prominent lunar failure. In April 2019, the lander Beresheet (In the Beginning), developed by the Israeli company SpaceIL, slammed into the moon when its main engine cut out unexpectedly. SpaceIL had hoped to become the first private company to place a lander on the moon’s surface. It had been one of the competitors for the Google Lunar X Prize. The contest would have awarded $20 million to the first company to achieve a soft landing on the moon. But none of the competitors attempted a landing, even after several deadline extensions, so the prize was withdrawn. The Israeli project cost about $100 million, a fraction of what a similar mission by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) would have cost, but it took greater risks and ultimately failed.

The process of landing is the most dangerous phase of a lander’s mission. Many different systems must work perfectly for the lander to bring itself to a halt on the surface. Any malfunction is usually catastrophic. At other points in a mission, such as in transit to or in orbit around another body, engineers have plenty of time to identify and work around problems with a spacecraft. But this cannot be done in the time-sensitive environment of landing.

May 17, 2018

On Tuesday, May 15, one of the world’s most beautiful and historic diamonds, the Farnese Blue, sold at auction in Switzerland for $6.7 million. The Farnese Blue is not the most expensive diamond on the planet—that honor currently goes to the $57.5-million Oppenheimer Blue, the world’s largest blue diamond. But $6.7 million is still a lot for a single gem, and the 6.16-carat pear-shaped Farnese Blue has had a fascinating journey that goes right along with the history books.

A silver marker is included in the box with the Farnese Blue diamond. In French, it reads: “Remarkable blue brilliant. This historical stone was offered by the Philippine Islands to Elisabeth Farnese, Queen of Spain, wife of Philippe V, great grandfather of the Comte de Villafranca, current owner of that stone.” Credit: © Sothebys

Tuesday’s auction at Sotheby’s in Geneva was the first public sale of the Farnese Blue, which had remained in the same family for centuries. Part of a bank-busting sale collection called “Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels,” the Farnese Blue was purchased by an unnamed private collector. Like many other famous diamonds, the Farnese Blue came from the historic Golconda mines of southern India.

Historically, the Farnese Blue can be traced back to Elisabeth Farnese, the queen of Spain from 1714 to 1746. At the time of her marriage to King Philip V in 1714, the Spanish monarchy was reeling from years of fighting in the War of the Spanish Succession. Badly in debt, the king appealed to Spain’s colonies around the world to provide wedding gifts for his new bride. Eventually, an enormous amount of gold and gems was loaded onto 12 ships, a so-called “Golden Fleet” that set sail from Cuba in August 1715, bound for Spain. Not long after leaving port, however, a hurricane destroyed all but one ship of the Golden Fleet—a ship carrying treasures, the Blue Farnese among them, collected by the governor of the Philippines, a Spanish colony at the time. Queen Elisabeth (and no doubt a frustrated King Philip) missed out on the bulk of the expensive gifts, but she had a shiny new blue diamond.

The Farnese Blue then passed down through Philippe, a younger son of Elisabeth and Philip who became the duke of Parma, Elisabeth’s hometown in Italy. The stone then went to Philippe’s son Ferdinand, the second duke of Parma. Ferdinand’s son Louis got the diamond before his brief reign as king of Etruria (present-day Tuscany, Umbria, and Latium) during the tumultuous years of the Napoleonic Wars (1796-1815). Louis’s son Charles, who after a roundabout path ended up as the Comte de Villafranca, left the Farnese Blue to his grandson, Robert, the last duke of Parma.

After the Risorgimento (the unification of Italy in the 1860′s), Robert lived with other deposed Italian dukes in neighboring Austria-Hungary, which was then ruled by Robert’s cousin, the Habsburg Emperor Franz Joseph. Robert’s son, Prince Elie, included the diamond in the wedding presents to his wife Maria Anna in 1903. The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy fell at the end of World War I (1914-1918), and with it went the royal status of the House of Habsburg. Maria Anna kept the Farnese Blue in the now private family, however, and the diamond passed down through successive generations until its eventual sale this week.

April 16, 2018

Hindi <<HIHN dee,>>, also called Modern Standard Hindi, is spoken by more than 500 million people. It is the principal official language of India. More than two-fifths of India’s people speak one or more of the dialects (language variations) of Hindi. There are many regional and local dialects in India, and each state has its own official language. Hindi is the official language of the capital, Delhi, and seven states. Hindi speakers live mostly in northern India, but Hindi is commonly heard in other parts of the country. Hindi speakers are also found in Nepal, Singapore, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, and many other countries.

The flag of India flies over hundreds of millions of Hindi speakers in India. Credit: © T. Lesia, Shutterstock

Urdu is a sister language of Hindi. The languages are similar in grammar and pronunciation. When written, however, they use different alphabets and scripts. Cultural differences further separate the languages. Indian Hindus, people who practice Hinduism, often speak Hindi. Indian Muslims, people who practice Islam, often speak Urdu. Urdu is also spoken in Pakistan and Kashmir. Scholars sometimes speak of the two languages collectively as Hindi-Urdu. The spoken form is sometimes called Hindustani. Hindi-Urdu is the main language used in Indian films (Bollywood) and in much Indian popular music.

The Indian film industry produces hundreds of motion pictures every year. Most films are in Hindi (or Hindustani), but some are made in regional languages. Credit: WORLD BOOK photo by David R. Frazier

Hindi is an Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-European family. It is part of the New Indo-Aryan (NIA) group. Hindi uses the Devanagari alphabet, which has roots in Sanskrit, the oldest formal written language of India. Devanagari is a phonetic alphabet, so each letter represents a sound. It has 44 letters, with 33 consonants and 11 vowels. Smaller marks called matras represent vowels preceded by a consonant. Matras are written on the symbol of the preceding consonant. The letters are formed by markings that hang down from a horizontal line (see the red script in the movie poster above).

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Hindi is spoken in Delhi and the northern states of India. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Hindi nouns have gender, number, and case. They can be masculine or feminine, singular or plural, and direct or oblique. Most adjectives agree with the gender, number, and case of the nouns they modify. Hindi has four simple tenses and three aspects. Word order for the Hindi language is subject-object-verb. Hindi is written from left to right, and Urdu is written from right to left. Urdu uses the Persian-Arabic alphabet. English words with Hindi origins include bungalow, shampoo, bandana, and jungle.

Hindi and Urdu are based of the spoken dialect of Delhi, Khari Boli, which means standard speech. The modern literary language is based on Khari Boli, which was written in the Devanagari alphabet. Written Hindi can be traced back to poetry of the 1300′s. Hindi prose became prominent in the early 1900’s.

February 5, 2018

Just over a century ago, in 1913, the winner of the 13th Nobel Prize in literature was Rabindranath Tagore, a writer from the historic region of Bengal in northeastern India. Tagore wrote mainly in Bengali, his native language, and his poems, songs, plays, stories, and essays were part of a long legacy of influential literature in the language. Tagore’s writings called for unity, peace, and freedom among all people. He also supported independence for India, which was then ruled by the United Kingdom. Tagore was the first non-European writer to win the Nobel Prize in literature.

Bangladesh flag. Credit: © T. Lesia, Shutterstock

Tagore’s language, Bengali, is one of the main languages of South Asia. Today, about two-thirds of all Bengali speakers live in the densely-populated nation of Bangladesh, where the language is called Bangla. Bangladesh means Bengal nation. Most other Bengali speakers live across Bangladesh’s western border in West Bengal, a state in northeastern India. In the past, West Bengal and Bangladesh were part of the single historical region of Bengal.

Today, Bengali is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. According to some estimates, more than 240 million people speak it as their primary language.

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Bangladesh Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Bengali is part of the huge Indo-European language family that includes many European languages, Persian, and several major languages of India. Within this family, Bengali belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch, which also includes Hindi and Urdu. Like Hindi and Urdu, Bengali developed from the ancient Indian language Sanskrit, which dates back at least 3,000 years. The earliest known examples of Bengali are a collection of sacred Buddhist songs that were written down around 1,000 years ago.

The Bengal region has been ruled by many empires and peoples, including Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims. In the 1700’s and 1800’s, Bengal became the political and economic center of British rule in India. During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, Tagore and other Bengali writers were at the forefront of the struggle for Indian independence.

India became independent in 1947, but it was divided into two parts—and so was Bengal. West Bengal, which is mostly Hindu, remained part of India. East Bengal, which is mostly Muslim, was combined with the northwestern corner of India, also mostly Muslim, to form the nation of Pakistan.

Cultural and economic differences divided East Bengal (renamed East Pakistan) and West Pakistan, however. Language was one of the major issues. The people in West Pakistan spoke several languages, and their leaders hoped that the main one, Urdu, could become a unifying influence in the country. East Pakistanis wanted to keep their own language, Bengali, and they resented attempts to make Urdu their official language. Several Bengali poets of the 1950’s and 1960’s became defenders of Bengali language and culture. In 1971, resentments on a number of issues boiled over into civil war. East Pakistanis declared independence and established Bangladesh.

Bengali speakers in both Bangladesh and West Bengal continue to identify closely and proudly with their language. The Bengali language has been one of the most influential elements in the region’s culture and history.

January 25, 2018

Tomorrow, January 26, is Republic Day, a national holiday in India. Republic Day marks the occasion when the Constitution of India became the nation’s governing document on Jan. 26, 1950. Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and other leaders chose January 26 to enact the constitution in honor of the day in 1930 when India had first declared its independence from the United Kingdom. The independence process was interrupted and slow, however, and India did not officially become independent until 1947, an event now marked by India’s Independence Day on August 15.

Soldiers parade on camelback during the Republic Day Parade in New Delhi, India. Credit: Lawrence Jackson, White House

Tomorrow morning in New Delhi, the Indian capital, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin the Republic Day festivities by placing a floral wreath at the India Gate war memorial. A large parade follows, rich with colorful floats, flags, and marching battalions from India’s air force, army, and navy. Other cities will host Republic Day parades as well, and people throughout the nation will celebrate with private parties and family gatherings.

The United Kingdom influenced much of India’s history beginning in the 1600′s. For nearly 260 years, the British East India Company controlled much of India’s commerce and influenced its government and political system. In 1858, the British government took direct control of India after rebellions against the company’s rule. Indians did not generally feel content about British rule in India, however. Indians were discriminated against in their own homeland, where they were not allowed to advance to high positions in government service or to become officers in the army.

New Delhi’s India Gate is a war memorial originally dedicated to the more than 74,000 Indian soldiers killed during World War I (1914-1918). Credit: © Rakesh Nayar, Shutterstock

During World War I (1914-1918), more than 1 million Indian troops fought under British command in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. After the war, promised social and political reforms were slow in coming, and violent protests erupted in many Indian cities. By 1920, Mohandas K. Gandhi had become a leader in the Indian independence movement and in the Indian National Congress, India’s most important political organization. Gandhi persuaded the Congress to adopt his program of nonviolent disobedience.

On Jan. 26, 1930, members of the Indian National Congress officially declared Purna Swaraj, (complete self-rule), a declaration of independence from British authority. The declaration was nonbinding, but Indian people did gain more political and social freedoms in the 1930′s. The onset of World War II (1939-1945), however, disrupted progress. The Indian National Congress refused to support the British war effort, demanding instead immediate independence. Despite this refusal, many Indian soldiers fought with the British (and some against them) during the war. The British promised that they would grant India independence after the fighting stopped.

In 1947, Indian and British leaders agreed to divide the country into Hindu-dominated India and Muslim-dominated Pakistan. The leaders saw no other way of ending violence between Hindus and Muslims, which had taken place for many years and hindered the independence process. India became an independent nation on Aug. 15, 1947. Pakistan had become an independent nation the day before. The two new nations then fought a bloody war for control of the contested border area of Kashmir.

Jawaharlal Nehru, a close associate of Gandhi, became India’s first prime minister after independence. A constituent assembly drew up a new constitution. The assembly approved the constitution in November 1949. It went into effect on Jan. 26, 1950.

September 29, 2017

The region of the Western Ghats mountain range in India has turned up another new species of frog in 2017, and this one is quite bizarre. Bhupathy’s purple frog was named in honor of noted herpetologist Subramaniam Bhupathy, who died from a fall during an expedition in the Western Ghats in 2014. Herpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of reptiles and amphibians. Bhupathy’s purple frog is rather stout with shiny purple skin, small eyes ringed with light blue, and a pointy piglike nose.

The unusual and newly discovered Bhupathy’s purple frog surfaces only during monsoon (and mating) season. Credit: © Jegath Janani, Alytes

You may recall a Behind the Headlines entry from earlier this year describing seven tiny new frogs also found in the Western Ghats region. Seven at one time is astounding, but it may be an even greater feat to have discovered this single amphibian. You see, Bhupathy’s purple pig-nose frog lives almost entirely underground and has only one other member in its frog genus Nasikabatrachus. Elizabeth Prendini, a herpetologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, co-wrote a paper describing the species in a recent issue of the batrachology (study of amphibians) journal Alytes.

Bhupathy’s purple frog looks bizarre, to be sure, but it also has a bizarre life cycle. The only time an adult frog emerges from of its underground home is during the monsoon season. The reason for this excursion is to mate. When the rainy season begins, the male purple pig-nose frog calls from underground and is lured into the open by the presence of an interested female. After frog negotiations are complete, the frogs mate in a stream, leaving behind fertilized eggs. The frog parents then go their own ways and crawl back beneath the soil. After the tadpoles hatch, they move from the streams to cliffs behind waterfalls, where they cling to rocks using suckerlike mouths, devouring the algae that grow there. After several weeks, the tadpoles develop into adult frogs and drop from the waterfall cliffs. They then find a suitable place to make their underground home, where they live the rest of their lives—except to mate, of course, during the rainy season. Bhupathy’s purple frogs do not even surface to eat. They use their long, fluted tongues to eat subterranean termites and ants.

Bhupathy’s purple pig-nose frogs may be unlike any others, but like most frogs, unfortunately, they are endangered. One-third of the frogs in the Western Ghats region are threatened with extinction. Increased conservation efforts are needed to protect these new species as well as other frogs from threats posed by habitat loss, pollution, and climate change.

August 14, 2017

The independence days of the south Asian nations of Pakistan (August 14) and India (August 15) take place this week. Parades, speeches, fireworks displays, and other public events will mark the occasion in both countries as they reflect on the 70 years that have passed since the partition (division) of the colony of British India in 1947.

To mark India’s independence day on August 15, the national flag illuminates the top of India Gate, a war memorial in New Delhi, the capital. Credit: © Rakesh Nayar, Shutterstock

The land that makes up what are now India and Pakistan came under British colonial rule in the 1800′s. British rule provided limited opportunities for Indians, and many Indians grew to resent the British. In 1885, a number of Indian lawyers and other professionals formed the Indian National Congress to promote the idea of Indian self-government. Members of this organization represented various religions and came from all parts of India. However, some Muslims believed the Indian National Congress was a Hindu organization aiming for Hindu rule. In 1906, Muslim leaders formed the All-India Muslim League to give Muslims a voice in political affairs. The Congress and the Muslim League both sought greater self-government, but disagreed over how to divide power fairly between Hindus and Muslims.

Children hold national flags and sing patriotic song during ceremonies marking Pakistan’s independence day on August 14 in Quetta, Pakistan. Credit: © Asianet-Pakistan/Shutterstock

Protests against British rule took place throughout India in the early 1900′s. Mohandas K. Gandhi, a leader in the independence movement, persuaded the Congress to adopt his program of nonviolent disobedience. This program asked Indians to boycott British goods, to refuse to pay taxes, and to stop using British schools, courts, and government services. The British agreed to grant Indians more influence in politics, but many people continued to campaign for independence.

The United Kingdom declared war on Germany in 1939. Because the British controlled India, the declaration also put India at war. This angered Indian leaders because they had not been consulted. The British promised that they would grant India independence after the war. In 1940, Muslim League leader Mohammad Ali Jinnah began to demand independence for India’s Muslim-majority northwestern and northeastern areas. Both the British government and the Indian National Congress rejected these demands.

After World War II ended in 1945, negotiations for independence resumed. The Congress and Muslim League could not settle their differences. The Muslim League held nationwide demonstrations on Aug. 16, 1946, calling for the establishment of a Muslim-majority nation to be called Pakistan, which means land of the pure in Urdu. Rioting broke out between Muslims and Hindus in Calcutta (now Kolkata), and later elsewhere in India.

In 1947, Indian and British leaders agreed to divide the country into India and Pakistan, as they saw no other way to end the violence between Hindus and Muslims. Pakistan became independent on August 14, and India became independent the following day. This did not end the violence between the region’s Hindus and Muslims, however. Rioting led to the deaths of about half a million people, and more than 10 million people became refugees as Hindus and Sikhs fled Pakistan for India, and Muslims in India fled to Pakistan. In the decades since partition, tensions between India and Pakistan have remained high.

March 9, 2017

After five years of exploration and study in the mountainous Western Ghats region of India, scientists have announced the discovery of seven new species (kinds) of frogs. Four of these new species are among the tiniest known frogs in the world, small enough to gather more than one on a 5-rupee coin (the rupee is the chief monetary unit of India). The frogs belong to the genus Nyctibatrachus with the common name of night frog—so called because of their nocturnal (active in the night) habits and dark coloring. The smallest of these newfound night frogs is less than 1/2 inch (1.2 centimeters) long!

A newly discovered and identified Robinmoore’s night frog (Nyctibatrachus robinmoorei) has plenty of leg room on the Indian 5-rupee coin. Credit: © SD Biju

Most night frogs live in forest streams, have large webbing on their feet to swim around their aquatic habitat, and emit loud calls. Some can reach up to 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) long. Finding night frogs has never been an easy task, but the habits and smaller size of the newly found frogs make them even even more elusive. The newly discovered night frogs live mainly beneath damp soil or dense, wet vegetation, not in the water like most night frogs. They are also much quieter than other night frogs, featuring an insectlike call similar to the chirp of a cricket. Plus, four out of the seven species are extremely small. It is no wonder they went undiscovered for so long! Because they live mainly out of water, these new frog species—which have proved to be surprisingly abundant in the Western Ghats—have little or no webbing on their feet.

The newly found Athirappilly night frog (Nyctibatrachus athirappillyensis) comes from areas along the Athirappilly Falls on the Chalakudy River, site of a proposed hydroelectric dam. Credit: © SD Biju

The first frogs appeared on Earth during the Jurassic Period, which lasted from about 200 million years ago to about 145 million years ago. Thousands of species of frogs have evolved (developed over time) from these early ancestors. Night frogs are found only in southern parts of the Western Ghats region of India and represent an ancient group of frogs that populated the region about 70 million to 80 million years ago. Unfortunately, one-third of the frogs in the Western Ghats region are threatened with extinction. Increased conservation efforts are needed to protect these new species as well as other night frogs from threats posed by habitat loss, pollution, and climate change.

February 16, 2017

For some 2,000 years, sunken water systems called stepwells have provided fresh water and a cooling reprieve for people of the Indian subcontinent. Much of India’s climate is often oppressively hot, and fresh, cool water sources are a necessity. Stepwells are large, open wells constructed in downward tiers that often reach 100 feet (30 meters) below ground level. As their name implies, stepwells are lined with steps, allowing people to descend to the cool air and ground water below. Stepwells provide refreshing water, but they also offer a physical and aesthetic (artistically beautiful) break from the burning light and searing air—and hustle and bustle—of the surface above.

A woman pauses to admire some of the 800 sculptures among the many levels of the Rani-ki-Vav stepwell in Patan, Gujarat, India. Credit: © Shutterstock

India’s best-known stepwells are concentrated in the arid north and west of the country, but they can also also be found in the nation’s steamy southern states. Stepwells were once a common public water source, and thousands of stepwells once lined the subcontinent’s important trade routes. Their numbers have dwindled with the development of more modern water systems, but many are still in use. The elaborate Agrasen-ki-Baoli stepwell sits among the wide streets of New Delhi, India’s capital city. In Ahmedabad in northwestern Gujarat state, the Adalaj-ni-Vav stepwell adds legend to the water: centuries ago, a queen drowned herself there after the city was conquered by invaders.

India’s most famous stepwell, Rani-ki-Vav (queen’s stepwell), sits like an inverted temple in the Gujarat city of Patan. Rani-ki-Vav, built by Queen Udayamati in the late 1000’s, is a World Heritage Site. Such sites are places of unique cultural or natural importance as designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The stepwell has seven tapering levels, each lined with intricate sculptural panels detailing—among other things—the incarnations of Vishnu, one of the two main gods of Hinduism. UNESCO calls Rani-ki-Vav “an architectural monument of human creative genius,” illustrating “technological, architectural, and artistic mastery.”

Udayamati built Rani-ki-Vav as a memorial to her husband, King Bhimadeva of the Chalukya dynasty (line of rulers). The stepwell is 210 feet (64 meters) long, 80 feet (24 meters) wide, and 90 feet (27 meters) deep. At the bottom is a 75-foot (23-meter) deep pool of water. In the 1200’s, Rani-ki-Vav was buried in silt deposited by floodwaters of the Saraswati River. The site was lost to history until the 1980’s, when archaeologists excavated the well, which was in an exceptional state of conservation. Over the centuries, however, ground water has shifted, and the pool must now be filled from external water sources. Regardless, Rani-ki-Vav is famous for its artistic splendor, and it still provides a cool break from the heat and sun above.