New DelhI: Junagadh is an ancient and the 7th largest city in Gujarat. It is known for its various attractive and interesting places.
Literally translated, Junagadh means "Old Fort" and with its many eye-catching monuments which reminds one of its great history. Junagadh joined India on 9 November 1947 after a brief struggle between India and Pakistan.
It was a part of Saurashtra state and later Bombay state. It became part of newly formed Gujarat state in 1960, after the Maha Gujarat movement.
The city has acquired an important place in the tourist map of Gujarat with thousands of tourists visiting the city for religious, educational, and entertainment purposes.
In Junagadh there is an amazingly and an unusual form of stepwell built which is entirely different from any other stepwell built in any part of India.
This stepwell is carved out of stone leaving the structure of the well out of the original rock, unlike other stepwells dug through various kinds of subsoils and rock layers. The stepwell is popularly known as Adi-Kadi stepwell.
The whole structure of the well is hewn out of a single stone and no structural construction is done.
The interior of the stepwell looks like of a palace. There are pillars and walls built on all sides in a way that it has been cut out of rocks instead of joining two different pieces together.
With the construction of the stepwell there is an intersting ancient story associated with it.
It is believed that there was no sign of even a drop of water in this place despite digging through rocks and other efforts to search water in the stepwell.
As a solution for extracting water from the rocks the royal priest had asked for two unmarried girls. He wanted them to be executed and offered as religious sacrifice to please the Gods.
This was the ancient traditions of sacrifice to appease the Gods and keeping this in mind, two unmarried girls were selected and executed. It is believed that after this sacrifice water started flowing through the rocks.
