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| - Fact Check: Gujarat's Rani ki Vav shared as palace built by Chola emperor for wife
An image of a richly sculpted underground structure is viral on social media with the claim that it was a grand palace built by Chola emperor Rajaraja I for his wife in Gujarat's Patan village. The claim also says that the palace has a 9 km-long subway under it.
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India Today Fact Check
This is a step-well called Rani ki Vav. It was built by Queen Udayamati in memory of her husband, King Bhimdev I of the Solanki dynasty.
An image of a richly sculpted underground structure is viral on social media with the claim that it was a grand palace built by Chola emperor Rajaraja I for his wife in Gujarat's Patan village. The claim also says that the palace has a 9 km-long subway under it.
Extract from one such Facebook post in Tamil, shared along with the image, translates to, "A Grand palace built for his wife many years ago rajaraja cholan built for his wife.. to a town called chitpur in Gujarat. Located in pathan village nearby.. 9 km within it. Long Subway.!!!"
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be false. The viral image is of a step-well called Rani ki Vav (Queen's Step-well) located in Gujarat's Patan. It was built as a memorial to a king of the Solanki dynasty that ruled present-day Gujarat. The Chola dynasty, on the other hand, ruled most of southern India.
The post is being widely circulated on Facebook. The archived versions can be seen here and here.
AFWA probe
With the help of reverse image search, we found similar pictures of the structure on a UNESCO website. According to UNESCO, the structure is a step-well called Rani ki Vav, located on the banks of Saraswati river in Gujarat's Patan. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2014.
The UN agency also confirmed that the structure was built in Maru-Gurjara architectural style, while the Cholas are popular for the Dravidian style of architecture.
According to UNESCO, the structure is "designed as an inverted temple highlighting the sanctity of water. It is divided into seven levels of stairs with sculptural panels of high artistic quality. The fourth level is the deepest and leads into a rectangular tank 9.5m by 9.4m, at a depth of 23m. The well is located at the westernmost end of the property and consists of a shaft 10m in diameter and 30m deep."
However, we could not find UNESCO or any other credible source mentioning about a 9 km-long subway under the step-well as claimed in the viral post.
We also found a Business Standard article which said it was Queen Udayamati who commissioned the step-well in 1063 AD in memory of her husband, King Bhimdev I of the Solanki dynasty.
The Chola dynasty
The Chola dynasty was one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the world's history.
However, its territory only included modern-day Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Sri Lanka, and parts of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. There is no indication in historical documents that its forces were taken to the Gujarat region. Also, Rajaraja I lived from 947 AD to 1014 AD, while Rani ki Vav was built in 1063 AD.
It is true that Rajaraja I built many amazing temples in Dravidian architectural style such as the Brihadeshwara and Airavatesvara temples in Tamil Nadu, but the structure in the viral post was not constructed by him. It was built by Queen Udayamati in memory of her husband, King Bhimdev I of the Solanki dynasty, in 1063 AD, almost 50 years after the death of Rajaraja I.
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