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Preface
Queen's Step-well at Patan, the ancient capital of Gujarat, is a magnificient creation of superb beauty and grace. In it are enshrined the sculptures depicting almost every aspect of Indian culture. The artists have handled the puranic themes and literary heritage with profound depth and understanding in the language of sculptures.
I visited this remarkable step-well and was thrilled to behold its aesthetic charm and artistic excellence. I discussed about the beautiful images which deck the walls of the step-well with Dr. P. C. Parikh, the then director of B. J. Institute of Learning and Research. He was also highly appreciative of the step-well and proposed to me to give three lectures on the sculptural beauty of Queen's Step-well. I likewise delivered the three lectures in the institute on 14th, 15th and 16th Sept., 1995 under their series on "Indian culture". The book covers the content of the lectures alongwith more details of the other sculptures as well which makes it more fuller and comprehensive. It highlights over 80 sculptures from nearly 500 images. The representative images give a fair idea of the artistic merit and spiritual depiction in Queen Udayamati's Step-well. Its matchless grandeur is only to be seen to be believed. We are simply enthralled as we behold the images and are lost in the spiritual delight of ecstatic bliss.
I am thankful to Dr. P. C. Parikh for inviting me to give three lectures and advise their publication.
I am grateful to the eminent archaeologist and museologist Dr. R. C. Sharma for
ting an erudite foreword and Dr. Hariprasad Shastri for his scholarly prologue. My thanks are due to Dr. Bharati Shelat, Director of the Institute for kindly going through the text meticulously and writing the publisher's note. Dr. R. T. Savalia has been very cooperative in kindly providing necessary arrangement and looking after the publication. American Institute of Indian Studies, Varanasi has kindly given the required photographs from their Archives to enable making the book quite illustrative. I offer my grateful thanks to all.
With this small note I place the book before the connoisseurs of Art and Architecture, tourist of our country and abroad and general readership as well. I hope this humble effort will aptly communicate the joy of the sculptural beauty of Queen Udayamati's Step-well.
Its aesthetic delight will shine all the brighter as years roll on, undimmed by the ravishes of weather and time.
Jaikishandas Sadani
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