There is a Gujarati proverb that Junagadh locals will recite to you if you mention you are visiting the city: ‘Adi Kadi ni Vav Ane Navghan Kuvo, Je Na Juve Te Jivto Muo’ loosely translated, it means one who has not seen Adi Kadi Vav and Navghan Kuwo is like a living dead person. That is the standard Saurashtra way of saying these two ancient stepwells inside Uparkot Fort are not optional. They are the point.
Adi Kadi Vav is a 15th-century stepwell carved entirely out of solid rock inside Uparkot Fort, one of the oldest continuously occupied fortifications in India. A narrow flight of 120 stairs descends through the living stone 123 feet down to reach the water shaft below. Unlike the ornate Adalaj Stepwell near Ahmedabad or the UNESCO-listed Rani Ki Vav in Patan, there are no elaborate carvings here. What there is instead is something harder to describe: the cool, faintly damp air of the deep stone as you descend, the shadow play on the carved rock walls, and the weight of two legends about the two girls whose names the stepwell carries.
This TravelRoach guide covers everything about Adi Kadi Vav the engineering marvel of rock-carved construction, both legends of Adi and Kadi, the companion Navghan Kuwo, what to expect when you visit, practical entry and timing information, and how to build a complete Uparkot Fort day itinerary around these two extraordinary wells.
Adi Kadi Vav — Quick Information
| Detail | Information |
| Full Name | Adi Kadi Vav (also Adi Chadi Vav) |
| Location | Inside Uparkot Fort, Junagadh, Gujarat |
| Construction | 15th century (most reliable dating); other sources suggest 10th-11th century or earlier |
| The Engineering | Carved entirely from solid rock – no structural construction; the steps, columns, and walls are hewn from the original stone |
| Depth | 123 feet (approximately 37.5 metres) |
| Stairs | 120 stairs (narrow flight descending through the rock) |
| Tiers | 9 tiers/layers |
| The Name | Named after two girls: Adi and Kadi – either royal servant girls who fetched water daily, or, per darker legend, girls sacrificed so water would be found |
| The Living Memorial | People hang cloth and bangles on a nearby tree to remember Adi and Kadi |
| The Gujarati Proverb | Adi Kadi ni Vav Ane Navghan Kuvo, Je Na Juve Te Jivto Muo – he who has not seen these is like a living dead person |
| Companion Well | Navghan Kuwo – adjacent well; also rock-carved; older than Adi Kadi Vav; 52 metres deep; unique underground spiral staircase |
| Uparkot Fort | Founded 319 BCE by Chandragupta Maurya; 70 acres; multiple dynasties (Mauryan, Gupta, Chudasama, Mughal, Nawabi) |
| Atmosphere | Cool air and faint damp-earth smell as you descend; natural air conditioning in the rock |
| Entry Fee | Included in Uparkot Fort entry (~₹100 Indians / ₹200 foreign nationals — confirm locally) |
| Timings | ~9:00 AM – 5:00 PM daily (confirm current hours; some sources cite 7 AM – 6 PM) |
| Time Required | 20–30 minutes for Adi Kadi Vav + Navghan Kuwo; 2–3 hours for all of Uparkot Fort |
| Best For | History lovers, heritage tourism, photography, families, curious travellers |
| Distance from Junagadh Station | ~10 minutes by auto-rickshaw |
| Distance from Mahabat Maqbara | ~3 km |
| Distance from Girnar Hill | ~5 km |
| Distance from Rajkot | ~100 km (~2 hours) |
| Distance from Ahmedabad | ~355 km (~5.5 hours) |
| Nearest Airport | Keshod (~40 km) or Rajkot (~103 km) |
What Makes Adi Kadi Vav Architecturally Unique
Carved From Rock – Not Built
The single most distinctive engineering fact about Adi Kadi Vav the thing that makes it fundamentally different from most Indian stepwells, including the famous Adalaj and Rani Ki Vav is how it was made. Most stepwells are constructed by digging down through soil and rock, then building the walls, stairs, columns, and structural elements from imported or quarried stone, much like above-ground construction done underground.
Adi Kadi Vav was made the other way around. The builders found a suitable piece of solid rock and carved the stepwell out of it removing stone rather than adding it. The stairs, the columns, the walls, the well shaft itself: all of them are the original rock of the site, shaped by removal rather than construction. There is no imported stone, no mortar, no separate structural elements assembled together. The entire stepwell is a single piece of rock that has been hollowed and carved into its current form.
This is the same technique used for the adjacent Navghan Kuwo, and it is what the Gujarat Tourism Department specifically highlights about these two Uparkot stepwells as ‘highly unusual forms of stepwells, very different from wells in other parts of Gujarat.’ The achievement is both engineering and sculptural: the builders had to plan the entire three-dimensional form of the stepwell in the existing rock before a single chip was removed, because unlike construction, carving allows you to take away but never to add back.
Also Read – Jalaram Bapa Temple Virpur
The Descent – 120 Stairs and 123 Feet of Rock
The approach to the water at Adi Kadi Vav is a narrow flight of 120 stairs that descend steeply through the carved rock. The narrowness of the passage creates an intimate relationship with the stone on either side you are genuinely inside the rock as you descend, not merely walking through a built structure. The walls are close. The ceiling is low in sections. The steps are steep.
As you go deeper, the air changes. The temperature drops noticeably below the summer heat of Uparkot Fort above. The faint smell of damp earth and stone rises to meet you. The light from above narrows. At the bottom 123 feet below the surface the well shaft opens, and the water (when present) reflects what light reaches it from the narrow vertical column of sky above. This is the natural air conditioning that made the stepwell not just a water source but a place where people could physically escape the heat of Gujarat’s summer.
The Two Legends of Adi and Kadi – The Girls the Well Remembers
The Legend of Sacrifice
The darker of the two legends associated with the Adi Kadi Vav is the one that local guides most commonly tell first, because it is the one that makes visitors stop and listen. According to this legend, when the Chudasama king ordered the stepwell to be carved, the workers descended into the rock as directed but no water was found. The excavation continued. Still no water. The royal priest was consulted, and his pronouncement was that water would only be found if two unmarried girls were sacrificed.
Adi and Kadi were chosen. After their sacrifice, water was found. The stepwell that bears their names is, in this version of the story, their tomb as much as their memorial carved rock that holds water because two lives were given to bring it there. The legend cannot be verified and is understood by historians as folklore rather than documented history. But it persists, and it is the reason that people hang cloth and bangles on the tree near the stepwell a living act of remembrance for two girls who may or may not have existed, and whose names are now the only name the stepwell has.
The Legend of Service
The second legend is quieter and, as the Gujarat government’s own district website notes, ‘probably more likely.’ In this version, Adi and Kadi were the names of the royal maids the servant girls who came to this stepwell every day to fetch water for the royal household. They descended the 120 stairs in the heat of the Gujarat summer, filled their vessels from the well at the bottom, and carried the water back up. Day after day, through the years of their service.
Their names attached to the well the way that names attach to places through repeated, witnessed, daily acts not through a single dramatic event but through the accumulation of ordinary days. This legend asks us to think about the stepwell not as a monument to engineering or royal power but as a workplace, and about Adi and Kadi not as victims but as women whose labour was the daily operating mechanism of this structure. The bangles and cloth on the tree, in this version, are not mourning offerings but a form of recognition.
Navghan Kuwo – Adi Kadi’s Ancient Companion
Adjacent to Adi Kadi Vav inside Uparkot Fort stands Navghan Kuwo the companion well that the Gujarati proverb links inseparably to the stepwell. Navghan Kuwo is older than Adi Kadi Vav, with construction dated variously to the 11th century or earlier possibly during the Western Satrap period (200-400 CE) or the Maitraka period (600-700 CE), though some sources place it in the 11th century during the reign of Ra’Navghan I of the Chudasama dynasty, from whom it takes its name.
The most visually spectacular feature of Navghan Kuwo is its underground spiral staircase a helical stairway that winds around the circumference of the well shaft as it descends, rather than taking the direct linear approach of Adi Kadi Vav’s narrow flight. The spiral staircase descends approximately 52 metres deeper than Adi Kadi Vav and provides a completely different spatial experience from the adjacent stepwell. Where Adi Kadi Vav is narrow and intimate, Navghan Kuwo is vertigo-inducing, the spiral revealing the full depth of the well at once.
Together, the two wells demonstrate the range of rock-carving techniques used at Uparkot and provide a complete survey of what Gujarat’s pre-modern water engineering could achieve in solid stone. Visit both in the same stop. The proverb does not give you a choice.
Also Read – Khodiyar Mandir Rajpara Bhavnagar
Uparkot Fort – The Ancient Context
Adi Kadi Vav and Navghan Kuwo exist within Uparkot Fort one of the oldest continuously occupied fortifications in India, with a history attributed to the Mauryan Emperor Chandragupta (319 BCE). The fort was built on a natural plateau in eastern Junagadh, strategically positioned at the foot of the Girnar Hills, surrounded by a moat and high walls that were built and rebuilt through successive eras of occupation.
The dynasties that have held Uparkot include the Mauryans, the Guptas, the Chudasamas, the Sultans of Gujarat, the Mughals, and finally the Nawabs of Junagadh each leaving their mark in the fort’s layered history. A full visit to Uparkot Fort takes 2 to 3 hours and covers:
- Adi Kadi Vav and Navghan Kuwo – the two rock-carved wells
- Buddhist Caves (Babupyana Caves and Khapara Kodiya Caves) – rock-cut caves from the 2nd-4th century CE, showing Junagadh’s pre-Islamic Buddhist heritage
- Jami Masjid (Jama Masjid) – the mosque within the fort walls; reputedly built using columns from an earlier Hindu temple
- The two famous cannons: Nilam and Kadanal – large medieval cannon brought to Junagadh during the Mughal period
- Manik Burj – the watchtower with views over the city
- Various Shaivite shrines and structures across the fort
Best Time to Visit Adi Kadi Vav
October to March – Best Overall
Junagadh is most comfortable from October to February temperatures of 15 to 28 degrees Celsius make the Uparkot Fort exploration genuinely enjoyable. The morning visit (arriving by 9:30 AM for the earliest entry into the fort) gives the best quality of light for the descent into both wells. The post-monsoon landscape around the Girnar Hills and Uparkot Fort is particularly beautiful in October and November.
Summer – When the Vav Becomes Essential
The natural air conditioning of Adi Kadi Vav the deep stone maintaining temperatures significantly cooler than the surface makes the stepwell particularly valuable in the Gujarat summer (April to June) when visiting Junagadh’s outdoor sites becomes challenging in the midday heat. Descending into the well in April is a literal temperature relief: the rock at the bottom is 10 to 15 degrees cooler than the surface. The wells are worth visiting specifically in summer for this reason, though the rest of Uparkot Fort should be covered in the early morning before the heat builds.
Morning Always Best
Regardless of season, the morning is the best time for the stepwells the slant of early light creates the most interesting play of shadow on the carved rock surfaces, the fort crowds are thinnest, and the temperature is most comfortable for the descent and ascent of 120 stairs.
How to Reach Adi Kadi Vav in Junagadh
| From | Distance | Mode | Approx. Time |
| Junagadh city centre / bus stand | ~1–2 km | Auto-rickshaw / Walking | 10 minutes |
| Junagadh Junction Railway Station | ~2–3 km | Auto-rickshaw | 10 minutes |
| Mahabat Maqbara (town) | ~3 km | Auto-rickshaw | 10 minutes |
| Girnar Hill ropeway base | ~5 km | Auto-rickshaw | 15 minutes |
| Ashoka’s Rock Edicts (Junagadh) | ~1 km within the Uparkot area | Walking | 10 minutes on foot |
| Rajkot | ~100 km | Car / Bus | 2 hours |
| Somnath / Veraval | ~80–85 km | Car | 1.5 hours |
| Ahmedabad | ~355 km | Car / Bus / Train | 5.5–6 hours |
Uparkot Fort where Adi Kadi Vav is located is accessible from anywhere in Junagadh by auto-rickshaw in approximately 10 minutes. Navigate to ‘Uparkot Fort, Junagadh’ on Google Maps; the stepwells are within the fort complex, clearly signed. The fort gate is the entry point for both the wells and all other Uparkot attractions.
Practical Tips for Visiting Adi Kadi Vav
- Wear shoes with grip – the 120 steps are steep and some sections may be damp or worn smooth. Flat, closed-toe shoes with reasonable grip are essential; flip-flops are inadvisable for the descent.
- Start early – begin your Uparkot Fort visit by 9:30 AM. The wells and the Buddhist caves are best experienced in the morning before the crowds build, and the summer heat makes afternoon visits uncomfortable.
- Carry a torch/flashlight – the deeper sections of Adi Kadi Vav and Navghan Kuwo are dimly lit. A phone torch significantly improves the experience by revealing the carved stone detail.
- Visit both wells – Adi Kadi Vav and Navghan Kuwo are adjacent and the proverb is clear: you visit both. Add 20 minutes for Navghan Kuwo’s spiral staircase on top of your time at Adi Kadi Vav.
- Plan 2 to 3 hours for the full Uparkot Fort – the Buddhist caves, the Jama Masjid, the cannons, and the fort ramparts all deserve time alongside the wells.
- The tree of remembrance – the tree near Adi Kadi Vav where visitors hang cloth and bangles for Adi and Kadi is part of the site’s living tradition; observe it respectfully.
- Combine Junagadh in a 2-day itinerary – Day 1: Uparkot Fort (Adi Kadi Vav, Navghan Kuwo, Buddhist caves) + Ashoka’s Rock Edicts + Mahabat Maqbara; Day 2: Girnar Hill climb (early morning start) + Damodar Kund.
Nearby Attractions in Junagadh to Combine
- Navghan Kuwo – Adjacent inside Uparkot Fort | The spiral-staircase companion well older than Adi Kadi Vav, deeper, with a different spatial experience. The proverb demands both.
- Buddhist Caves at Uparkot (Babupyana & Khapara Kodiya Caves) – Inside Uparkot Fort | 2nd-4th century CE rock-cut caves demonstrating Junagadh’s Buddhist history, within the same fort complex as the stepwells.
- Ashoka’s Rock Edicts – ~1 km from Uparkot | The 3rd-century BCE stone inscriptions by Emperor Ashoka one of India’s most significant archaeological monuments, in the immediate vicinity of Uparkot.
- Mahabat Maqbara – ~3 km | The extraordinary Indo-Gothic mausoleum of the Nawabs of Junagadh one of Gujarat’s most visually unusual heritage buildings, combining Gothic arches, Islamic ornament, and French Baroque elements.
- Girnar Hill ~5 km | The sacred hill of 10,000 steps with Jain temples, Shaivite shrines, and the summit of Dattatreya – one of the most physically and spiritually demanding pilgrimage climbs in India.
Also Read – Best Restaurants in Rajkot
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Adi Kadi Vav is an ancient stepwell inside Uparkot Fort in Junagadh, Gujarat. Built in the 15th century, it is carved entirely from solid rock unlike most stepwells which are constructed by building stone elements into a dug space. A narrow flight of 120 stairs descends 123 feet through the rock to the water shaft below. It is named after two girls, Adi and Kadi, whose stories are preserved in two different legends. Visited alongside the companion Navghan Kuwo, the stepwells are considered essential Junagadh sightseeing the local Gujarati proverb states that one who has not seen them is like a living dead person.
Two legends explain the name. The first, darker legend says that when workers found no water during construction, the royal priest declared that two unmarried girls must be sacrificed. Adi and Kadi were chosen, and water was found after their sacrifice. The second, more likely legend says Adi and Kadi were simply the royal servant girls who fetched water from this well every day. People still hang cloth and bangles on a tree near the stepwell to remember them. The Gujarat government’s own district website acknowledges the servant-girl version as ‘probably more likely.’
Adi Kadi Vav is unique because it is carved entirely from solid rock the steps, columns, walls, and well shaft are all hewn from the original stone, not built. Most stepwells are constructed: stone is dug through and then structural elements are built. At Adi Kadi Vav, no structural construction occurred the entire stepwell is one piece of rock that was shaped by removing material. This makes the entire structure a single carved object rather than an assembly of parts. The adjacent Navghan Kuwo uses the same rock-carving technique.
Navghan Kuwo is the companion well adjacent to Adi Kadi Vav inside Uparkot Fort. It is older estimated 11th century or earlier named after Ra’Navghan I of the Chudasama dynasty. Both are rock-carved, but Navghan Kuwo’s most distinctive feature is its underground spiral staircase: a helical stairway that winds around the circumference of the well shaft as it descends to approximately 52 metres deeper than Adi Kadi Vav. The visual and spatial experience of the two wells is completely different despite their similar construction method and adjacent location.
Adi Kadi Vav is inside Uparkot Fort; entry to the stepwell is included in the Uparkot Fort entry fee of approximately ₹100 for Indian nationals and ₹200 for foreign nationals (confirm current rates at the fort gate). Timings are approximately 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM daily, though some sources cite 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM confirm locally before visiting. A visit to both Adi Kadi Vav and Navghan Kuwo together takes approximately 20 to 30 minutes; a complete Uparkot Fort visit covering the Buddhist caves and other sites takes 2 to 3 hours.
Yes – Adi Kadi Vav is accessible and safe to descend with appropriate footwear and reasonable care. The steps are steep and some sections may be damp or worn, so flat closed-toe shoes with grip are strongly recommended. Flip-flops are inadvisable. Children should be supervised closely on the steep staircase. A torch or phone flashlight helps reveal the carved rock detail in the dimmer lower sections. The steps are not roped off; visitors descend at their own pace.
Adi Kadi Vav combines naturally with a full Uparkot Fort visit covering the Buddhist caves and Navghan Kuwo (1.5-2 hours within the fort). A recommended full Junagadh itinerary: Uparkot Fort (Adi Kadi Vav, Navghan Kuwo, Buddhist caves, cannons) in the morning, then Ashoka’s Rock Edicts (1 km away) and Mahabat Maqbara in the afternoon. Girnar Hill, Damodar Kund, and the Junagadh Zoo are best added as a separate second day. Junagadh is approximately 100 km from Rajkot and 80 km from Somnath, making it a practical stop on the South Saurashtra circuit.
Final Thoughts
Gujarat has elaborate stepwells Rani Ki Vav with its 863 sculptures, Adalaj with its multi-storey pavilions and ornate carved columns. Adi Kadi Vav has none of that. What it has instead is something more primary: the act of going down into the earth through solid rock, 120 steps, 123 feet, in the cool air of a space that was carved rather than built, named for two girls whose story the town has never let go of.
The Gujarati proverb that frames these two wells as essential viewing is exactly right not because they are spectacular in the way that decorated stepwells are spectacular, but because they are honest. Functional. The pure form of the idea of a stepwell: steps, water, rock. No decoration required. The stone tells you everything it needs to.
Visit Uparkot Fort on your Junagadh itinerary. Descend all 120 stairs. Notice the air change as you go deeper. Look at the tree with the cloth and bangles on the way out. You will understand why the proverb exists.
Have you been to Adi Kadi Vav in Junagadh? Drop your experience in the comments what struck you most on the way down, whether you tried the spiral staircase at Navghan Kuwo, what the bottom of 120 stairs feels like on a Gujarat summer day. TravelRoach wants to hear from every Junagadh explorer.
