Brahma Vav, Khedbrahma

Brahma Vav is a stepwell in Khedbrahma, in Sabarkantha district of north Gujarat, standing opposite the town's Brahma temple. It carries no inscription, so its 14th-century date rests on the style of the miniature shrines that decorate it. Humada Digambara Jains and Khedaval Brahmins regard the well as sacred and once worshipped their patron deities inside it. Nearby are paliya hero stones for Dhabi village gatekeepers killed around Samvat 1800 in a fight with Maharaja Shivsinhji of Idar, their inscriptions now worn away.

Built of grey granite, the well runs east to west, entered from the east, with the shaft at the western end. It measures 38.10 metres in all: a stepped corridor of 30 metres and a well 8.10 metres across. Four pavilion-towers (kuta) mark the descent, and the corridor narrows as it goes down. The shaft walls hold a row of miniature temple-spire shrines with 27 niches, all now empty. The stepwell suffers from poor upkeep.