Ranakdevi's Temple, Wadhwan

Ranakdevi's Temple stands in Wadhwan, Surendranagar district, and is a Monument of National Importance. Legend says the Chaulukya king Jayasimha Siddharaja killed the Chudasama king Khengara, carried off his queen Ranakdevi, and built this temple after she committed sati on the banks of the Bhogavo river. Her paliya (memorial stone) and a shrine survive on the southern bank of the river. How the building came to be linked with a 12th-century queen is unclear: on grounds of style, scholars date it to the late 9th or the 10th century, possibly under the Chhapa ruler Dharanivaraha.

Rising about 9 m from a broad platform, it is an early Nagara-phase work of the Māru-Gurjara style, and is the first known use of the grass-patti moulding band. Its spire ends in amalaka and kalasha mouldings, and the outer walls have empty niches. A water outlet to the north marks it as a Shiva temple, and a Nandi lies nearby. Inside, two images are labelled Mahakali and Ranakdevi.