Ranakdevi Temple, Vadhwan, Gujrat.

The Ranakdevi temple was not dedicated to any heavenly Goddess but the deity here was a queen of the 10th century of Junagadh of the then Saurashtra. Ranak Devi was the queen of Raja Khenga and stayed at the formidable fort “Uparkot” of Junagadh.  Solanki king Siddharaj attacked Uparkot and killed the king Khenga and his two sons.  Siddharaj wanted to marry forcefully the queen, Ranakdevi refused. The queen fled by a hidden tunnel with her husband’s head so that she can be a "SATI" to Vadhwan, some 261 Kilometers away. Goddess Mahakali helped her to be  burnt alive with her husband’s body remnant by  turning  the queen’s despair and rage into fire. The temple is of red stone and was built by the side of river Vagwa in the 10th century with exquisite carvings on the wall. The architect of the temple is not the usual Rajasthani or Gujrati style but the Rathadeul type of Odisha or Bengal. Swami Vivekananda visited the place in 1891during his Bharat Parikrama. Ranakdevi temple is a small architectural splendour of mysterious beauty and a sad story.