Located near Gandhinagar, on the Sabarmati river back,
is Pethapur village, only 7kms from the capital. Once
famous for its colourful `Bandhani' saris, the village
also used to export wooden printing blocks to Singapore.
The wooden blocks, with exquisite patterns carved on
them, are used for the hand-printing of cloth. They
are still in demand in the major hand, printing centres
of India like Ahmedabad, Bombay, Jetpur and Rajkot.
The Pethapur craftsmen are mainly Gujjar Suthars. Architectural
Marvel - Adalaj Stepwell, 15 kms from the capital on
the National Highway, is famous for its unique architecture
with a huge artistic edifice and a flight of steps that
enables one to reach the water, whatever be its level.
The Adalaj stepwell is considered to be the best of
all stepwells in Gujarat. |