Khooni Darwaza

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Khooni Darwaza
Building information
Town Delhi
Country India
Style Mughal-Afghan
External images
Painting of the Khooni Darwaza
Photo of the Lal Darwaza
Digital library with images of the Lal Darwaza

Khooni Darwaza (Hindi:खूनी दरवाज़ा, Urdu خونی دروازہliterally The Gate of Blood), also referred to as Lal Darwaza (Hindi:लाल दरवाज़ा, Red Gate), is located on the Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in Delhi, India. It is one of the 13 surviving gates of Delhi.

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[edit] Location

Khooni Darwaza was situated on an open tract of land before the rise of modern buildings around it. It lies today on the Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg opposite the Feroz Shah Kotla cricket ground, which lies to its east. To the west is the entrance to the Maulana Azad Medical College. It lies about half a kilometre to the south of the Delhi Gate of Old Delhi.

[edit] History

The Gate was built during Sher Shah Suri's reign as one of the two gateways of Purana Qila. It was known as the Kabuli Darwaza as caravans coming from Afghanistan passed through it. It came to be known as Khooni Darwaza during the Mughal reign due to various tales of bloodshed at the gate, in addition to the practice of displaying criminals' heads there.

Emperor Jehangir who succeeded his father Akbar to the throne was resisted by some of Akbar's Navaratnas. He ordered two sons of Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana, one of the Navratnas, to death at this gate. Their bodies were left to rot at the gate. [1]

Aurangzeb (Jehangir's grandson) defeated his elder brother Dara Shikoh in the struggle for the throne and had his head displayed at the gate.[1]

The Gate saw yet more bloodshed in 1739 when Delhi was ransacked by Nadir Shah of Persia.[2] However, according to some sources, this massacre occurred at another gate of the same name located in the Dariba locality of Chandni Chowk.[1]

On September 22, 1857, during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, William Stephen Raikes Hodson shot Bahadur Shah Zafar's sons Mirza Mughal and Mirza Khizr Sultan and grandson Mirza Abu Bakr at the gate.

[edit] Post-independence

During the riots of 1947, more bloodshed occurred near the gate when several refugees going to the camp established in Purana Qila were killed here.

Khooni Darwaza is today a protected monument under the aegis of the Archaeological Survey of India.

It gained more notoriety in December 2002, when a medical student was raped there by three youths.[3] The incident sparked much uproar and was also discussed in the Parliament of India.[4] Following the incident, the monument was sealed to the general public.

[edit] Architecture

The gate is 15.5 m high and built with Delhi quartzite stone. Three staircases lead to different levels of the gate.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Hindu online. Retrieved on December 3, 2006.
  2. ^ India Heritage. Retrieved on December 3, 2006.
  3. ^ Yahoo news. Retrieved on December 3, 2006.
  4. ^ Mention in Rajya Sabha. Retrieved on December 3, 2006.
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