Fort and Gates of Ahmedabad

City walls of Ahmedabad 1866

Old Ahmedabad city, Gujarat's commercial and financial centre, was encompassed within a fort. Bhadra Fort once believed to have 12 darwajas (gates) actually has 21 darwajas. Each of the darwaja has beautiful carvings, calligraphy and some of them even balconies.

These entrances to the city has a unique name. Pretty much the area surrounding these gates have adopted the name of darwaja as the name of the locality.^[1]

List of Gates

Most people believe that Ahmedabad had 12 gates but some historian suggested to have 16. Later some Indologist found that Ahmedabad had 21 gates.^[1]

• Teen Darwaza, composed of three arched entrances, was built by Ahmed Shah I to serve as a royal entrance to Maidan Shahi. Mughal emperor Jehangir and his wife Nur Jahan used to watch the Tazia procession of Mahuram from over these gates.
• Ashtodia Darwaja - Dyes used to be brought into the city here, a key trading .
• Raipur Darwaja was used by commoners.
• Sarangpur Darwaja
• Panchkuva Darwaja was built when the city grew in size.
• Prem Darwaja was used by traders to transport their goods.
• Kalupur Darwaja - Food supplies were brought into the city.
• Dariyapur Darwaja was used by soldiers and their convoys.
• Delhi Darwaja (Dilli Darwaja), as the name suggests, was a transit point to the capital Delhi.
• Shahpur Darwaja leads to the Sabarmati River.
• Khanpur Darwaja was an entrance to the King's garden.
• Jamalpur Darwaja was an exit point to Vadodara and other cities.
• Halim Darwaja once stood in Shahpur. Soldiers used to march into the city through this gate.
• Mauda Darwaja was built in Panch Kuva area. It was a goods' passage.
• Khan-a-jahan Darwaja was an emergency exit.
• Raikhad Darwaja leads to the Sabarmati.
• Ganesh Darwaja once stood in area that's currently tucked under Ellis Bridge. It provided people access to the Sabarmati river.
• Kharu Darwaja was built in Karanj to provide soldiers an additional post.
• Bhadra Darwaja was used by rulers from other states.
• Lal Darwaja once stood in front of Siddi Sayyed Mosque.
• Salapas Darwaja stood in the area which is currently close to Advance Talkies. The Queen's convoy used it.
• shah-e-alam darwaja

Apart from these Gomtipur Darwaja and Shah-e-Alam Darwaja exist in Modern day Ahmedabad.

A pair of gates (Darwaza) of Ahmedabad are still in a village of Rajasthan namely Nimaj as during the reign of Sarbuland Khan, the Governor of Ahmedabad, it was attacked by Mharaja Abhay Singh of Jodhpur. Nimaj was one of the Thikanas of Marwar under the then Rathore rulers. The Jagridar of Nimaj took the gates of one of the Darwazas of Ahmedabad as a trophy after defeating the force of Sarbuland Khan. Jodhpur army camped at a place which is still known as 'Jodhpur Tekra' and 'Jodhpur village' in Ahmedabad.

Gallery

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  Teen Darwaja

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  Bhadra Fort

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  Panch Kuva

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  Prem Darwaja

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  Delhi Darwaja

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  Ashtodia Darwaja

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Buildings in Ahmedabad.

See also

• Gates of Ahmedabad

References

External links