The India Gate, which was built in 1921, is located in the middle of India's capital city, New Delhi. It is located on the eastern end of the ceremonial promenade, Rajpath, about 2.3 kilometres from the Rashtrapati Bhavan. It was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, an Englishman who was also the chief planner of New Delhi. The India Gate was one of several British memorials created by the Imperial War Graves Commission, subsequently renamed the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The India Gate, also known as the Delhi Memorial, was inaugurated in 1931 by Viceroy Lord Irwin, at the same time as the ceremonial consecration of New Delhi as India's capital city.
The India Gate's History
India Gate is a war monument, which means it was created to honour people who perished in the First World War and subsequent conflicts, such as the Third Anglo-Afghan War. The Duke of Connaught lay the foundation stone for India Gate in 1921, in a military event attended by soldiers of the Indian Army and the Imperial Service Troops.
Every year on January 26th, the Republic Day procession begins at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and circles the Gate. The parade highlights the country's current achievements in military and technology, as well as its rich cultural history.
India Gate's Architecture
The India Gate stands 42 metres tall, rising in asymmetrical steps from a low foundation of red and yellow sandstones from Bharatpur and topped with a shallow dome at the top. The Gate is designed in the triumphal arch style, akin to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and the Gateway of India in Mumbai. A blank canopy stands in front of the monument, where the statue of George V in his coronation robes, Imperial State Crown, British globus cruciger, and sceptre previously stood. The statue was relocated to Coronation Park in 1960, and the vacant canopy represents the British withdrawal from India.
The Amar Jawan Jyoti memorial is located beneath the India Gate and was constructed considerably later after India's independence. It is a building made up of a black marble plinth that is also known as the flame of the everlasting soldier. It was created to honour the Indian troops who died defending their nation during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. Under the arch, the four eternal flames burn day and night in commemoration of these men.
The inscriptions on India Gate
The cornices of India Gate are ornamented with a solar inscription that represents the British Imperial Colony. On both sides of the arches, the word INDIA is written, flanked by the dates MCMXIV (1914) on the left and MCMXIX (1919) on the right. The following sentence is engraved underneath it: To the dead of Indian armies who fell and are remembered in France and Flanders, Mesopotamia and Persia, East Africa, Gallipoli, and elsewhere in the Near and Far East, and in sacred memory of those whose names are recorded here and who died in India on the north-west frontier and during the Third Afghan War.
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