Built during different times starting from 1411, the gates of Ahmedabad are the entrances to the walled city of Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat. It was believed that the city had 12 gates but as per historians, there are 16 gates in Ahmedabad. But eventually, it was revealed that Ahmedabad had 21 gates.
History of Gates of Ahmedabad
The city of Ahmedabad was founded over the ancient settlement of Ashavali in 1411 by Ahmed Shah I of Gujarat Sultanate. He was the one who built the first bastion of the city called Manek Burj, which is foundation bastion of the Bhadra Fort also built by Ahmed Shah I. And after the city expansion, Ahmad Shah I also built the second fort, which later fortified by Mahmud Begada in 1486. The second fort had 12 major gates and other smaller gates. After arrival of railways, British built two more gates to facilitate the movement. Later the city walls were demolished leaving the gates as monuments.
Gates of Bhadra Fort
The Bhadra Fort had eight gates, with three large, where two of them are in east and one in the south-west corner. And three middle- sized gates, two of the gates are in the north, where one leads to Khanpur and the other to the Mirzapur ward. The other gate is in south and there are two small gates in the west, where one is a middle sized arched gateway built in 1874 in the centre near Azam Khan Sarai. And the other is a large Ganesh gate built in 1779 in the south-west corner. The historic gateway on the east of the Bhadra Fort is the Teen Darwaza, which was built later as an entrance to the royal square.
Gates of Second Fort
In the walled city of the second fort, there are a total of 18 gates, out of which 15 are large and three small. These gates begin from the north- west corner and extend till the south. Listed below are some of the gates of Ahmedabad, which are a part of the second fort:
Shahpur Gate: Currently demolished, the Shahpur Gate had three arched gateways of stone that had a height of 20 ft and is 15ft broad with a roofed platform of 32 X18 ft. The doors of the gate were made of iron plated timber.
Delhi Gate: Formerly known as Idariyo Gate, this too has iron plated timber doors and three arched gateways of stone. In 1878, on either side of the main gateway, two openings, each 8 ft wide and 16ft high were added for foot passengers.
Some of the other gates of the second fort are the Dariyapur Gate, Kalupur Gate, Sarangpur Gate, Raipur Gate, Astodiya Gate, Mahuda Gate, Jamalpur Gate, Khan Jahan Gate, Raikhad Gate, Manek Gate and Khanpur Gate. There are three other citadel gates of the fort called the Ganesh, Ram and Baradari gates.
During the British administration, two new gates were also added after the opening of the railways in 1864 connecting Mumbai. These two gates are the Prem Darwaja and the Panchkuva Gate, the former was built in 1864 in Indo Sarcenic style. Few of the other notable gates of Ahmedabad are the Kharu Gate, which was built near Karanj to give soldiers addition post. The Halim ni Khidki, which is a small window gate, then there are the gates which gave entry into the suburbs of Ahmedabad called the Gomtipur Gate and Shah e Alam Gate of Shah-e-Alam"s Roza.
