The Gates of

Aurangabad Aurangabad ( is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a hilly upland terrain in the Deccan Traps, Aurangabad is th ...

distinguish it from several other medieval cities in India. Each of the 52 gates have a local history or had individuals linked with it. Out of the 52, only four main and nine subordinate gates have survived, the most famous, oldest and biggest of them being the

Bhadkal Gate Bhadkal Gate is a structure in Aurangabad City in Maharashtra, India. This gate is the biggest in the city. It was built by Ahamadnagar's Murtaza Nizamshah's vizier Malik Ambar to commemorate the victory against the Mughals in 1612. It is also k ...

near the Naukhanda Palace of

Nizams The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, M ...

List of gates

bhadkal.jpg,

delhigate1.jpg, Delhi Gate rangeen.jpg, Rangeen Gate roshangate.jpg, Roshan Gate barapulla.jpg, Barapulla Gate paithangate.jpg, Paithan Gate Mecca gate aurangabad.jpg, Mecca Gate kaala.jpg, Kaala Gate, jaffar.jpg, Jaffar Gate naubat.jpg, Naubat Gate mahmood_gate.jpg, Mahmud Gate Makai_gate.jpg, Makai Gate Bhadkal Gate.JPG,

#Delhi Gate # Rangeen Darwaza # Islam Darwaza (kat-Kat Gate) # Roshan Gate or (Jalna Gate) # Barapulla Gate # Paithan Gate # Khaas Gate # Jaffar Gate # Quil-e-Ark (Naubat Darwaza) # Kaala Gate # Mahmud Gate # Begum Darwaza # Makai Gate (Mecca Gate) # Bhadkal Gate # Chhota Bhadkal Gate # Khizar darwaza or (Haathi Gate) or (Majnu Gate) # Khooni darwaza # Mir Adil Gate

History

Aurangabad city walls When Aurangzeb made Aurangabad his capital, there were 54 suburbs which were walled in the city itself, the chief of these were Begumpura and Aurangpura. During Khan Jahan's second viceroyalty,

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

built a wall around the city in 1682, to protect it from the incursions of the

Maratha The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

s; and in 1696 he erected a similar fortified wall for Begumpura. The city wall is terraced, and is of solid masonry, but of no great height, being in many parts not more than fourteen feet. The battlements are loop-holed, and the merlins over the gateways and at certain places along the wall, are machicolated; while semi-circular bastions surmounted by towers, occur at each flanking angle, and at regular intervals along the works. The wall is pierced with thirteen gateways, exclusive of a small postern wicket, and its total length is a little over six miles. All gates barring one are associated with Aurangzeb. The four principal entrances face the cardinal points, and consist of the Delhi gate in the north, the Jalna gate in the east, the Paithan gate in the south, and the Mecca gate in the west. Besides these, there are the Jaffar, Khirki, Barapul, Mahmud and Roshan gates; as well as four others, now closed, the Khizri, Khadgar, Mada, and Kumhar. The Barapul had also been walled up for some time.

Bhadkal Gate

is the biggest gate of city. It was built by

Ahmadnagar Ahmednagar (), is a city located in the Ahmednagar district in the state of Maharashtra, India, about 120 km northeast of Pune and 114 km from Aurangabad. Ahmednagar takes its name from Ahmad Nizam Shah I, who founded the town in 1494 ...

's, Murtaza Nizamshah's Vazir

Malik Ambar Malik Ambar (1548 – 13 May 1626) was a Siddi military leader and prime minister who became a kingmaker and de facto ruler of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate in the Deccan region of India. Born in the Adal Sultunate, in present-day Ethiopia, Malik ...

. It was built to commemorate the victory against the Mughal Empire in 1612 and is therefore also known as the victory gate. Bhadkal Gate is architecturally unique as India's first column structured building.

Delhi Gate

The largest and the most stately gate, it was built by Aurangzeb. It is situated to the north of the city facing Delhi. It is similar to the Lahore Gate of

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

’s Lal Quila (

Red Fort The Red Fort or Lal Qila () is a historic fort in Old Delhi, Delhi in India that served as the main residence of the Mughal Emperors. Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned construction of the Red Fort on 12 May 1638, when he decided to shift hi ...

Paithan Gate

The gate is smaller in size and was royal gateway leading to

Paithan Paithan pəɪ.ʈʰaɳ(), historically Pratiṣṭhāna ɾə'tɪʂʈʰana is a town with municipal council in Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, India. Paithan is located south of present-day Aurangabad on the Godavari River. It was the cap ...

town. This gate is smaller in size compared to other gates.

Mecca or Makai Gate

This gate leads to Begumpura another walled quarter of the city, and is the only gate that has a canon installed on it. It faces the holy city of

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...

towards the west.

Khas or Jalna Gate

The gate is simple in design but was disintegrating. It has been restored recently. It faces the

Jalna city Jalna is a city in Jalna district in the Aurangabad Division, or Marathwada region, of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It was part of Hyderabad State as a tehsil of Aurangabad district, before Jalna district was formed effective 1 May 198 ...

in the east.

Kaala Darwaza

This gate leads to the palace fort of

Qila-e-Ark Qila-e-Ark is a 17th-century palace/citadel complex in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. Built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb when he was a prince, it served as his royal residence during his subsequent reign as emperor. The site is currently ruined, and ha ...

. The palace had its own fortification walls and had five gates other than the Kaala darwaza all gates are in ruins.

Roshan Gate

This gate is located to the north of Jalna gate or Khas gate. It is bigger in size and stature as compared to Jalna gate. Roshan gate is said to have been named after Aurangezeb’s sister Roshanara to whom the emperor was much attached and she remained his favorite friend and advisor.

References

Gazetteer Of Aurangabad (1884) {{DEFAULTSORT:Aurangabad

Gates Gates is the plural of gate, a point of entry to a space which is enclosed by walls. It may also refer to: People * Gates (surname), various people with the last name * Gates Brown (1939-2013), American Major League Baseball player * Gates McFadde ...

Indo-Islamic architecture Gates, Aurangabad