In this article, we provide comprehensive information about India Gate. One of the greatest monuments in India is the India Gate located in New Delhi. It stands as a symbol of national pride and serves as a war memorial dedicated to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives during various conflicts.
| About: | At the centre of New Delhi stands the 42 m high India Gate, an “Arc-de-Triomphe” like archway in the middle of a crossroad. Almost similar to its French counterpart, it commemorates the 70,000 Indian soldiers who lost their lives fighting for the British Army during the World War I. The memorial bears the names of more than 13,516 British and Indian soldiers killed in the Northwestern Frontier in the Afghan war of 1919. The foundation stone of India Gate was laid by His Royal Highness, the Duke of Connaught in 1921 and it was designed by Edwin Lutyens. The monument was dedicated to the nation 10 years later by the then Viceroy, Lord Irwin. Another memorial, Amar Jawan Jyoti was added much later, after India got its independence. The eternal flame burns day and night under the arch to remind the nation of soldiers who laid down their lives in the Indo-Pakistan War of December 1971. |
| History | The India Gate was part of the work of the Imperial War Graves Commission, which came into existence in December 1917 under the British rule for building war graves and memorials to soldiers who were killed in the First World War. The foundation stone of the Gate, then called the All India War Memorial, was laid on 10 February 1921, at 16:30 hrs, by the visiting Duke of Connaught in a ceremony attended by officers and men of the Imperial Indian Army, Imperial Service Troops, the Commander-in-Chief, and Lord Chelmsford, the Viceroy. On the occasion, the Viceroy is reported to have said, “The stirring tales of individual heroism, will live forever in the annals of this country”, and that the memorial which was a tribute to the memory of heroes, “known and unknown”, would inspire future generations to endure hardships with similar fortitude and “no less valor”. The Duke also read out a message from the King, which said, “On this spot, in the central vista of the Capital of India, there will stand a Memorial Archway, designed to keep”, in the thoughts of future generations, “the glorious sacrifice of the officers and men of the Indian Army who fought and fell”. During the ceremony, the Deccan Horse, 3rd Sappers and Miners, 6th Jat Light Infantry, 34th Sikh Pioneers, 39th Garhwal Rifles, 59th Scinde Rifles (Frontier Force), 117th Mahrattas, and 5th Gurkha Rifles. The land was owned by contractor Sir Sobha Singh who helped construct large tracts of New Delhi and was the primary contractor. |
| Design and structure | The memorial gate was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, not only the chief architect of New Delhi but also a member of the Imperial War Graves Commission and one of Europe’s foremost designers of war graves and memorials. He designed sixty-six war memorials in Europe, including the highly-regarded Cenotaph in London in 1919, the first national war memorial erected after World War I, for which he was commissioned by David Lloyd George, the British Prime Minister. This memorial in New Delhi is similar to the Cenotaph in London in that it is a secular memorial, free from religious symbolism and “culturally-specific iconography, such as crosses.” According to Lutyens’ biographer, Christopher Hussey, it was an “elemental mode,” based on the “universal architectural style, free of religious ornamentation.” |
| Established: | 10 February 1921 |
| Unveiled: | 12 February 1931 |
| Location: | Near Rajpath |
| Metro Station: | Pragati Maidan |
| Timings: | Morning to Night |
| Entry: | Free |
| Days Closed: | None |
| Photography Charges: | Nil |
