India Gate

India Gate stands at the eastern end of Kartavya Path, formerly Rajpath, the ceremonial avenue of New Delhi that runs to Rashtrapati Bhavan. It was designed by the British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens as the All India War Memorial. The foundation stone was laid on 10 February 1921, and the memorial was unveiled on 12 February 1931.

It commemorates about 74,000 soldiers of the British Indian Army who died between 1914 and 1921 in the First World War and the Third Anglo-Afghan War. The names of more than 13,000 of them are carved on the walls.

The arch is about 42 metres high and built of red and pale sandstone and granite. Its form follows the Roman triumphal arch, and it is often compared to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The word INDIA is inscribed at the top on both sides. In 1972, after the 1971 war, the Amar Jawan Jyoti, a memorial with a reversed rifle, helmet and eternal flame, was placed beneath the arch. In 2022 its flame was merged with the flame at the new National War Memorial, which stands just east of India Gate. A canopy nearby, once home to a statue of King George V, now holds a statue of Subhas Chandra Bose, unveiled in 2022.

The lawns around the arch are a favourite evening gathering place for families, with street food vendors and ice cream carts. The Republic Day parade passes along Kartavya Path each 26 January.

India Gate is open at all times and free to visit. It is floodlit after dark. Central Secretariat and Khan Market metro stations are the nearest.

What does the inscription say? The dedication on the arch begins with the words "To the dead of the Indian Armies who fell and are honoured in France and Flanders" and continues with other theatres of the war. The walls carry 13,313 names, of whom 12,357 were Indian soldiers. Visitors cannot get close enough to read most of the names, but the full list is published by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

The arch rests on a low base of red Bharatpur stone, and its central opening spans about 9.1 metres. Lutyens designed 66 war memorials in Europe, including the Cenotaph in London, and India Gate shares their spare classical style.

Visiting at night. The arch is lit each evening from about 7pm to 9.30pm, the busiest time on the lawns. The National War Memorial, completed in January 2019 just east of the arch, has housed the Amar Jawan Jyoti flame since January 2022. Each Republic Day, the Prime Minister and the chiefs of the armed forces lay wreaths there. India Gate stands inside the C-Hexagon, a ring road that also gives access to the National Gallery of Modern Art and the National Stadium.