Teen Darwaza, Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Teen Darwaza is a historical gateway on the east
of Bhadra Fort, Ahmedabad, India. Completed in 1415, it is
associated with historical as well as legendary events. The gates are featured
in the logo of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.
The Teen
Darwaza was an egress from Bhadra Fort to
the eastward. The gateway has three arches which led into a large enclosure,
forming the outer courtyard of the palace called Maidan Shah in
past, with a fountain and raised terrace in the centre. The roadway in the
central opening is 17 feet wide, and that of each side arch is 13 feet wide. It
has highly decorated buttresses on the faces of piers between the arches. The
height of the arches is twenty-five feet. The terrace on the top of the gateway
was formerly roofed over. But in 1877 the gateway was repaired, and the terrace
thrown open. Here the great feudatories or foreign embassies assembled before
approaching the presence, and the sovereign enthroned on the terrace, mustered
the troops for martial enterprises and gala-day reviews, or held court in the
cool of the evening beside the splashing fountain. Now the area is congested
market.
It
was built by Ahmed Shah I immediately after the foundation of
Ahmedabad and completed in 1415. Through it, in 1459, Mahmud
Begada, king for only a few months, and not fifteen years old, quiver on back
and bow in hand, with only 300 horsemen, marched to disperse his rebel nobles
and their 30,000 followers. Leaving the palace, the young king ordered the
roads leading to it to be held by elephants, and, with the royal music playing,
marched slowly along the main street. His cool bravery gave some of his
faithful nobles time to join, and forming a considerable force, though small
compared with the insurgents, attacked them, put them to flight, and destroyed their
leaders. Later the newly appointed Maratha governors used to aim five arrows at
one of its beams, and augur good or ill to their administration in accordance
with their success in striking it.
Maratha governor Chimnaji
Raghunath decreed and inscribed farman on Teen Darwaza in 1812
declaring equal right to women in inheritance of ancestral property. Raghunath
had appealed to Hindu and Muslims both. This plaque engraved in Devnagari
script and dated 10 October 1812 reads, Let the daughter get her due share
of father’s property without any hitch. So is Lord Vishwanath's command. If you
defy, the Hindu will have to answer Mahadev and the Mussalman will have to
explain to Allah or Rasool.
Years
ago, Laxmi, the Goddess of Wealth, came to the gate of the Bhadra Fort to
leave the city in the night. Watchman Khwaja Siddique Kotwal stopped her and
identified her. He asked her not to leave fort until he obtained permission
from the king, Ahmed Shah. He went to the king and beheaded himself in order to
keep Laxmi in the city. It resulted in the prosperity of the city.
There
is a tomb near Bhadra Gate of fort dedicated to Siddique Kotwal and a temple to
Bhadra Kali, representing Laxmi. A lamp in one of the cavity in Teen
Darwaza is lit continuously for more than six hundred years by a
Muslim family in dedication to the legend.
Picture Credit: Parth Vaghela
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