Aurangabad (City of Gates)

City of 52Gates, 52 markets and 52 'Pura'

Aurangabad, named after the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, happens to be a very historic place.

Also known as the ‘City of Gates’, it had 52 gates. These gates served as points of revenue collection while entering the town and were also used for surveillance purpose. Out of 52, only 18 survive today. A few of them is in a very dilapidated condition.

On 20th January 2019 Sunday, we walked around 17 km from 5:45 AM to 12 noon and covered the remaining 15 gates out of 18 in Aurangabad.

Three of us were on this tour and one of them had actually made this plan and worked on it and so the section was divided into two half one from Barapulla gate to Delhi gate and second half from Delhi gate to Paithan Gate. The sections were divided for the convenience of travel.

Sharing with short information about the gates followed by pictures, front view and back view of the gate!

1. Barapulla Gate
Barapulla Gate and Mehmood Gate both are close to Siddhartha Garden, Panchakki not much information is available of many Gates.

2. Mehmood Gate

Just 5 steps ahead of Mehmood Gate is Panchakki and the entry to this place is 10/-

3.Chotti Bhadkal Gate

4. Bhadkal Gate

Bhadkal Gate is the biggest in the city. It was built by Ahamadnagar's Murtaza Nizamshah's Wajir Malik Ambar in memory of victory against the Mughals in 1612. It is also known as Victory Gate.

5.Makai Gate
Faces in direction of Mecca, the holy place of pilgrimage and so was named after it.

6.Naubat Gate

7. Kaala Gate:

The gate forms the fortification of the 'Qil e Ark' palace complex. Outside the gate was the quarters of the military and the gate was exclusively used by them. The gate is constructed in dark black rock, hence named 'Kaala.'

8. Rangeen Gate:
Rangeen Darwaja appears huge with strong bastions on either side of the gate. It is said that most of the royal celebration, events were organized near this Gate with colourful fireworks hence gate is named Rangeen Gate.

9.Delhi Gate:
Situated to the north of the city facing Delhi.
Beyond this gate, lies the way to Delhi.

 10.Roshan Gate

The Roshan Gate stands to the north of Khas Darwaza and is believed to have acquired its name from Aurangzeb's sister, Roshanara. The Darwaza is clad in concrete stone with an arcaded entrance opening to a narrow road. The gateway has small semi-octagonal towers on both sides that must have served as lookouts for the soldiers.

11.Noor Gate

12. Islam Gate/ Kat kat Gate

13.Jafar Gate
The one in the main Market.

14. Paithan Gate

Paithan Gate. The gate is smaller in size and was the royal gateway leading to Paithan town. This gate is smaller in size compared to other gates.

15. Khass Gate
No fortification, only 2-3  stones of the gate are left.

Highlights of this heritage walk:
1. Not so popular yet an offbeat experience of our heritage.
2. Most of the gates are in a distance of a km away from each other. If you do not wish to walk can hire a rickshaw or bike for a half day.
3. If you are travelling from Mumbai, you can reserve your seats well in advance.
Mumbai Aurangabad ( Secunderabad Express)
Aurangabad Mumbai ( Nandigram Express).
4. There are various other tourist destinations in Aurangabad such as Ajanta Ellora caves,Bibi ka Maqbara, Soneri Mahal, Daulatabad Fort, Grushneshwar temple.
We opted Ellora caves and Grushneshear temple one of the 12 jyotirlingas in the remaining half day.
5. Expense:
Train tickets-465/-
Snacks -100/-
Lunch-150
Bus travel from Bus stand to Ellora and back-80/-
Entry fees at Ellora-40/-
Inbetween Rickshaw- 65/-
Total Expense-900/-
P.S - We saved on our travel expense as we travelled most of the places by enjoying morning walk taking in Vitamin D and Dinner at one of my friend's relative's place which was lip-smacking on a banana leaf.