This article �was originally published on�www.sahapedia.org,�an�open online resource on the arts, cultures and heritage of India.
Kashmiri Gate was one of the original gates of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan’s mid-17th century imperial capital Shahjahanabad.�The gate was so named because it faced north, towards the road to Kashmir, which was then a part of the�Mughal Empire. The gate was located close to river Yamuna and the region around it became a site of recreational gardens and country houses built by the members of the royal family and courtiers. Qudsia Begum, mother of Emperor Ahmed Shah, built Qudsia Bagh,�a charbagh mughal garden�outside Kashmiri Gate, and Dara Shukoh, eldest son�of Emperor Shah Jahan, built his�palace just inside the Kashmiri Gate. The�Fahkr-ul-masjid was built by Kaniz-i-Fatima�in memory of her husband Shujaat Khan, a nobleman in Aurangzeb’s court.
After the East India Company captured Delhi from the Marathas�in 1803, British Residents�like David Ochterlony, William Fraser and Thomas Metcalfe built their houses�here. The famous Anglo-Indian soldier Colonel James Skinner built Delhi’s oldest church, St. James, in this area in 1836. The Magazine, a large compound of buildings storing gunpowder and ammunition, was also located in the area along with the Old Customs House,�which levied taxes on trade passing through Kashmiri Gate. The Lothian Cemetery was�the main burial�ground�of the Christian population of Delhi during this period.�During the Revolt of 1857, rebel sepoys captured Kashmiri Gate, and the double bays of the gate were sealed and the bastions around it heavily fortified. The British troops maintained�steady bombardment on the bastions, gates and walls around Kashmiri Gate from their vantage position on the Ridge. After four months of siege,�the gate was breached in a daring raid�on 14th September�1857. This region witnessed�intense fighting�and one of the heroes of the British seige, Brigadier-Major John Nicholson, was mortally wounded and later buried in Nicholson’s Cemetery. Much of Qudsia Bagh was destroyed during the siege and the Magazine was almost completely blown up after a heroic defence. Kashmiri Gate also suffered extensive damage and�was left in its ruined state as a symbol of the Mutiny.
In the�later half of the�19th century,�Old�St. Stephen’s College, General Post Office, Bengali Club and Kashmiri Gate Market�were�established in the region around the Gate, and the British developed�a new residential area, Civil Lines, further north of Kashmiri Gate outside the�walled city. In 1864, construction of the Old Delhi Railway Station brought the first railways to the city, connecting it with Kanpur, Allahabad and Calcutta.
Post-independence, the area around Kashmiri Gate became a major transport hub with the�construction of the Inter State Bus Terminal. Apart from being a monument with historical significance, the Kashmiri Gate is still deemed an important location, because it serves as the headquarters of Delhi metro.
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