UK’s India Gate to commemorate role of Indian soldiers from World Wars

UK’s India Gate to commemorate role of Indian soldiers from World Wars

Subject: History

Section: world history 

Context:

• Brighton approved an annual event at India Gate to honor Indian soldiers in World Wars, unveiled in 1921 at Royal Pavilion.

More on news:

• A local council in the seaside resort of Brighton in south-east England has approved plans for an annual multi-faith event to commemorate the role of Indian soldiers in the two World Wars at the town’s India Gate memorial from this October.
• The India Gate was presented to the people of Brighton by the princes and people of India as a gesture of thanks for the care provided by the town’s hospitals and is dedicated to the use of the inhabitants of Brighton.
• The local council’s Culture, Heritage, Sport, Tourism & Economic Development Committee feels an annual memorial event at the India Gate in October would be a suitable addition to the current remembrance services and would additionally recognise the commitment of Muslim and Buddhist soldiers of undivided India.

About the monument:

• It was unveiled by the Maharaja of Patiala, Bhupinder Singh, on October 26, 1921.
• It stands at the southern entrance of the Royal Pavilion – one of three buildings in Brighton serving as a base hospital which treated these soldiers from undivided India wounded on the Western front.
• These included soldiers from the modern-day countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Bhutan.
• The India Gate, designed by Thomas Tyrwhitt, replaced a much lower gate that was erected by Brighton Corporation following its purchase of the Pavilion in 1850 and is described as a dome resting on four pillars in a style derived from Gujarat.
• According to historical records, in World War I (1914-1918) more than 1.5 million soldiers from pre-Partition India served in the British Indian Army of the colonial era, participating in major battles such as the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, Battle of Gallipoli, and the Battle of the Somme.
• In World War II (1939-1945), over 2.5 million soldiers from undivided India volunteered to serve in the British Indian Army, the largest volunteer army in history.
• The Royal Pavilion Indian hospital in Brighton that cared for the wounded from these battles is also marked by the Chattri memorial, which stands on the spot where Hindus and Sikhs were cremated.
• It is accompanied by a memorial maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and an annual remembrance ceremony is organized by the Chattri Memorial Group there every June.
• The details of the event will be determined and delivered by a committee of community leaders, in partnership with the Brighton & Hove Museums, and supported by Brighton & Hove City Council.

About India Gate in India:

• The India Gate formerly known as All India War Memorial is a war memorial located near the Kartavya path on the eastern edge of the “ceremonial axis” of New Delhi, formerly called Rajpath.
•  It stands as a memorial to 74,187 soldiers of the Indian Army who died between 1914 and 1921 in the First World War, in France, Flanders, Mesopotamia, Persia, East Africa, Gallipoli and elsewhere in the Near and the Far East, and the Third Anglo-Afghan War. 
• Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the gate evokes the architectural style of the ancient Roman triumphal arches such as the Arch of Constantine in Rome, and later memorial arches; it is often compared to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and the Gateway of India in Mumbai.