By M S Nazki
Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free! And you can do anything that may seem impossible in the beginning!
The India Gate (formerly known as All India War Memorial) is a war memorial located near the Rajpath (officially called Kartavya path) on the eastern edge of the “ceremonial axis” of New Delhi. 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.
-Scared is what you’re feeling. Brave is what you’re doing. And our soldiers have done it time and again!
-This is a place where silence is maintained, the urn burns in respect of the brave hearts who gave up their lives for the Nation in various battle fields worldwide!
-13,300 servicemen’s names, including some soldiers and officers from the United Kingdom, are inscribed on the gate.
– 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.
-Following the Bangladesh Liberation war in 1972, a structure consisting of a black marble plinth with a reversed rifle, capped by a war helmet and bounded by four eternal flames, was built beneath the archway.
-This structure, called Amar Jawan Jyoti (Flame of the Immortal Soldier), has since 1971 served as India’s tomb of the unknown soldier.
-India Gate is counted amongst the largest war memorials in India and every Republic Day, the Prime Minister visits the Gate to pay their tributes to the Amar Jawan Jyoti, following which the Republic Day parade starts. India Gate is often a location for civil society protests, and is popular with tourists.
-This is a special place for very, very special people who are no more with us but still are in our hearts!
-Amar Jawan Jyoti was added under India Gate following the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. The war, which lasted from 3 to 16 December 1971, and ended with the Fall of Dhaka, was part of the liberation war in East Pakistan.
– On 26 January 1972, the twenty-third Republic Day of India, the monument was officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. This short time frame for setting up a memorial to honour those of who fought only the previous month was as per Indira Gandhi’s wishes. Author Vedica Kants has written in her 2014 book “India and the First World War” that the location of Amar Jawan Jyoti under the arch of India Gate rewrote the symbolic intention of India Gate.
‘There are so many ways to be brave in this world. Sometimes bravery involves laying down your life for something bigger than yourself, or for someone else. Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known, or everyone you have ever loved, for the sake of something greater.’
For many years after Independence, there was no clear cut policy on war memorials. In 1973, the military top brass observed that memorials to commemorate war related events and martyrs were being constructed across the country without any coordination. These memorials were often left untended and were not constructed with much commemorative or architectural thought. There are at least 150 war memorials in the country.
However, as the national war memorial construction was delayed, individual structures continued to be built. The construction of a National War Memorial started in 2017 and was inaugurated in 2019. When the National War Memorial was inaugurated in 2019 with a new flame the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff and a Deputy Chief of the Army Staff had said that the old Amar Jyoti Jawan would be retained, however no specifics were given.
Following the ceremony on 21 January 2022, debate ensued related to semantics, legacy, politicisation and symbolism whether the shifted flame was merged, or extinguished; whether the five decades old memorial was temporary, irrespective of government plans to construct a permanent one; whether there could be two “eternal”.
-The Amar Jawan Jyoti is a reminder of the countless soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the nation. It also represents the gratitude of a nation to its Armed Forces.
After that, a new National War Memorial was built in New Delhi. On 21 January 2022, the older flame of the Amar Jawan Jyoti was merged with the new flame at the National War Memorial. According to the National War Memorial’s official website, the Amar Jawan Jyoti structure is an inverted bayonet with a helmet structure. The memorial symbolises harmony with the existing layout and symmetry of the majestic Kartavya Path and Central Vista.
The structure consists of a base of 15 square feet with a height of 4 feet 3 inches. On the base, there’s a black marble pedestal which is 3 feet 2 inches in height. The black pedestal has the words “Amar Jawan” written in Hindi with gold on all four sides.
The setup had four urns on it with four burners. On regular days, only one of the four burners is lit. However, on important days such as Republic Day, all four burners of the Amar Jawan are lit. These burners were known as the eternal flame, and it was by no means allowed to be extinguished. The responsibility of keeping the Amar Jawan Jyoti flame lit is with the Military Engineering Services.
–Significance
Since independence, more than 26,000 soldiers of the Indian Armed Forces have laid their lives to defend the sovereignty and integrity of the country. The National War Memorial thus represents the gratitude of a nation to its Armed Forces. The Memorial also helps strengthen the sense of belonging, high moral values, sacrifice, and national pride in our citizens.
It stands as a testimony to the sacrifices made by our soldiers during various conflicts, United Nations Operations, Humanitarian Assistance, and Disaster Response Operations since Independence.
I will conclude this story with a memoir I heard from my Dad! No matter how long you train someone to be brave, you never know if they are or not until something real happens.! With soldiers it happens almost everyday!
