What it hides

The oldest continuously operating market in Jaipur. While Johri Bazar gets the tourists and Bapu Bazar gets the cameras, Chandpole Bazar is where the city’s own residents have been buying their supplies. Chandpol Anaaj Mandi was a major place of commerce for decades until it shifted to a new location.

Ajmeri Gate

Also called Kishan Pol

The first of four southern gates, Ajmeri Gate is named for the direction it faces toward Ajmer, a city of profound spiritual importance as the site of the Dargah Sharif of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, a popular Sufi shrine. The gate commanded the westerly road out of Jaipur toward Ajmer, and for centuries this was a road of pilgrims as much as merchants.

Inside the walls, this gate opens into Kishan Pol Bazar. The gate’s architecture follows the standard pattern of a large central door flanked by two smaller secondary arches. 

Naya Pol

The New Gate 

Of all the gates in the walled city, Naya Pol carries perhaps the most layered history. It was not part of the original plan which is precisely why it’s called “Naya,” meaning new. It was built in the middle of the twentieth century to replace a much older, far more secretive structure.

From Naya Pol if you look outward, you can see the Albert Hall Museum through the arch, a view that frames the colonial-era building against the old city wall in one of Jaipur’s most quietly dramatic sightlines. Inside, the road leads directly toward the Tripolia Gate of the City Palace.

Sanganeri Gate

Also called Shiv Pol

The third gate of the southern rampart connects Jaipur to Sanganer, a town seven kilometers to the south that has been synonymous with handmade paper and block-printed textiles for as long as anyone can remember. Travelers arriving from Sanganer, artists, papermakers, dyers, merchants of cloth, all entered the walled city through this arch.

Sanganeri Gate also provides direct access to Johri Bazar, Jaipur’s famous jewelry market through the interior lanes, making it a gate where art, craft, faith, and commerce have always mingled.

Ghat Darwaza

Also called Rampole.

The last of the four southern gates, Ghat Darwaza takes its name from the easterly road that leads toward Ghat ki Ghuni, a narrow mountain pass and popular scenic drive that connects Jaipur to the surrounding hills. Unlike its neighboring southern gates, this one has only a single secondary opening, giving it a slightly more austere character.

Its second name, Ram Pol, comes from what lies just inside: Ramganj Bazar, a neighborhood that has traditionally been associated with Muslim artisans and traders, adding another thread to the city’s layered communal fabric.

Samrat Gate & Gangapole

The Forgotten Pair in the Northwest and Northeast

Most accounts of Jaipur’s gates count to seven or eight and then stop. Samrat Gate and Ganga Pol are the least-known gateways in the walled city, tucked into the northern rampart near Zorawar Singh Gate and largely absent from the tourist circuit. Their obscurity, however, is part of their character.

Some historians believe Samrat Gate, in the northwest near the Brahampuri area, as “Brahma Pol” citing old records. Many believe it is named after Jagannath Samrat, the astronomer who assisted Sawai Jai Singh II in designing the city and the famous Jantar Mantar solar observatory. A gate named after the city’s chief planner, standing forgotten in a quiet residential quarter? Not fair!

Ganga Pol, to the northeast, is far grander in scale than Samrat Gate despite being equally unknown. The heritage hotel Samode Haveli stands close by, itself a magnificent structure which gives the neighborhood around Ganga Pol an elegance that belies its low profile. Both gates carry the same ornate floral motifs as the other city gates, but without the crowds, they can be examined at leisure.