In 1648, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan moved the capital of the empire from Agra up north along the banks of the Yamuna river. He named this new capital after himself, Shahjahanabad. The city had massive fortification, with 14 grand gateways.

These formidable walls and gates secured Shahjahanabad and also constructed an identity for it: the “walled city”, as one is reminded even today by a government signboard while approaching the Old Delhi quarter of the Indian capital.

Since they were built, these fortifications have been attacked several times and rebuilt. Now, only five of the original gates remain. The vestiges of the walls, no longer uninterrupted fortifications, are scattered across the urban sprawl of New Delhi.

But look closely and walls continue to define Old Delhi’s limits four centuries later. An aerial view makes apparent the borders of what was once the Mughal and later British capital, an agglomeration of densely packed buildings and alleys. It stands in stark contrast to its successor, the planned city of New Delhi.

These sites are a glimpse of a vanishing past.

Old Delhi’s gates were often named after the place to which the roads around them led to. The northern gate to the city, Kashmere Gate, faces the direction of Kashmir....