In Pics | 10 places crucial to India's freedom

These ten lesser-known yet quintessential monuments narrate the muffled tales of history, pinnacles of the fight for independence and freedom.

1. Bangalore Fort in Bengaluru | Nicknamed as the ‘Abode of Happiness’, the Banglore Fort was built by Kempe Gowda in 1537 using only mud-mortar. After East India Company's victory in the Third Mysore War in 1791, the Fort was dismantled and the process was continued till the 1930s, and made space to construct colleges, schools, bus stands, and hospitals. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

2. Mangal Pandey Park in Barrackpore, West Bengal | Known as ‘the first martyr’, a ‘great patriot’ and ‘religious zealot’, Mangal Pandey, the revolutionary rose up against British Lieutenant Baugh, starting the outbreak of the Indian mutiny of 1857, on March 29, that year, at Barrackpore. The park also has a statue of the sepoy under the banyan tree where he was hanged by the British authorities. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

3. Residence of Sir Henry Lawrence | To handle an insurrection of a native regiment near Lucknow following the first revolt for independence, Sir Henry Lawrence, the British-appointed Chief Commissioner of Oudh, arranged for a garrison of over 1,400 Britishers and took refuge in a Residency there. An intense battle raged that went on for almost 60 days, with even supplies of food, water and medicines completely cut off. Outnumbered, Lawrence was forced into a retreat. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

4. Jhansi Rani ka Qila (Palace of Jhansi Rani) in Bangira, Uttar Pradesh | Strategically located on Bangara Hill, the fort has 10 gates, and is spread over 20 hectares. The Fort was a stronghold of the Chandela Kings in Balwant Nagar from the 11th through the 17th century and Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi, who led the 1857 revolt against the British, there. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

5. Kala Pani (Blackwaters) or Cellular jail, in Port Blair | Kala Pani, or the Cellular jail, was built in the middle of the ocean, as a place of exile for political prisoners, including notable freedom fighters like Battukeshwar Dutt and V D Savarkar. This eerie-looking Panopticon style jail has been converted into a museum which portrays the hardships the inmates had to endure, including displays of various means used for torture. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

6. Aga Khan Palace in Pune | Post the Quit India movement, a session with the INC was held in 1942, where Gandhi, his wife Kasturba, Secretary Mahadev Desai, Miraben, Pyarelal Nayar, Sarojini Naidu, Dr Sushila Nayar and several other members of the Congress Working Committee were arrested under Defence of India Rules, on August 9. They were brought to the Palace that served as a jail until released before the end of the Second World War, on May 6, 1944. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

7. Fort St. George in Chennai | The Fort faced many attacks from the French and Hyder Ali, the Sultan of Mysore. In 1783, the final modifications and reconstructions were done. The fort has more or less existed in the same form till present. ‘Madras Day’ is celebrated in Chennai on August 22, commemorating this day. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

8. Paona Brajabashi and Khongjom war memorial in Khongjom, Manipur | The memorial and statue symbolise patriotism and courage of warriors such as Paona Brajabasi and those others who fought against the British Army at the Khongjom battlefield of 1891. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

9. Mubarak Mandi in Jammu | The palace endured damage post the 1783-1808 CE war won by Raja Ranjit Singh, and later the first Anglo-Sikh war in 1845-46, which ended in the formation of the Treaty of Amritsar. After Maharaja Hari Singh moved out, it became the Royal Court and Secretariat of the Jammu kings until it was taken over by the state government post Independence. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

10. The East India Company Factory, Surat, Gujarat | The East India Company arrived first at Surat, the most important centre for the overseas trade of the Mughal Empire, and set up their very first a permanent factory after winning over the Portuguese, in 1612. Four centuries later, those early footprints of the British Empire have been obliterated, according to reports. There is no sign of the factory save for fragments of a wall. Credit: Wikimedia Commons