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Truly magnificent trees in the
gardens, huge and towering. They
looked almost as old as the tomb itself.
(Some
of them were so wide at the base that
it took a while going around them.)
|
Paying a small amount of about 10
cents, we entered a massive gate of stone and masonry. First to meet the eyes
was an open courtyard flanked on all sides by a raised terrace with built rows
of hundreds of small cubicles fronted with a long corridors. It was known as
“Sarai” meaning ‘guest house’. These were used for the visitor comfort and as
living quarters for the staff on duty. The corners of the Sarai were graced by
magnificent watch-towers.
The sarai was situated between the
tombs of Jahangir and Asif Khan. We decided first to go towards Asif Khan.
Tomb
of Asif Khan
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| Asif Khan's decrepit Timurid-style tomb at Shahdara, Lahore |
Built entirely with bricks, the tomb
was in octagonal shape with a large central double-layered bulbous dome. It
stood in the centre of a vast garden divided into four squares once set with
reservoirs, fountains and pathways. Each side of the octagonal tomb had a
deeply recessed alcove with a door looking inside. In old days, the mausoleum
was covered with marble and blue tiles. The historian Hargreaves
says about the tomb, "Despite its simplicity, there is a sense of restful
quietude at this site which renders it one of the most fascinating monuments in
the neighbourhood of Lahore."
The grave of Asif Khan was made of
white marble and inlaid with decorative motifs and inscriptions. The floor
around the grave was brick-paved. Originally, the eight doors had glittering
bronze gates with finely wrought metallic motifs and there were huge
chandeliers hanging in the centre.
Also, the interior was renowned for
its lavish use of white marble and precious stone inlay, which had been removed
by the invaders in 1799-1849.
A
brief history of Asif Khan
Born in Iran, Asif Khan migrated to
India in 1546. Sheer good luck brought him to the court of Akbar, where he
became a distinguished lawyer. Later, his sister, Noor Jahan, married the
emperor’s son Jahangir. He rose to unprecedented heights when his daughter,
Mumtaz Mahal married Shah Jahan, both famed for the Taj Mahal Monument at Agra,
India.
Later Asif Khan sided with his
son-in-law in securing the Mughal throne.
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| The entrance gate, an elaborately designed with marble inlay in white and Sikri sandstone in red. |
When Asif Khan died in November
1641, he was reputed to have left behind "a colossal fortune,” His
tomb was stripped off and plundered in the search of this fortune by the
invaders.
Tomb
of Jahangir
After visiting the Asif Khan Tomb,
we move towards the main attraction of this complex, Tomb of Jahangir. As we
crossed its gate, there was a full view of the garden in front of the
mausoleum. The wonderful garden was traversed by four-bricked canals proceeding
from the centre. There were fountains set in pools, and water flowing over the
chutes provided a dazzling effect.
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|
Tomb of Jahangir, one of the
mightest princes in India.
|
The Monument, a single storey
structure, square in plan, consists of a platform with tall octagonal corner
towers and a projecting entrance bay in the middle of each side. The corridor
around the mausoleum was adorned with a most elegant mosaic, representing
flowers and Quranic verses.
The four corner towers, with white
marble cupolas, rise in five stages to a height of 100 feet with a zigzag inlay
of white and yellow marble.
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| The interior laden with great work of stone-in-stone and wet-in-wet |
Though the credit goes to Shah Jahanfor building his father’s tomb, it was
in fact the Noor Jahan's vision. She was a great patron of architecture. She
had the experience of planning designing and supervising completion of several
buildings and gardens. It is said that she designed her husband’s mausoleum in
1627 on the basis of lessons learned from watching her father burial place at
Agra, the tomb of Itimad-ud-Daula. Also, she had settled in Lahore after the
death of her husband and was in a commanding position to influence the design
and construction of the monument.
The
interior
After having a good round of the
tomb, we decided to go inside. A long corridor was leading to the grave. The
corridor was embellished with floral frescoes and pietra dura inlay and
coloured marble. (Pietra Dura means stone-in-stone, a technique of inserting
precious and semi-precious stones in another stone usually marble to achieve
vividness, clarity and permanence in design. Locally known as ‘Patchi-Kari’,
was used to make the design look fresh even after centries.)
 |
|
The
marble cenotaph is considered one of the finest in India. It is inlaid precious
stones set in
naturalistic floral patterns, and black calligraphy inscribing
the
date of Jahangir's death, and the ninety-nine names of God.
|
Soon we entered a hall with grave of
the emperor and offered a small prayer. The marble grave was located on a
raised platform bearing inscriptions of the ninety-name names of God in exquisite
Arabic calligraphy. A skill called as ‘wet-in’wet” was used in water color
paints to smudge and diffuse colors to give subtle and vanishing effects.
When visiting this tomb, Thomas Roe
(the first English ambassador to the Mughal court) exclaimed, "Here lies
the emperor, who was considered one of the mightiest Princes in Asia."
 |
|
Emperor
Jahangeer ,Nur-ud-din Salim, Emperor of
India.
Photo credit
http://i265.photobucket.com/ Jahangir-1.jpg
|
Brief
bio of the emperor
Born in August 1569, Jahangir was
the 4th emperor and ruled the empire from 1605 to 1628. He did not
pursue military conquests like his father, Akbar the Great, but maintained a
firm grip in his domain. His era was of peace and prosperity in India. He
lavishly patronized the architecture, literature, philosophy, paintings and
other form of art.
He was known for his justice and had
installed a 'Chain of Justice', a golden chain attached to some bells outside
his palace. Anyone in despair could pull the chain and go in for a personal
hearing from the emperor himself.
He was also a good writer and had
penned down his life and his experiences in the form of an autobiography named Tuzk-e-Jahangiri.
Finally, we proceeded towards Tomb
of Noor Jahan, a short distance away. Originally, the tomb was located to the
west of the tomb of her brother, Asif Khan. Early in 19th century,
the British cut a railway line separating the two siblings.
The tomb was in a state of neglect.
There were no boundaries for its protection and young men were playing cricket
in courtyard. Also the ticket we purchased earlier could be used for visiting
this tomb.
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|
Tomb of Noor Jahan - a single story structure with
no domes or minarets, once lay in ruins but has been repaired to
bring back its simplistic grandeur and majestic look it once wore.
|
A
tomb with two graves
In the centre were two graves; one
of the Queen and the other of her daughter Ladli Begum.
Both the tomb and the garden were in
poor condition due to due to temperature variations, weather changes, rains’
impact, strong winds, periodical floods, earthquakes, and other natural
hazards.
Nur
Jahan
She was born in 1577 in Kandahar,
Afghanistan. She belonged to an aristocratic Persian family who had immigrated
to India. At the age of 17, she was married to a Persian soldier who was
executed after a failed coup d'etat . He left behind a widow with
a young daughter.
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| Noor Jahan, light of the world. |
In 1607, Nur Jahan was brought to
the Moghul court to serve as a lady-in-waiting where Jahangir set eyes upon
her. Though middle-aged, she was a remarkable beauty and it perhaps was not
surprising that Jahangir married her within two months. He first gave her the
title Nur Mahal which he changed in 1616 to Nur Jahan, or "Light of the World."
Commenting on the political prowess
of Noor Jahan, Stanley Lane-Poole writes in History of India,
“So great was the influence of this Persian princess that Jahangir joined her
name with his on the coinage, a conjunction unparalleled in the past history.
The wording on the coins, in Persian is worth quoting: (By the order of
Jahangir, gold attained a hundred times its beauty when the name of Nur Jahan,
the First Lady of the court was impressed upon it).
Lane-Poole further said that this
gifted woman ˜practically ruled the empire during the greater part of Jahangir
reign."
Another writer, GHR Tillotson, emphasizes that Noor Jahan was the
most powerful woman in Mughal history, able to control state affairs from
behind the screen.
