Humayun’s Tomb

Humayun’s tomb (Hindi: हुमायूँ का मक़बरा, Urdu: ہمایون کا مقبره Humayun ka Maqbara) is a complex of buildings built as the Mughal Emperor Humayun’s tomb, commissioned by Humayun’s wife Hamida Banu Begum in 1562 CE, and designed by Mirak Mirza Ghiyath, a Persian architect. It was the first garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent, and is located in Nizamuddin East, Delhi, close to the Dina-panah citadel also known as Purana Qila, that Humayun founded in 1533. It was also the first structure to use red sandstone at such a scale. The complex was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993, and since then has undergone extensive restoration work, which is still undergoing.
The complex encompasses the main tomb of the Emperor Humayun, which houses the graves of his wife, Hamida Begum, and also Dara Shikoh, son of the later Emperor Shah Jahan, as well as numerous other subsequent Mughals, including Emperor Jahandar Shah, Farrukhsiyar, Rafi Ul-Darjat, Rafi Ud-Daulat and Alamgir II. It represented a leap in Mughal architecture, and together with its accomplished Charbagh garden, typical of Persian gardens, but never seen before in India, it set a precedent for subsequent Mughal architecture. It is seen as a clear departure from the fairly modest mausoleum of his father, the first Mughal Emperor, Babur, called Bagh-e Babur (Gardens of Babur) in Kabul (Afghanistan). Though the latter was the first Emperor to start the tradition of being buried in a paradise garden. Modelled on Gur-e Amir, the tomb of his ancestor and Asia’s conqueror Timur in Samarkand, it created a precedent for future Mughal architecture of royal mausolea, which reached its zenith with the Taj Mahal, at Agra.
The site was chosen on the banks of Yamuna river, due to its proximity to Nizamuddin Dargah, the mausoleum of the celebrated Sufi saint of Delhi, Nizamuddin Auliya, who was much revered by the rulers of Delhi, and whose residence, Chilla Nizamuddin Auliya lies just north-east of the tomb. In later Mughal history, the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar took refuge here, during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, along with three princes, and was captured by Captain Hodson before being exiled to Rangoon. At the time of the Slave Dynasty this land was under the ‘KiloKheri Fort’ which was capital of Sultan Kequbad, son of Nasiruddin (1268-1287).

The high rubble built enclosure is entered through two lofty double-storeyed gateways on the west and south, 16 m. high with rooms on either side of the passage and a small courtyards on the upper floors. Six-sided stars that adorn the main gateway, are also seen on the iwan of the main tomb structure, though it has been used as ornamental cosmic symbol. The tomb built of rubble masonry and red sandstone, uses white marble as a cladding material and also for the flooring, lattice screens (jaalis), door frames, eaves (chhajja) and for the main dome. It stands on a vaulted terrace eight-metre high and spread over 12000 sq. mt. It is essentially square in design, though chamferred on the edges to appear octagonal, to prepare ground for the design of the interior structure. The plinth made with rubble core has fifty-six cells all around, and houses over 100 gravestones. Plus, the entire base structure is on a raised platform, a few steps high.

While the main tomb took over eight years to build, it was also placed in centre of a 30-acre Char Bagh Garden (Four Gardens), a Persian-style garden with quadrilateral layout and was the first of its kind in the South Asia region in such a scale. The highly geometrical and enclosed Paradise garden is divided into four squares by paved walkways (khiyabans) and two bisecting central water channels, reflecting the four rivers that flow in jannat, the Islamic concept of paradise. Each of the four square is further divided into smaller squares with pathways, creating into 36 squares in all, a design typical of later Mughal gardens. The central water channels appear to be disappearing beneath the tomb structure and reappearing on the other side in a straight line, suggesting the Quranic verse, which talks of rivers flowing beneath the ‘Garden of Paradise’.

Several monuments dot the pathway leading up to the Humayun’s tomb from the main entrance in the West, prominent among them is one that predates the main tomb itself, by twenty years, built in 1547 CE, it is the tomb of Isa Khan Niyazi, a Afghan noble in Sher Shah Suri’s court of Sur dynasty, who fought against the Mughals. The tomb which was built during his own lifetime, later served as burial place for the entire family of Isa Khan. On the western side of the tomb lies a three-bay wide mosque, in red sandstone. Built within its own enclosed garden, the octagonal tomb bears striking resemblance to other tombs of the Sur dynasty monuments in the Lodhi Gardens, in Delhi, showing a marked progression in the development of the architectural style which the main tomb displays in its full splendour as several of the early architectural nuances that can be seen again seen later tombs.

There are quite a few monuments inside the complex but outside the main enclosed area.

Source: Wikipedia

See all in: Delhi, Featured on City Page, Featured on Home Page, Places of Interest,