Pixelated Memories: Humayun's Tomb

Showing posts with label Humayun's Tomb. Show all posts

June 18, 2012

Unknown Tomb, Nizamuddin Area, New Delhi

Moving from Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station, New Delhi, towards Humayun’s Tomb Complex & past Nila Gumbad, Gurudwara Damdama Sahib & Chilla-Khanqah Nizamuddin (see http://pixels-memories.blogspot.in/2012/06/chilla-khanqah-nizamuddin-new-delhi.html for more details & photographs about Chilla-Khanqah Nizamuddin), one faces a large, thickly forested expanse opposite the Chilla-Khanqah & just some metres from it. An Archaeological Survey of India board informs all passer-by’s that the area is a notified ASI land & houses a protected monument. A wire-mesh limits the boundary & a metal sheet barricade hides whatsoever lies behind it. Since most individuals would rather move ahead & go see Humayun’s Tomb Complex & Nizamuddin Dargah nearby rather than trespassing on Government property, they miss one of the most beautiful & untouched sights from Delhi’s history. Some distance inside the wilderness stands a large tomb. Who the tomb belongs to is a question that even the A.S.I. doesn’t have the answer to. The solitary ruins stand on a small hill flanked on all sides by large trees with their gnarling & twisting branches too conspiring to hide the tomb from onlookers. The cream-ish tomb further stands on a high platform which too is now overtaken by scrubs & grass. A picture of ignorance & isolation, the tomb still looks spell-binding & represents all that can go wrong with heritage conservation.

Hidden under the canopy

With no records whatsoever as to whom the person buried inside is or what the structure looked like in the past, all we have to immerse ourselves in is the present beauty of the structure. The domed tomb is square in shape, with arches on all sides & traces of blue tile-work. The finial atop the dome is similar to a cross in shape, something which I have seen for the first time. The unique finial adds a strange aura of mystery around the tomb of this forgotten person. Who could he be?? Was he a king like Humayun? A general like Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khana or a servant like Fahim? All of whom lie buried in their respective tombs in close proximity to this forgotten structure. We will never know. But we do know that his family & friends loved him enough to bury him in this magnificent structure for all to remember. Except they would have never thought that someday people would even forget that there is a tomb inside these jungles, leave alone the identity of the person.

Standing tall

On a small hillock near the tomb is another unknown grave turned into a small mazaar (grave of some holy man where people come & pray with the belief that their wishes will come true). Green & yellow silk cover a box in which offerings are placed & condensed butter lamps that were once lighted lie inside fallen over their sides. Maybe no one now visits the mazaar to make wishes too.

Forgotten Mazaar

Peacocks & some other birds the names of which I don’t know stutter around the place, too quick to let me take a photograph, adding a whiff of colour to the desolation.

One of many..

Stunning would be the only word that can describe this tomb & its surroundings in the middle of nowhere.

Mother bird, looking for grub for little nestlings

How to Reach : Take a walk from the Nizamuddin Railway Station. The place is 20 minutes walk away. The nearest Metro Station is JLN station, but that’s quite some distance away. The structure is situated near the back side of Humayun’s Tomb Complex (see http://pixels-memories.blogspot.in/2011/10/humayuns-tomb-new-delhi.html for more details & photographs about the Humayun's Tomb Complex) & opposite it & one can walk along the Complex boundary to reach it.

Open : All days, sunrise to sunset
Entry Fee : Nil
Photography/Video Charges : Nil
Time required for sight seeing : 30 min

June 14, 2012

Nila Gumbad, New Delhi

Standing right next to Platform 1 of the Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station, New Delhi is a beautiful blue-colored tomb. Looking over a railway junkyard, a small slum & the platform, the tomb is silent witness to all the atrocities that have been committed against it & stands largely neglected in the midst of all the surging humanity that passes it every day. With its entrances blocked with cement, doors locked, plaster flaking & tiles falling off, the tomb presents a very sorry picture. But despite its dilapidated condition it looks magnificent & forces one to imagine what it would have looked like in its days of glory.

Popularly called the Nila Gumbad (“Blue Dome”) because of the brilliant colour of its dome, the tomb was built by Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khana for his servant Miyan Fahim in 1624-25. Abdul Rahim was a general in Mughal emperor Akbar’s court (ruled AD 1556-1605) & was brought up by the emperor himself after the death of his father Bairam Khan (also a general in Akbar’s army). Rahim was also a very famous poet & composed couplets in Hindi, Persian & Urdu, popularly known as “Rahim ke Dohe” which are today taught in Indian schools as part of Hindi curriculum. Fahim grew up with Abdul Rahim’s son Feroze Khan & died alongside him too while fighting against the rebellion by Mughal general Mahabat Khan, during the reign of emperor Jahangir (ruled AD 1605-28).

The Nila Gumbad

The tomb sits on a 1.5 meter high pedestal & is reached by climbing a couple of stairs. It is shaped like an unequal octagon, resembling rather a large square with its corners knocked off. The wider sides of the octagon are pierced by arched doorways. The narrower sides have recessed arches that have paint work in red and white, reminiscent of bricks. The tomb, built of local quartzite stone, is plastered both internally & externally & at one time the tomb must have been very beautifully decorated with coloured tiles, but now only a portion of a wall facing the Railway Station shows remnants of the impressive designs & geometrical patterns.

Let's go somewhere!!

Also all except one entrance to the tomb have been blocked using cement. The tomb has certainly been treated very cruelly & nothing has been done to restore the structure or at least put up a boundary wall near it to prevent encroachments & slum dwellers from setting up their settlements along its walls. The high pedestal is on one side surrounded by a slum, a service road on another & a railway junkyard on other 2 sides.

The patterns

A lone security guard looks after the place, & would promptly open up the locked grille if you request him. Once inside, I was hoping to see an unkempt chamber with one or more graves. But two reasons again strengthened my belief that almost anything is possible in Delhi - one, the square chamber was very beautiful, the sunlight filtering through the windows created patterns of light & shadows. The beautiful roof still has its plaster work & mesmerized me immediately. So much so that for 5 minutes I just gazed at it & spent the next 20 photographing it from different points & angles. Second, there is no grave or sarcophagus inside the tomb!! Odd, why is it called a "tomb" then??

Say "Aahh..!!"

After exiting the chamber, I spent some time observing it, taking photographs. There is a huge finial on top of the dome, the dome too is losing its tiles. The guard disappeared after a few minutes leaving me alone. A small tract of wild vegetation hides remains of a large wall with some rooms built on one side. A similar wall is visible across the road, perhaps they had been joined once but destroyed when the road was built. Large rods of steel lie next to the tomb, a very thin dusty track is being used by motorcyclists to cross the railway track. Everything around the tomb suggests a general callousness, maybe the people inhabiting the region have gotten used to its presence & do not anymore think twice before passing from near it. The ignored tomb just stands sentinel to the passing trains & whistling engines. I read the ASI & Indian Railways are locked in a legal battle about the custody of the space around the tomb. Apparently the ASI wants to restore the tomb & build a garden around it after diverting the road that passes along it to the other side of the tomb. The Railways are reluctant as this would require the destruction of existing Station & its relocation along with the rail lines to some other location. Plans to integrate the 16th-century tomb with Humayun’s Tomb complex have finally got off the ground with the signing of a MoU between the ASI & railways which allows the service road bifurcating the two monuments to be shifted to the other side of the tomb. The work is being undertaken by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) & will also include repairing of cracks and tile work on the dome, reopening of doorways now blocked with masonry, removal of cement repairs made in the 20th century, restoration of the decorative plasterwork, & rebuilding of collapsed portions of the northern & western arcade walls (refer Times of India article - "Nila Gumbad gets a facelift & heritage corridor"). The northern arcade, is thought to have protected the monument from Yamuna that once flowed near Humayun’s Tomb but later changed course & shifted away. So far I did not observe any signs of any kind of construction or restoration activity.

The narrower walls display medallions & paintwork resembling red bricks

Again what interests me the most about monuments in Delhi is how many of them are interconnected to each other. After Akbar's death, a struggle for supremacy ensued between his sons, with each possessing his own armies & retinue of generals. Abdul Rahim was opposed to Jahangir's accession to the throne of Delhi. After Jahangir did became emperor, the first thing he did was punish all those who opposed him & those he considered blackguards. He ordered the execution of two of Rahim's sons & their bodies were left to rot at Khooni Darwaza (refer Pixelated Memories - Khooni Darwaza) to act as a warning to future traitors & mavericks. Guess Abdul Rahim & his other sons did make up with the new emperor later, since Feroze Khan did support Jahangir against Mahabat Khan & Jahangir also allowed for the construction of a magnificent mausoleum for Rahim about 2 kilometers away from Nila Gumbad & very close to his own grandfather Humayun's tomb complex (refer Pixelated Memories - Humayun's Tomb Complex).

Ignored!!

Moving along the road next to the tomb, one encounters the boundary wall of Humayun’s Tomb & its back entrance with the hanging jharokhas (projecting chambers/windows) that the royal family might have used to view the river Yamuna. Moving further along, one comes across Gurudwara Damdama Sahib, Chilla-Khanqah Nizamuddin (refer Pixelated Memories Chilla-Khanqah Nizamuddin) & the main entrance to Humayun’s Tomb Complex. It is disheartening to see that so very near to the World Heritage Site of Humayun’s Tomb Complex, the Nila Gumbad is languishing in anonymity & ignorance.

Edit June 15, 2013 - AKTC has finally started work on the restoration of the Nila Gumbad. The structure might be included within the Humayun's Tomb Complex or an extended heritage zone also including an unknown Mughal Tomb (refer Pixelated Memories - Unknown Tomb, Nizamuddin Area), Batashewala Mahal & several other structures. Fingers crossed!!

How to reach: The easiest way would be to take a local train to Hazrat Nizamuddin Station, the tomb is bang next to Platform 1. Nearest Metro Station would be JLN station, but that’s quite some distance away. The tomb is situated near the back side of Humayun’s Tomb Complex & one can walk along the Complex boundary to reach it.
Open: Entry to visitors is not allowed. But try to convince the guard to open it for you during the day time.
Entrance Fee: Nil
Photography/Video Charges: Nil
Time required for sight seeing: 30 minutes
Relevant Links -

June 11, 2012

Barber's Tomb, New Delhi

Within Humayun's Tomb Complex stands a small red & grey sandstone tomb, square in plan, simple in ornamentation, & mysterious in its identity. Locally referred to as Nai ka Maqbara ("Barber's Tomb"), the striking tomb supposedly belongs to the royal barber who served Humayun. One wonders if the barber also held some political or administrative power in his hand to claim a tomb within the same garden as the emperor of India. Although Humayun's Tomb, commissioned by his widow Hamida Banu Begam in the year 1550, was built on the established axis of a previously built tomb-garden complex belonging to an unidentified lady known as Bi Halima, & incorporated within itself the tomb-garden complex housing the remains of Isa Khan, a nobleman in Sher Shah Suri's court - the tomb of this barber is the only structure to have been constructed after Humayun's Tomb complex was completed. It was commissioned by Humayun's son & successor Akbar (ruled AD 1556-1605). Perhaps Akbar wanted to emphasize the position of the barber who was the only person to be able to hold a blade every day to the emperor's throat. Either that, or he was a tad touched by the Egyptian tradition of burying slaves & pets alongside their pharaohs for company in the afterlife!! Though the latter appears less likely as we haven't yet found tombs dedicated to Humayun's lions & elephants, or parrots!! If you ask me, the whole thing is a myth - the barber story somehow got traction since it's not known who is interred here & stuck. In all probability, it must be some sibling/cousin/close associate of Humayun.

Tomb of a Barber

I first visited Humayun's Tomb Complex as part of the HOHO Bus tour of Delhi I took in the summer vacations of 2011, subsequently I ended up visiting the complex twice again in the past year - every time I did, Barber's Tomb was locked away for public entry by means of metal sheets & bamboo barriers. The tomb was being restored to (almost) its original condition as part of the larger Humayun's Tomb - Nizamuddin Basti restoration project undertaken by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (A.K.T.C.) in collaboration with the Archaeological Survey of India (A.S.I.). I would sneak in the tomb every time, have a look at the work being undertaken & take a few photos. The tomb looked hideous, covered under all that scaffolding, green cloth covering its chattris (umbrella domes surmounted on thin pillars), metal sheets barring the entrance & debris strewn all around. Last week (Referring to my visit on May 14, 2013. This post has been edited on May 19, 2013) I visited the complex again, the authorities recently threw open the tomb complex of Isa Khan, subject of another post, closed away for years for restoration. I decided to pay a visit to the less frequented Barber's Tomb too & see if its condition has improved. The tomb has certainly taken a turn for the better - its single, double-dome (sounds an oxymoron, but that's a dome within a dome) has been spruced up, the interiors have been restored & the sandstone walls now appear more crimson than they earlier did. The most brilliant of all changes is that vibrant blue tiles are now being affixed to the four chattris that surround the dome & add a quirky touch to the entire structure.

So who exactly are these guys??

It is known that the individuals interred here are male & female respectively, but their identity is not clear - perhaps the barber & his wife. Had they both been male, we might have conjectured that the barber's son or assistant is buried with him. What is known however is when the tomb was commissioned - both the graves inside are embossed with Quranic inscriptions & one of them is marked with the number 999, which represents the Hijra year when the tomb was built (1590-91 AD).

You see the flower like I do??

The elegant tomb stands on a platform 2.44 meters high & is reached by climbing 7 steps. Arched niches exist on all four sides of the square tomb - while an arched entrance is built into one of these, the rest are filled with stone latticework screens ("jalis"). The inner dome rests on four larger, upward-rising curves, giving it the picturesque appearance of a four-petalled flower when seen from underneath. On the outside, the dome sits on a sixteen-sided drum (base) & is topped by a lotus finial. Slender minarets mark the corners of the octagonal drum. The scarcity of sunlight inside the chamber makes it dark which is further compounded by the dark red color of the walls. The water channels around the tomb were added in 1905 & 1909 according to the characteristic red sandstone tablet placed by the A.S.I. outside the tomb to provide general information about it.

A view of Barber's Tomb & the Nila Gumbad in the background (Photo courtesy - Wikipedia.org)

The tomb can be reached by descending from Humayun's Tomb & walking towards its southern gate (the gate presently used for entry is the western gate, but the original entry was via the southern gate - visible from Humayun's Tomb towards the right as an exact replica of the western gate). Barber's Tomb stands on a platform on the south-east side of Humayun's Tomb.

Open: All days, 8 am - 6 pm
Entrance Fee: Rs 10 (Citizens of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Maldives, Afghanistan Thailand and Myanmar), Rs 250 (Others) (Children up to 15 years free)

Nearest Metro Station: JLN Stadium Metro Station
Photography charges: Nil
Time required for sight seeing : 30 min

Relevant Links -

Suggested Reading -

Gktoday.in - Double Dome in Indo-Islamic Architecture

Afsarwala Mosque & Tomb Complex, New Delhi

Located within the Humayun’s Tomb Complex, the Afsarwala Mosque & Tomb Complex is reached by entering through the Arab Serai Gate. “Afsar” literally means officer, & even though the identity of the person buried in the tomb is not known, it is widely believed that he was some noble or military officer during the time of Mughal emperor Akbar. The tomb and mosque were built sometime before 1566, as this date is inscribed on one of the three graves inside.

The Afsarwala Tomb & Mosque Complex

As one enters this enclosed garden, one sees the side-view of the mosque. The black-colored mosque, though sans any decorations, looks beautiful in its own stead. Besides the mosque is a large chamber, adorned with beautiful “jalis” (stone lattice work). My guess is that this chamber was also used for prayers. The chamber is located on ground level, while the mosque & tomb together stand on a high plinth.

The mosque window

The duo of mosque & tomb look magnificent standing together, & the black mosque compliments the orange-ish tomb. At one time perhaps their domes were covered with plaster & tiles, but now they have lost all artwork, & are inscribed with the names of modern lovers, chalked or scratched on their surfaces. This time around, I agree with A.S.I.’s decision to grill all the stairways & prevent people from reaching the upper floors. The names & markings really look hideous & were it not for the uniqueness & design of the tomb-mosque duo, they were all but destroyed. The domes are topped by inverted-lotus filials.

Companions..

The mosque has three arches along the front, the central arch being the largest. Each end of the façade has a narrow staircase built into the thick outer wall.

Black Beauty

The tomb adjacent to the mosque is better preserved. Shaped like an irregular octagon, with alternate sides wide & narrow, the tomb is sparingly decorated with inlays of black and white marble on a background of red sandstone. The wider sides of the octagon are decorated with deep recessed arches, each pierced by a doorway. The narrower sides have comparatively shallower recessed arches, but no entrances.

General's Tomb

The interior of both mosque & tomb were once beautifully decorated, with the carved medallions still visible. However most of the decorations are now lost with time & even the plaster is now flaking away from the walls & roof.

Plaster work, inside the mosque

The tomb is cruciform in plan & contains 3 graves, one of them inscribed with verses from the Koran & the number 974, which probably refers to the date in the Hijra era corresponding to AD 1566-67.

Inscription on one of the graves

The mosque & tomb both look charming & I spent a lot of time taking photographs in the complex. The tomb simply beckons one towards itself, & sitting inside it one simply forgets everything by getting lost in their own thoughts. The trees flaying their branches outside the windows look beautiful.

The world outside..

Open: All days 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
Entrance Fee:
Citizens of India and visitors of Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Maldives, Afghanistan Thailand and Myanmar - Rs. 10 per head.
Others: US $ 5 or Indian Rs. 250/- per head
(children up to 15 years free)
Nearest Metro Station: JLN Stadium Metro Station
Photography charges: Nil
Time required for sight seeing: 30 min

Relevant Links -

January 03, 2012

Sabz Burj, New Delhi

“A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret, that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it!”

– Charles Dickens, “A Tale of Two Cities”

Although only historians, heritage-enthusiasts and conservationists are concerned about the existence and condition of the enchanting Sabz Burj ("Green Tower"), the unusual medieval structure looms over millions of people who either travel or had on an occasion traveled on the ever-crowded arterial Mathura Road where it gracefully protrudes in the middle of a traffic roundabout, it's striking presence in so public a space forcing passer-bys and eager tourists to grant it a second look and admire it with appreciation and amazement. Its history and character of course are also a mix of interesting and crazy –

Barring the name, the enthralling monument is not green at all! In fact, the vividly-colored dome of the structure is actually blue!
Nobody knows – or bothers to guess – what purpose did it serve – it could have been a mausoleum, or a pleasure pavilion, or even served a functional purpose, but not a fragment of its history is known.
And although it's not known why it was actually built, what we do know is that it was utilized in several unimaginable capacities (including as a funky police station for a few years during British reign!) that were totally alien to its original purposes.

And despite all this, the beautiful tower has miserably garnered much less popularity than it ideally should have.

Secretive - The Sabz Burj

Locally referred to as "Neeli Chattri" ("Blue umbrella") and often confused with the Nila Gumbad ("Blue-domed tower") monument that exists a few miles away (refer Pixelated Memories - Nila Gumbad), the octagonal structure is medium in height, its deep blue dome glistens in the sunlight and even brings one to consider it a far-off cousin of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (aka Blue Mosque) of Istanbul. Technically, it is "Baghdadi" in nature, more influenced by Central Asian than Indo-Islamic architecture and consists of alternating wide and narrow sides – each side possessing an arched recess, though entrances have been built only along the wider sides and the narrower ones are ornamented with incised plaster and paint patterns. It is said that no two recesses are decorated alike, but I could not verify the same as entry to the grassy circle that surrounds the tower is prohibited – high railings surround it and a guard, who refuses to open up saying he is not allowed to, is always present on duty inside (Sigh! Another example of a monument snatched from the public!) The double dome rests on a very high drum (base) – in fact, the tower is one of the very first examples of the use of double-dome in Delhi (the first recorded construction of double-dome in India is in Kashmir – the tomb built by Zain-ul-Abidin for his mother in AD 1465). Originally it possessed vibrant green tiles covering its dome and drum, thus lending it its characteristic name "Sabz Burj", but a restoration fiasco by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) witnessed it ending up with brilliant blue tiles, although one can still spot the remnants of green, yellow and blue tiles in varied patterns on the drum.

The structure was supposedly built between AD 1530-50, though it is not known who commissioned it. Most historians now state with a fair degree of certainty that it could also have been built somewhere in early 15th century, 100 years before its accepted period of construction. 6 years after its last possible window of construction, Hamida Begum initiated the construction of a magnificent tomb for her deceased husband Humayun (ruled AD 1530-40 and 1555-56) close to Sabz Burj and eternally changed the nature of the surrounding area as well as Indian architecture – today the entire area is classified under Humayun's Tomb Complex, a World Heritage Site that boasts of several hundred graves, tombs and mosques (refer Pixelated Memories - Humayun's Tomb Complex ).

Exquisite - Patterns on one of the recessed niches (Photo courtesy - Igougo.com/Phileasfogg)

This mysterious and beautiful piece of architecture is there for enthusiasts to adore day and night and happens to be one of those few structures that make me fall in love with Delhi again and again on every encounter. Throughout the day, a barrage of cars, autos and buses surrounds it, after all it stands on the intersection of two of the busiest arterial roads of Delhi – Mathura Road and Lodi Road. Roads branch off on either side of it, the first leading to Humayun's Tomb complex and the other to Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah (refer Pixelated Memories - Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah). Chemical treatment a few years back ensured that the structure retained its cream-pink finish. More recently, it was restored as part of the monumental urban makeover for the Commonwealth Games 2010 that were held in Delhi. Illumination was also appended on the roundabout around the tower to make it more popular among tourists and to promote night travel.

Be wary of the traffic!

Location: Intersection of Mathura Road and Lodi Road, near Humayun's Tomb complex
Nearest Bus Stop: Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah
Nearest Railway Station: Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah, also about 2 kilometers away
Nearest Metro Station: JLN Stadium Station, though it is approximately 2 kilometers away.
How to reach: Buses and metro are available from different parts of the city. Walk/avail an auto from the metro/railway station.
Entrance: Prohibited
Photography/Video charges: Nil
Other monuments located in the immediate vicinity -