Tomb of Jahangir

The Mughal emperor Jahangir is buried in a mausoleum dating from 1637 in Shahdara Bagh, along the western bank of the Ravi River, in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. The site is famous for its interiors that are extensively embellished with frescoes and marble, and its exterior that is richly decorated with pietra dura. The tomb, along with the adjacent Akbari Sarai and the Tomb of Asif Khan, are part of an ensemble currently on the tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage status.

Location The tomb is located in Shahdara Bagh, northwest of the Walled City of Lahore. The tomb is located across the River Ravi from Lahore, in what was a rural area known for its numerous pleasure gardens. The tomb is located in Jahangir's pleasure garden, the Dilkusha Garden, which had been laid out in 1557. The Tomb of Asif Khan, built-in 1645, and the Akbari Sarai, built-in 1637, are located immediately west of Jahangir's tomb complex, and the three form an ensemble oriented on an east-west axis. The last of the Shahdara Bagh monuments, the tomb of Jahangir's wife Nur Jahan is located slightly southwest of Asif Khan's tomb.

Background

The tomb was built for Emperor Jahangir, who ruled the Mughal Empire from 1605 to 1627 C.E. The emperor died in the foothills of Kashmir near the town of Rajauri on 28 October 1627. A funeral procession transferred his body from Kashmir and arrived in Lahore on Friday, 12 November 1627. The Dilkusha Garden in which he was buried was a "favourite spot" of Jahangir when he lived in Lahore. His son, the new Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, ordered that a "mausoleum befitting an Emperor" should be built in his father's honour to inter his remains.

History

Though contemporary historians attribute the construction of the tomb to Jahangir's son Shah Jahan. Construction started in 1627, requiring ten years for completion, and cost Rs 10 Lakh. Repair works were undertaken at the tomb in 1814 according to Sikh court records. However, the tomb complex was also desecrated under Sikh rule when it was pillaged by the army of Ranjit Singh, with building materials taken for use in decorating the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The pillaged grounds were then converted for use as a private residence for an officer in the army of Ranjit Singh, Señor Oms, who was also known as Musa Sahib. Ranjit Singh further desecrated the mausoleum once more when he ordered that Musa Sahib be buried on the tomb's grounds after dying from cholera in 1828. By 1880, a rumor had begun circulating which alleged that the tomb once was topped by a dome or second storey that was stolen by Ranjit Singh's army, though no evidence has been found to suggest that a dome or second story ever existed at the tomb. The Shahdara ensemble of monuments suffered further under British rule, when a railway line was built between the tombs of Asif Khan and Nur Jahan. The site was then repaired by the British between 1889 and 1890. Flooding from the nearby River Ravi threatened or damaged the site in 1867, 1947, 1950, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1962, 1966, 1973, 1976, 1988, and 2010. The site sustained water damage during flooding in 1988 that covered much of the site in 10 feet of water for 5 days. Author Shuja Nawaz wrote that Major General Azam Khan, who served as the General Officer Commanding of 10 Division (Lahore) from 1949 to 1957, "endeared" himself to the local population by deploying the Pakistan Army to aid relief efforts during the 1950 floods and by ordering measures to protect the tomb from encroachment by the Ravi River.

Architecture

The tomb was constructed in a Mughal style influenced by Safavid-style architecture from Persia,. The mausoleum is laid out as a takhtgah - or a mausoleum built upon a podium which serves as a takht, or "throne." For except, there is no takhtgah on the podium, nor seemingly had ever been built. Similar to the tomb of Akbar, Jahangir's tomb lacks a central dome as the Emperor is reported to have expressly forbade the construction of a dome over his tomb. The use of domes in Mughal funerary architecture was first used at the Tomb of Humayun, and re-established by Shah Jahan.

Exterior

In keeping with Sunni religious tradition, Jahangir's great grandfather Babur chose to be buried in a tomb open to the sky at the Gardens of Babur. Jahangir's tomb broke with this tradition by including a roof. In order to forge a compromise with Sunni tradition, Jahangir expressly forbade the construction of a dome over his tomb, and so the roof is simple and free from architectural embellishments which later featured prominently at the Taj Mahal. The mausoleum's façade is embellished with red sandstone inlaid with marble motifs. The square-shaped mausoleum is a 22 foot tall, single-story plinth with arcades lining all four sides of the structure. Vaulted bays along the perimeter of the tomb reflect Timurid architectural styles from Central Asia. The mausoleum's façade of red sandstone is inlaid with motifs forged of white marble. From the building rise four octagonal ornamental minarets projecting from each corner of the building, decorated with geometric inlaid stone. The use of minarets, absent from early Mughal commissions, reflects a renewed interest in Timurid architecture from Central Asia during the reign of Jahangir. The minarets are divided into three sections, with the tomb forming the base, upon which the body of the minaret rests, called by white marble cupolas. The minarets rise to a height of 100 feet (30m).

Interior

The mausoleum building is divided into a series of vaulted compartments which are richly embellished with Mughal buon fresco. Carved jali screens admit light in various patterns facing toward Mecca.

Cenotaph At the centre of the mausoleum is an octagonal chamber lined with carved marble in which the remains of the Mughal Emperor rest in a crypt below a cenotaph. The interior of the tomb features a white-marble cenotaph inlaid with pietra dura in vegetal patterns, as well as the 99 Names of Allah, a common theme in Islamic mysticism.

Gardens

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