Beautiful Mughal architecture - Humayun's Tomb
Humayun’s Tomb is a tomb monument inspired by Mughal architecture. It is located near Mathura Road in the Nizamuddin East area near Dinapanah or Purana Qila in New Delhi. During the time of the Slave Dynasty, this land used to be in Kilokri Fort and was the capital of the then Sultan Kaiqubad, son of Nasiruddin (1268-1287). The main building here is the tomb of the Mughal emperor Humayun and it contains the tomb of Humayun as well as the tombs of many other royal people. This complex is declared a World Heritage Site, and is the first example of Mughal architecture in India. This tomb has the same Charbagh style, which gave birth to the Taj Mahal in the future. This tomb was built in 1562 on the orders of Humayun’s widow Begum Hamida Bano Begum. The architects of this building were Syed Mubarak Ibn Mirak Ghiyathuddin and his father Mirak Ghiyathuddin who were specially called from Herat city of Afghanistan. The main building was completed in about eight years and became the first example of Charbagh style in the Indian subcontinent. Red sandstone was used on such a large scale for the first time here. In 1993, this building complex was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
The main building in this complex is the tomb of Mughal emperor Humayun. Apart from Humayun’s tomb, the tombs of his wife Hamida Bano and the eldest son of the later emperor Shah Jahan, Dara Shikoh and many successor Mughal emperors like Jahandar Shah, Farrukhsiyar, Rafi ul-Darajat, Rafi ud-Daulat and Alamgir II are also located here. This building saw a major change in Mughal architecture, the main part of which was the gardens of the Charbagh style. Such gardens were never seen in India before this and after this they became an integral part of many buildings. This tomb was completely different from the tomb of Humayun’s father Babur in Kabul, built earlier by the Mughals, Bagh-e-Babur. The tradition of burying emperors in tombs built in gardens started with Babur. Based on the tomb of his ancestor Timur Lang in Samarkand (Uzbekistan), this building became the inspiration for the subsequent Mughal architecture of tombs in India. This architecture reached its peak with the Taj Mahal.
Sites
The site for the tomb was chosen because of its proximity to Hazrat Nizamuddin (dargah) on the banks of the river Yamuna. Saint Nizamuddin was a famous Sufi saint of Delhi and was highly regarded by the rulers of Delhi. His contemporary residence was also located in Chilla-Nizamuddin Auliya, close to the north-east of the tomb site. In later Mughal history, Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, along with three other princes, took refuge here during the First Indian War of Independence of 1857. He was later arrested from here by Captain Hudson of the British Army and then imprisoned till death in Rangoon. Bahadur Shah Zafar described his departure from Delhi in these words:
During the rule of the Slave Dynasty, the area was located in Kilokri Fort, which was the capital of the then Sultan Kaiqubad, son of Nasiruddin (1268-1287).
After Humayun’s death on 20 January 1556, he was first buried in Delhi and later taken to Sirhind in Punjab by Khanjar Beg in 1558. Later, Mughal Emperor Akbar visited his father’s tomb in 1571. The construction of the mausoleum began in 1562, nine years after Humayun’s death, on the orders of Hamida Bano Begum. It cost Rs 15 lakh at that time. Hamida Banu Begum is sometimes confused with Humayun’s first wife Haji Begum, although according to the 16th century chronicler Ain-i-Akbari there was another Haji Begum, who was Humayun’s cousin and later became his Begum; she was entrusted with the responsibility of the tomb.
According to Abd-al-Qadir Badayuni, a contemporary historian, the tomb was designed by the Persian architect Mirak Mirza Ghiyas (Mirza Ghiyathuddin), who was called from Herat, Bukhara (in present-day Uzbekistan) especially for this building. He designed many buildings in Herat and also in India. He died before the building was completed, but his son Syed Muhammad ibn Mirak Ghiyathuddin completed his father’s work and the tomb was completed in 1571.
External appearance
Two 16 meter high two storeyed entrances have been built in the west and south for entry into the huge stone building. These gates have rooms on both sides and small courtyards on the upper floor. A six-edged star similar to the star on the iwan of the main building enhances the beauty of the main entrance. The tomb has been built primarily by joining stones with mortar and lime and it is covered with red sandstone. White marble has been used for inlay work, floor surface, window lattices, door frames and balconies. The huge main dome of the tomb is also covered with white marble. The tomb stands on an 8 meter high original platform, the upper surface of 12000 square meters is surrounded by a red latticed parapet. The corners of this square platform have been cut to give it an octagonal appearance. There are 56 chambers built in the foundation of this platform, in which more than 100 graves are built. This entire structure stands on a platform a few steps high.
Influenced by Persian architecture, this tomb is 47 m high and 300 feet wide. The Persian bulbous dome is built on the building, which was first seen in the tomb of Sikandar Lodi. This dome is built on a 42.5 meter high neck-like cylinder. A 6 meter high brass crown vase is installed on top of the dome and a moon is placed on top of it, which is found in the tombs of the Timur dynasty. The dome is built in double layers, the outer layer is covered with white marble and the inner layer is made in the form of a cave. Apart from the pure and clean white appearance of the dome, the rest of the building is made of red sandstone, on which inlay work has been done with white and black marble and yellow sandstone. This combination of colors gives a different aura to the building.
Internal structure
The internal plan of the building which looks simple from outside is somewhat complex. It has nine square rooms including the main central room. The remaining eight two-storeyed rooms surround the main room in the middle and open in the middle. The main room is domed (Huzra) and double in height and in the middle right below the dome, in an eight-sided latticed enclosure, the tomb of the second Mughal emperor Humayun is built. This is the main tomb of the building. Its entrance is from an iwan on the southern side, and the iwans on the other sides have white marble lattices. The real tomb of the emperor is built in the inner room just below, the path to which goes from outside. A showy but beautiful replica has been made just above it. Common tourists are not allowed access to the bottom. The entire building is covered in marble inlay work called pietra dura, and this type of tomb planning is an important part of Indo-Islamic architecture, which was widely used in later Mughal tombs such as the Taj Mahal.
The main chamber also has an arch just above the marble latticework, which faces west towards Mecca. Instead of the usual inscribed verse 24 of the Quran on the entrances, there is a line from Sura An-Nur, through which light enters from the Qibla (direction of Mecca). The emperor’s status is thus elevated above that of his opponents and rivals, closer to divinity.
At the four corners of the main chamber are four octagonal rooms, connected by an arched gallery. There are four other chambers in the middle between the sides of the main chamber. These eight rooms form a circumambulation of the main tomb, as seen in Sufism and many other Mughal tombs; It also indicates heaven in Islam. Each of these rooms has 8 more rooms, which are part of a total of 124 room plan. In these small rooms, the graves of many Mughal Nawabs and courtiers have been built from time to time. Prominent among these are the graves of Hamida Bano Begum and Dara Shikoh. Including the first floor, there are more than 100 graves in this main building, most of which do not have their identity engraved on them, so the identity of the buried person is not known, but it is certain that they were from the royal family or courtiers of the Mughal Empire, hence the building has been called the graveyard of the Mughals.
The combination of white marble on red sandstone was used for the first time in this building. Along with this, many elements of Indian architecture are seen in it, such as small chhatris of Rajasthani architecture surrounding the main dome, which were originally covered with blue tiles.
