This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. You can assist by editing it. (December 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
This article needs more links to other articles to help integrate it into the encyclopedia. Please help improve this article by adding links that are relevant to the context within the existing text. (December 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Tomb of Nur Jahan

The Tomb of Nur Jahan is a red sandstone mausoleum located in Shahdara Bagh in Lahore, Punjab. It was constructed by Mughal empress Nur Jahan as her final resting place.

History

Mehr-un-Nissa, entitled Nur Jahan (Light of the world), was the daughter of Mirza Ghias Beg, a noble from Persia. She was the beloved consort of Mughal Emperor Jahangir (1569-1627). Having survived Jahangir by 18 years, she died at the age of 72 years and the mausoleum was most probably constructed during her lifetime. The mausoleum is located in Shahdara Bagh, not far from the tomb of Jahangir. Her brother Asaf Khan's tomb is also located nearby.

The tomb took four year to complete at the cost of Rupees 3 lakhs.

Some historians believe that during the reign of Maharajah Ranjit Singh, the whole of the tomb was stripped of its ornamental stones and it was ordered that the subterranean room which contained the queen and her daughter were opened.

The tomb underwent minor repairs but is slated for major restoration.[1]

Architecture

Marble cenotaphs of Nur Jahan and her daughter Ladli Begum

The whole mausoleum is surrounded by Mughal gardens. As opposed to the Tomb of I'timād-ud-Daulah, her father's final resting place which was constructed in white marble, her own mausoleum is primarily clad in red sandstone.

Standing on a platform of 158 square the tomb measures 124 squares and 19.6 high. The vaulted ceilings were all covered with marble, wrought with flower mosaics in semi-precious stones. The minute paneling is executed in intricate patterns, and, for example, the cornices are in the shape of the honeycomb in some of the rooms. The inner floor is covered with marble and the outer platform with sandstone. The exterior of the tomb was worked in red sandstone, inlaid with floral motifs, and white, black and yellow marble.

The central vaulted chamber of the tomb contains a marble platform with two cenotaphs. One is for Nur Jahan and the other said to be for her daughter, Ladli Begum. This was built by Hakim Ajmal, Khan of Delhi in 1912. The original marble sarcophagus was of ornate workmanship and with the name of Allah in the same style and size as seen in the tombs of Jahangir and Asif Khan. Upon her tomb is inscribed the epitaph “On the grave of this poor stranger, let there be neither lamp nor rose. Let neither butterfly’s wing burn nor nightingale sing”.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ http://tribune.com.pk/story/409285/restoration-of-nur-jahans-tomb-to-begin-soon/
  2. ^ Gold, Claudia (2008). Queen, Empress, Concubine: Fifty Women Rulers from Cleopatra to Catherine the Great. London: Quercus. p. 151. ISBN 978-1-84724-542-7.

Media related to Tomb of Nur Jahan at Wikimedia Commons

Categories