Humayun's Tomb - 15 minutes

The first Mughal Emperor, Babur, was succeeded by his son, Humayun, who ruled in India for a decade but was expelled.

Humayun inherited the Mughal dynasty when his father Babur died in 1530.

Eventually he took refuge with the Safavid shah of Persia, who helped him regain Delhi in 1555, the year before his death.

Humayun's Persian wife, Hamida Begum, supervised the construction from 1562-1572 of her husband's tomb in Delhi.

His reign got off to a good start, but his addiction to luxury at the palaces at Agra left the door open for ambitious men to plot behind his back.

Ten years into his reign, Humayun was overthrown by the opportunist Sher Shah, who took advantage of Afghan tribesmen to force Humayun into exile in Iran, which was then ruled by the Safavid dynasty.

Sher Shah died in 1545 and his sucessor was never able to assert the authority over the Afghani tribes that Sher Shah had enjoyed.

As the remnants of the Shah's regime unraveled, Humayun mounted a restoration army and marched into Delhi in 1555.

The aged Humayun had little time to celebrate, however, for barely six months later he died from a fall in his library at Sher Mandai.

Humayun's tomb lies on the Mathura Road near its crossing with the Lodhi Road. 

The location chosen for the building on the bank of the Yamuna river adjoins the shrine of an important Sufi Chistiyya order saint, Nizam al-Din Awliya.

The Chistiyya was particularly venerated by the Mughals; Humayun's son, Akbar, would build his new palace at Fatehpur Sikri next to the shrine of another saint of the Chistiyya order.

The architect, Mirak Mirza Ghiyuath, was Persian and had previously designed buildings in Herat (now northwest Afghanistan), Bukhara (now Uzbekistan), and elsewhere in India.

The tomb established some of the important norms for later Mughal mausolea.

It is set in a geometrically arranged garden criscrossed by numerous water channels and probably representing symbolically a paradise setting.

Such typical Persian gardens had been introduced into India by Babur; later they would be found in the Red Fort in Delhi and at the Taj Mahal in Agra.

 The architectural form of the building is Persian and especially in its main chamber shows some familiarity with the tomb of the Mongol Ilkhanid ruler of Persia, Oljeytu, at Sultaniyya.

It is one of a long line of Mughal buildings influenced by Timurid architecture, notably the tomb of Timur (Tamerlane) in Samarkand. Babur was proud of his Timurid heritage and deeply regretted his inability to hold Samarkand.

His successors continued to dream of regaining Samarkand and would interrogate visitors about Timur's tomb.

Humayun's tomb is the first Indian building to use the Persian double dome; it is noteworthy for its harmonious proportions.

As with later Mughal tombs, that of Humayun is set upon a podium or platform (see another example in the Taj Mahal).

The most obvious Indian features of the architecture are the small kiosks or chhatris on the roof.

The building is also noteworthy for its inlaid tile work, carving embodying both Indian and Persian decorative elements, and its carved stone screens.

High rubble built walls enclose here a square garden divided initially into four large squares separated by causeways and channels, each square divided again into smaller squares by pathways as in a typical Mughal Garden.

The lofty mausoleum is located in the centre of the enclosure and rises from a podium faced with series of cells with arched openings.

The central octagonal chamber containing cenotaph is encompassed by octagonal chambers at the diagonals and arched lobbies on the sides, their openings closed with perforated screens.

Each side is dominated by three emphatic arches, the central one being the highest. This plan is repeated on the second storey, and the roof is surmounted by a 42.5 Mts high double dome of marble with pillared kiosks (chattris) placed around it.

The structure is built with red sandstone, but white and black marble has been used to relieve the monotony, the latter largely in the borders.

The tomb was built by Humayun's senior widow Bega Begam, popularly known as Haji Begum, nine years after his death in 1565 according to some, but fourteen years according to the manuscript of an eighteenth century text.

It is the first substantial example of the Mughal architecture, with high arches and double dome, which occurs here for the first time in India.

Although some tombs had already been sited within gardens, it is also the first mature example of the idea of garden tomb, which culminated in the Taj Mahal at Agra.

The enclosure is entered through two lofty double storeyed gateways, one on the west and the other on the south, the latter now remaining closed.

A pavilion occupies the centre of the eastern wall of the enclosure and a bath chamber that of the northern wall.

Several rulers of the Mughal dynasty lie buried in the mausoleum, although it is not possible to identify their graves.

Among those lying buried here are Bega Begum, Hamida Banu Begam, Humayun's junior wife, Dara Shikoh, Shah Jahan's son, and the later Mughals, Jahandar Shah, Farrukhsiyar, Rafiud Darajat, Rafi ud Daula and Alamgir II.

Bhadhur Shah II, the last Mughal emperor of Delhi had taken shelter in this tomb with the three princes during the Mutiny and was captured here in 1857 by Lieutenant Hodson.

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