HUMAYUN'S TOMB, NIZAMUDDIN EAST, DELHI, INDIA

Humayun's tomb is a complex of buildings built as the Mughal Emperor Humayun's tomb, commissioned by Humayun's wife Hamida Banu Begum in 1562 CE, and designed by Mirak Mirza Ghiyath, a Persian architect. It is located in Nizamuddin East, Delhi, India, close to the Dina-panah citadel also known as Purana Qila, that Humayun founded in 1533. It was also the first structure to use red sandstone at such a scale.

The complex encompasses the main tomb of the Emperor Humayun, which houses the graves of his wife, Hamida Begum, and also Dara Shikoh, son of the later Emperor Shah Jahan, as well as numerous other subsequent Mughals, including Emperor Jahandar Shah, Farrukhsiyar, Rafi Ul-Darjat, Rafi Ud-Daulat and Alamgir II.

The complex is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It represented a leap in Mughal architecture, and together with its accomplished Charbagh garden, typical of Persian gardens, but never seen before in India, it set a precedent for subsequent Mughal architecture. It is seen as a clear departure from the fairly modest mausoleum of his father, the first Mughal Emperor, Babur, called Bagh-e Babur (Gardens of Babur) in Kabul (Afghanistan). Though the latter was the first Emperor to start the tradition of being buried in a paradise garden. Modelled on Gur-e Amir, the tomb of his ancestor and Asia's conqueror Timur in Samarkand, it created a precedent for future Mughal architecture of royal mausolea, which reached its zenith with the Taj Mahal, at Agra.

The site was chosen on the banks of Yamuna river, due to its proximity to Nizamuddin Dargah, the mausoleum of the celebrated Sufi saint of Delhi, Nizamuddin Auliya, who was much revered by the rulers of Delhi, and whose residence, Chilla Nizamuddin Auliya lies just north-east of the tomb. In later Mughal history, the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar took refuge here, during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, along with three princes, and was captured by Captain Hodson before being exiled to Rangoon. At the time of the Slave Dynasty this land was under the 'KiloKheri Fort' which was capital of Sultan Kequbad, son of Nasiruddin (1268-1287).

View from the West Gate

After his death on January 20, 1556, Humayun's body was first buried in his palace in Delhi, thereafter it was taken to Sirhind, in Punjab by Khanjar Beg, there in 1558, it was seen by his son, then Mughal Emperor, Akbar, who also visited the final resting place of his father, when it was about to be completed in 1571.
The tomb of Humayun was built by the orders of Hamida Banu Begum, Humayun's widow starting in 1562, nine years after his death, at a cost of 15 lakh rupees (1.5 million) at the time. At many places she is confused with another royal, Haji Begum, though according to Ain-i-Akbari, a 16th century detailed document written during the reign of Akbar, Haji Begum was the daughter of brother of Humayun's mother, and was later in life was put in charge of the tomb.

Humayun's Tomb-an Isometric view

Chamferred edges add to the over all symmetrical design of the mausoleum

Tomb inscription

The exterior of Humayun's Tomb

The exterior arch of Humayun's Tomb, showing niches on two levels.

Details of geometrical sandstone and marble pietre dura inlay patterns over the entrance iwan or high arc, and the chhatris and small minarets that surround the white marble central dome.

Details of a corner minaret

Details of a corner minaret on the roof of Humayun's tomb, also showing red and white sandstone inlay patterns.

The interior of Humayun's Tomb

Inside view of the dome of Humayun's Tomb

Marble lattice screen

Humayun's Cenotaph

Maqbara

Cenotaphs, of Hamida Banu Begum, Dara Shikoh etc. in a side rooms.

Char Bagh Garden (Four Gardens)

Humayun's tomb was the first garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent

While the main tomb took over eight years to build, it was also placed in centre of a 30-acre Char Bagh Garden (Four Gardens), a Persian-style garden with quadrilateral layout and was the first of its kind in the South Asia region in such a scale. The highly geometrical and enclosed Paradise garden is divided into four squares by paved walkways (khiyabans) and two bisecting central water channels, reflecting the four rivers that flow in jannat, the Islamic concept of paradise. Each of the four square is further divided into smaller squares with pathways, creating into 36 squares in all, a design typical of later Mughal gardens. The central water channels appear to be disappearing beneath the tomb structure and reappearing on the other side in a straight line, suggesting the Quranic verse, which talks of rivers flowing beneath the 'Garden of Paradise'.

The entire tomb and the garden is enclosed within high rubble walls on three sides, the fourth side was meant to be the river Yamuna, which has since shifted course away from the structure. The central walkways, terminate at two gates: a main one in the southern wall, and a smaller one in the western wall. It has two double-storey entrances, the West gate which used now, while the South gate, which was used during Mughal era, now remains closed. Aligned at the centre on the eastern wall lies a baradari, literally a pavilion with twelve doors, which is a building or room with twelve doors designed to allow the free draught of air through it, finally on the northern wall lies a hammam, a bath chamber.

Towards the south-east corner, within the 'char bagh' garden, lies a tomb known as Nai-ka-Gumbad, or Barber's Tomb (c.1590).

Restoration work

Restoration work at Humayun's tomb

West Gate

Details of Entrance portal into Humayun's Tomb

Bu Halima Enclosure

This grand gateway led to the tomb-garden of Bu Halima, of whom not much is known. The facade of the gateway is chamfered, and remnants of tilework can still be seen. Ornate domed canopies surmount the two northern bastions of the garden wall. The western wall of the garden was breached in the 19th century to allow access for visitors.