Akbar's tomb

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Akbar's tomb is the mausoleum of the third and greatest Mughal emperor Akbar. The tomb was built in 1605–1613 by his son, Jahangir and is situated on 119 acres of grounds in Sikandra, a suburb of Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. The buildings are constructed mainly from a deep red sandstone, enriched with features in white marble.[1][2] The tomb was plundered and largely desecrated in 1688 by Hindu Jat forces.[3]

Location

It is located at Sikandra, in the suburbs of Agra, on the Mathura road old NH-2(NH-19), 8 km west-northwest of the city center. About 1 km away from the tomb lies the Tomb of Mariam-uz-Zamani, Akbar's favourite wife,[4] who after the death of Akbar laid a large garden around his tomb and was later buried there by her son, Jahangir.[5]

History

File:Akbar at his court.jpg
Mughal emperor Akbar at his court.

Akbar I was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expand and consolidate Mughal domains in the Indian subcontinent.[6][7] Akbar gradually enlarged the Mughal Empire to include much of the Indian subcontinent through Mughal military, political, cultural, and economic dominance. Under Akbar, Mughal India developed a strong and stable economy, which tripled in size and wealth, leading to commercial expansion and greater patronage of an Indo-Persian culture.[8][9] Akbar's courts at Delhi, Agra, and Fatehpur Sikri attracted holy men of many faiths, poets, architects, and artisans, and become known as centres of the arts, letters, and learning.[10]

On 3 October 1605, Akbar fell ill from an attack of dysentery, from which he never recovered. He is believed to have died on 26 October 1605.[11][12] After Akbar's death, his son Jahangir planned and completed the construction of his father's tomb in 1605–1613. It cost 1,500,000 rupees to build and took 3 or 4 years to complete.[13][14]

File:Akbar tomb 2.jpg
Akbar's cenotaph inside the mausoleum, the real grave as per traditions lies below it

As Viceroy of India, George Curzon directed extensive repairs and restoration of Akbar's mausoleum, which were completed in 1905. Curzon discussed the restoration of the mausoleum and other historical buildings in Agra in connection with the passage of the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act in 1904, when he described the project as "an offering of reverence to the past and a gift of recovered beauty to the future". This preservation project may have discouraged veneration of the mausoleum by pilgrims and people living nearby.[15]

Architecture and ornamentation

File:Akbar's Tomb 4.jpg
Sideway of Akbar's tomb

The south gate is the largest, with four white marble chhatri-topped minarets, which are similar to (and pre-date) those of the Taj Mahal, and is the normal point of entry to the tomb. The tomb itself is surrounded by a walled enclosure 105 m square. The tomb building is a four-tiered pyramid, surmounted by a marble pavilion containing the false tomb. The true tomb, as in other mausoleums, is in the basement.[16]

The buildings are constructed mainly from a deep red sandstone, enriched with features in white marble. Decorated inlaid panels of these materials and a black slate adorn the tomb and the main gatehouse. Panel designs are geometric, floral and calligraphic, and prefigure the more complex and subtle designs later incorporated in Itmad-ud-Daulah's tomb.[17] There are four gateways in the tomb, which were built using red sandstone and design were inlaid using marble. The roof of the gateway has four kiosks. The magnificence of the gateway is inspired by the Buland Darwaza.[18]

File:Sikandra, Tumba de Akbar (2002) 04.jpg
A view of the garden around the tomb

Mariam-uz-Zamani, after the death of her husband, Akbar, laid a large garden around his tomb, which originally had an open baradari (pleasure pavilion) built during the reign of Sikander Lodi, in 1495 AD.[5] After her death in May 1623, she was buried here near her husband's tomb and the baradari was converted into a fine mausoleum by her son, Jahangir.[19] She stands as the only wife of Akbar buried closed to him.[20]

The first floor of the tomb, has cloisters on four sides having arches, and has a hall where the tombstone of Akbar lies. The hall also consist tombstones of Shakr-un-Nissa Begum and Aram Banu Begum, the two daughters of Akbar.[21][22]

Desecration of the tomb

On 28 March 1688, during the reign of Aurangzeb, Jats rose in rebellion under the leadership of Raja Ram Jat. Mughal prestige suffered a blow when Jats ransacked Akbar's tomb, plundering and looting the gold, jewels, silver, and carpets.[3] The grave was opened and the late king's bones were burned.[23][24] This successful raid followed a previous unsuccessful attempt in 1685 and resulted in an escalation of the conflict between the Mughals and the Jats.[25][26]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Akbar the Great Mogul{{#if:Smith|, Smith}. Oxford, Clarendon Press(1917). ISBN 0895634716
  2. ↑ Emperors of the Peacock Throne, The Saga of the Great Mughals{{#if:Eraly|, Eraly}. Penguin Books India(2000). ISBN 0141001437
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Catherine Blanshard Asher, Catherine Ella Blanshard Asher, 1992, "Architecture of Mughal India - Part 1", Cambridge University Press, Volume 4, Page 108.
  4. ↑ Gulshan-I-Ibrahimi{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}(1595–1612)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Selections from the Native Newspapers Published in the United Provinces of Agra & Oudh.{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}(12 August 1905)
  6. ↑ Medieval India: from Sultanate to the Mughals{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Har-Anand Publications(2005). ISBN 978-81-241-1066-9
  7. ↑ A Short History Of The Akbar The Great{{#if:Srivastava. A.l.|, Srivastava. A.l.}(1957)
  8. ↑ Annual Report Archaeological Survey Of India 1910-II{{#if:Vogel|, Vogel}. Superintendent Government Printing, Calcutta, India(1910)
  9. ↑ Mughal Architecture of Fatehpur Sikri{{#if:Smith|, Smith}. Indological Book(1973)
  10. ↑ Akbar{{#if:Lal|, Lal}(1980)
  11. ↑ Remembering Akbar the Great: Facts about the most liberal Mughal emperor.
  12. ↑ The Fatehpur Sikri Chronicles
  13. ↑ The Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri; or, Memoirs of Jahangir. Translated by Alexander Rogers. Edited by Henry Beveridge.
  14. ↑ The history of Aryan rule in India from the earliest times to the death of Akbar{{#if:Havell|, Havell}. New York, Frederick A. Stokes company(1918)
  15. ↑ From loot to trophy: the vexed history of architectural heritage in imperial India(Summer 2011). Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  16. ↑ Fascinating monuments, timeless tales. The Hindu(22 September 2003).
  17. ↑ Akbar's Tomb Template:Webarchive Archnet.org.
  18. ↑ Akbar's Tomb Architecture of Mughal India, Part 1, Volume 4, by Catherine Ella Blanshard Asher. Cambridge University Press, 1992. Template:ISBN. p. 107.
  19. ↑ Advance Study in the history of Medieval India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Sterling Publisher Private Limited(1981). ISBN 8120704320
  20. ↑ Mariam's Tomb, Sikandara, Agra - Ticketed Monument - Archaeological Survey of India. Asi.nic.in.
  21. ↑ Amal e Saleh al-Mausoom Ba Shahjahan Nama (Persian) - Volume 3{{#if:Kanbo|, Kanbo}
  22. ↑ The Akbarnama{{#if:Fazl|, Fazl}. ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL
  23. ↑ Edward James Rap; son, Sir Wolseley Haig and Sir Richard, 1937, "The Cambridge History of India", Cambridge University Press, Volume 4, pp.305.
  24. ↑ Waldemar Hansen, 1986, "The Peacock Throne: The Drama of Mogul India", Page 454.
  25. ↑ Mogul India (1653–1708): Or Storia Do Mogor{{#if:Manucci|, Manucci}. Low Price Publication(2010)
  26. ↑ The Jats: Their Role in the Mughal Empire{{#if:Dwivedi|, Dwivedi}. Arnold Publishers(1989). ISBN 978-81-7031-150-8

Further reading

  • A Handbook for Visitors to Agra and Its Neighbourhood{{#if:Keene|, Keene}. Thacker, Spink & Co.(1899)
  • A Handbook to Agra and the Taj, Sikandra, Fatehpur-Sikri, and the Neighbourhood{{#if:Havell|, Havell}. Longmans, Green & Co., London(1904)

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