Humayun's tomb

Topic: The Mughal Empire: Babur to Aurangzeb · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 2 "Reshaping India's Political Map"

Meaning

Humayun's tomb is the garden tomb of the Mughal emperor Humayun in Delhi. His widow Bega Begum (also called Haji Begum) had it built in the 1560s, under Akbar [3]. It was the first great Mughal garden tomb: a large domed tomb set in the middle of a walled garden. It matters because it was the earlier model for the garden-tomb idea that the Taj Mahal later perfected [3]. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1993) [3].

Explanation

Background: why and when it was built

• Humayun was Babur's son and the second Mughal emperor.
• He lost his throne to Sher Shah Suri in 1540 and spent years in exile, much of it at the Safavid (Persian) court.

• He won back Delhi in 1555 but died in 1556 after falling down the stairs of his library in Delhi.

• Work on his tomb started some years after he died. The ASI/UNESCO record dates it to the 1560s, in the reign of his son Akbar [3]. Many accounts say it was finished around 1570.

• Patron: his widow Bega Begum (Haji Begum).
• Architect: according to the usual accounts, Mirak Mirza Ghiyas, an architect of Persian origin.
• Humayun's years in Persia, and the Persian architect, help explain the strong Persian look of the building.

Main features: style and materials

• Charbagh (a Persian-style garden divided into four equal parts by walkways and water channels; it stood for the Islamic idea of paradise).
• The tomb stands at the centre of this four-part garden.

• This was the first garden tomb on this grand scale in the Indian subcontinent.

• Double dome (one dome built inside another: the inner dome gives the room a sensible ceiling height, and the outer dome makes the building look tall from far away).

• Materials: mainly red sandstone, with white marble used for the dome and as trim.
• High raised platform (plinth) with rows of arched cells, so the tomb rises above the garden.
• Mixed style: a Persian plan and dome, built with Indian materials and Indian touches such as chhatris (small domed kiosks on pillars).

How the idea changed over time

• Humayun's tomb (1560s, Akbar's reign) set the pattern: a central tomb, a charbagh around it, a double dome, and a high platform [3].
• Taj Mahal (1631–1648, Shah Jahan) took the same pattern and perfected it [2].
• It changed the main material from red sandstone to white marble [2].

• It moved the tomb to the end of the garden, on the right bank of the Yamuna [2].

• Chain of influence: Persian garden idea → Humayun's tomb → Taj Mahal.

Results and later history

• The tomb became a family burial place. Many members of the Mughal royal family were later buried there, so it is often called the "dormitory of the Mughals".
• In 1857, the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, took shelter here. He was captured by the British at this site.
• Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1993) under the care of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) [3].

Time, place and evidence

• Period: Mughal Empire. It was built in the 1560s, under Akbar [3], to honour Humayun, who died in 1556.
• Place: Delhi, near the dargah (Sufi shrine) of Nizamuddin Auliya.
• Key people: Humayun (buried there), Bega Begum / Haji Begum (patron), Mirak Mirza Ghiyas (architect, according to tradition), Akbar (ruling emperor).
• NCERT grouping: NCERT Class 8, Ch 2, places Humayun's tomb inside the "flowering of art and architecture" under Jahangir and Shah Jahan. The ASI/UNESCO record, however, dates it before them, to Akbar's time [3]. Read it as the early model for that later flowering.
• Evidence: the standing monument itself, and the official records of the ASI and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre [3].
• Heritage status: UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed 1993 [3].

Don't confuse with

• Taj Mahal: built by Shah Jahan for Mumtaz Mahal at Agra (1631–1648), in white marble. It became a UNESCO site in 1983 [2]. Humayun's tomb came earlier, is in Delhi, is mainly red sandstone, and became a UNESCO site in 1993 [3].
• Sher Shah Suri's tomb (Sasaram, Bihar): built for the Sur ruler who drove Humayun out. It is an eight-sided tomb standing in a water tank, not a Mughal charbagh tomb.
• Akbar's tomb (Sikandra, near Agra): this is the tomb of Akbar. Humayun's tomb was only built during Akbar's reign.
• Bibi ka Maqbara (Aurangabad): a later copy of the Taj, built in Aurangzeb's time and called the "Taj of the Deccan". It does not copy Humayun's tomb.

Prelims Hooks

• Humayun's tomb (Delhi) was commissioned by his widow Bega Begum (Haji Begum). It is not Akbar's own project, and it was not built by Shah Jahan.
• It was built in the 1560s, under Akbar [3]. NCERT lists it with the Jahangir–Shah Jahan flowering, which makes this a common chronology trap.
• UNESCO inscription years: Taj Mahal and Agra Fort 1983; Humayun's Tomb 1993 [2][3].
• Order of building: Humayun's tomb (1560s) → Taj Mahal (1631–1648) → Red Fort, Delhi (1639–1648) [2][3].
• Key features: charbagh garden, double dome, red sandstone with white marble. Architect, by tradition: Mirak Mirza Ghiyas.
• In 1857, Bahadur Shah Zafar sheltered at Humayun's tomb before the British captured him.

Mains Points

• The model for the Taj. Humayun's tomb set up the garden-tomb pattern: central tomb, charbagh, double dome, raised platform. The Taj Mahal perfected it in white marble [2][3]. Use this to show continuity in Mughal architecture: the "architectural peak" of Shah Jahan grew out of an idea from Akbar's reign.
• Composite Indo-Islamic culture. The tomb joins a Persian plan, dome and garden (linked to Humayun's exile at the Safavid court and a Persian architect) with Indian materials and features such as red sandstone and chhatris. This is a ready example for the GS-I point on how cultures blended under the Mughals.
• Heritage and identity. The tomb was built as a royal memorial, and in 1857 it was the place where the last Mughal emperor was captured. Today it is a UNESCO site (1993) in ASI care [3]. This links GS-I art and culture to current questions of conservation, tourism and national memory.

Related concepts

• Jahangir
• Nur Jahan
• Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri
• Chain of justice
• Itimad-ud-Daulah's tomb
• Akbar's tomb, Sikandra
• Shalimar Bagh, Srinagar
• Mughal miniature painting
• Ustad Mansur
• Muraqqa

Read more

• Jahangir and Shah Jahan: the architectural peak