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Safdarjung's tomb is a sandstone and marble mausoleum in
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
. It was built in 1754 in the late Mughal Empire style for Nawab Safdarjung. The monument has an ambience of spaciousness and an imposing presence with its domed and arched red, brown and white coloured structures. Safdarjung, Nawab of
Oudh The Oudh State (, also Kingdom of Awadh, Kingdom of Oudh, or Awadh State) was a princely state in the Awadh region of North India until its annexation by the British in 1856. The name Oudh, now obsolete, was once the anglicized name of ...
, was made prime minister of the
Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
(''Wazir ul-Mamlak-i-Hindustan'') when Ahmed Shah Bahadur ascended the throne in 1748.


Geography

The tomb is located near the
Safdarjung Airport Safdarjung Airport is an airport in New Delhi, India, in the Safdarjung (Delhi), neighbourhood of the same name. Established during the British Raj as Willingdon Airfield, it started operations as an aerodrome in 1929, when it was India's secon ...
at the
T junction A three-way junction (or three-way intersection) is a type of road intersection with three arms. A Y junction (or Y intersection) generally has three arms of equal size coming at an acute or obtuse angle to each other; while a T junction (or T i ...
of Lodhi Road and
Aurobindo Marg Sri Aurobindo Marg or Aurobindo Marg, is an important South Delhi north-south arterial road connecting historic Safdarjung's Tomb to Qutab Minar. The road is named for Sri Aurobindo Ghosh; the Delhi campus of Sri Aurobindo Ashram is located on ...
(earlier name
Mehrauli Mehrauli is a neighbourhood in South Delhi, a district of Delhi in India. It represents a constituency in the legislative assembly of Delhi. The area is close to Gurgaon and next to Vasant Kunj. History Mehrauli is one of the seven mediev ...
Road) in New Delhi.


Background

The structure was constructed in 1754 in the late Mughal Empire style Safdarjung. Mirza Muqim Abul Mansur Khan, who was popularly known as Safdarjung, who ruled over
Awadh Awadh (), known in British historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a region in the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which was before independence known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. It is synonymous with the Kośāla region of ...
was an independent ruler of Awadh as viceroy of
Muhammad Shah Mirza Nasir-ud-Din Muḥammad Shah (born Roshan Akhtar; 7 August 1702 – 26 April 1748) was the 13th Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1719 to 1748. He was son of Khujista Akhtar, the fourth son of Bahadur Shah I. After being chosen by the ...
. He was very rich and powerful. With the death of Emperor Muhammad Shah of the Mughal Empire, he moved to Delhi. When Mohammed Shah Ahmed Shah ascended the throne of the Mughal Empire in Delhi in 1748, Safdarjung was made the Prime Minister ( Vazir) of the empire with the title of Vazir ul-Mamalk-i-Hindustan and at that time the empire was on the decline as their rule extended only to North India. As Vazir he usurped all powers under his control as the king was only a puppet, a figurehead, who was into enjoying life with wine, opium, and women. But his control over the emperor's family was so cruel that the emperor called the
Marathas The Marathi people ( Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a ...
to rid of their Vazir. The Marathas drove Safdarjung out of Delhi in 1753. He died soon thereafter in 1754. After his death, his son Nawab Shujaud Daula pleaded with the Mughal Emperor to permit him to erect a tomb for his father in Delhi. He then built the tomb, which was designed by an Abyssininan architect. It was built by Bilal Muhammad Khan, at the cost of three lacs of rupees. To the south of this tomb is the historic site of the battle that was fought in 1386 between Timur of Mangol and Mohammed Tughlaq when the latter was defeated.


Architecture

The Safdarjung tomb, the last monumental tomb garden of the Mughals, was planned and built like an enclosed garden tomb in line with the style of the Humayun tomb. It was completed in 1754. The slabs from the tomb of Abdul Rahim Khankhana were used in the construction of the tomb. The tomb has four key features which are: The Char Bagh plan with the mausoleum at the center, a ninefold floor plan, a five-part façade and a large podium with a hidden stairway. The main entry gate to the tomb is two-storied and its façade has very elaborate ornamentation over plastered surfaces and is in ornate purple colour. There is an inscription in
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
on the surface and its translation reads "When the hero of plain bravery departs from the transitory, may he become a resident of god’s paradise". The rear side of the façade, which is seen after entering through the gate, has many rooms and the library. To the right of the gate is the mosque which is a three-domed structure marked with stripes. Entering through the main gate gives a perfect view of the mausoleum. Its walls are built high and the central dome, which is the main mausoleum of Safdarjung, is built over a terrace. Red and buff stones are the materials used for building the main mausoleum which measures square. The central chamber, square in shape, has eight partitions with a
cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...
in the middle. Here there are partitions in rectangular shape and the corner partitions are in octagonal shape. The interior of the tomb is covered with rococo plaster with decorations. There are four towers around the main tomb at the corners which are polygonal in shape and are provided with kiosks. They have marble panels which are faded, and decorated arches. There is an underground chamber in the mausoleum which houses the graves of Safadrjung and his wife. The ceiling of the mosque has been plastered, painted and ornamented. The façade, though built in the style of the Taj Mahal, lacks symmetry as the vertical axis has been given prominence which has resulted in an unbalanced appearance to the tomb. The dome is more elongated; the central part has a taller '' pishtaq''. The four minarets at the four corners are part of the main mausoleum which was totally a different concept in elevation compared to the Taj Mahal where the towers are detached and away from the facade of the tomb. The architecture of the tomb is praised and also derided; it is derided for the lack of proportioning of its various units and use of poor material for construction.
Reginald Heber Reginald Heber (21 April 1783 – 3 April 1826) was an English Anglican bishop, man of letters and hymn-writer. After 16 years as a country parson, he served as Bishop of Calcutta until his death at the age of 42. The son of a rich lando ...
, who was Bishop of Calcutta between 1823 and 1826, based on the light brown colour of the stone used, had observed that the tomb has the "colour of potted meat". Even ASI has observed that the marble used for ornamentation in the towers though pleasing is "rather florid". Another observation is that the tomb can not be compared to the Taj Mahal or the Humayun Tomb, as, at the time it was built, the Mughal Empire was on the decline and sandstone had to be used and lines were set improperly and the quality appeared "thread bare".


Garden

The large square garden surrounding the tomb is surrounded by a wall that is approximately long on each side. The layout is in the form of four squares with wide footpaths and water tanks, which have been further subdivided into smaller squares. The garden is in the Mughal ''
charbagh ''Charbagh'' or ''Chahar Bagh'' ( ''chahār bāgh'', ''chārbāgh'', ''chār bāgh'', meaning "four gardens") is a Persian and Indo-Persian quadrilateral garden layout based on the four gardens of Paradise mentioned in the Quran. The quad ...
'' garden style, and is a smaller version of the garden of the Humayun Tomb which is also built in Delhi. One channel leads to the entrance gate and the other leads to the three pavilions. The main podium over which the mausoleum is built measures on each side. The high walls have been built in rubble stone masonry and have recessed arches in the interior. The towers or ''chatris'' are octagonal in shape. Its overall layout consists of four pavilions which have multiple chambers and the entrance gateway to the east is impressive. On the eastern side adjoining the gate are many apartments and a mosque, and a courtyard. The pavilions are laid out in the western, northern and southern directions and are named J''angli Mahal'' (palace in the forest), ''Moti Mahal'' (pearl palace) and ''Badshah Pasand'' (King's favorite) respectively. Nawab's family used to reside in these pavilions. Now the entire monument is under the control of
Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexand ...
(ASI) who have their offices in the pavilions and also a library over the main gate


Recent times

On 21 August 2012, the then Health Minister of India,
Ghulam Nabi Azad Ghulam Nabi Azad (born 7 March 1949) is an Indian politician who served as Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha between 2014 to 2021. He also served as the Chief Minister of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir from 2005 to 2008. On 26 September ...
offered Eid prayers in a mosque in the complex. However under the law of
Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexand ...
(ASI), "prayers at centrally protected monuments are not allowed unless the practice was prevalent at the time when it was notified as protected" and it is one of the 174 protected monument of ASI in Delhi. Earlier also, Indian vice president
Hamid Ansari Hamid refers to two different but related Arabic given names, both of which come from the Arabic triconsonantal root of Ḥ-M-D (ِِح-م-د): # (Arabic: حَامِد ''ḥāmid'') also spelled Haamed, Hamid or Hamed, and in Turkish Hamit; i ...
"planned to offer Eid prayers" at the tomb but was cancelled at the "eleventh hour". The tomb has four fountains on each of the four sides. In December 2013, it was reported that a plan was going on for "activating the fountains" as officials believed that they "were in working condition". But "in recent excavation", ASI unearthed a drainage system adjacent to the fountain. The system would "help them restart these". Though there are four fountains, but according to ASI, only one, which is opposite to the main entrance would be made "functional". In June 2014, the ASI shifted their office from the tomb to General Pool Offices near the Indian National Army Colony. In November of the same year new visitor boards were installed in the tomb to "promote the lesser known but striking monuments in the city [referring to
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
]". The 2013 Hollywood film, Jobs (film), Jobs, was shot in the tomb.


See also

*Lal Bangla in Delhi, another example of later Mughal architecture *Tomb of Asif Khan in Lahore


Gallery

File:Night view of Safdurjung's Tomb.jpg, Night view Safdarjung_tomb_full_building.jpg, Safdarjung's Tomb triangle view Safdurjung Tomb View From Entrance.jpg, View of Safdarjung's Tomb from Front Entrance Octagonal_boundary_Safdarjung_tomb.jpg, Octagonal space on the left side of tomb Minar_Safdarjung_tomb.jpg, Minaret Ceiling_art_safdarjung_tomb.jpg, Ceiling art Grave_of_Safdarjung_safdrjung_tomb.jpg, Grave of Safdarjung Safdarjung_tomb_main_entrance_gate.jpg, Entrance of main building Safdarjung_tomb_arc.jpg Safdarjung_tomb_garden_jorvee.jpg, Garden Safdarjung_tomb_interior.jpg, Interior inside the tomb File:Tomb of Safdar Jang in Delhi (8).jpg File:The ceiling of Tomb of Safdar Jang in Delhi (12).jpg, Ceiling art


References


Bibliography

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External links

{{Delhi landmarks Religious buildings and structures completed in 1754 Medieval India Mausoleums in Delhi Mughal tombs Mughal gardens in India Persian gardens in India 1754 establishments in India 1754 establishments in the Mughal Empire Tombs in Delhi Monuments of National Importance in Delhi