Khusro Bagh

Khusro Bagh
Khusro Bagh
	Tomb of Nithar Begum at Khusro bagh, Prayagraj
Location	Prayagraj
Coordinates	25°26′32″N 81°49′15″E / 25.4423°N 81.8209°E

Khusro Bagh is a large walled garden and burial complex located in muhalla Khuldabad, close to the Prayagraj Junction railway station, in Prayagraj, India. It is roughly 6 km from the Akbar fort built-in (r. 1556–1605). It is situated over forty acres and shaped like a quadrangle.

It is listed as an

Indian Site of National Importance.^[1]

It includes the 4 tombs:

Shah Begum (born Manbhawati Bai) (d. 1604), Jahangir's wife, and the daughter of Raja Bhagwant Das
and Khusrau Mirza's (d. 1622) mother

Khusrau Mirza, Jahangir's eldest son and briefly heir apparent to the Mughal throne
Nithar Begum (born Sultan-un-Nissa) (d. 1646), Khusrau Mirza's sister and Jahangir's daughter
Bibi Tamolan's tomb^[1]

Architecture

The four sandstone mausoleums within this walled garden, present an exquisite example of

calligrapher.^[2]

Next to the Begum's is the tomb of Khusrau's sister, Nithar. Architecturally, this is the most elaborate of the three. It lies on an elevated platform and is adorned with panels depicting the scalloped arch motif. Within the

plinth are rooms whose ceilings have been elaborately painted with stars in concentric circles. The central room has on its walls floral decorations depicting Persian cypresses, wine vessels, flowers and plants.^[2]

The tomb of Khusrau, is the last of the three tombs in Khusro Bagh. Khusro was first imprisoned within the garden after he rebelled against his father, Jahangir, in 1606. Following an attempt to escape, he was blinded on Jahangir's instructions. In 1622 he was killed on the orders of Khusrau's brother and Jehangir's third son

Prince Khurram, who later became the Emperor Shah Jahan. The tomb has fretwork windows and the tomb of his mare lies near his own.^[2]

Khusrau's tomb was completed in 1622, while that of Nithar Begum's, which lies between Shah Begum's and Khusrau's tombs, was built on her instructions in 1624-25. Nithar's mausoleum is however empty and it does not contain her tomb within it.[3]

During the

Revolt of 1857 Khusrau Bagh became the headquarters of the sepoys under Maulvi Liaquat Ali who took charge as the Governor of liberated Allahabad. In Allahabad however the Mutiny was swiftly put down and Khusro Bagh was retaken by the British in two weeks.^[2]

Gallery

Bibi Tamolan's tomb
Tomb of Nithar and Khusrau
Nithar's tomb interior
Shah Begum's tomb
Mausoleums of Sultan Begum, Nithar Begum, and Khusrau; Khusru Bagh photographed in the 1870s.
Coloured aquatint by Thomas Daniell, 1796