India: Humayun’s tomb is an architectural marvel and sanctuary of peace

Bengaluru: If there could be a poem crafted in stone, it must be the mausoleum of the second Mughal emperor Nasiruddin Mohammad Humayun. It’s an edifice that set the template for grand Mughal architecture in India, including the Taj Mahal.

Built in the mid-16th century, under the patronage of the Emperor Akbar and his mother Hamida Banu Begum, Humayun’s Tomb is an awe-inspiring sanctuary of serenity amidst the urban cacophony of India’s capital, one of the world’s most densely populated cities.

As a city rich in history, Delhi has no dearth of architectural wonders and world heritage monuments, but Humayun’s Tomb is the blueprint on which the city’s and medieval India’s architectural legacy stands.

However, more than the art and architecture of the monument, the mausoleum represents the vision and intellect of the man who lies buried under its central cenotaph.

A wandering warrior, Humayun started his life on horseback, as his father Zahiruddin Babur sought to expand his fledgling empire and died during the stopover of a journey. His life was defined by constant movement.

When Babur defeated Ebrahim Lodhi to capture the throne of Delhi, Humayun was not only by his side, he was the commander who captured Agra and the surrounding regions that helped strengthen Mughal hold on much of northern India.

But, despite his heroics on the battlefield, he was no doubt more comfortable in the library and his observatory, poring over cosmological tomes and obsessing over stars and planetary motions.

Scholarly king

An erudite scholar, an astronomer par excellence, and an intellectual besotted by numbers and geometric patterns, Humayun was a man of exceptional talents.

But, he doesn’t stand out in history as his son Akbar does as an astute administrator. Neither he is known as a grand builder like his flamboyant great-grandson Shahjahan, who built the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort and many other world famous monuments.

Nevertheless, Humayun’s true achievement is not what he built with stones and mortar, but what he built with his affectionate heart. It is the direction he gave India at a crucial juncture of Indian history that shaped the social fabric of India for centuries. Much before Akbar’s attempt to reconcile differing faiths and sects, Humayun envisioned a city called Dinpanah as a sanctuary of all faiths.

It is this intangible legacy of cultural harmony that he left behind through the combination of Persian art and culture and Indian knowledge and skills that shaped India’s literary and cultural way of life for centuries.

A man of grand vision and pioneering ideas, Humayun’s Dinpanah (abode of faith in Persian) was a splendid city built on the banks of the Yamuna River. Much of it was laid to waste by his rival Sher Shah Suri, to whom he had lost his father’s empire for more than a decade, before recapturing it and re-establishing Mughal ascendancy.

Though very little of Humayun’s tangible legacy is now available for people to enjoy, the impact of his complex personality, his love for knowledge and his quest for harmony is reflected in his final abode - the mausoleum.

According to Ebba Koch, a historian and an authority in medieval Indian architecture, who recently came up with a book on Humayun that unravels his persona, Humayun’s architectural ideas were driven by his passion for geometry, cosmology and numbers.

In her recent book, ‘The Planetary King: Humayun Padshah, Inventory and Visionary on the Mughal Throne,’ she mentions that in Dinpanah, Humayun commissioned monuments that were way ahead of his time, including boat palaces, floating bazaars and gardens.

Architectural marvel

Though much of what Humayun envisaged has been ruined now, according to historians, his beloved wife, Hamida Banu Begum, and son, Jalaluddin Akbar, tried to realise some of his ideas and dreams posthumously through this grand mausoleum.

Developed on the foundations of a highly complex geometric design, Humayun’s Tomb is a masterpiece in symmetry. It is the first mausoleum of a Muslim ruler built on such a grand scale in India.

A symbol of Mughal might that unified most of the subcontinent for the first time since the reign of Ashoka, the grand edifice became the template on which Mughal architectural style developed, reaching its pinnacle with the Taj Mahal.

Standing on a platform of 12,000 square metres and with a height of 47 metres, the monument is set in the legendary Mughal concept of Chahrbagh or four gardens.

Flanked by canopies covered in glazed blue tiles, the white marbled central dome culminates in a brass finial that is six metres high.

Intricately designed lattice screens along all the four sides of the Mausoleum lets in measured light, giving the vaulted interiors a heavenly aura.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Humayun’s Tomb and its surrounding necropolis is an archeological gold mine.

Complete with manicured gardens, grand dormitories, gateways and other heritage monuments and tombs, the necropolis is home to some pre-Mughal era tombs as well.

Among the many attractions located in the sprawling 27-hectare archeological park are Nila Gumbad, Isa Khan’s Tomb, Bu Halima, Afsarwala, Babur’s Tomb and the complex where the craftsmen employed for the building of Humayun’s Tomb stayed, the Arab Serai. Just outside the gate is the Subz Burj, the earliest extant Mughal monument built during Humayun’s reign.

Abode of peace

Located in the heart of Delhi and close to other important heritage sites such as the mausoleums of Delhi’s resident sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya and one of India’s greatest poets Mirza Ghalib, the site is a major tourist destination and a sanctuary of peace.

Known as the ‘Dormitory of the Mughals,’ the tomb has within it more than 150 graves of Mughal family members, spanning over a period of three centuries.

It might be the resting place of the dead, but Humayun’s Tomb is a living monument of great universal value, offering sanctuary not just to the connoisseurs of art, architecture and heritage, but also to wandering souls.

Historically, the grand mausoleum and the sprawling archeological park around it have offered refuge and peace to many troubled souls.

Humayun’s Tomb has been host to refugees of all kinds across ages. It is the place where the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar sought refuge when the marauding forces of the British East India Company tightened the grip around the Red Fort during the First War of Indian Independence in 1857.

The serene environs of the mausoleum also offered refuge to the victims of India’s partition fleeing the violence that defined the birth of new India.

Exuding an aura of unmistakable spirituality, the emperor’s final abode continues to offer the kind of serenity and tranquility that is hard to find in modern urban spaces now.

This is the reason why we see people thronging the tomb throughout the year, day and night, seeking to calm their nerves and feed their souls. The mausoleum seems to be posthumously realising the vision of harmony that the emperor envisioned for his grand city Dinpanah.

— Shafaat Shahbandari is a freelance journalist based in India and Founder-Editor of Thousand Shades of India