Humayun's Tomb.....A widow's signature on husband's grave

 Humayun's Tomb Building Complex is a tomb monument inspired by Mughal architecture. ... This group is declared a World Heritage Site, and is the first example of Mughal architecture in India. This tomb has the same Charbagh style, which gave birth to the TajMahal in the future. This tomb was built in 1562 on the orders of Humayun's widow Begum Hamida Banu Begum.

This tomb, built in 1570, is of particular cultural significance as it was the first garden tomb on the Indian subcontinent. It inspired several major architectural innovations, culminating in the construction of the Taj Mahal.

Brief Synthesis

Humayun’s Tomb, Delhi is the first of the grand dynastic mausoleums that were to become synonyms of Mughal architecture with the architectural style reaching its zenith 80 years later at the later Taj Mahal. Humayun’s Tomb stands within a complex of 27.04 ha. that includes other contemporary, 16th-century Mughal garden tombs such as Nila Gumbad, Isa Khan, Bu Halima, Afsarwala, Barber’s Tomb, and the complex where the craftsmen employed for the Building of Humayun’s Tomb stayed the Arab Serai.

Humayun’s Tomb was built in the 1560s, with the patronage of Humayun’s son, the great Emperor Akbar. Persian and Indian craftsmen worked together to build the garden tomb, far grander than any tomb built before in the Islamic world. Humayun’s garden-tomb is an example of the charbagh (a four-quadrant garden with the four rivers of Quranic paradise represented), with pools joined by channels. The garden is entered from lofty gateways on the south and from the west with pavilions located in the center of the eastern and northern walls.

The mausoleum itself stands on a high, wide terraced platform with two bay deep vaulted cells on all four sides. It has an irregular octagon plan with four long sides and chamfered edges. It is surmounted by a 42.5 m high double dome clad with marble flanked by pillared kiosks (chhatris) and the domes of the central chhatris are adorned with glazed ceramic tiles. The middle of each side is deeply recessed by large arched vaults with a series of smaller ones set into the facade.

The interior is a large octagonal chamber with vaulted roof compartments interconnected by galleries or corridors. This octagonal plan is repeated in the second story. The structure is of dressed stone clad in red sandstone with white and black inlaid marble borders.

Humayun’s garden-tomb is also called the ‘dormitory of the Mughals’ as in the cells are buried over 150 Mughal family members.

The tomb stands in an extremely significant archaeological setting, centered at the Shrine of the 14th century Sufi Saint, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. Since it is considered auspicious to be buried near a saint’s grave, seven centuries of tomb building have led to the area becoming the densest ensemble of medieval Islamic buildings in India.

Criteria (ii): Humayun’s garden-tomb is built on a monumental scale, with the grandeur of design, and a garden setting with no precedence in the Islamic world for a mausoleum. Here for the first time, important architectural innovations were made including creating a char-bagh – a garden setting inspired by the description of paradise in the Holy Quran. The monumental scale achieved here was to become the characteristic of Mughal imperial projects, culminating in the construction of the Taj Mahal.

Criteria (iv): Humayun’s Tomb and the other contemporary 16th-century garden tombs within the property form a unique ensemble of Mughal-era garden tombs. The monumental scale, architectural treatment, and garden setting are outstanding in Islamic garden tombs. Humayun’s Tomb is the first important example in India, and above all else, the symbol of the powerful Mughal dynasty that unified most of the sub-continent.

Integrity

The inscribed property includes the Humayun’s tomb enclosure, which comprises the gateways, pavilions, and attached structures pre-dating Humayun’s Tomb, such as the Barber’s Tomb, Nila Gumbad and its garden setting, Isa Khan’s garden tomb, and other contemporary 16th century structures such as Bu Halima’s garden-tomb and Afsarwala garden-Tomb. All of these attributes fully convey the outstanding universal value of the property. The tombs in the complex have been respected throughout their history and so have retained their original form and purpose intact. Recent conservation works, that have followed the urban landscape approach, have been aimed at preserving this character and ensuring the preservation of the physical fabric, enhancing its significance while reviving living building craft traditions used by the Mughal builders. 

Authenticity

The authenticity of the Humayun’s Tomb lies in the mausoleum, other structures, and the garden retaining its original form and design, materials, and setting.

The tomb and its surrounding structures are substantially in their original state and interventions have been minimal and of high quality. Conservation works being carried out on the structures are focused on using traditional materials such as lime mortar, building tools, and techniques to recover authenticity, especially by removals of 20th-century materials such as the concrete layers from the roof and replacement by lime-concrete, removal of cement plaster from the lower cells and replacement with lime mortar in original patterns and concrete removal from the lower platform to reveal and reset the original stone paving, among other similar efforts. A similar conservation approach is being used on all garden tombs in the complex.

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