The Mughal Empire

The Tomb of Jahangir

The Tomb of Jahangir, located in the Shahdara neighbourhood of Lahore on the western bank of the river Ravi, is the mausoleum of the fourth Mughal emperor Jahangir, commissioned by his son and successor Shah Jahan in 1628 and substantially complete by 1637. Constructed primarily of red sandstone and white marble and set within a large charbagh garden, the mausoleum is monuments of the Mughal architecture tradition, notable for the refinement of its carved ornament, the virtuosity of its muqarnas vaulting, the richness of its calligraphic programme, and the use of marble inlay that is more restrained than the later perfection of the technique at the Taj Mahal. The complex was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1981 as part of the “Fort and Shalamar Gardens, Lahore” inscription.

Historical Context and Commission

Jahangir died on 28 October 1627 in Bhimpur, in the foothills of the western Himalayas, while on his way back to Lahore from Kashmir. The emperor was initially interred in a temporary tomb at Bhimpur, and his remains were later transferred to Lahore in 1628, where the construction of the permanent mausoleum was undertaken by his son Shah Jahan. The decision to build the mausoleum at Shahdara, on the outskirts of Lahore, was influenced by the location of the existing imperial garden at that site, and the tomb was integrated into the wider landscape of imperial gardens and palaces that defined the Lahore region in the early seventeenth century.

The construction of the tomb was carried out rapidly, and the principal building was substantially complete by 1637. The work was supervised by the imperial workshop and involved a substantial workforce drawn from across the empire. The cost of the project was considerable, and the tomb is one of the most expensive building projects of Shah Jahan’s early reign, before the larger projects of the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort in Delhi.

The Architect

The architect of the tomb is not recorded with certainty, and the building is generally understood to have been the product of the imperial workshop as a whole. The principal architects associated with the project include Muhammad Qasim and Nuruddin, names that appear in contemporary inscriptions and later traditions, and the work was carried out under the general supervision of the imperial atelier. The tomb is associated with the broader tradition of imperial architecture that produced the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort in the same period, and the formal vocabulary of the building is closely related to the other major projects of Shah Jahan’s early reign.

The Charbagh Setting

The mausoleum is set within a large rectangular charbagh garden, of the four-part type derived from the Persian tradition, that extends across the riverside plain and that was integrated into the wider landscape of the Lahore Fort and the Shalimar Gardens. The garden is divided into four equal parts by means of axial water channels and raised walkways, and the mausoleum is placed on a raised platform at the centre of the composition. The use of running water in the form of channels and pools, the careful selection of fruit trees and flowering plants, and the integration of the building with the surrounding landscape are all consistent with the conventions of the Mughal garden tradition as developed in the Mughal gardens of the period.

The original planting of the garden is debated, but contemporary references describe a planting that included fruit trees, cypresses, and a range of flowering and scented shrubs. The use of the charbagh plan at the tomb of Jahangir is consistent with the wider application of the convention in the Mughal tombs of the period, including Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi and the Taj Mahal at Agra.

The Mausoleum

The mausoleum is constructed on a high platform of red sandstone, the principal material of the building, with white marble used for the principal decorative elements, the cenotaph chamber, and the calligraphic bands. The plan of the building follows a square with the four corners chamfered, producing an irregular octagonal outline, and the facades are articulated with pointed iwan portals, the smaller two-storey niches, and the carved and inlaid ornament that is characteristic of the period. At the centre of the structure rises a flat-roofed terrace, in place of the high double dome used in the earlier Mughal tombs tradition, and the building is crowned by a parapet of small chhatris.

The most distinctive feature of the exterior is the carved and inlaid ornament that covers much of the building. The carved ornament, executed in red sandstone, includes arabesques, floral motifs, and geometric patterns drawn from the Persian and Indian traditions. The calligraphic bands, executed in white marble inlay on the red sandstone ground, include Quranic inscriptions chosen for their resonance with themes of divine mercy, paradise, and the judgement of souls. The carved ornament of the exterior, particularly the muqarnas vaulting of the entrance iwan, is among the most technically accomplished of the Mughal architecture tradition.

The Interior

The interior of the mausoleum is organised around the central chamber that houses the cenotaph of Jahangir. The interior surfaces are faced with white marble and decorated with carved ornament, painted decoration, and the polychrome inlay that is characteristic of the period. The most distinctive feature of the interior is the use of muqarnas vaulting, the honeycomb-like decorative vaulting derived from the Islamic architectural tradition, which covers much of the upper portion of the central chamber and the surrounding rooms. The muqarnas of the tomb of Jahangir are among the most technically accomplished examples of the technique in the Mughal architecture tradition, and they establish a precedent for the use of the technique in the later imperial projects of Shah Jahan and his successors.

The cenotaph of Jahangir is a simple marble sarcophagus placed on a raised platform at the centre of the chamber, and the actual tomb of the emperor is located in a subterranean chamber below. The interior also contains a number of subsidiary tombs, including those of members of the imperial family, and the chamber is surrounded by a series of smaller rooms that housed the attendants and the religious establishment of the mausoleum.

Materials and Construction

The principal building materials were red sandstone from the quarries of the Lahore region and white marble from the Makrana quarries in Rajasthan, supplemented by a range of polychrome inlay stones and the gold and lapis lazuli that were used in the most elaborate decorative elements. The construction techniques used at the tomb of Jahangir are characteristic of the Mughal tomb construction techniques of the period, and they include the use of load-bearing walls, the timber tie-beams that address the lateral thrust of the central vaults, and the careful integration of the building with the surrounding garden.

Symbolic Programme

The tomb of Jahangir was conceived as a statement of imperial legitimacy and as a representation of the new dynasty’s place in the Timurid and Persian traditions of kingship. The location of the tomb at Lahore, the city of Jahangir’s birth and the principal seat of the imperial court for much of his reign, situated the mausoleum within the geography of the emperor’s life. The use of the charbagh garden plan, the calligraphic programme, the muqarnas vaulting, and the integration of the building with the surrounding landscape all locate the tomb within the broader Mughal imperial tradition, and the building can be read as a particularly clear expression of Shah Jahan’s vision of the imperial mausoleum in the years before the construction of the Taj Mahal.

Place Among Mughal Tombs

The tomb of Jahangir is monuments of the Mughal tombs tradition, and it is often discussed together with Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi, Akbar’s Tomb at Sikandra, and the Taj Mahal at Agra as one of the principal surviving imperial mausoleums of the dynasty. The building is notable for the technical refinement of its carved ornament, the virtuosity of its muqarnas vaulting, and the use of marble inlay that anticipates the later perfection of the technique at the Taj Mahal. The complex was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1981, and it has been the subject of extensive restoration work in the post-Independence period.

For the broader context of the imperial building tradition, the Mughal architecture overview pillar offers a synthetic account, while the cluster pages on Mughal tombs and Mughal palaces treat the related building types in greater depth. The Jahangir and Shah Jahan clusters provide the political and biographical context for the construction of the mausoleum.

Sources

  • Catherine B. Asher, Architecture of Mughal India (1992), pp. 138–42.