The Bibi Ka Maqbara (English: "Tomb of the Lady"
) is a tomb located in the city of
Aurangabad in the Indian state of
Maharashtra
Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...
. It was commissioned in 1660 by the
Mughal emperor
The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...
Aurangzeb
Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...
's son, Prince
Azam Shah, in the memory of his mother
Dilras Banu Begum (posthumously known as Rabia-ul-Durrani). It bears a striking resemblance to the
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...
, the mausoleum of Aurangzeb's mother,
Mumtaz Mahal, which is why it is also called the Taj of the Deccan.
Bibi Ka Maqbara is the second largest structure built by Aurangzeb, the largest being the
Badshahi Mosque.
The comparison to the
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...
has often obscured its very own considerable charm. Bibi Ka Maqbara is the "principal monument" of Aurangabad and its historic city.
An inscription found on the main entrance door mentions that this mausoleum was designed and erected by
Ata-ullah, an architect and Hanspat Rai, an engineer respectively.
Ata-ullah was the son of
Ustad Ahmad Lahauri, the principal designer of the Taj Mahal. Aurangzeb's son, Muhammad Azam Shah was in later years put in charge of overseeing the repair-work of the mausoleum by Shah Jahan.
History
Dilras Banu Begum was born a princess of the prominent
Safavid dynasty
The Safavid dynasty (; , ) was one of Iran's most significant ruling dynasties reigning from Safavid Iran, 1501 to 1736. Their rule is often considered the beginning of History of Iran, modern Iranian history, as well as one of the gunpowder em ...
of Iran (Persia) and was the daughter of
Mirza Badi-uz-Zaman Safavi (titled Shahnawaz Khan),
who was the viceroy of
Gujarat
Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...
.
She married Prince Muhi-ud-din (later known as Aurangzeb upon his accession) on 8 May 1637 in
Agra
Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...
. Dilras was his first wife and chief consort, as well as his favourite.
They had five children —
Zeb-un-Nissa,
Zinat-un-Nissa,
Zubdat-un-Nissa,
Muhammad Azam Shah and
Sultan Muhammad Akbar.
After giving birth to her fifth child, Muhammad Akbar, Dilras Banu Begum possibly suffered from
puerperal fever, due to complications caused by the delivery and died a month after the birth of her son on 8 October 1657. Upon her death, Aurangzeb's pain was extreme and their eldest son,
Azam Shah, was so grieved that he had a nervous breakdown. It became Dilras' eldest daughter, Princess Zeb-un-Nissa's responsibility to take charge of her newborn brother.
Zeb-un-Nissa doted on her brother a lot, and at the same time, Aurangzeb greatly indulged his motherless son and the prince soon became his best-loved son.
In 1660, Aurangzeb commissioned a mausoleum at Aurangabad to act as Dilras' final resting place, known as Bibi Ka Maqbara ("Tomb of the Lady"). Here, Dilras was buried under the posthumous title of 'Rabia-ud-Daurani' ("Rabia of the Age"). In the following years, her tomb was repaired by her son Azam Shah under Aurangzeb's orders. Bibi Ka Maqbara was the largest structure that Aurangzeb had to his credit and bears a striking resemblance to the Taj Mahal, the mausoleum of Dilras' mother-in-law, Empress Mumtaz Mahal, who herself died in childbirth. Aurangzeb, himself, is buried a few kilometers away from her mausoleum in
Khuldabad.
Construction
Bibi Ka Maqbara is believed to have been built between 1668 and 1669 C.E. According to the "Tarikh Namah" of Ghulam Mustafa, the cost of construction of the mausoleum was Rs. 668,203-7 (rupees six lakh, sixty-eight thousand, two hundred three and seven annas) – Aurangzeb allocated only Rs. 700,000 for its construction.
An inscription found on the main entrance door mentions that this mausoleum was designed and erected by
Ata-ullah, an architect and Hanspat Rai, an engineer respectively. The marble for this mausoleum was brought from mines near Jaipur. According to
Tavernier, around three hundred carts laden with marble, drawn by at least 12 oxen, were seen by him during his journey from Surat to Golconda. The mausoleum was intended to rival the Taj Mahal, but the decline in architecture and proportions of the structure (both due to the severe budgetary constraints imposed by Aurangzeb) had resulted in a different and particular monument with its own significant beauty.
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Features
Mughal architecture
Mughal architecture is the style of architecture developed in the Mughal Empire in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries throughout the ever-changing extent of their empire in the Indian subcontinent. It developed from the architectural styles of ea ...
'' work on the mosque
File:Bibi ka makbara (Aurangabad).jpg, Arches inside the tomb
File:Bibi Ka Maqbara (top view).jpg, The view of tomb in clear skies
File:BIBI KA MAQBARA (TOMB OF THE LADY).jpg, Designs on the interior of the dome
File:Bibi Ka Maqbara-Aurangabad-Dr. Murali Mohan Gurram (6).jpg, Floral designs on marble, as seen on the tomb's interior walls
File:Side view of Mosque at Bibi Ka Maqbara.jpg, Side view of the mosque in the Mausoleum complex
File:Bibi Ka Maqbara, Aurangabad, Maharashtra-DSC002.jpg, Night view of the Minaret near the tomb
File:N-MH-A49.jpg, Aerial view of the tomb.
The mausoleum is laid out in a ''
'' formal garden. It stands at the center of a huge enclosure measuring approximately 458 m. N-S X 275 m. E-W.
or pillared pavilions are located at the center of the north, east, and western parts of the enclosure wall. The high enclosure wall is crenelated with pointed arched recesses and bastions at regular intervals. The recesses are divided by
s, crowned with small minarets. The mausoleum is built on a high square platform with four minarets at its corners, which is approached by a flight of steps from the three sides. A mosque is found to the west of the main structure, a later addition by the
, resulting in the closure of the west entrance.
Entry to the mausoleum is through a main entrance gate on its south, which has foliage designs on brass plate on wood covering from the exterior. After passing through the entrance a small tank is provided and a low-profile screen wall leads to the main structure. The screened pathway has a series of fountains at its center.
The mausoleum is encased with marble up to the dado level. Above the dado level, it is constructed of
up to the base of the dome; the latter is again built of marble. A fine plaster covers the basaltic trap and given a fine polished finish and adorned with fine
decorations. The mortal remains of Rabia Daurani are placed below the ground level surrounded by an octagonal ''
'' pierced marble screen with exquisite designs, which can be approached by a descending flight of steps. The roof of this chamber that corresponds to the ground level of the mausoleum is pierced by an octagonal opening and given a low barricaded marble screen. This makes the tomb viewable from the ground level through this octagonal opening. The mausoleum is crowned by a dome pierced with trellis works and accompanying panels decorated with
.