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Akbar's tomb is the
mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...
of the third and greatest
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 ...
Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...
. The tomb was built in 1605–1613 by his son,
Jahangir Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal emperors, Mughal ...
and is situated on 119 acres of grounds in Sikandra, a suburb of
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 ...
,
Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. The buildings are constructed mainly from a deep red sandstone, enriched with features in white marble.


Location

It is located at Sikandra, in the suburbs of Agra, on the
Mathura Mathura () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Mathura district in the states and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located south-east of Delhi; and about from the town of Vrindavan. In ancient ti ...
road (NH2), 8 km west-northwest of the city center. About 1 km away from the tomb lies the
Tomb of Mariam-uz-Zamani The Tomb of Mariam-uz-Zamani or Mariam's tomb is the mausoleum of Mariam-uz-Zamani, commonly known as Mariam-uz-Zamani#The misnomer of Jodha Bai, Jodha Bai, the favorite wife of the Akbar, Mughal Emperor Akbar. The tomb was built by her son Jah ...
, Akbar's favourite wife, who after the death of Akbar laid a large garden around his tomb and was later buried there by her son, Jahangir.


History

Akbar I was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expand and consolidate Mughal domains in the Indian subcontinent. Akbar gradually enlarged the
Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...
to include much of the Indian subcontinent through Mughal military, political, cultural, and economic dominance. Under Akbar, Mughal India developed a strong and stable economy, which tripled in size and wealth, leading to commercial expansion and greater patronage of an Indo-Persian culture. Akbar's courts at
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
,
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 ...
, and
Fatehpur Sikri Fatehpur Sikri () is a town in the Agra District of Uttar Pradesh, India. Situated from the district headquarters of Agra, Fatehpur Sikri itself was founded as the capital of the Mughal Empire in 1571 by Mughal emperors, Emperor Akbar, servin ...
attracted holy men of many faiths, poets, architects, and artisans, and become known as centres of the arts, letters, and learning. On 3 October 1605, Akbar fell ill from an attack of
dysentery Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...
, from which he never recovered. He is believed to have died on 26 October 1605.The Fatehpur Sikri Chronicles After Akbar's death, his son
Jahangir Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal emperors, Mughal ...
planned and completed the construction of his father's tomb in 1605–1613. It cost 1,500,000 rupees to build and took 3 or 4 years to complete. As Viceroy of India, George Curzon directed extensive repairs and restoration of Akbar's mausoleum, which were completed in 1905. Curzon discussed the restoration of the mausoleum and other historical buildings in Agra in connection with the passage of the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act in 1904, when he described the project as "an offering of reverence to the past and a gift of recovered beauty to the future". This preservation project may have discouraged veneration of the mausoleum by pilgrims and people living nearby.


Architecture and ornamentation

The south gate is the largest, with four white
marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...
chhatri-topped minarets, which are similar to (and pre-date) those of 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 ...
, and is the normal point of entry to the tomb. The tomb itself is surrounded by a walled enclosure 105 m square. The tomb building is a four-tiered pyramid, surmounted by a marble pavilion containing the false tomb. The true tomb, as in other mausoleums, is in the basement. The buildings are constructed mainly from a deep red
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
, enriched with features in white marble. Decorated inlaid panels of these materials and a black
slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...
adorn the tomb and the main gatehouse. Panel designs are geometric, floral and calligraphic, and prefigure the more complex and subtle designs later incorporated in Itmad-ud-Daulah's tomb. There are four gateways in the tomb, which were built using red sandstone and design were inlaid using marble. The roof of the gateway has four kiosks. The magnificence of the gateway is inspired by the
Buland Darwaza Buland Darwaza (), or the "Door of victory", construction was started in 1573 by Mughal emperor Akbar to commemorate his victory over Gujarat. It is the main entrance to the Jama Masjid at Fatehpur Sikri, which is 43 km from Agra, India.There i ...
.
Mariam-uz-Zamani Mariam-uz-Zamani (; – 19 May 1623), commonly known by the misnomer Jodha Bai, was the Empress consort, chief consort, principal Hinduism, Hindu wife and the favourite wife of the third Mughal emperor, Akbar. She was also the longest-servi ...
, after the death of her husband, Akbar, laid a large garden around his tomb, which originally had an open '' baradari'' (pleasure pavilion) built during the reign of Sikander Lodi, in 1495 AD. After her death in May 1623, she was buried here near her husband's tomb and the baradari was converted into a fine mausoleum by her son, Jahangir. She stands as the only wife of Akbar buried closed to him. The first floor of the tomb, has cloisters on four sides having arches, and has a hall where the tombstone of Akbar lies. The hall also consist tombstones of Shakr-un-Nissa Begum and Aram Banu Begum, the two daughters of Akbar.


Desecration of the tomb

On 28 March 1688, during the reign of
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 ...
, Jats rose in rebellion under the leadership of Raja Ram Jat. Mughal prestige suffered a blow when Jats ransacked Akbar's tomb, plundering and looting the gold, jewels, silver, and carpets.Catherine Blanshard Asher, Catherine Ella Blanshard Asher, 1992
"Architecture of Mughal India - Part 1"
Cambridge University Press, Volume 4, Page 108.
The grave was opened and the late king's bones were burned.Edward James Rap; son, Sir Wolseley Haig and Sir Richard, 1937
"The Cambridge History of India"
Cambridge University Press, Volume 4, pp.305.
Waldemar Hansen, 1986
"The Peacock Throne: The Drama of Mogul India"
Page 454.
This successful raid followed a previous unsuccessful attempt in 1685 and resulted in an escalation of the conflict between the Mughals and the Jats.


Gallery

File:Unknowntomb.JPG, An unknown Lodi tomb in Akbar's tomb complex File:Tumba de Akbar el Grande-Sikandra-India07.JPG, Barrel vault File:Sikandra 066.JPG, Front façade File:Sikandra 036.JPG, Circumferential gallery around the
cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty grave, tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere or have been lost. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although t ...
File:Sikandra 093.JPG, View of South Gate from interior File:The Tomb of Akbar at Sikandra.jpg, The Tomb of Akbar, c. 1905 File:Main entrance of Akbar's Tomb complex from inside.jpg, Main entrance of Akbar's tomb complex from inside File:Tomb ceiling detail, Tomb of Akbar the Great, Sikandra, Agra.jpg, Tomb ceiling details, Tomb of Akbar, Sikandra Image:LDAkbarTombInlay1.jpg, Inlay panels on the South Gate File:Calligraphy over the entrance to the main burial chamber at Akbar's tomb.jpg, Calligraphy over the entrance to the main burial chamber File:The true tomb of Akbar, at the basement of the tomb, Sikandra.jpg, True Tomb of Akbar, at the basement of the tomb File:Kanch Mahal, Sikandara, Agra.JPG, Kanch Mahal, built by Jehangir, as a harem quarter later used as a hunting lodge File:Inside work of Akbar's tomb.jpg, Inside work of Akbar's tomb File:Entrance Arch (inside details) of main Cenotaph.jpg, Entrance Arch (inside details) of main Cenotaph File:Akbar's Tomb 2.jpg, Akbar's tomb at basement File:The Tomb of Akbar at Secundra near Agra - DPLA - 0bafcf2dec469e29d9e049c4eb0b4c63.jpg, The Tomb of Akbar at Secundra near Agra - DPLA - 0bafcf2dec469e29d9e049c4eb0b4c63, The Tomb of Akbar at Secundra near Agra


See also

*
Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...
* Akbarnama *
Tomb of Mariam-uz-Zamani The Tomb of Mariam-uz-Zamani or Mariam's tomb is the mausoleum of Mariam-uz-Zamani, commonly known as Mariam-uz-Zamani#The misnomer of Jodha Bai, Jodha Bai, the favorite wife of the Akbar, Mughal Emperor Akbar. The tomb was built by her son Jah ...
, tomb of the chief queen consort of Akbar


References


Further reading

* *


External links


ASI's page on Akbar's tomb
* A painting of the tomb by William Purser, engraved by J Rolph, as an illustration to , a poem by Letitia Elizabeth Landon. Page 9. {{Agra Division topics Buildings and structures completed in 1613 Buildings and structures in Agra Mughal tombs Mausoleums in Uttar Pradesh Persian gardens in India Tourist attractions in Agra Akbar 1610s establishments in the Mughal Empire 1613 establishments in India Sandstone buildings in India