The Royal Tombs of Shahdara: a Case Study of Mughal Funerary Architecture Collectively built between 1628 and 1645, the Royal Tomb Complex of Shahdara is comprised of three Mughal mausoleums: the imperial tomb of the fourth emperor, Jahangir (d.1627), that of his favourite wife, Nur Jahan (d.1645), and that of her brother, Asaf Khan (d.1641). This paper highlights the importance of this exceptional grouping of funerary monuments in order to stress the need for their preservation and upkeep, and that of their respective gardens. In this very brief presentation, some of the important aspects of the conceptualisation of the Royal Tomb Complex as well as unique elements of the architecture and decoration of the structures will be delved into.

These include the fact that the royal tomb complex is completely unique in the placement of the mausoleums and their spatial relationships with each other. Each was originally constructed in the centre of their own charbagh, but the areas of Nur Jahan’s and Asaf Khan’s tomb gardens were conceived based on the layout and proportions of Jahangir’s tomb garden. This purposeful planning and creation of the mausoleums and gardens to spatially interact with each other is a unique aspect of Mughal tomb and tomb garden design. Another is the orientation of Jahangir’s mausoleum, which has a single entrance to the tomb chamber from the western side of the mausoleum. His is the only example of an imperial Mughal mausoleum in which the architectural layout conforms to the pre-existing space within which it was created. The pre-existing pleasure garden that was transformed into a tomb garden had a single entrance in its western wall, and so the tomb was also oriented to have its entrance from the west.

Several unique architectural features found in the Royal Tomb Complex will be discussed, including the use of minars as an integral part of the architecture of Jahangir’s tomb, unprecedented in Mughal funerary architecture and one of several architectural features utilised to give the site distinction. Unique architectural elements were incorporated into the wider funerary complex as well, including the mirroring of Jahangir’s and Nur Jahan’s tombs.

The talk will close by viewing Jahangir’s mausoleum within the wider context of monumental imperial Mughal tombs to show that his very clearly bridges the gap between its predecessor, Akbar’s mausoleum in Sikandra, and its successor, the Taj Mahal in Agra. Jahangir’s mausoleum is therefore a pivotal site for the understanding of the architectural progression of imperial Mughal tombs and tomb types.