Dormitory of Mughals
December 20, 2010 10 Comments
Humayun, it seems did not rest in peace after his death. His body was moved around and finally his wife decided to build a huge tomb for him – unsurprisingly called Humayun’s tomb. In this grave, he must have thought…”Finally, a nice airy room to rest with a high roof and lots of windows”.
But it was not destined for him to remain in peace because even today hundreds of people come to that airy room with high roof and say ‘how beautiful!’. The matters have been made worse by Obama who visited the tomb last month. Reportedly, the footfall here has increased 30% after that.(though I didn’t overhear even one English speaking foreigner)
Graves of some relatives of Humayun
Honestly speaking, inside the monument there is nothing beautiful. May be except the architecture which to an untrained eyes is just a complex maze of rooms filled with graves. There are over hundred graves from the Mughal family at this place which is called the dormitory of Mughals. The old walls are filled with graffiti which makes the interiors simply ugly. The graves too are long past their good days. The restoration work has been in progress but it seems very slow and the focus has been on the exterior than interiors.
Wish Rubina hated the guy
Quite logical because, it is actually the exterior which makes the monument attractive. The view from far away standing in the lawns is excellent with red sandstone merging with the blue sky and the well kept green lawns. Here one gets to see the perfect symmetry and the simplicity of the monument which is a prelude to the Taj Mahal and has a stark resemblance to it. Both are on the banks of same river – Yamuna. Both share a similar story (built in memory of a husband or wife) and both have expansive lawns around them.
Similar to Taj Mahal??
I fully utilized the combination of this rare Delhi greenery, royal surroundings and the warm winter sun to write this post and read a book before returning to the call of the hunger.
360 degrees 
have been thinking for a while to try it out as a sunday sit-and-read spot.
timely post 🙂
ya.. nice and plenty of place to sit and read… am exploring more of them though 😉
sahi kaam kar raha hain tu, kuch nahin mila to humayun tomb hi…….:)
kuch nahi mila kyu bhai… grade 1 heritage site hai india ki… bade din se tamanna thi jaane ki.. 🙂
Been to the tomb on numerous occasions, and have enjoyed it immensely. Not just the main tomb, even the ruins around are amazingly beautiful. Certainly one of my favourite destinations in Delhi.
And you are right, the interiors disappoint. Its time someone does something about the graffiti.
The ruins are amazing actually. Wanted to write about them but then left it for future…
Ah the ever present graffiti. Have not been to the tomb in ages, I wonder how the place looks at sunrise or sunset.
You need a strong motivation to find that out in this chilly weather.. Hope a soon to arrive new camera gives me that..
Sad, I have never been there. Never had enough time but now even after Obama’s visit it’ll be a shame if I don’t visit it on my next trip to Delhi.
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