Sultan Ghari Tomb

Nasir-uddin Mahmud Shah was the eldest son of Sultal Shams-uddin Altamash, and was Governer of Laknauti. All the nobles and gentleman turned their eyes towards him as the beir of his father's Kingdom, but the decrees of fate did not accord with the wishes of people. The prince fell sick and died. When the news of his death reached Delhi, all people were grently distressed. This event occured in the year 626 A.H. (1228 A.D.) during the life time of Altamash, who brought the body to Delhi and buried in the village of Malikpur, about three and half miles to the north-west of Qutub Minar, three years later in 629 A.H (1231 A.D.) he built a vaulted tomb over it. The crypt is deciedely pre-Muhaammadan, but whether it was built by Hindu workmen or was a Hindu buildings appropriated by the Muhammadansscout the idea that Altamsh would have buried his son in a chamber which had been dedicated to idolatrous worship.

The tombhas the appearance of a fortified square enclosure, built of stone and moitar, and covered with plaster now black with age. It stand on a high plinth, about 14 feet from the ground, with a circular tower, surrounded with a conical dome on each corner, and is entered by an arched gateway in its eastern wall. The gateway stand forward about three yards from the wall of the enclosure, and about four feet from its narrow wings, each of which pierced with an over-lapping arched window. The gateway is 30 feet high and 12 feet wide, but it wings are about four feet lower. The lower half of the piers of the arch are of red sand-stone and upper half of marble, the piers and the rectangular bands enclosing the arch are covered with verses from the Quran. The plinth, the wings, the gateway, the walls and the towers are covered with plaster. The entrance is reached by two flights of steps, the first of eight step, leads to a landing, the second of fourteen steps, takes the visitor into a room about 14 feet from the ground through which the enteres the courtyards of the tomb.

On either side of the gateway the main wall is pierced with two over lapping arched windows, and at each end of the wall is a tower with two such openings the latter are now blocked up with stones. The whole of this side of the tomb is about 100 feet long. The northern wall of the enclosure is also covered with plaster, it has the usual corner towers, and the wall is similarly pierced with six over lapping arched windows, which are divided into two groups of three each by a dead wall, which is a third of the whole length of this side of the building. The western side of the tombs islike its northern side, but as the cenre of the wall is the western wall of the mosque iside, it stands a little beyond the line of the rest of the wall. The southern wall of the tomb is partlu injured, and some of its windows are also built up with stones, but in all other respects it is like the northen wall.

The inside view of tomb is more intresting. The inner door of the arched gateway is profusely ornamented with scrolls and inscriptions on marble. Through this doorway the visitor enters a room which leads to the couty-yard, its flat ceiling is of red sand stone, and its wall are coated with marble, what appear from outside as the wings of the gateway, are the eastern outer walls of two small rooms, one on either side of the room last mentioned, but the side rooms have marble floors an groups of four marble pillars each.

As the visitor enters the courtyards, he stands under a covered colonnade consisting of six stone plasters and six pillars about six feet apart.his collonade does not extend the whole length of the wall, being only 24 feet long.o the opposite side that is the western wall of the courtyard there is a collonade which runs from thenortern to the southern wall of ecnslosure. Both the collonade are fluted pillars. The western collonade consist of twelve pilsters, its roof is raised into a low dome, with projecting rows of carved stone in the Hindu fashion, and in the centre of the wall is a mosque, consisting of there arched recesse. On either side of the mosque there is a marble pilaster, the rest of the pilaster are red sand stone. In the corresponding row of twelve pillars, these which are immediately on either side of the mosque are of marble, and the rest are of red sand stone. Beside this collonade, there is a third row of four marble pillars, put of the mosque.

Thus the room of the mosque is enclosed by seven marble pillars, theree in front of the arched recesses and two on either side of them, the back of the room representing the sacred kablah. The mosque is square of ten feet the roof is a dome of ornamental over lapping red sand stone supported by an octagon resting on the pillars of the collonade already described. The dome is about 14 feet from floor and is covered with mortar. The Masjid wall is taced with marble, the arches are also covered with marble and profusely ornamated with scrolls of beautiful designs and verses from the Quran. The windows in the western wall are open.

In the centre of the inner southern wall there are pigeon holes for lamps, the northern wall has nothing deserving of notice. The conical masonry domes of the corner towers are built in the Hindu fashion, with layers of over lapping stones. In the centre of this enclosure is the tomb of NasirUddin Mahmud. It is a flat octagonal vault about 4 feet 7 and Half inches from the level of the courtyard, each of its eight sides seven steps lead to the top of the vault. To the south of the vault there is small door four and Half feet high there is no other opening in the vault for light. Thirteen steps lead the visitor into an octagonal wall, about 25 feet deep and about 18 feet wide, which was originally finished in granite. Its roof which is strngthoned with fourteen stones pillars laid on their sides, is supported by 8 double pillars standing against the wall of the well, and four single pillars which stand a litle way from it, these pillars are of the style of Altamsh's work. In each of the right sides there are two niches. The graves are made of mortar and stone in the usaul bier style, and are periodically painted with white wash. The grave of NasirUddin is nera the west wall of crypt, and is the largest in size, being about 10 long 7 feet wide and four and Half feet high. There is a smaller grave in the centre of the crypt, a still smaller one on the left of the second grave, and at its foot is the grave of a child. The roof of the well is built of subsantial masonry.