The Tomb of Jahangir (Urdu: مقبرۂ جہانگیر‎) is a 17th-century mausoleum built for the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. The mausoleum dates from 1637, and is located in Shahdara Bagh in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, along the banks of the Ravi River. The site is famous for its interiors that are extensively embellished with frescoes and marble, and its exterior that is richly decorated with pietra dura. The tomb, along with the adjacent Akbari Sarai and the Tomb of Asif Khan, are part of an ensemble currently on the tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage status.

Background

The tomb was built for Emperor Jahangir, who ruled the Mughal Empire from 1605 to 1627 C.E.. The emperor died in the foothills of Kashmir near the town of Rajauri on 28 October 1627. A funeral procession transferred his body from Kashmir and arrived in Lahore on Friday, 12 November 1627. The Dilkusha Garden in which he was buried was a "favourite spot" of Jahangir and his wife Nur Jahan, when they lived in Lahore. His son, the new Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, ordered that a "mausoleum befitting an Emperor" should be built in his father's honour to inter his remains.

History

Though contemporary historians attribute construction of the tomb to Jahangir's son Shah Jahan, the tomb may have been the result of Nur Jahan's vision. Taking inspiration from her father's burial place, she is said to have designed the mausoleum in 1627, and possibly helped fund it. Construction started in 1627, requiring ten years for completion, and cost Rs 10 Lakh. Repair works were undertaken at the tomb in 1814 according to Sikh court records. The tomb complex, however, was also desecrated under Sikh rule when they were pillaged by the army of Ranjit Singh, with building materials used for decoration of the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The pillaged grounds were then converted for use as a private residence for an officer in the army of Ranjit Singh, Señor Oms, who was also known as Musa Sahib. Ranjit Singh further desecrated the mausoleum once more when he ordered that Musa Sahib be buried on the tomb's grounds after dying from cholera in 1828. By 1880, a rumour had begun circulating which alleged that the tomb once was topped by a dome or second storey that was stolen by Ranjit Singh's army, though no evidence has been found to suggest that a dome or second story ever existed at the tomb. The Shahdara ensemble of monuments suffered further under British rule, when a railway line was built between the tombs of Asif Khan and Nur Jahan. The site was then repaired by the British between 1889-1890. Flooding from the nearby River Ravi threatened or damaged the site in 1867, 1947, 1950, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1962, 1966, 1973, 1976, 1988, and 2010. The site sustained water damage during flooding in 1988 that covered much of the site in 10 feet of water for 5 days.

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