By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: After his name is India’s one of the premier public hospitals in Delhi. An aerodrome in his name is also operational here. Only these two should have attracted people to know about him. But there is a grand mausoleum, among the last few from the Mughal era, where he is lying along with his wife. Yet very few know about him, least that he was prime minister during the Mughal period.
Safdar Jang’s Tomb in Delhi
The grand Safdar Jang’s Tomb is about three kilometers from Safdar Jang Hospital. In the way from the hospital to the tomb you will cross over the Safdar Jang Airport in the national capital.
Known as Safdar Jang, his title, Mirza Muqim Abul Mansur Khan was Governor of Oudh under Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah (1719-48). Safdar Jang later became prime minister under Mughal Emperor Ahmad Shah.
After Safdar Jang’s death in 1754, his son Nawab Shujauddaula built the tomb, says an inscription near the eastern entrance to the mausoleum.
Built in 1754, the tomb is the last example of the garden-tomb layout. That architectural manifestation began with Humayun’s tomb built in 1574.
The 300 sqm garden enclosure is divided into four squares by pathways and tanks. The high walls of the enclosure have octagonal towers on the four corners. In the centre of the eastern side is the main gateway with several apartments, courtyard and a mosque. In the centre of the garden is the double-storyed mausoleum erected on a high platform. There are two graves in the centre of the platform, on the ground floor of the mausoleum, one of Safdar Jang and another of his wife.
Built with marble and red sandstone, the ceilings of the tomb are ornamented with plaster-work design. Though built on the pattern of Humayun’s tomb, it is not as magnificent as Humayun’s and so is described as ‘the last flicker in the lamp of Mughal architecture at Delhi.’