Monday, June 27, 2011

Humayun's tomb

Humayun's tomb

Continuing on my lucky trend of visiting historical monuments , this weekend I went to Humayun's tomb with my folks.

As I mentioned earlier that nowadays I am reading "The City of Djinns" by William Darymple, which is the travelogue about his stay in Delhi for a year. So anyways I was fascinated to visit what all historical places he was mentioning in his travelogue. Although he din't mention Humayun's tomb yet but still it was one place which was on my list as as far as I remember I never been to that place (My dad doesn't agree with that and strongly stats that we have been there when we came to delhi around 15 yrs back).

Interestingly I was not planning to visit Humayun's tomb at the first place and instead last weekend itself I told my folks that we will go to India gate. But in the morning my colleague called me up enquiring about that place and on finding that it was on the way to India Gate , I made up a plan to visit it too. (Its another story that we couldn't see India Gate because of the huge crowd that descended there due to the lovely weather)

So coming to Humayun's tomb. Humayun was Babar's son and Akbar's father. He was the second of the Great Mughal rulers to have ruled India. He ruled India in 1532-40 and then from 1555-1560. While coming down from stairs, on hearing the Azan (Muslim call of prayer) as it was his habit that wherever he is ,on hearing the Azan he will kneel down in reverence ,is robe got stuck in his feet and fell down from stairs. He was succeeded by his 13 year old son Akbar, who later on became the greatest Mughal emperor to have ruled India.

View from center- Humayun's tomb


Hamida Banu Begum(Akbar's mother), his grieving widow, built his Mausoleum after his death. This building is touted as precursor to Taj Mahal. It stands on a platform of 12000 sq m and reaches a height of 47m.   

Peeking at the Emperor....

The earliest example of Persian influence in Indian architecture, the tomb has within it over 100 graves, earning it the name of "Dormitory of the Mughals".

First monument built with red sandstone and white marble.


Built of rubble masonry, the structure is the first to use red sandstone and white marble in such great quantities.

Lawn in front- built in Persian style


Like all Persian buildings , this one too had the 4 block garden structure with water channels separating each block from other.

Entrance to Humayun's tomb
Quite symmetrical


One striking thing about this monument is the symmetry. No matter from where you look at the main building, the lawn, the path to the monument etc everything has a symmetry and each half is a mirror image of the other.

Humayun's tomb - The Red Taj

I was glad that unlike last time when I clicked Taj Mahal, I learned to keep the base line horizontal to the ground and also clicked most of the pics keeping in mind the proportions.




Nevertheless a lovely and serene place to visit with your family and loved ones. :)

7 comments:

  1. Awesome clicks, and intriguing information. Great read. :) But, one question, where did you get all this information about the monument?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow:)...you are making your blog more and more pleasure to read with each passing day...I especially liked the first pic of this post and then the star window...the photography is fabulous,the details intriguing and fascinating.These two things make every trip such a pleasure:)..I have a Korean friend visiting this week and I am going to recommend your blog to her for her to know which places to visit when in India :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks a ton to both of you for appreciating the post :)

    Well there are two source for the information. First the plaques that are kept at the entrance of these monuments. If read properly sometimes they even contain more information then conveyed by the Guides :)

    Second is our very own Wikipedia :).

    Well Sehar that gives me an idea to even include how to reach these places from next time :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. superb photography :):)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Awesome snaps and great photography..
    looking forward to see more from you

    http://swapnil-exploringworld.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete