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The Garden of Zebun-Nisa
By LahoreBazaar Published: 01/24/2009
According to the Shah Jahan-nama of Sargham-ud-daula, when Zeb-un-Nisa, the learned daughter of Auranzeb, made a gift of her garden at Chauburji to Mian Bai, her favorite female attendant, she laid out an extensive garden at the spot where the village nawan Kot is now situated. This garden she furnished with handsome buildings and summer-houses. In the midst of it she constructed a mausoleum for herself, and in this she was interred on her death at Lahore, decorated with costly stones, and furnished with pavilions, fountains, and reservoirs. The floor was of marble, and the latticed windows were of the same material ; but Ranjit Sigh divested the building of all its valuable materials, to construct his summer-house of Hazuri bagh, and nothing of this oonce picturesque building now remains but the skeletion ; while no traces of the gardn and the building attached to it exist, except the old gateway to the east of the walled inhabited quarters and a dome on the north and south corners of it. Nevertheless, the magnitude and vastness of the dome, its high arches, and the marble floor immediately adjoining the tomb, bear ample testimony to its former greatness and richness of style, and the place is remarkbale for the historical interest it possesses.
Zeb-un-Nisa, whose assumed name was Mukhti (concealed), was the eldest daughter of Aurangzeb. She never married. Her charming diwan, or collection of poems, is a work of great merit, She died in 1080 A.H. Her chronogram was thus versified by a poet:-
Ah ! zeb-un-Nisa, by the decree of Providence.
Snddeanly became concealed from the sight.
A fountain of learingn virtue, beanty and elegance,
She was hidden as Joseph was in the well,
I asked reason the year of her death,
The invisible voice exclaimed ; The moon became concealed.
The entrance to Nawan Kot is from a gateway to the north, which leads to a long bazar. But the old principal gateway of the garden, with vaulted chambers, balconies and windows, still in perfect preservation, is to the east. This exceedingly handsome gateway is an excellent specimen of the art of enamel tiling , stone carving and painting of the art of architecture,in all its details, had then reached. The gatewy has four elegant towers, one on each side, with a cupola and twelve are twelve arched columns supporting it. The floor of these towers is lined will round with latticed stone-work portions of which still exit. There is also a tower to the north and south of the garden, covered with work of enamelled pottery of exquisite beauty. All is now in the occupation of the zemindars who have made improper use of these handsome edifices edifices.