Gulabi Bagh

As the inscription on the gateway imports, it was constructed by Mirza Sultan Beg. He was cousin of Mirza Ghiyas-ud-din a nobleman of Persia, husband of Sultan Begam, daughter of Shah Jahan. The Mirza come to India in 1649 A.D. and, through the influence of the Emperor’s son-in-saw, was appointed Mir-ul-Bahar, or Admiral of the Fleet. He was fond of sport, and it is related that, two months previous to his death, Shah Jahan had presented him with an English rifle. The royal gift proved fatal to the recipient. With it he went on a hunting excursion to Hiran Minara, or Jahngirbad, the modern Shekhupura, but died there from the bursting of the fire-arm. Maulvi Nur Ahmad author of Tahqiqat-I-Chishti, gives the 13th of Shawal 1068 A.H., (1657 A.D.), as the date of his death.

On the road to Shalimar, rather more than half way on the left, is the gateway to Gulabi Bagh, or the Garden of Rosewater.The garden no longer exists, but he splendidarched entrance of glazed tile sstill stands.  This picturesque gateway is remarkable for the profusion and excellence of its colored pottery and enamelled fescoes,which are as vivid, and the decorations as perfect, as when they ever made.  The era thus obtained is is 1066 A.H., or 1655 A.D.

On the front of the gateway the following Persian verses are inscribed:- 

·        The founder of this munificent garden, the opener of the gate of bounty,

·        Is he who through (the favor of) the Lord of the firmament constructed a garden the equal of the garden of paradise.

·        The pious thus prayed unto God for his eternal life.

·        May Sultan Beg live honored for ever and ever.

            The following stanza, giving the chronogram, is inscribed on the sides of the arched entrance: 

·        What a pleasnt garden, a garden so beautiful that the poppy is marked with the spot of envy

·        The flowers of the sun and moon are fitted to adorn it as lamps,

·        Ghazi asked reason the charonongram of the garden,

·        The date given was Gulabi Bah (garden of rose-waterr).

            The words spot of envy in the first line allude to the black centre of the poppy flower.