Anarkali 

The tomb of Anarkali is in the compound of West Pakistan Civil Secretariat. It is an immense and massive building of dazzling while standing upon a terrace. It is hexagonal in plan with towers at each corner. It is crowned by a central dome, supported inside by eight arches about 12 feet thick. Under the Sikhs the mausoleum  was occupied by Kharak Singh. Later it served as the residence of General Ventura, the Italian General of the Sikh  army. The garden was used as a parade ground. Under the British the mausoleum was converted into a Christian Church. At the time of such conversion, the sarcophagus in the center was removed to a side bay. Hewn from a single block of pure white marble, it is considered one of the most beautifully carved specimen of its kind in the world. The ninety nine attributes of Almighty God are engraved on the top, and below them are the words “The profoundly enamored Salim  Akbar”. On the sides is a Persian couplet: “Ah ! Could I behold the face of my beloved once again; I would offer thanks unto God till the day of Resurrection. Two dates are inscribed, namely 1599 the year of the death of the lady of the tomb, and 1615, the year of the completion of the tomb.  

According to popular legend, Anarkali was the pet name of Nadira Begum a wife of Akbar. One day the Emperor caught her reflection and that of  Prince Salim in a mirror. From the smiles exchanged between the couple, he suspected them of intrigue. In a fit of fury, the Emperor caused the lovely woman to be buried alive. The story originated with Finch, an English traveler who came to Lahore in 1611. According to Finch, Anarkali was the mother of Daniyal. Daniyal was born in 1572 and his mother must be about fifty in 1599. Salim was then only thirty years old, and it is inconceivable that a yound prince of thirty would have made love to a woman of fifty. In 1599 neither Akbar, nor Salim were in Lahore. The story of the criminal intrigue and the live burial of  the lady has to be dismissed as vicious fiction. Recent historic research has shown that the lady of the tomb is Sahib Jamal a wife  of Jahangir married her in Lahore in 1586. Parwez was born of this union in 1587. Sahib Jamal had her garden and villa here which was known as the Anarkali Bagh, because of its pomegranates. She died in 1599, and was buried in her garden. When Jahangir came to power he constructed the mausoleum. The building is now used as a record office.