KHUSRO SHAH

         khusro Shah was the son of the Ghazanavid Sultan Bahram Shah.

 On the death of Bahram Shah at Lahore in 1152, Khusro Shah succeeded him. Khusro Shah uled for eight years and died at Lahore in 1160 A.D. He was buried at Lahore, but his tomb is not traceable.

Khusro Shah was succeeded by his son Khusro Malik. He was the last Ghazanvid Sultan. He yielded to Shahhabuddin Ghori in 1186 AD.22.             

KUTB-UDDIN AIBAK

Kutb-ud-Din Aibak was the Commander-in-Chief of as the forces of Shahabuddin Ghori. On the death of Shahabuddin Ghori Kutbud-Din Aibak was crowned as the first Muslim emperor of the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent. The coronation ceremony took place at Lahore in 1206. Kutb-ud-Din Aibak had a palace at Lahore, and the area now known as Anarkali was in those days known as Mohalla Kutb Ghori. He died at Lahore in 1210. A fine mausoleum of the king was constructed by Shamsuddin Iltutmish. Originallly the mausoleum was a magnificient structure to which an extensive garden was attached. Thereafter due to the vicissitudes of times the entire structure disappeared, and all that remained thereof was an uknimpressive cement grave in a side lane.

After independence, the mausoleum has been reconstructed. The sarcophagus has now been built of shining white marble. The  mausoleum has been built in sober yellow and white, and the marble dome is octagonal in form. The building follows the traditional building style prevalent during Aibak’s time. Quranic verses have been inscribed on stained marble in the interior as well as on the main entrance.

URFI

Urfi was a great Persian poet of the age of Akbar. He died at Lahore in 1591 at the young age of thirty six. He wrote some fine mystical poetry. In one of his poems the wrote:

            “By the force of my cyelids.

            I shall travel from my grave to Najf;

            Should they kill me,

            Either in Hind or in Tartary”.

He was buried in Lahore, but thirty years after his death his dead body was removed by mistake and carried to Najaf where it was buried in the mausoleum of Hazrat Ali. Thus the prognostication made by the poet in his verse was literally fulfilled.

            In Bang-I-Darra, Iqbal has addressed a poem to Urfi and has paid him a high tribute.

  FAIZI

Shaikh Faizi whose proper name was Abul Faiz was the son of Shaikh Mubarak and the elder brother of Abul Fazl, Prime Minister under Akbar. Faizi was athe Poet Laureate in the court of Akbar. He was a great scholar and was sthe author of 101 books. He died at Lahore in 1595. His dead body was carried to Agra for burial.

 NAWAB BAHADUR KHAN

The tomb of Nawab Bahadur Khan is near the railway iron bridge on the Amritsar railway line and quite close to the tomb of Nusrat Khan.

Nawab Bahadur Khan was an Amir of the court of Akbar. He died in 1601.

The tomb is sited on a lofty platform of octagonal form. The exterior of the dome was embellished with marble of which it was divested by Ranjit Sing.

  ZEN KHAN

Zen Khan was the foster brother of Akbar. He enjoyed the rank of 4500. His cousin Sahib Jamal was married to Jahangir and was the mother of prince Parwez. Zen Khan was a musician and a poet. He had his palace at Lahaore outside Mochi Gate. This area is still known as Maidan Zen Khan. He died in 1601 and was buried at Agra.

  SHAMSUDDIN KHWAFI

Shamsuddin Khwafi, was the Governor of the Punjab from 1592 to 1600 A.D. He was the most remarkable man of the age and was well known for truth and courage. He built a Mohalla in Lahore which was known as Khwafipura. He built a palace. On his death he was buried in Khwafipura. This Mohalla was outside Lohari Gate, but there is now no trace of the buildings consgtructed by Shamsuddin or his tomb.

SHEIKH FARID BUKHARI

Sheikh Farid Bukhari was Mir Bakshi under Akbar. He supported Jahangir in his accession. He played a great part in the suppression of the revolt of Khusru. Jahangir conferred on him the title of Murtaza Khan and appointed him as the Governor of the Punjab. He built a Mohalla at Lahore which was called Tila Bukhari. It was outside Shahalmi gate. He died at Lahore in 1616 and was buried here. His tomb which was somewhere outside Shahalmi gate is not traceable.

  NUR-UD-DIN JAHANGIR

Nur-ud-Din Jahangir was athe Mughal emperor who ruled from 1605 to 1627. He died at Rajauri in Kashmir, but in his will he wished to be buried at Lahore. Jahangir is the only Mughal emperor was lies buried in Pakistan. The mausoleum of Jahnagir at Shahdara was constructed by Shah Jahan the son of Jahangir and was supervised by Nur Jahan the widow of Jahangir. The mausoleum took ten years to build, and cost Rupees ten lakh. Next to the Taj Mahal at Agra, the mausoleum of Jahangir is the most outstanding monument of the Mughal period in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent.

Access to athe  mausoleum is provided through a lofty monumental gate of the Mughal style. The entrance leads to a square enclosure, lined with cells originally intended for the accommodation of travelers. In the centre of this enclosure to the right is another gateway wich provides access to the mausoleum proper.

The quadrangle is a typical Mughal garden enclosed by a brick wall. Brick paved causeways lined with cypress trees divide the garden into numerous flower beds adorned with ornamemal tanks and fountains.

In the centre of the quadrangle the mausoleum is sited on an elevated and imposing platform, with a tower at each corner. Each tower is inalaid with zig zag bands of variegated marbles and yellow stone and capped with a cupola of white marble rising to a height of ninety five feet. In each tower there is a winding staircase with sixty steps.

On all the four siddes of the mausoleum there are corridors with an array of cells. All these are pure white marble structures. There are rosettes and arabesques over the arches which have been executed with extraordinary artistic skill. The walls are decorated with paintings and inscriptions in mosaic of most chaste workman-ship.

In the inner chamber is the elevated sarcophagus of pure white marble enshrining the remains of the emperor. The floor, the walls and the ceilling of the chamber are of the purest marble. On the two sides of the tomb the ninety nine attributes of God have been carved. At the top along with extracts from the Holy Quran, there is a Persian inscription which rendered into English reads:

            “The illuminated resting place of His Majesty,

            Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Jahangir Badshah A.H. 1037.”

 ASiF KHAN

The mausoleum of Asif Khan is in the outer enclosure of the mausoleum of Jahangir.Asif Khan whose original name was Abdul Hasan was the brother of the empress Nur Jahan, and the father of Mumtaz Mahal, the lady of the Taj.

Under Shah Jahan, Asif Khan was the Prime Minister of India and the Viceroy of the Punjab. He was fabulously rich. He owned a palace at Lahore which cost Rs.20 lakh.Asif Khan died at Lahore in 1641 in the reign of Shah Jahan. His mausoleum was erected by Shah Jahan. The mausoleum took four years to build and cost Rs. 3 lakh.

The tomb is octagonal in structure with a high bulbous dome on an eight sided podium of red sand tone. The marble cenotaph is inlaid with pietra dura in floral patterns with 99 attributes of God in Naksh calligraphy.

During the Sikh period, the building was stripped of its marble and other embellishments.

  ABUL HASAN ASAF KHAN

The tomb of Abul Hasan Asaf Khan is between the Shalimar Bagh and the Amritsar railway line to the north-west of the tomb of Ali Mardan Khan.

This Abul Hasan was a noble of Shah Jahan’s court and is not to be confounded with Abul Hasan Asaf Khan the brother of Nur Jahan.

Close to the tomb of Abul Hasan is the tomb of his wife Makuduma Begum. She was a lady of great literary attainments and was a poet.

The mausoleum was originally a magnificient structure with an extensive garden. All these structures have now disappeared. Only the bare tombs in underground chamber have survived.

  GURU ARJAN

The shrine of Guru Arjan is close to the mausoleum of Ranjit Singh. Guru Arjan was the fifth Sikh Guru. He compiled the Adi Granth, the sacred book of the Sikhs. He made Amritsar the centre of the activities of the Sikhs.

When Khusro revolted against Jahangir, Guru Arjan espoused the cause of Khusro. He was tried for this offence and entrusted to the custody of Chandu Lal, the Dewan. In 1606 the Guru went to bathe in the Ravi, and was swallowed by the waves.

When Ranjit Singh came to power, he built a shrine to the memory of the Guru. The shrine proper is on a marble platform surrounded by a marble railing. The ceiling is richly decorated with tracery in stucco, and inlaid with fragments of looking glass. The building attracts attention because of its heavily gilted fluted dome.

The shrine is visited by Sikh pilgrims from India and Afghanistan on the occasion of the death anniversary of the Guru.

 SHAHZADA PARWEZ

To the west of Kot Khawaja Saeed is a tomb which is believed to be the tomb of Shahzada Parzez. Shahzada Parwez was a son of Jahangir. His mother was Sahib Jamal the lady who lies buried in the Anarkali tomb. He was the father of Nadira Begum who was a wife of Dara Shikoh. She lies buried in the compound of the mausoleum of Mianmir.

The tomb stands on an eminence in the midst of fields. It is situated on a platform and is octagonal in form. It was originally a magnificient structure decorated with marble and surroundsed by an extensive garden. The Sikhs divested the building of all its embellishments.

Shahzada Parwez died in 1626 in Burhanpur and was buried there. It is therefore not correct to say that this is the tomb of Shazada Parwez. In the time of Shah Jahan, the prince Parwez had a palace and a garden here. The locality was indeed known as Parwezabad.

It is well known that at the time of the accession of Shah Jahan all the Mughal princes at Lahore were put to death. These included Shahr Yar, two sons of Daniyal, and two sons of Parwez. It appears that all these murdered princes were buried in this tomb, and because of the association of the place with Shahzada Parwez, it came to be erroneously held thereafter that this was the tomb of Shahzada Parwez.

ALI MARDAN KHAN

Ali Mardan Khan was the Governor of Qandhar under the Safvids. He quarrelled with the Safvids, and surrendered Qandhar to the Mughals. Thereafter he migrated from Persia to India.

Ali Mardan presented himself to Shah Jahan at Lahore in 1631. Shah Jahan received him kindly, and made him the Governor of Kashmir. In 1539 he was made the Governor of the Punjab. Ali Mardan was a skilful engineer. He was associated with the construction of the Shalimar garden. He dug the canal that brought water to the Shalimar Garden. He died in 1657 A.D. His tomb is in Mughalpura in the Railway workshop premises. It is a massive brick construction work, octagonal in plan with a high dome and kiosks on angular points and standing on an eight sided podium, each side measuring 58 ft. It was originally a magnificent structure with the dome finished with white marble inlaid with floral design in black marble. It stood in the midst of a luxuriant garden. The Sikhs deprived the mausoleum, of all its enameled tile mosaic work and other decorations. The garden has now disappeared but some remains of the gateway still survive. The gateway is decorated with glazed pottery work of beautiful colors.