Tomb of Asif Khan

Mirza Abu'l-Hasan, titled Asif Khan, was the brother of the empress Nur Jahan and the father of Mumtaz Mahal, wife of Shah Jahan³. When Jahangir died in 1627, Asif Khan kept Nur Jahan confined with the emperor's body and sent word to Shah Jahan in the Deccan, setting up a puppet king until his son-in-law could claim the throne⁴. Under Shah Jahan he rose further: in 1636 he became Khan-i-Khanan and commander-in-chief, and a year later governor of Lahore³. He died in 1641^3,4. Shah Jahan then commissioned his tomb at Shahdara, across the Ravi from Lahore, close to the tomb of Jahangir^3,4,5.

The PWCA says the tomb took four years to build, and Chida-Razvi writes that it was complete by 1645^3,4. She argues that its site cut into the funerary garden Nur Jahan had planned for herself, and that its local Punjabi style broke with the platform tombs of Jahangir and Nur Jahan⁴. Between the tombs of Jahangir and Asif Khan lies the Akbari Sarai, a courtyard lined with cells¹. Under the Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh the tomb was stripped of its marble facing outside, on the dome and inside^2,3. With Jahangir's tomb and the Akbari Sarai, it has been on Pakistan's tentative list for World Heritage since 14 December 1993¹.

The tomb is an octagon crowned by a high bulbous double dome, raised on an eight-sided podium originally of red sandstone^1,2. It stands at the centre of a large walled garden divided into four squares, once set with reservoirs, fountains and paths, and entered through an imposing gate on the south^1,2. UNESCO's tentative-list entry says the exterior was originally adorned with rich stone inlay and the dome veneered with marble, while the interior carried bold stucco tracery, tile mosaic and ghalibkari, or stalactite work^1,7. Pakistan's Department of Archaeology and Museums (DOAM) adds that the outer dado was of sang-e abri and other variegated stones, the inner dado of white marble, and the floor a mosaic of different stones². Stripped of these finishes, the building is now largely bare^2,3.

Of the original fittings, only the damaged marble cenotaph remains inside the tomb². It is inlaid in pietra dura (hardstone inlay) with floral patterns and carries the ninety-nine names of God in naskh script². The walls around it once had a white marble dado and the floor a mosaic of different stones, both now gone². The tentative-list entry records that the interior was decorated with bold stucco tracery, tile mosaic and ghalibkari¹.