The sun struggled from behind the notorious December haze of Delhi as we stood at the intersection of Lodhi Road and Mathura Road in front of Sabz Burj, the 16th-century octagonal tomb, not too far from the dargah of the famous Sufi saint Nizammudin Auliya.
Sabz Burj, meaning Green Tower in Persian, is believed to be the resting place of Maham Begam, wife of Babar, the founder of the Mughal Empire. Subz Burj is possibly the oldest Mughal monument in the country. In colonial India, it served as a police station.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has carried out extensive restoration to the dome of this mausoleum and its original green (sabz), blue and yellow tiles, is now covered with bright blue tiles, a sharp (and welcome) contrast to the national capital’s grey sky!
Across the road from Sabz Burj is another iconic Mughal monument, Humanyun’s Tomb. It has recently seen the addition of an underground Humayun World Heritage Site Museum, India’s first ‘sunken’ museum inaugurated in July 2024.
In the nearly ten years I lived in Delhi from 1993 to 2004 and now, I have visited Humayun’s tomb several times and watched it turn from a neglected dilapidated monument defaced with graffiti into a grand exhibit of Mughal architecture teeming with tourists.
Humayun, the son of Babar and Maham Begum, was the second emperor of the Mughal Empire who ruled Hindustan from 1530 to 1540 and again from 1555 to 1556, till his death. Humayun travelled extensively in his lifetime, covering a distance of 34,000 kilometres, from beyond Dhaka in the east to the Caspian Sea in the West.
The state-of-art museum celebrates not just his life but also the centuries-long Mughal Empire, its architecture, and the Sufi traditions that defined Hindustani culture. The museum sheds light on the development of Nizamuddin over a millennium.
At the entrance of the Humanyun’s Tomb a ramp leads visitors down to ‘Badshah Ki Khwabgah: Where The Emperor Rests’. A large air-conditioned subterranean museum spread over 100,000 square feet area awaits them. The Aga Khan Trust for Culture and ASI have jointly set up the museum. The atmospherics feel like we have stepped back in time into 16th-century Delhi.
The museum’s galleries showcase over 500 artefacts, including Mughal miniatures, manuscripts, coins, astrolabes, stone inscriptions, glassware, and textiles. There are astounding miniature models of various monuments.
The museum has five galleries and one of them offers a 270-degree screen for a virtual tour of the UNESCO World Heritage Site’s monuments and gardens. The routes Humayun took during his long campaigns and fierce battles are meticulously mapped out in one of the galleries.
We learn how Humayun had an abiding interest in astronomy and how it influenced even his daily attire with each day of the week dedicated to a particular colour!
A family tree of the Mughal Emperors (1526-1857) is created using coinage used in their reigns. This includes a rare silver coin commissioned by Akbar with the inscription ‘Allahu Akbar” on one side and “Ram” on the other.
Another gallery, called ‘Icons of a Sacred Landscape’ is dedicated to Sufi saints and poets. Abdur Rahim Khan-I-Khanan is one of them. He is best known for his dohas — rhyming couplets on Hindu mythology and Persian courtly customs. Rahim also wrote verses in praise of Lord Krishna in Brij Bhasha and composed verses in veneration of the holy river Ganga. Some of his verses have found a place on the wall of the museum.
rahiman dhāga prem kā mat toḌo chhiTkāy
TuuTe se phir nā mile, mile gāñTh paḌ jaay
(Rahim says, don’t break the thread of love; Once it breaks it cannot be joined, and if joined, a knot is formed)
A 12-foot canopy covered in mother-of-pearl lacquer inlay work recreates the canopy of the Nizamuddin Dargah right inside the museum.
The Aga Khan Trust for Culture describes the 300-acre Humayun’s Tomb –Sunder Nursery –Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti zone as a unique blend of the tangible and intangible heritage that has evolved over seven centuries in the heart of the nation’s capital. It features over 60 monuments. Although Humayun’s Tomb has evolved into a recognizable city icon, a lot of the history of the Nizamuddin area is yet to be explored by the citizens.
Nizamuddin Urban Renewal Initiative, a people public-private partnership, of which this new museum is a part, has successfully integrated conservation, socio-economic development and environmental development objectives, and unified the three segregated sites of Humayun’s Tomb, Sundar Nursery and Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti into a cultural district for the city of New Delhi.
Poet, musician and disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya, Amir Khusrau’s writing bids farewell to the visitors at the exit to the museum:
Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast
Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast
(If there’s a paradise on earth, it’s here, it’s here, it’s here.)
This verse was penned by Khusrau in the 14th-century as a tribute to the Nizamuddin area located at the confluence of the river Yamuna with its tributary. It is a sacred landscape and remains so centuries later.
To visit Humayun Museum: If you live in Delhi or are visiting the national capital, a visit to the Humayun Museum is highly recommended. It is open all days except Mondays and national holidays. The nearest metro station is JLN Stadium Metro Station on the Violet Line.
(Nidhi Jamwal is an independent journalist based in Mumbai. Views are personal.)
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