THE EMPEROR’S GRIEF: TWO MUGHAL TOMBS

Abstract

This chapter briefly discusses the two Mughal tombs: (i) The Tomb of Ataga Khan; and (ii) The tomb of Adham Khan and Maham Anaga. The author's efforts to understand the architecture of the Delhi Sultanate through its inscriptions owe much to his elegant and rigorous work. In its epigraphic analysis the examination of early Mughal architecture that the author submits in this chapter in Oleg Grabar's honor is clearly informed by his methods. The author recalls Oleg?s argument that great art can arise in times of great tension as a compelling statement of ambition and authority. In author's study of Sultanate and early Mughal Delhi, a tomb situated in the fourteenth century dargah of Nizamuddin Awliya in Delhi becomes a shrine to one of Akbar?s most loyal adherents, commemorating a defining event in Akbar?s kingship, one that marks a cultural shift and the formation of a new dynastic direction. Keywords: Adham Khan; Akbar?s kingship; Ataga Khan; Delhi Sultanate; early Mughal architecture; Maham Anaga; Mughal tombs; Nizamuddin Awliya; Oleg Grabar