It is a shame that, during Jat disturbances towards the end of 1600's (while Aurangzeb was fighting his battles in the South), Akbar's bones were pulled out of his grave and burnt.

swastika in pietra dura on either side of the main entrance doorway is the most unique feature of this mughal mausoleum, in my opinion. It has deer and langur monkeys and birds inside and lots of species of birds, i recall from my college days in Agra.I used to go there everyday for my morning walk.It has an un-describable serenity inside it.

Swastika is a holy sign for Aryans since ancient times. Its gross abuse by the Nazis in Europe does not make it unholy in Asia. Interestingly, one can clearly see prominent Stars of David on the Purana Qila gate and (I believe) also on Humayun's tomb.

@Asad Sir :Thank U for your enlightenment...I didn't knew about that tale of Jat disturbances...please can U more elucidate this tale ....Thanks in Advance.... :)

yes Stars of David is also on the Humayun's tomb....

Akbar's mausoleum near Bihishtabad (Abode of paradise) in Sikandra was the first major architectural project undertaken by Jehangir.The paradaisal imagery is elaborated in different forms.While the garden setting is similar to Humayun's tomb- situated beside the river Jamuna in teh centre of a large walled garden- the structure is quite different. The five tiered stories are without a dome, the top-most having a court-yard where teh Timurid style cenotaph in white marble lies open to teh sky according to Koranic precepts.It is a grandiose version of the Panch Mahal at Fatehpur Sikri. It recalls the koranic vision of "beautiful mansions in the gardens of everlasting bliss" where "lofty mansions one above the other have been built" and beneath which flows " river of delight" Persian poetic inscirptions dated 1612 and 1614 around the main gateway are an innovation in religious architecture, eulogise the deceased emperor and Jehangir as patron.The verses proclaim the paradaisal imagery of the visual metaphor : "Hail blessed space happier than the garden of paradise /Hail lofty buildings higher than the divine throne/ A paradise the garden of which has thousands of Rizwans as servants/ The pen of the mason of the Divine Decree has written on it's court/ These are the gardens of Eden, enter them and live forever.

Digvijay: Thank you. Construction of the tomb was started by Akbar himself; Jahangir only completed it. It is most interesting that you noticed the similarity between the Panch Mahal at Fatehpur Sikri and Akbar's tomb. So the (false) marble cenotaph is on the fifth storey. Please tell me if the ' Persian poetic inscriptions dated 1612 and 1614 around the main gateway' is in the Persian script or the old Arabic script, since it appears that Akbar used the Persian script in India for the first time at the Buland Darwaza. Until then, they used the old Arabic script that is often hard to read. Are the inscriptions on Humayun's tomb in Persian or Arabic script? You would know. Regards.

Digvijay: What is "pietra dura" ?

Well ,uncle, the insciptions on Sikandra are in persian. I have yet to read the ones on the Buland Derwaza. The ones on Humayun's tomb are in Arabic you are right. I find classical Arabic difficult to read as it is a lot of guess work but then so is the Koran. I like my Urdu better anyday. अपने महबूब की खातिर था खुदा को मंज़ूर वरना कुरआन भी उतरता बा-ज़बाने उर्दू (Akbar Hussain Akbar Allahbadi)

pietra dura is semi precious stone inlay.It is still flourishing in Tajganj near the Taj Mahal......now it is used in temples too ! I have seen a temple of the Swaminarayan sect in Ahmedabd in Gujarat which had that art on it's principal stair-case. Pietra Dura is in Italy as well and nowadyas it is done in Europe with laser machines mostly for table tops.The art in Tajganj is unique because it uses stylised Islamic motifs in Arabesque designs with mother-of pearl inlay which is unique to India and all work is still done by a hammer and chisel. you will be happy to learn that the relief work on red and pink sand-stone and trellis work are all back with a bang.You can get anything made again in stone. A place in Rajasthan near Dausa called Sikandra is full of all that now.They are making fire-surrounds in sand-stone , bird-baths, fountains ,lamp-posts , garden animals , classical Greco-roman flower pots , urns and benches etc ! Ditto in marble you will find in Kishangarh near Ajmer.Marble trellis is a rarity though. Who knows the splendid trellis work with the world famous tree of paradise (Tubba) of the Siddi Sayyid mosque of Ahmedabad may also be recreated in near future !! And all this can be shipped to you too if you want.

Akbar's inscription inside the Buland Darwaza proclaiming his victories in Deccan are written in elegant Persian (not Arabic) script. Another place I have seen this kind of inlaid 'pietra dura' work done is in Granada, Spain. I saw some very fine marble work being done for a temple near Agra (Dayalbagh?), but that was about 50 years ago. I hope the construction of the temple is complete. Your quotation about Quran in Urdu is funny!

Aah the Nasirids of Granada. They were the last Islamic kingdom in western Europe.Maybe you are referring to the Alhambra (14th century) or the Alcazaba. Are you sure about stone pietra dura embellishment used there? Predominant decorative style employed there is stucco and re-current tile motif in the dado with muqranas vaults and intricate polychrome plasterwork with epigraphic borders.The cieling of the Sala dela Baraka in the Comares palace is magnificent in timber with strip ornamentation and star shaped designs. The recurring design element there is expensive carved plasterwork which was originally painted in glowing colours with the lower wall areas tiled in Moorish style but the tile-work is particularly lavish. Maybe you are referring to the cieling of the throne room which is made up of small geometric pieces of inlaid wood that were once painted in glowing colours. Their unique feature is that they are applied in ascending order of size and form different levels that refer to the seven heavens of Islam, over which the eighth heaven, the throne of Allah forms a dome. O Boy you have some memory ! That temple you are referring to is indeed Dayalbagh of the Radha Swami sect.The construction of that temple shall probably be complete in another 150 yrs or so. Only two and a half stories have been constructed as yet. It is supposed to be a six storey structure .It has splendid work in both relief as well as pietra dura. The quoted couplet is indeed funny but then Akbar Allahbadi was known for being witty and was the only Urdu poet ever to use select English words in poetry.

I saw, in the back streets of Granada, tables with stone tops carrying fine work engraved in stone. Most of the time the words being filled with colored stones were "Allah-o-Ghalib" that is common all over the 'Alhambra'. Interestingly, none of the workmen knew what they were inscribing since Arabic vanished long time ago. Although Alhamra palaces and stone work is famous all over the world, I thought it did not compare with what we have in the Indian monuments. You are right. That was the Dayalbagh temple. The work must have been going on for over a century now; it would be a grand marble temple some day.

Now that is interesting. It is like Iran ....best blue pottery is in Jaipur India now while it originally came from Persia. They even have blue pottery mosque in Iran but the art there has all but vanished. The Mughals in their heydey were like the United States of today attracted the world's best talent available in the world at that time. It was one of the greatest empires taht the world has ever seen.The excellence achieved in arts, architecture, cuisine, horticulture and gardening,clothing, language,arms and ammunition and their unique embellishment, religion and philosophy, music both vocal and instrumental and kathak dance,jewellry , letters and learning , painting and carpet making was un-precedented and incomparable to any other dynasty on the planet.They excelled and raced past and beyond even whom they attempted to emulate ....the Persians ! I agree nothing compares to their monuments with any other Muslim dynasty from the Gibralter, mouth of the Meditteranen all the way upto Brunei !