nasir-ud-din mohammad's tomb (sultan ghari)
Tomb of Nasir-ud-din muhammad (sultan Ghari)
- Built by Shams-ud-Din Iltutmish as a tomb for his son in A.D. 1231 near Delhi.
- First example of a tomb building in India.
- The structure is raised on a high plinth with a massive portal on the east.
- The cenotaph is an underground chamber, giving the structure its name.
- The structure is built in the manner of a walled enclosure.
- The enclosure is contained within a massive masonry arcade.
- The exterior is built of grey granite with circular bastions projecting from each corner of the square.
- Within the enclosure is a courtyard 66' square.
- In the centre of the courtyard is an octagonal platform which forms the roof of the tomb chamber.
- Two pillared arcades in white marble are built on the eastern and western sides. The western arcade resolves into a mosque chamber for private prayers.
- The mosque sanctuary has a central domed nave with a foliated arch as mihrab and aisles on either side. The whole is fronted by a colonnade of marble pillars with bracket capitals. Apart from the mihrabs, the entire composition is of Hindu extraction.