Humayun's Tomb: intricacy for royalty

March 17, 2012

Humayun's Tomb pre-dates the Taj Mahal. It is said that Taj Mahal's domed structure follows after the design of Humayun's Tomb. FYI. :)

First Floor: Several of these arched window-ways
(or something) have a cenotaph

Upon climbing the stairs for the first platform, you'll already see some cenotaphs in arched window areas. However, it is pretty obvious that most of these arches has been restored (aka looks so spanking white).

Oh yes, climbing is popular among the tombs

After climbing a higher and steeper strair, you'll see several cenotaphs all-around. You see, Humayun, or the succeeding Emperors or their wives, are not selfish. Emperor Humayun shares the Tomb structure with 159 VIPs of the Mughal reign.

Second Floor: More cenotaphs all over the platform

Of course, since it is officially his tomb, Emperor Humayun has the central chamber for his own. The design on the floor was similar to spider webs which, according to a marker somewhere, came from the story/legend about this being (I thin k it was a man) who was being pursued by enemies and went into a cave which the spider webs, by some miracle or magic, hid.

Humayun's Cenotaph (and a boy!)

The windows, on the other hand, are really very simple but also very fascinating. I'm sure each design, as it is different with other windows, were hand-made or really intricately manufactured.

Julie loves the window patterns (I think she
took photos of each window pane!)

More cenotaphs

From the inside looking out

From another window

From the second floor "balcony", you can actually see the other monuments in the complex. I thought we can access these from the Humayun's Tomb complex but at that point, we were really too exhausted from the heat!

Nila Burj (translation: blue dome) aka Nila Gumbad and
Nai ka Gumbad (translation: barber's tomb) 

After so much googling, I present to you the
Gurdwara Damdama Sahib (Sikh Temple)

 After taking in the architecture of the tomb complex, we hid from the sun by staying at one of the arched window areas (without a cenotaph!) and just chilled. The cold floor was really soothing as we observed the trees and the different birds soaring and gliding in the sky!

She was doing a "weee, i'm flying/i'm free" pose earlier.
I snapped a few seconds too late!

Except for the glaring heat, it was a great tomb-filled day! I felt like Angelina Jolie. Hahaha. :D