Lodi Garden is a well-known and popular garden in New Delhi with its numerous walking tracks amongst lush greenery all around. While New Delhi’s elite – politicians, bureaucrats and power-brokers take their morning walks here and network for mutual benefit, the masses too use the garden for family picnics, for twogether-time, for solitude and for everything else in between.
It may, however, come as a surprise to you that the garden is actually home to ruins of numerous mausoleums and mosques. And not just ordinary ones – they belong to the royalty of Delhi’s past and are important relics of Delhi’s rich history.
Tomb of Muhammad Shah
The tomb of Muhammad Shah is the earliest important structure in the garden. Muhammad Shah’s son and successor, Ala-ud-din Alam Shah built this tomb. This is probably the only Sayyid dynasty structure, of any significance, in existence today in Delhi.
Octagonal in shape, its corner columns buttresses are sloping inwards. A colonnaded walkway surrounds the main chamber. The centre of each face, on the upper storey, contains an eight pillared chhattri. Lotus finials crown the chattris and the central dome.
The dome ceiling has beautiful incised plaster work ornamentation.
There are eight graves within the tomb, the one in the centre being in all probability that of Muhammad Shah.
Surprisingly, the tomb was also known as Mubarak Khan-Ka-Gumbad, though the mausoleum of Mubarak Khan, predecessor and father of Muhammad Shah, lies elsewhere.
Bada Gumbad and Mosque
A compound having three structures on a raised platform lies to the north of the Muhammad Shah’s tomb.
First one is a structure called Bada Gumbad (Big Dome) which is believed to be a gateway by some and a tomb by others. There are no graves extant today, however. Built during the reign of Sikandar Lodi, the building has a square base and a lofty dome. The building appears to be double storeyed from outside, though actually it is not. It is considered as one of the finest examples of Lodi era monuments.
Attached to it is a highly ornate mosque. The east facing external wall as well as the interior of the mosque are richly ornamented in plaster with foliage and geometric designs and qur’anic verses. Other interesting elements are the jharokha and the sloping corner-tower.
Facing the mosque on the other side of the courtyard is a structure of similar dimensions, which is understood to be a Mehman-Khana (guest house).
Shish Gumbad (Glass Dome)
This dome derives its name from the blue glazed tiles with which this mausoleum’s exterior was ornamented. Only a few remnants of such blue tiles can be seen now. The ceiling is decorated with floral carvings and verses from the Quran in incised plaster. Externally it is like the Bara Gumbad, though smaller in size, giving an impression of a double storey building while actually being a single storey internally.
The tomb contains eight graves of which only one bears the kalamdan, signifying a male grave. It is not known who erected this building or who is buried here, but its position seems to indicate that it is the mausoleum of someone important from the Lodi era. Though Gorden Hearn mentions it to be a tomb of Ibrahim Lodi (The Seven Cities of Delhi, 1906), his tomb is in Panipat.