The Tomb of Asif Khan (Urdu: مقبرہ آصف خان‎) is a 17th-century mausoleum located in Shahdara Bagh, in the city of Lahore, Punjab. It was built for the Mughal statesman Mirza Abul Hassan Jah, who was titled Asif Khan. Asif Khan was brother of Nur Jahan, and brother-in-law to the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. Asif Khan's tomb is located adjacent to the Tomb of Jahangir, and near the Tomb of Nur Jahan. Asif Khan's tomb was built in a Central Asian architectural style, and stands in the centre of a Persian-style Charbagh garden.

Background

Asif Khan was the brother of Empress Nur Jahan, and father of Arjumand Bano Begum, who became the consort of Shah Jahan under the name Mumtaz Mahal. In 1636, he was elevated as Khan-e-Khana and commander-in-chief and a year later became the governor of Lahore. Asif Khan died on 12 June 1641 in a battle against the forces of rebel Raja Jagat Singh. His tomb was commissioned to be built in the Shahdara Bagh tomb complex in Lahore by Shah Jahan.

History

Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned the shrine following Khan's death in 1641. According to Abdul Hamid Lahori, author of the Padshahnama, the shrine was under construction for 4 years until 1645 at a cost of 300,000 rupees. The tomb was built directly west of the Tomb of Jahangir, and forms an axis with Jahangir's tomb that is interrupted by the Akbari Sarai. The tomb was heavily damaged during the rule of the Sikh Empire. Lahore's first Sikh rules, Gujjar Singh, Lahna Singh, and Subha Singh, are noted to have damaged the tomb, and planted large pipal trees next to the shrine that obstructed views of it. The trees were removed only in the British era. The tomb was also plundered by the Sikhs in the 19th century for its marble and sandstone. Ranjit Singh was noted by British explorer William Moorcroft to have removed marble from the tomb's interior, exterior, as well as the various stones that were used to decorate the tomb. The plundered materials were then used to decorate the Golden Temple in Amritsar, as well as for use to build the Hazuri Bagh Baradari near the Lahore Fort.

Mughal-Library