Humayun's tomb garden

The Humayun's tomb Complex is a wonderful representative of all the great Islamic gardens.

The tomb and garden were designed with such a degree of interlink that one cannot be seperated from the other . Each was meant to enhance the meaning and beauty of the other.

Symbolically, these were the perfect embodiment of the Islamic ideal, the ultimate paradise garden, with the emperor forever in paradise.

The large square enclosure, divided with geometric precision, was the ordered universe. In the centre, the tomb itself rose like the cosmic mountain above four rivers represented by the water-channels. Eternal flowers, herbs, fruit, water and birds added further character to the tomb garden...

The re-vitalized tomb complex gives us glimpses of what the original character of the place might have been. Visual cues in the form of revived fountains and water works, pathways and plant material require the viewer to engage one's mind to complete the picture.The efforts are selective and open ended enough to generate debate and discussion regarding the degree of intervention, replication of historic clues and whether heritage restoration must go the whole way or go just far enough to create a vignette of what existed once upon a time.

Every visit of mine to Delhi has Humayun's tomb factored in as a stop. I must have seen it more number of times than emperor Akbar!!

But it is disappointing to notice that the character keeps eutrophing w.r.t. the image in my mind of what it was when the Aga Khan inaugurated it.


Horticultural "beautification" is again rearing its ugly head. We need tighter controls on designed landscapes, especially heritage precincts. Otherwise, what is the point of all the intellectual and creative forays into Conservation?