|
Zeb-un-Nisa (d. 1672), or Dai Anga ('wet-nurse' in
Urdu), was the wet-nurse of Shah Jahan, and the wife
of a courtier under Jahangir. A few paces distant
from the Gulabi Bagh gateway, on the north, lies her
splendid mausoleum.
This rather ponderous, square brick structure
sporting few apertures and presenting a solid face
to the garden, was built to house the mortal remains
of Dai Anga, Shah Jahan's wet nurse and of her
daughter Shahzadi Sultan Begam, whose husband built
the Gulabi Bagh Gateway. It is the same Dai Anga
(wife of Mughal magistrate of Bikaneer), who built
the spectacular mosque named after her, situated in
Naulakha area of Central Lahore, in which also tile
mosaic decoration is employed with wondrous effect.
Traversing the intervening stretch of corridor-like
space since the surrounding garden area has been
occupied by various railway structures—you arrive at
the rather squat-looking tomb placed on a raised
plinth. The mausoleum is dominated by a low-pitched
dome placed on a high neck or drum, while its
corners are accented through the employment of four
square pavilion-like kiosks, carrying projecting
chajjas (eaves) and cupolas.
Although shorn of most of its ornamentation, the
original kashi kari (tile mosaic) can be noticed on
the parapet, which points towards the quality and
kind of tile mosaic that in all likelihood once
covered the entire facade.
The mausoleum comprises a central tomb chamber with
eight rooms around it. Internally, the
surface was embellished with fine fresco, portions
of which are extant in the squinches above the
projecting, beehive-like decorative muqarnas, along
with a starlet dome treatment. The base of the
squinches is encircled with inscriptional panels
from the Holy Quran, rendered in elegant calligraphy
by Muhammad Saleh.
Inscriptions at the site, reveal that the mausoleum
was constructed in 1671.
The central sepulchral chamber and surrounding rooms
are built upon a raised plinth consisting of
subterranean chambers, in which the burials took
place.
There are two graves, one of Dai Anga and the other
of her daughter Sultana Begum. Today, the
original cenotaphs made of marble are no longer in
existence, and the underground chambers are also
inaccessible.
 |