Tuesday, June 19, 2007

HUMAYUN'S TOMB

Nasiruddin Humayun (March 6, 1508February 22, 1556), was the second Mughal Emperor who ruled Afghanistan, Pakistan and the northern parts of India.
He was a poet saint and like most good poets, he liked his drink. Often he would indulge himself with opium. A deep thinker, Humayun was not enamoured by warfare, and after winning a battle would spend months at a time indulging himself within the walls of a captured city even as a larger war was taking place outside.
As an administrator, he divided the public offices into four distinct groups, for the four elements of the Universe – Earth, which was in charge of agriculture and the agricultural sciences; Fire, in charge of the military; Water, the department of the canals and waterways; and Air – responsible for everything else.
Humayun’s daily routine was planned in accordance with the movements of the planets, so too was his wardrobe. He refused to enter a house with his left foot going forward, and if anyone else did they would be told to leave and re-enter. His servant, Jauhar, records in the Tadhkirat al-Waqiat that he was known to shoot arrows to the sky marked with either his own name, or that of the Shah of Persia and, depending on how they landed, interpreted this as an indication of which of them would grow more powerful.
His other claim to fame was that he fathered
Akbar the Great.
Humayun's tomb is a complex of buildings of
Mughal architecture located in Nizamuddin East, New Delhi. It is believed to be the inspiration behind the Taj Mahal. Just that Humayun’s Tomb was built by his bereaved wife, while the Taj was the gift of an incredible romantic, in loving memory of his dead wife.
(Adapted from Wikipedia)

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