Rahim’s tomb restoration
Context: The Mausoleum that inspired Taj restored, opens for public.
- It is said that the monument’s double dome was originally clad with marble, which is said to have been quarried from here for use in Safdarjung’s tomb in the mid-18th century.
- Five decades before the Taj Mahal was built by Shah Jahan, it was Abdur Rahim Khan-e-Khanan — commander-in-chief of Akbar’s army, and a poet — who built a tomb in Delhi in memory of his wife Mah Banu.
- It was the first Mughal tomb built for a woman. After his death in 1627, Rahim was also buried beside his wife, just like Shah Jahan was in the Taj.
- As Rahim Khan’s tomb was opened to the public earlier this week after six years of restoration work — perhaps the largest conservation project ever undertaken for any monument of national importance in India.
- In 1920s, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) provided masonry support to overhanging sandstone blocks on the facade, saving the structure from collapsing on itself.
- In 2014, the InterGlobe Foundation came on board with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) to support the “conservation of Rahim’s mausoleum”.
Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan
- He was popularly known as simply Rahim, was a poet who lived in India during the rule of Mughal emperor Akbar, who was his mentor, also.
- He was one of the nine important ministers (dewan) in his court, also known as the
- Apart from writing various dohas, Rahim translated Babar's memoirs, Baburnama from Chagatai language to Persian language, which was completed in 998 (1589–90) AD.
- He had an excellent command over the Sanskrit language. In Sanskrit, he wrote two books on astrology, Khetakautukam and Dwatrimshadyogavali
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