A Persian refugee who became pillar of the state
The man buried here arrived in India almost penniless. A family story says his daughter was born by the roadside on the way, at Kandahar, and that he nearly left her there.
A fallen family: Mirza Ghiyas Beg was a Persian of good family whose fortunes had collapsed.
The road to Hindustan: in the late 1570s he set out for Akbar's court, known to welcome talented Persians.
A daughter on the way: tradition says his wife Asmat Begum gave birth on the hard journey. They named her Mehr-un-Nissa.
At a glance
- Built
- About 1622 to 1628
- Built by
- The empress Nur Jahan, for her parents
- Open
- Fridays too, unlike the Taj
- Allow
- About an hour
- Best time
- Mid to late afternoon
- Photography
- Welcome
- Getting there
- 20 to 30 minutes from the Taj hotels
- A steady rise: Ghiyas Beg found service under Akbar and climbed the imperial administration, known as able, cultured and generous, if not always careful with money.
- The daughter's first life: Mehr-un-Nissa married a Persian officer, Sher Afgan, and was widowed in Bengal in 1607.
- An empress: she joined the imperial household as a lady-in-waiting, and in 1611 Jahangir married her, naming her Nur Mahal, light of the palace, and later Nur Jahan, light of the world.
- Pillar of the state: her father became chief minister with the title Itimad-ud-Daulah.
- The brother: Asaf Khan became one of the empire's most powerful nobles. His daughter Arjumand Banu married Prince Khurram, the future Shah Jahan, and history knows her as Mumtaz Mahal.
- A family tomb in the widest sense: the man buried here was father of one empress and grandfather of another. Without him, very probably, no Taj Mahal.
- Two deaths: Asmat Begum died in 1621, and her husband a few months later, in early 1622.
- Their own garden: Nur Jahan had inherited the riverside garden where they had lived, and chose it for their tomb.
- Six years: building was finished around 1628, the year Shah Jahan came to the throne.
- Who lies here: Ghiyas Beg and Asmat Begum side by side in the central chamber, with other family members in the corner rooms.
Nur Jahan, the empress who built it
In Rajasthan we have many stories of queens who ruled from behind the screen. Nur Jahan did not bother with the screen.
The real power: through the last fifteen years of Jahangir's reign, as opium and wine weakened him, she ran the court.
Coins in her name: a rare thing for a Mughal woman.
Orders and petitions: she issued the one and received the other, and managed the family's alliances.
Facts to know
- Married Jahangir
- 1611
- Power ended
- 1627, at Jahangir's death
- Died
- 1645, in Lahore
- Buried
- Shahdara, near Lahore
- A tiger: the chroniclers say she shot one from the back of an elephant.
- Her own wealth: she held estates and traded on her own account.
- A woman of taste: Agra tradition credits her with designs for textiles, carpets and jewellery. Her gardens in Agra and Kashmir were celebrated.
- Attar of roses: Jahangir's own memoirs, the Jahangirnama, credit her mother, Asmat Begum, with perfecting it.
- Something new: for her parents she did not copy the red sandstone tombs of the previous generation. She commissioned one faced entirely in white marble and inlaid from plinth to roof.
- The fall: after Jahangir died in 1627, her brother Asaf Khan backed his son-in-law Shah Jahan for the throne, against her candidate.
- Her candidate: Shahryar, Jahangir's youngest son, who had married Ladli Begum, her daughter by her first marriage. He lost, and the throne went to Shah Jahan.
- Quiet years: she retired to Lahore, lived there until 1645, and is buried near her husband at Shahdara, across the river.
- Her own memorial: Itimad-ud-Daulah is her great monument in India, as much hers as her father's.
- Read more: our Mughal and Rajput history sets her beside the Rajput queens of the court, including Jahangir's mother, the Amber princess in Akbar and Jodha.
One family, two empresses and three tombs
Guests lose track of the names quickly, so we draw the family tree on the back of a menu at lunch. It is worth having in your head before you walk in.
Three family tombs
- Itimad-ud-Daulah
- The grandparents, Agra
- Taj Mahal
- The granddaughter, Agra
- Shahdara
- Nur Jahan and Jahangir, near Lahore
- One family: three great Mughal tombs belong to one Persian family and the Rajput-Mughal dynasty it married into.
- Within sight: Agra holds the first two on the same river. From the river terrace here you look downstream from the grandparents' garden towards the granddaughter's tomb.
Mirza Ghiyas Beg and Asmat Begum
- The Persian couple: they came to India with almost nothing and ended as parents of an empress.
- Why the tomb exists: they are the two people buried in the central chamber.
Nur Jahan
- Born Mehr-un-Nissa: their daughter married Jahangir in 1611 and became the most powerful woman in Mughal history.
- Builder and buried: she built this tomb and lies at Shahdara near Lahore, close to her husband.
Asaf Khan
- Their son: Nur Jahan's brother, a great noble who backed his son-in-law Shah Jahan for the throne in 1627 and became his chief minister.
- His tomb: it also stands near Lahore.
Mumtaz Mahal
- Three ties: Asaf Khan's daughter, Ghiyas Beg's granddaughter and Nur Jahan's niece.
- A few kilometres downstream: she married Shah Jahan, died in 1631, and the Taj was built for her near her grandparents.
Jahangir and Shah Jahan
- The emperors who married in: Jahangir was the son of Akbar and a Kachwaha princess of Amber.
- Rajput mothers: Shah Jahan was Jahangir's son by a Rathore princess of Marwar. That is why a Jaipur family feels at home in these gardens.
From the gate to the river pavilion
The tomb is small, so most visitors walk straight to it, take a photograph and leave within twenty minutes. Give it an hour and it will repay you many times over.
The route we walk
- Enter
- Eastern gateway, away from the river
- Garden
- A charbagh with four pools
- Tomb
- Platform, facade, chambers
- Finish
- River pavilion on the Yamuna
The eastern gateway
- Red sandstone and inlay: you enter from the east through a gateway inlaid with white and coloured marble.
- Pause in its shade: the tomb appears through the arch, low and white, framed by the garden. The gate's inlay gives you a first taste of what is to come.
The garden and its causeways
A charbagh: divided into four by raised stone walkways with water channels set into them, meeting at the tomb's platform.
- Pools and gates: four shallow pools sit along the channels, and smaller ornamental gateways in the north and south walls match the main gate.
- An orchard once: the lawns are later. In Nur Jahan's day this was fruit trees and flowers.
The red sandstone platform
- Inlaid underfoot: the low platform carries geometric patterns in white and coloured stone. Look down as you climb the steps.
- Red below, white above: a deliberate contrast, used again, much larger, at the Taj.
The facade and the corner towers
The plan: a square with a short octagonal tower at each corner, about thirteen metres high, topped with a small domed kiosk. There is no great dome.
- Three arches a side: the central one larger, all framed in panels of inlay.
- Every surface covered: stars and hexagons, vines, flowers, cypresses, vases and the famous wine cups.
- Two distances: stand back on the walkway to see the whole, then come close enough to see a single petal.
The central chamber
Dim and golden: the cenotaphs of Ghiyas Beg and Asmat Begum lie side by side.
- Painted walls: flowers, vases and arabesques on ceiling and walls. Much of the original paint survives, faded but legible.
- The jalis: pierced marble screens let in light from the corridors and throw patterns across the floor.
The corner rooms
- Other family graves: in smaller rooms around the central chamber.
- Still lifes on the wall: painted niches with flower vases, wine bottles and fruit bowls. Bring a small torch to see them properly.
The upper pavilion
On the roof: a square pavilion with a curved canopy roof, enclosed by marble screens of great delicacy.
- A second pair of cenotaphs: placed directly above the real graves, in the Mughal manner.
- Usually closed: but the screens and canopy are clear from the garden. Look in the late afternoon, when the sun comes through the jali from the river side.
The river pavilion
On the Yamuna: a red sandstone pleasure pavilion on the western side, with steps that once led down to the water.
- Arriving by boat: this is how Nur Jahan and her family came.
- The view: walk through to the terrace. On a clear day the Taj and the fort show in the distance, the river as the Mughals knew it.
Reading the inlay
A third-generation inlayer in Agra once told us he brings his apprentices here before he takes them to the Taj. The Taj, he said, teaches you what perfection looks like. The Baby Taj teaches you how you get there.
The method: thin pieces of coloured stone are cut to shape, set into channels carved in the marble, then ground flat and polished perfectly smooth.
The palette: carnelian, jasper, lapis lazuli, onyx and topaz, plus coloured marbles and sandstones.
A turning point: many historians see this tomb as where Mughal inlay moved from geometric patterns towards the flowing flowers of the Taj.
Facts to know
- Technique
- Parchin kari, or pietra dura
- Stones
- Carnelian, jasper, lapis, onyx, topaz
- Motifs
- Cypress, wine cup, vase of flowers
- Linked painter
- Ustad Mansur, some plant designs
- Both stages on one wall: interlocking stars, hexagons and lattices from Persia, as Akbar's builders used them in red and white stone.
- Then the designers let go: in the panels between, vases with sprays of flowers, cypresses, fruit bowls, wine cups and long-necked bottles.
- A court painter's hand: some plant designs have been linked to Ustad Mansur, Jahangir's master of natural history painting, who drew birds and flowers with scientific care.
- The cypress: the tree of eternity, ever green.
- The wine cup: a Sufi image of divine love and mystical intoxication, not a literal drink.
- The vase of flowers: the garden of paradise in miniature. Together on a tomb the three say: eternal life, love of God, a garden waiting.
- Here, a carpet in stone: the inlay is denser, more colourful and more varied, like an embroidered robe.
- At the Taj, restraint: a generation later, inlay frames large plain areas of white so shape and light do the work. Two moods of one family, and seeing both in a day is a great Agra pleasure.
- A living craft: Agra's inlayers still work, and a real workshop visit is one of the best things to do here. Our marble craft guide explains Makrana marble and how to tell good work from resin copies.
Between sandstone and marble
Agra is the only place in the world where you can walk, in one afternoon, through the entire story of how the Mughals learned to build in white.
Before it, red: Humayun's tomb in Delhi and Akbar's tomb at Sikandra were mainly red sandstone, with marble as trim and inlay.
The proportion reversed: here the tomb is faced entirely in Makrana marble, and sandstone is kept for the platform, gateways and river pavilion.
A first: it is often described as the first Mughal building clad wholly in marble, a choice that set the course for everything Shah Jahan built.
Facts to know
- Cladding
- White Makrana marble throughout
- Sandstone for
- Platform, gateways, river pavilion
- Form
- A low, square platform tomb
- Corner towers
- About 13 metres high
- No great dome: it is low and square, more garden pavilion than mausoleum. Historians sometimes call it a platform tomb.
- Turrets, not minarets: the four corner towers are short, nothing like the Taj's.
- A Bengal roof: the canopy of the upper pavilion recalls the curved roofs of Bengal, which also travelled into Rajput palaces.
- Looking both ways: a building at the edge of a change, still looking back as it looks forward.
- Human scale: the whole tomb would fit within the Taj's plinth several times over. You see every surface close up and never feel dwarfed.
- Go deeper: our architecture guide explains the main Mughal and Rajput building terms.
When to come
Itimad-ud-Daulah has a secret that makes planning easy: it is almost never crowded, even when the Taj is overflowing.
Our favourite slot: mid to late afternoon, on the way to sunset at Mehtab Bagh, a short drive downstream on the same bank.
Why then: the sun comes from the river side, warming the west face and shining through the upper pavilion's screens. The inlay glows.
Facts to know
- Best hour
- Mid to late afternoon
- Good at midday
- In winter
- Best season
- October to March
- Fridays
- Open
- Winter: the garden is pleasant at almost any hour, and the tomb is a good midday choice when the Taj is at its harshest.
- April to June: the white marble terrace reflects the heat fiercely, so come early or late.
- The monsoon: the garden is green, the river runs full beside the pavilion, and you may have the place to yourselves.
- Fridays: open when the Taj is closed, so a natural part of a Friday in Agra. Our guide to the best time to visit Agra goes month by month.
How to visit
There is little to organise here. A few small things make the visit better.
Tickets: bought at the gate. Queues are short or non-existent.
A good guide: makes a big difference. The family story and the meaning of the motifs bring the place alive, and neither is explained on site.
Before you go
- Tickets
- At the gate, short queues
- Shoes
- Off, or covers, on the platform
- Bring
- A small torch and binoculars
- Allow
- About an hour
- Shoes: remove them or wear covers on the tomb platform. Socks are fine, but the marble gets very hot on summer afternoons.
- A torch and binoculars: the torch for painted ceilings and inlay in sidelight, the binoculars for the upper pavilion.
- Access: the garden is level, with raised walkways and a few steps up to the platform. Guests with limited mobility see the exterior well. Tell us and we plan the approach.
- Photography: welcome. Go for close-ups of the inlay and the view from the river pavilion. Our photography tips cover light and lenses.
- How long: about an hour, or more if you love craft and detail.
What most visitors miss
Because it is small, the Baby Taj is easy to see too quickly. These are the things we stop for.
The still lifes in the niches
- Where: in the corner rooms and passages, small painted niches with vases, bottles and fruit.
- Why they matter: like Mughal miniatures on a wall, they remind you this was a family tomb, made with affection.
The gateways' inlay
- Overlooked: the eastern gate and the ornamental north and south gates carry their own inlay.
- Walk round: visitors look only at the tomb and miss them.
The river terrace
- Through the river pavilion: out to the terrace above the Yamuna.
- On a clear afternoon: the Taj's dome shows downstream, and you see how the east-bank gardens looked across at each other.
The wine cups
- Find them: inlaid wine cups and long-necked bottles on the facade surprise many visitors on a tomb.
- Ask the meaning: your guide's Sufi reading changes how you see the whole building.
The comparison
- Stand at the gate: imagine the tomb twice as large with a great dome on top.
- Halfway to the Taj: the family resemblance is the whole point.
Who will love it
Of all Agra's monuments, this is the one our guests most often say they liked best, which surprises them as much as it pleases us.
Craft lovers: anyone who loves painting, textiles or jewellery, because the inlay reads like all of them at once.
Those the Taj overwhelmed: here is something at human scale.
Who it suits
- Craft lovers
- Inlay like textile and jewellery
- Taj-weary
- Human scale, easy to take in
- Families
- Calm, space, a short visit
- Less for
- Those who want grandeur
- Families with children: they appreciate the calm, the space and the short visit.
- Photographers: they love the detail and the soft light from the river.
- Less rewarding for grandeur seekers: no great dome, no vast garden, no dramatic approach.
- With half a day: the Taj and the fort come first.
- With a full day or more: we would not leave without it. It sits in our things to do in Agra on the same afternoon as Chini ka Rauza and Mehtab Bagh.
An afternoon on the east bank
The east bank is Agra's quiet side. We give it an unhurried afternoon, moving downstream with the sun towards the Taj.
Start upstream after lunch: Ram Bagh and Chini ka Rauza first, while the light is still high.
Then the Baby Taj: arrive as the sun moves round to the river side and lights the west face.
How long to allow
- Upstream first
- Ram Bagh, Chini ka Rauza
- Itimad-ud-Daulah
- About an hour
- Mehtab Bagh
- The last hour of daylight
- Whole afternoon
- Lunch to sunset
- Finish downstream: at Mehtab Bagh, a short drive on the same bank, for the Taj at sunset.
- Fridays work too: Itimad-ud-Daulah and Mehtab Bagh stay open, so this afternoon suits a Friday, when the Taj is closed.
- After a Taj morning: rest at the hotel through the hottest hours, then cross the river.
What to pair with it, and where to stay
Itimad-ud-Daulah sits halfway along the east bank, so it fits easily into an afternoon of gardens and tombs.
Pair it with
- Upstream
- Chini ka Rauza and Ram Bagh
- Sunset
- Mehtab Bagh
- Morning before
- Agra Fort, across the river
- Stay
- Amarvilas or ITC Mughal
Chini ka Rauza and Ram Bagh
- A short drive upstream: Chini ka Rauza still carries patches of Persian glazed tile.
- An old garden: Ram Bagh is among the oldest Mughal gardens in India. With the Baby Taj, they make a quiet afternoon on the east bank.
Mehtab Bagh at sunset
- Downstream: sunset over the Taj from the moonlight garden.
- The perfect end: to a day that began at the Taj itself.
Agra Fort, across the river
- Directly opposite: the fort where Nur Jahan held court and Shah Jahan later died.
- The rhythm: the fort in the morning, the Baby Taj in the afternoon.
Where to stay
Two favourites: The Oberoi Amarvilas faces the Taj, and ITC Mughal offers gardens and its famous Peshawri restaurant.
- Distance: both are about twenty to thirty minutes away. Our guide to luxury hotels in Agra compares the options.
- On our journeys: it is included in Rajasthan with the Taj Mahal and Delhi, Jaipur and Agra in luxury.
