Safdarjung tomb will not feature on the must see list of
Delhi. It was after all just a tomb built for Safdarjung, the prime minister of
Muhammad Shah – a not very prominent figure of a rather weak Mughal emperor. Most
would have never even heard of him. But what's memorable or important about
this monument, is that it was the last of the great mughal edifices built in
Delhi. So what relegates this monument
to a footnote in the list of heritage buildings in Delhi?
The architecture is striking, with tall and lofty minarets
in red sandstone, with an imposing cupola. The visage or elevation is
symetrically similar to the taj or lodhi tomb – with vast gardens designed in
the typical mughal style and waterbodies. The gardens now stand bereft of
colour, the waterbodies and fountains dry and silent, the sandstone of the
walls and dome, dulled with the abrasions of time.
What makes this monument particularly bereft is that it
stands so close to the buffed and polished Lodhi monuments. So it remains
today, Safdarjung tombs, a forgotten chapter in history.
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