Aahukhana, Burhanpur: The Original Resting Place of Mumtaz Mahal

To every visitor, The Taj Mahal at Agra is a strong reminder of an emperor's love and grief over a lost one. The grand display of the Taj Mahal overshadows the memories of Aahukhana (deer park) in Burhanpur, the place which originally held Mumtaz Mahal's dead body, but is now abandoned and ignored by the natives.

The body of Mumtaz Mahal was kept at the site of Aahukhana in Burhanpur for six months before being carried to Agra. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

The city of Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh is seldom identified as a site of significance in Medieval history. The term "burhan" in Urdu means "evidence" or "proof" and it aptly testifies for/speaks for the symbolic events which the city witnessed in its heyday.

The region of Burhanpur initially came to prominence with the Faruqi dynasty that ruled Khandesh between the 14th-15th century. Under Akbar, Burhanpur became a Mughal territory and came to be known as 'the gateway to the Deccan' because of its strategic location.

In the 17th century, when Shahjahan was the ruler of the Mughal throne, he faced a serious rebellion from a Deccan noble, Khan Jahan Lodhi. He got ready to travel down to Burhanpur and quell the rebellion but his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal, then pregnant with their fourteenth child, insisted on accompanying him. Shahjahan took her along with him to Burhanpur, never once thinking that his entire life would be turned upside down by the city. Upon reaching Burhanpur, Mumtaz Mahal was allowed to rest in the Badshahi Qila, as she was expected to go into labour very soon.

The Badshahi Qila, originally built by the Faruqi rulers, was extremely beautiful with its beautiful hammam (bathing establishment) and gardens. Alas, in it was in this very palace that Mumtaz Mahal breathed her last on the night of 16th-17th June, 1631, as a result of excessive bleeding (postpartum hemorrhage) after childbirth.

Whatever the reason be, ultimately, Burhanpur was abandoned and replaced with Agra, where the great Taj Mahal, as it exists today, was erected across the banks of river Yamuna.

Today the city of Burhanpur and the rich historic site of Aahukhana remains, not more than just dirty, messy ruins, neglected and stripped off of its much deserved glory and significance.

Hence, it was Burhanpur which witnessed the first tears of Mumtaz Mahal's husband and her new born child, followed by her other loved ones.

After her death, a devasted Shah Jahan placed her body in the Aahukhana, a deer park, opposite to the Badshahi Qila built by Akbar's youngest son, Daniyal in the early 16th century. There she remained, not in Agra, not where the glorious Taj Mahal resides today, for six months after her death.

It was at the Aahukhana in Burhanpur where the emperor, her husband bid her farewell and recited the Fateha (ritual prayer) every Friday over his dead wife's grave till he stayed in Burhanpur. It was Burhanpur which bears testimony to Shah Jahan's initial grief and pain.

What, then, led Shah Jahan to deny Burhanpur its rightful place in history and hand it over to Agra?

Before her death, Mumtaz Mahal had requested her husband, the emperor, to build a big marble palace for her. Shahjahan did not forget his promise. He originally did plan to construct the mausoleum in Burhanpur, facing the river Tapti.  However, he faced three major issues. First, the soil around Tapti was infected with termites. Second, the marble had to be transported all way from Markana (Rajasthan) which was inconvenient. Third, the image of the mausoleum would not fall on the small river of Tapti. This latter point comes from Rana Safvi, a historian from Aligarh Muslim University, through her interaction with a local heritage enthusiast.

Mumtaz Mahal died during childbirth in Burhanpur. Image Source: The Heritage Lab

The Taj Mahal at Agra was not the original location in mind for Mumtaz Mahal's mausoleum. Image Source: CNN