🇮🇳Baby Taj Mahal is Agra’s Mughal Marble Jewel Box: Itmad-ud-Daula’s Tomb｜印度亞格拉隱藏著一座迷你版的小泰姬瑪哈陵：伊泰默德墓

Tomb of I'timād-ud-Daulah (I'timād-ud-Daulah Maqbara) is a Mughal mausoleum in the city of Agra in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Often described as a "jewel box", sometimes called the "Bachcha Taj" or the "Baby Taj", the tomb of I'timād-ud-Daulah is often regarded as a draft of the Taj Mahal.
Along with the main building, the structure consists of numerous outbuildings and gardens. The tomb, built between 1622 and 1628, represents a transition between the first phase of monumental Mughal architecture - primarily built from red sandstone with marble decorations, as in Humayun's Tomb in Delhi and Akbar's tomb in Sikandra - to its second phase, based on white marble and pietra dura inlay, most elegantly realized in the Taj Mahal.
The mausoleum was commissioned by Nur Jahan, the wife of Jahangir, for her father Mirzā Ghiyās Beg, originally a Persian Amir in exile, who had been given the title of I'timād-ud-Daulah (pillar of the state). Mirzā Ghiyās Beg was also the grandfather of Mumtāz Mahāl (originally named Arjumand Banu Begum, daughter of Asaf Khan), the wife of the emperor Shah Jahan, responsible for the construction of the Taj Mahal.
Located on the eastern bank of the Yamuna River, the mausoleum is set in a large cruciform garden criss-crossed by water courses and walkways. The mausoleum itself covers about twenty-three meters square, and is built on a base about fifty meters square and about one meter high. On each corner are octagonal towers, about thirteen meters tall.
The walls are made up from white marble from Rajasthan encrusted with semi-precious stone decorations: cornelian, jasper, lapis lazuli, onyx, and topaz formed into images of cypress trees and wine bottles, or more elaborate decorations like cut fruit or vases containing bouquets. Light penetrates to the interior through delicate jali screens of intricately carved white marble. The interior decoration is considered by many to have inspired that of the Taj Mahal, which was built by her stepson, Mughal ruler Shah Jahan.
Many of Nūr Jahān's relatives are interred in the mausoleum. The only asymmetrical element of the entire complex is that the cenotaphs of her father and mother have been set side-by-side, a formation replicated in the Taj Mahal.
This is the tomb of Mirza Ghiyas Beg and his wife Asmat Beghum. He hailed from Iran and served Akbar. He was the father of the famous Nur-Jehan and grandfather of Mumtaz-Mahal of the Taj Mahal fame. He was made Vazir (Prime Minister) after Nur Jehan's marriage with Jehangir in 1611. He held the mansab of 7000/7000 and the title : "I'timad-Ud-Daulah" (The Lord treasurer). He died at Agra in 1622, a few months after his wife's death. Nur Jehan built this tomb for her parents between 1622 and 1628. Her own tomb and that of Jehangir are at Lahore.
The Tomb of I'timad-Ud-Daulah is a masterpiece of the domeless class of Mughal tombs. It is the first building finished in white marble and marks the transitional phase from red stone to white marble, from Akbar's tomb Sikandra to the Taj Mahal. It reflects the personality of the polished Iranian who lies buried here, and, more than that, the formal and ornamental character of its builder Nur Jehan who ruled the Mughal Empire from behind the curtain for 16 years (1611-27).
The tomb, situated on the eastern bank of the river Yamuna, is planned in the centre of a Char-Bagh (four-quartered garden), with the usual enclosing walls and side buildings. As conditioned by its situation, the main gate is on the eastern side. Ornamental gateways with prominent lawns are built in the middle of north and south sides. A multi-storeyed open pleasure pavilion is there on the western side, overlooking the river impressively. These buildings are of red sandstone with bold inlaid designs in white marble.
Shallow water channels, sunk in the middle of the raised stone paved pathways, with intermittent tanks and cascades, divided the garden into four equal quarters. They are only slightly raised from the parterres which could be converted into flower beds. Space for large plants and trees was reserved just adjoining the enclosing walls, leaving the mausoleum fully open to view.
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