Khusrau Bagh

The attractive walled gardens of Khusrau Bagh, entered through a lofty gate with ornate designs and projecting balconies, offers a peaceful retreat from the busy lanes around it. Once the pleasure garden of Jehangir, it is now famous for its guava orchards and rose beds besides enclosing three picturesque mausoleum buildings. The pleasant garden has a tragic twist as it houses the handsome sandstone mausoleum of Jahangir’s son Khusrau. Khusrau rebelled against his father in 1606 in a bid to succeed Emperor Akbar as the ruler of India but was defeated in the battle of Bhairowal. He fled to Kabul but was captured and imprisoned in Agra. In 1607, Khusrau was ordered to be blinded as a punishment for rebelling against his father. In 1622, he was killed on the orders of Prince Khurram, his brother, who succeeded the throne as Shah Jahan. His tomb was built near the mausoleum of his mother, Shah Begum who was a Kachhwaha Rajput princess named Manbhawati Bai who is believed to have committed suicide because of the discord between her husband and her son. A memorial to his sister Nithar Begum also stands in the garden and is the prettiest of the trio of sandstone buildings with an elaborate arch, floral designs and some paintings. Khusrau’s mausoleum has elaborate plasterwork in the burial chamber underground.

The garden was taken over by the revolutionary Maulvi Liaquat Ali who made it the headquarters for his relatives and followers to fight the British during the 1857 Mutiny. However, Khusrau Bagh was reclaimed by the British in two weeks.