Delhi
Tomb of Sultan Ghari – Delhi
Built in 1231 CE for Prince Nasiruddin Mahmud, the eldest son of Iltutmish, Sultan Ghari is the oldest known Islamic mausoleum in India. This atmospheric…
Return to Humayun’s Tomb Complex – Delhi
My first visit to Humayun’s Tomb Complex was way back in December 2005, and was part of the typical “golden triangle” tourist trail conducted at…
Bijay Mandal – Delhi
Located in the heart of Jahanpanah, the fourth medieval city of Delhi, Bijay Mandal is considered one of the most puzzling historic buildings in Delhi.…
Barah Khamba – Delhi
Barah Khamba is located at the far northern extent of Nizamuddin village, in a small enclosed park fronting the eastern end of Lodi Road. This…
Chausath Khamba – Tomb of Akbar’s Foster Brother
Located in the east of Nizamuddin village and approached under an unfinished Mughal-era gateway, Chausath Khamba is primarily the tomb of Mirza Aziz Koka, son…
Sunder Nursery and Batashewala Complex – Heritage Meets Horticulture in Delhi
Situated directly opposite Humayun’s Tomb Complex on the historic Grand Trunk Road, Sunder Nursery and Batashewala Complex are the home to a number of superbly…
Khirki Masjid – A Paradox of Past and Present in Delhi
Located in the very heart of Saket’s dense high-rise housing complexes and only accessible via winding narrow lanes and alleyways, Khirki Masid must rank as…
Begumpur Masjid – From Mosque, to Village, to Obscurity in Delhi
My quest to find the lesser known monuments of Delhi usually finds me searching for small isolated structures that have been almost swallowed up by…
Arab Serai East Gateway – Restored Splendour in Delhi
Also known as Mihr Banu’s gate, the Arab Serai east gateway is part of Humayun’s Tomb complex and is accessible from Arab Ki Sarai road…
Baradari and Tomb – Delhi
Located next to a pretty rectangular park by Sadhana Enclave are two ancient buildings, not uncommon occurrences if you spend any amount of time roaming…
Tomb of Sheikh Yusuf Qattal – Delhi
Situated on a small expanse of land near the narrow streets of Khirki Village, the tomb of Sheikh Yusuf Qattal and associated structures is yet…
Satpula – Delhi’s Oldest Surviving Dam
Located close to the present day suburb of Saket, Satpula is an interesting structure that lies in relative obscurity and seemingly rarely visited. Construction is…
Gol Gumbad – Delhi
Situated at the eastern extent of Lodi Road near JLN stadium in Delhi, Gol Gumbad is one of a number of tombs, graves and small…
Lal Gumbad – Tomb of a Sufi Saint
Anyone spending time wondering around Delhi with even the remotest interest in history or architecture will be struck by the sheer volume of monuments that…
Hauz Khas Park – Delhi
Hauz Khas Park in south Delhi offers a wide range of things to see, it came as quite a surprise to me. There’s a deer…
Hauz Khas – Monuments Outside the Park – Delhi
During my last visit to Delhi I had set aside a day to visit Hauz Khas Park, which contains a number of interesting monuments and…
Jama Masjid – Delhi
Built by Shah Jahan from between 1650 and 1656, the Jama Masjid (or Friday Mosque) is the main mosque of the Shahjahanabad district of Delhi,…
Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq’s Tomb – Delhi
Ghiyasuddin’s Tomb is located right next to Tughlakabad Fort, a raised causeway truncated by the main Mehrauli-Badarpur road takes you a short distance into a…
Chor Minar – Delhi
Situated about 400m north of Hauz Khas metro station in south Delhi, Chor Minar is one of those typical isolated monuments you come across in…
Qutb Minar Complex
A photo tour of he Qutb Minar Complex – a 200m x 300m rectangular enclosure containing several important and impressive structures, located in the northern…
Mehrauli Archaeological Park – Delhi
Located to the south and west of the Qutb Minar complex in Delhi, Mehrauli Archaeological Park contains dozens of tombs, mosques, step-wells and fortifications from…
Lodhi Gardens
Lodhi Gardens are a 20th century creation, when a village that surrounded the tombs of the Lodhi and Sayyid dynasties was cleared by the British…
Safdarjung’s Tomb
Safdarjung’s Tomb is a sandstone and marble mausoleum built in 1754 in New Delhi. It is the last monumental tomb garden of the Mughals, and was planned…
Humayun’s Tomb
Set in 30 acres of walled gardens in the eastern part of Delhi, Humayun’s mausoleum is considered the crowning glory of early Mughal architecture. Humayun…
Goa
Safa Masjid
25km southeast of Panjim just outside Ponda is the Safa Masjid. It’s located right by the main road, so a very short walk to see…
Gujarat
Jama Masjid
The Jama Masjid, situated in the heart of Ahmedabad, was built in 1423 by Ahmed Shah. The interior consists of more than 200 slender columns,…
Dholka
A short distance from Ahmedabad lies Dholka, and for me possibly one of the highlights of my tour around eastern Gujarat. Dholka is a treasure…
Champaner
Champaner lies just 50km east of Baroda, so can be combined in a day trip from Ahmedabad in Gujarat. The former city was founded in the…
Sarkhej
Sarkhej is now a suburban neighbourhood of Ahmedabad, so it’s a short excursion from the city that will at most take a couple of hours…
Sidi Saiyyed Mosque
Now located in the middle of a roundabout in the city of Ahmedabad, Sidi Saiyyed Mosque is well worth a quick visit to see one…
Madhya Pradesh
Ladhedi Gate – Gwalior
Located on top of a small hill just 600m north of Gujari Mahal in Gwalior, Ladhedi Gate is a curious monument standing in isolation. I’ve…
Tombs of Mohammad Ghaus and Tansen – Gwalior
The tombs of Mohammad Ghaus and Tansen are located in a pretty park on the east side of the old city in Gwalior. If you…
Moti Masjid – Bhopal
With the light rapidly fading and having already visited Bhimbetka, Bhojpur, Taj-ul-Masajid and the Taj Mahal Palace that day, my visit to the Moti Masjid…
Taj-ul-Masajid – Bhopal
Taj-ul-Masajid (which translates to “the crown of mosques”, and also spelt Taj-ul-Masaajid or Taj-ul-Masjid), dominates the center of Bhopal and so it should. It is…
Maharashtra
Haji Ali Dargah – Mumbai
Constructed in 1431, the Haji Ali Dargah is a mosque and tomb (dargah) situated on a small islet, 500m from the coast in the middle…
Aurangabad : Bibi Ka Maqbara
Believed to have been built around 1678, Bibi Ka Maqbara (Tomb of the Lady) was built by Prince Azam Shah, son of the sixth Mughal…
Uttar Pradesh
Alamgir Mosque – Varanasi
Towering above Panchganga Ghat in the heart of Banaras, the Alamgir Mosque dominates the skyline of the city from along the ghats of the great…
Tomb of Lal Khan – Varanasi
The tomb of Lal Khan is situated immediately north of Malviya Bridge, close to the bank of the river Ganga at Rajghat, adjacent to the…
Is The Famous Diwan-i-Khas Pillar At Fatehpur Sikri Really Unique ?
For the past few years I have got into the routine of falling asleep listening to podcasts. The podcast topics are usually restricted to either…
Jami Masjid – Built in Reverence for a Sufi Saint
The Jami Masjid mosque was one of the first projects undertaken at Akbar’s new city of Fatehpur Sikri, and was built in honour of the…
Fatehpur Sikri – Exploring Beyond the Palace
The vast majority of visitors to Fatehpur Sikri are only able to see the palace complex and perhaps the Jami Masjid. To see the whole…
Fatehpur Sikri – An Emperor’s Ghost City
More myths surround the extraordinary city of Fatehpur Sikri than any other Mughal capital. Built by Emperor Akbar in the early 1570s, just fifteen years…
Mehtab Bagh – The Moonlit Garden – Agra
There were once eleven Mughal gardens that lined the Yamuna river on the stretch between Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal in Agra, Mehtab Bagh…
Itimad-ud-Daulah – A loving tribute from a daughter
Here at the utterly beautiful and peaceful Itimad-ud-Daulah is a building which I consider equal to the Taj Mahal, a loving tribute from a daughter,…
Ram Bagh – Agra
Also known as Bagh-I-Gul-Afshan (‘the flower-scattering garden’) and Bagh-I-Nur-Afshan (‘the light-scattering garden’), Ram Bagh was originally conceived by Babur in 1526 and was inspired by…
Chini Ka Rauza – Agra
Situated on the east bank of the Yamuna river in what was formerly a Mughal riverside garden, Chini Ka Rauza was built sometime between 1620…
The Kos Minar – once showing the way but now becoming lost
Anyone travelling on India’s road network in the north of the country may from time to time see a curious little structure standing in isolation…
Tomb of Sultan Parwiz – Agra
The tomb of Sultan Parwiz is located on the east bank of the Yamuna river in Agra, sandwiched between Itimad-ud-Daulah and Chini Ka Rauza, in an area that was once…
Mariam’s Tomb – Sikandra
Mariam’s tomb is located on the left side of NH19 (Agra-Mathura road), less than 1 km west of Akbar’s tomb in Sikandara. Mariam Zamani was…
The Mystery of the Stone Horse at Kafur’s Mosque – Agra
Located next to a busy junction where the Guru Ka Taal Flyover meets the main NH19 road heading out of Agra, Kafur’s Mosque is quite…
Tombs of Salabat and Sadiq Khan – Agra
The tombs of Salabat and Sadiq Khan are located 3km east of Akbar’s Tomb, and are accessed via a short path that runs for 100m…
Akbar’s Tomb – Sikandra
Built between 1604 and 1613 and set within 119 acres of gardens, Akbar’s Tomb is the second in a line of four monumental tombs belonging…
Deception and Murder in Shah Jahan’s Court – The Chhatris of Jaswant Singh in Agra
Located on the west bank of the Yamuna river in the Kamla Nagar district of Agra, the chattris of Jaswant Singh closely resembles a riverside…
Tomb of Akbar The Great
(NB : I have subsequently revisited this site, for an updated account please see my post on Akbar’s Tomb – Sikandra). The mausoleum of the…
Taj Mahal
The future King Edward VII, visiting India in 1875, remarked that it was commonplace for every writer “to set out with the admission that the…
Fatehpur Sikri
Sikri was once a nondescript village 38km west of Agra, its only claim to fame being the home of a sufi mystic, Sheikh Salim Chishti.…
West Bengal
Pandua Minar and Bais Darwaza (Bari) Masjid
The recent pandemic put a halt to my annual trip to India in 2021 and 2022. Frustrating though it was, this long period of stagnation…
Kevin Standage 
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