Mir Abu Turab's Tomb
Mir Abu Turab's Tomb, 1866
Religion
AffiliationIslam
StatusActive
Location
LocationBehrampura, Ahmedabad
MunicipalityAhmedabad Municipal Corporation
StateGujarat
Mir Abu Turab's Tomb is located in Ahmedabad
Mir Abu Turab's Tomb
Location in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Mir Abu Turab's Tomb is located in Gujarat
Mir Abu Turab's Tomb
Mir Abu Turab's Tomb (Gujarat)
Geographic coordinates23°00′17″N 72°34′36″E / 23.004656°N 72.576626°E / 23.004656; 72.576626
Architecture
TypeTomb
StyleIslamic architecture
FounderMir Abu Turab
Completed1597
Designated as NHLNational Monument of Importance
ASI Monument No. N-GJ-44

Mir Abu Turab's Tomb, locally known as Qadam-e-Rasul ki Dargah is a medieval tomb in Behrampura, Ahmedabad, India.

History

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Mīr (or S̲h̲āh) Abū Turāb Walī b. S̲h̲āh Quṭb al-Dīn S̲h̲ukr Allāh aka S̲h̲āh Abū Turāb al-ʿUraiḍī al-Ḥusainī was a S̲h̲īrāzī (Salāmī) Saiyid and whose family were followers of the Saisalah-i-Maghrabiyah. His grandfather Saiyid Shah Mir was a scholar who emigrated from S̲h̲īrāz to Muhammadabad (Champaner), Gujarāt during the reign of Mahmud Begada. Abū Turāb's first notable role was as the intermediary between the noble Iʿtimād K̲h̲ān and the Mughal emperor Akbar, when the former requested the latter to invade and annex Gujarat. In Akbar's 1572 invasion of Gujarāt, Mīr Abū Turāb among other nobles paid homage to their new emperor. When Akbar left Aḥmadābād, Abu Turāb was among the few nobles who chose to remain loyal to the emperor and not revolt.[1][2]

Iʿtimād K̲h̲ān (bowing in left and right folios) and the nobles of Gujarāt submit to Akbar (on center elephant in right folio) during the 1572 invasion. Mīr Abū Turāb was among the nobles historically present at this occasion.

In 1577, appointed Mīr-i Ḥājj (chief of the Mecca caravan), he brought back a large stone from Mecca with a right footprint of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (qadam-i Rasūl) in 1579. Taken first to Akbar at Fatehpur Sikri or Āgrah, Akbar received the stone with great respect who carried it on his shoulders for a hundred paces. The left footprint is believed to have been brought to Sulṭān Fīrūz S̲h̲āh years ago by Mak̲h̲dūm-i Jahāniyān. In 1530 the emperor granted permission for Abū Turāb to take to stone to Gujarāt where he had it placed in Asāwal. When (1583) Iʿtimād was made Governor of Gujarāt, Abū Turāb followed him as Amīn-i ṣūbah. He fought alongside Iʿtimād during the rebellion of the old sultan of Gujarāt, Muẓaffar S̲h̲āh III, who at one point recaptured Aḥmadābād. Akbar granted Abū Turāb several villages near Khambhat where his descendants would reside. Abū Turāb died in 1595 and was buried in his mausoleum outside of Aḥmadābād in the village limits of Behrampura aka Asāwal. He also wrote Tārīk̲h̲-i Gujarāt, which traces the history of the Gujarāt from the reign of Bahādur S̲h̲āh (1536) to the capture of Aḥmadābād by Muẓaffar S̲h̲āh III (1584). The stone was later removed from Abū Turāb's tomb and taken to Khambhat.[3][2][4]

In 1695-96, during the reign of the emperor Aurangzeb, the government allocated 4,164 rupees for the repairs of the masjid in Muazzampur village and Abū Turāb's mausoleum in Asāwal.[3]

The tomb was damaged in 2001 Gujarat earthquake and was restored in 2002 by Archaeological Survey of India.[5]

Architecture

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Mir Abu Turab's tomb is simple and graceful, 12.5 sq m (forty-one feet) square platform with a double colonnade of pillars, the inner colonnade formerly enclosed by stone trellis work. Local in style the tomb shows the art in its best form. The flat lintels have throughout given place to the arch, and as no rich minaret bases clash with the plainness of the main building, the whole is uniform and pleasing. On each face three large and two small arches point to the presence of an octagonal dome, and, without confusing, relieve the sameness. The dome is supported by twelve pillars.[6][7]

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  • Plan of Tomb
    Plan of Tomb
  • Pillars supporting the dome
    Pillars supporting the dome

Further Reading

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Published Editions of Tārīk̲h̲-i Gujarāt

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  • Mīr Abū Turāb Valī (1909). Ross, E. Denison (ed.). A History of Gujarat (in Persian). Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal.

References

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  1. ^ Commissariat, M.S. (1938). A History of Gujarat: Including a Survey of its Chief Architectural Monuments and Inscriptions. Vol. I. From A.D. 1297-8 to A.D. 1573. Longmans, Green & Co. pp. 498, 508–509.
  2. ^ a b Storey, C.A. (1939). Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey. Vol. II. Fasciculus 3: M. History of India. Luzac & Co. p. 727.
  3. ^ a b Commissiariat, M.S. (September 1957). A History of Gujarat: Including a Survey of its Chief Architectural Monuments and Inscriptions. Vol. II. The Mughal Period: From 1573 to 1758. Orient Longmans. pp. 12–13, 15, 18, 36, 190.
  4. ^ Houtsma, M. Th.; Wensinck, A.J.; Arnould, T.W.; Heffening, W.; Lévi-Provençal, E., eds. (1987). "Ḳadam S̲h̲arīf". E.J. Brill's First Encyclopedia of Islam: 1913-1936. Vol. IV. ʿITḲ-KWAṬṬA. E.J. Brill.
  5. ^ "PEARLS OF PAST: Need Some Elbow Room". The Times of India. 25 November 2011. Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  6. ^ Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Ahmedabad. Government Central Press. 1879. pp. 290–291. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  7. ^ Jani, Mehul (22 November 2011). "Neglect buries two heritage tombs". Times of India Publications. Retrieved 8 December 2014.[dead link]
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