Burhanpur: Gateway to the Deccan

The Taj Mahal is India’s most famous monument and it was built for the beloved of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, his wife Mumtaz Mahal. But far away from the Taj, 860 km south is the dilapidated remains of Mumtaz’s original burial place in Burhanpur. Little remains of the monument or the city that was once one of the most powerful in the region and the gateway to the Deccan. Today, at first glance, Burhanpur looks like just another industrial town in Madhya Pradesh, its claim to fame being a thriving cotton textile industry, a few oil mills and a major railway junction. But look a little closer and the city begins to reveal its true identity, one that is hidden beneath the callous layers of time. This unremarkable city, around 340 km from Bhopal, was once the most glorious in the region. Scattered on the outskirts are palaces, hunting lodges, tombs, pavilions and mosques. There is an extraordinary amount of Mughal architectural painting in these monuments. There is also a fine water supply system from the 16th and 17th centuries that we can learn so much from today. Burhanpur owes its legacy to its geographical positioning in the Satpura Range, in a mountain pass that made it a natural Gateway to the Deccan. The city thus commanded one of the most important routes from North to South India, or from Hindustan to the Deccan, as the two halves of the country were then called. The city reached its zenith between the 15th and 17th centuries, during which time it was also the regional capital of the Mughals. It grew into an extremely important centre, administratively, militarily and commercially. Traders would pause here, transact business and move on and caravans would stream through, transporting goods from far and wide, including the finest muslin, lace, gold and silver brocade produced in Burhanpur itself. But this once fabulous city was not founded by the Mughals. It was founded in 1399 CE by Nasir Khan of the Faruqi Dynasty, which ruled the Khandesh region not far away. Nasir Khan’s father was Malik Raja Faruqi, a rebel from the Bahmani court of Muhammad Shah I (r. 1358-77). He had been granted land in the region by Firuz Shah Tughlaq in 1370 CE and assumed the title ‘Shah’ in 1382 CE. Claiming to be a descendant of the second Caliph, Umar Faruq, Malik Raja was also a disciple of 14th-century Sufi spiritual leader Zainuddin Shirazi. He used these links to legitimise a dynastic claim and founded the Faruqi Dynasty in Khandesh. His son Nasir Khan succeeded him in 1399 CE and ...