Najaf Khan’s Tomb in Delhi ~ A forgotten Persian noble’s mausoleum

The city of cities – Delhi has many interesting but very less known ancient monuments tucked away in its nooks & crannies. Najaf Khan’s Tomb is one of them. In my quest to experience the lesser known monuments of my city Delhi, I visited this simple yet nicely preserved monument on a sunshine winter afternoon.

The tomb of Mirza Najaf Khan is located in the residential area of Lodhi Colony, a stone’s throw away from both Safdarjung Tomb and  Lodhi Garden. The entry is free and one can visit anytime from sunrise to sunset. The entry gate is partially closed so as to let only people on foot.

Mirza Najaf Khan was a persian Prince & adventurer in the court of Mughal emperor Shah Alam II. He was the highest commander of Mughal army from 1772 till his death. (Source: Wikipedia, INTACH)

The tomb stands in the centre of a garden and stands on a platform. The striking feature of the tomb is that there are no domes, turrets or arches. It consists of a raised platform in sandstone with two inscribed marble cenotaphs on its top. The two cenotaphs are of Najaf Khan and his daugther Fatima (source: ASI). The real graves are within the core of the platform and are not visible. The way to the raised platform is locked at all times presently.

One can walk around the platform, take time out to admire the surrounding garden, the simple work on the raised platform and the different trees that have been planted in the garden (I was quite taken by the variety of trees actually!!)

The Najaf Khan’s Tomb being located right in the middle of a residential area always sees a lot of local crowd (I was told by the locals).

In fact, the day we visited being a sunny winter afternoon, the residents were out in good numbers. So, there were children playing, group of women & kids doing ‘satsang’ and young people strumming guitars, all in the warm winter sun.

Najaf Khan’s Tomb makes for a nice visit, especially in the Delhi winters. While I wouldn’t recommend travelers making a special effort to visit this (especially if they are not into history and heritage), this tomb can be easily included in the itinery if one is planning to visit Safdarjung’s tomb or Humayun’s Tomb.