Alivardi’s Tomb

Alivardi's Tomb situated within a garden complex known as Khushbagh in murshidabad, West Bengal. It is one km away from the bank of the Bhagirathi and stands opposite Lalbagh Sadarghat. alivardi khan died at the age of about eighty on 10 April, 1756 (9 Rajab, 1169 AH) and was buried first within a small elevated enclosed platform near his mother's grave in the centre of the outer enclosure at Khusbagh, or the Garden of Delight. sirajuddaula, his grandson, built a mausoleum here for Alivardi and his family and thus increased the area of Khusbagh. The body was disinterred from the grave and laid in its present tomb. The magnificent garden compound consists of three walled enclosures; in the central one of which stands the mausoleum containing the tombs of Alivardi Khan, his grandson Sirajuddaula, and the principal members of their family.

The tomb is a brick building and has very few features of oriental architecture; instead, it resembles a British-style bungalow excepting for the four small minarets at the corners and its projecting eaves. The tomb is a square, flat-roofed building raised two feet from the ground and approached by small flights of steps to the east and west, and surrounded on four sides by an arcaded veranda with five arched openings in each face, leaving an internal square chamber in the centre, which contains the grave of Alivardi Khan. The internal arrangement of the tomb appears to be a simpler version of Bibi Pari's Tomb in Dhaka. The exterior appearance of the tomb, with its smooth rounded open arches and low flat roof, does not fit with the tomb types traditionally associated with Muslim royalties. [Sutapa Sinha]