It is called the Baby Taj, which undersells it. The tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah is small enough to take in at a glance and covered, inside and out, in some of the finest inlaid stonework in India. It was finished a few years before work on the Taj Mahal began, and you can see in it the ideas the Taj would later use at enormous scale.
In this article
Who Is Buried Here
Mirza Ghiyas Beg was a Persian who came to India and rose to become treasurer and chief minister to the emperor Jahangir, who gave him the title Itimad-ud-Daulah, “pillar of the state”. His family did remarkably well. His daughter married Jahangir and became the empress Nur Jahan, and his granddaughter, through his son Asaf Khan, was Mumtaz Mahal — the woman the Taj Mahal was built for.
He died in 1622, and his wife is buried beside him.
Built by an Empress
The tomb was built by Nur Jahan for her father, and completed in the late 1620s. Nur Jahan was one of the most powerful women in Mughal history — coins were struck in her name — and this building is her statement. Commissioning a tomb of this quality was an imperial act, and it was meant to be seen as one.
The Stone
What makes Itimad-ud-Daulah important is its surface. It is the first major Mughal building faced entirely in white marble instead of red sandstone, and the marble is inlaid with semi-precious stones cut into flowers, vases, wine cups, cypresses and geometric pattern. The technique, pietra dura, known in India as parchin kari, would reach its height at the Taj Mahal.
Look too at the jaali screens, the marble lattices in the walls, which fill the tomb chamber with soft, patterned light. Take your time; the detail is the whole point, and at this scale you can see it properly.
Why It Is Worth Seeing Before the Taj
If you can, see it before the Taj Mahal rather than after. It makes the Taj legible: you watch the language of white marble and inlay arrive here in a building you can walk all the way round in a few minutes, then see it perfected at the Taj on a scale that is hard to take in. Seen the other way round, it can look like a miniature. Seen first, it looks like what it was: the beginning.
Visiting
The tomb is on the east bank of the Yamuna, across the river from the city centre, in a walled garden on the water. It is an Archaeological Survey of India site, so check timings and ticket prices on the official ASI site. Forty-five minutes to an hour is enough. It is much quieter than the Taj Mahal, and on some days nearly empty.
It pairs naturally with Chini ka Rauza, a short way along the same bank, and Mehtab Bagh for sunset. And if you are shopping for marble inlay afterwards, see the section on it in our Agra shopping guide first.
