A FAMOUS FAMILY 53 



left his home to seek his fortune at the Court of 

 Akbar, where there were already relatives of 

 his ; and with him came his wife, his son, and an 

 infant daughter born on the journey to Lahore. 

 A clever man and genial scholar, he quickly rose 

 to power, and his little daughter, who seems to 

 have inherited much of his ability, as well as 

 his love for art, became in after years the famous 

 Empress Nur-Jahan. She and her brother Asaf 

 Khan, who, in his turn, became Wazir, com- 

 pletely ruled the empire in the closing days of 

 Jahangir ; while Asaf Khan's daughter (Nur- 

 Jahan's niece and daughter-in-law) was the 

 Mumtaz Mahal, the Crown of the Palace, 

 whose death inspired the building of the Taj. 

 This tomb of the founder of the family shows 

 plainly their influence on the art of their day, 

 the inlaid work with its designs of vases, 

 fruits, drinking-cups, and cypress trees repeating 

 in marble all the familiar motives of Persian 

 tile-mosaic. 



The whole enclosure and the mausoleum seem 

 small after the huge pile set in the vast ruined 

 garden at Sikandrah. But though this old 

 pleasure-ground by the riverside is carefully 

 maintained, its empty water channels, bare mown 



