HUMAYUN'S TOMB 93 



thing about this wonderful city is the fact that 

 it cannot long claim our sole interest : the plains 

 triumph even here, for Shah Jahanabad is only 

 one of many Delhis. 



The garden - tomb of Humayun, the first 

 Mughal Emperor buried in India, lies south of 

 Shah Jahanabad on the plains near the river, 

 between the Emperor's own fort of Purana Kila 

 and the older Delhi of Tughlak Shah. Babar 

 was buried in his favourite Garden of the New 

 Year near Kabul, but his son and successor 

 Humayun, whom he died to save, rests outside 

 the capital of the New Mughal Empire. 



The story of Babar's death is told by the his- 

 torian Adul-Fazl, Akbar's confidant and greatest 

 friend. Humayun, Babar's only son by his wife 

 Mahum, of whom he was so fond, had been away 

 from Agra and was brought back dying of fever. 

 Nothing apparently could be done, and the 

 doctors, powerless, gave up all hope. The mercy 

 of God alone could save him now, they declared. 

 Some supreme sacrifice might avail. 



The Emperor, to whom this was suggested, 

 caught eagerly at the hope. He would sacrifice 

 his own life. In vain the Koh-i-nor was sug- 

 gested instead — ^the great diamond given up at 



