This tomb is situated on the left side of the Dharampura Canal near the railway crossing. Upon arrival, one can see a steel plaque on the dome of the monument, which reads, “This monument was protected under the Archaeology Act 1975. Anybody who damages or disfigures it would be fined or awarded three-year imprisonment. It is also a crime to encroach upon the monument land, or occupy a portion of the land.”
On the contrary, the land of the monument has been encroached upon, damaged and severely disfigured.
Khan-e-Jahan Kokaltash was among the nobles in the regime of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir, and died in 1697. This double-storey mausoleum is octagonal in plan, with high arches on each side, and stands on a big octagonal platform.
The entire building is constructed in cut brickwork without any use of red sandstone, which makes it significant among other buildings of that period.
The 35-foot wide octagonal platform is about five-foot high from the ground, with four steps of thin bricks, most of which are broken. This dome is 80-foot high from its foundation. According to a 69-year-old local, Javed Ahmad, the right side of the tomb was totally damaged during the 1971 war with India when a bomb hit it.
At that time, the Archaeology Department had made a pillar of thick bricks to support it. After that, the department did not spend a single penny on its renovation or preservation. Interestingly, this tomb has a double ceiling – a rounded one which we can see from the outside, and the one inside the main dome – which perhaps was a strategy for the safety of the main dome.
The tomb has eight entrances, two of which were broken during the 1971 war. The plaster from all walls of the dome has also chipped off. Once there was tile work on these entrances, but now all has vanished.
On these entrances are eight interlinked air-crossings, which have now developed cracks. The bricks of the walls from the inner side of the tomb are displaced and have turned black. Right in the middle of the dome is the grave of Khan-e-Jahan, which is made of thick bricks, like the ones being used nowadays. This grave is about two-foot high from the ground. The surrounding area of the grave is also made of thin bricks.
The rear part of the tomb is also in shambles, and some of its part has been destroyed, while the upper portion of the octagonal walls is waterlogged. The wall supporting the upper portion from the left side is also broken, while bricks on the lower portion of the tomb’s walls are displaced. This centuries-old structure has a stairway that leads to the upper portion of the dome.
Javed Ahmad revealed that drug addicts use these stairs to go up and take drugs without being noticed. When this scribe visited the tomb, he found no security guard, gardener or any sweeper.
When contacted, officials of the Archaeology Department said there was no problem with the tomb’s structure, and all it needed was a little renovation. They said that from this financial year, the monument would be restored and repaired partially. An official said that after the decline of the Mughal era, a number of invaders misused the structure.
He said that locals as well as government departments, like Pakistan Railways, had also affected the structure and its surroundings.
He said the monument was once surrounding by big gardens, while today, there were no remnants of those historical gardens.
Author: Ghulam Hussain | Source: Daily Times [July 30, 2012]