It does not matter whether you are form Dhaka or not or even outside of Bangladesh, you cannot miss visiting the Lalbagh fort in old Dhaka. As Dhaka’s history grew richer, this place has become the landmark of this city. People across the country have visited this place hundreds and thousands of time, done researches on it, wrote history, and similar other works that made it so popular among everyone. In this part of our story, we will present to you the main attraction of this whole complex, the famous tomb of Pari bibi.
HISTORICAL REVIEW:
This beautiful structure was constructed by Shaista Khan in the memory of Bibi Pari, who was his daughter and betrothed to Prince Muhammad Azam, but in A.D. 1684 unfortunately died while living in Dhaka. Shaista Khan actually built this tomb with great care, where her loving daughter was buried, by importing the materials from different parts of India.
CONTROVERSY REGARDING PARI BIBI’S IDENTITY:
As of today, no one is actually sure about the true identity of Pari Bibi. However, A.H Dani asserts that from a document registered before the death of Shaista Khan, it has been revealed that he had 7 sons and 5 daughters. Two of the daughters; Iran Dukht alias Pari Bibi and Turan Dukht alias Bibi Biban were present in Dhaka.
S.M. Taifoor in his ‘Glimpses of Old Dhaka’ has a different theory, seriously contending the above opinion. He says, “There is no evidence to prove that this young Prince (Azam) was engaged or married to Shaista Khan’s daughter, born of some obscure concubine. Besides, we find that at this time the Prince had already four wives whom he had married in quick succession. As such there was no possibility of contracting a fifth marriage, grossly transgressing Muslim law”. He tells us that Mir Jumla (1659-1663) at the end of his Ahom expedition, brought back immense war indemnity: annexation of the kingdom of ‘Nak Kati Rani’ adjoining the Garo hills and a 9-year old Ahom princess, the daughter of Ahom Raja Jayadhwaj as hostage for the full execution of the treaty. “Emperor Aurangzeb converted her to Islam and in 1677 gave her in marriage to Prince Azam on a dower of rupees one hundred and eighty thousand. The princess lived in Dhaka with Shahzada Azam and that she died in Dhaka suffering from some puerperal disease”. Her maiden name before conversion was Ramani Gobharu, and after conversion she was named as Rahmat Banu. As she was extraordinarily pretty and a great favorite of the Prince she was affectionately called Bibi Pari, in support of this interesting assertion Syed Md. Taifoor tells us that the mode and the type of pre-Muslim architecture of the tomb further support his view, somewhat similar story is told by Begum Lutfunnesa Habibullah in her paper ‘Ahom Rajkonna Bibi Parir Samadhi’ basing her story on Ahom chroniclers.
ARCHITECTURAL PATTERN:
Bibi Pari’s tomb is a unique Mughal monument in Bangladesh where black basalt from Rajmahal hills, white marble from Jaipur and encaustic tiles of various colors were used to decorate its interior. The mausoleum was planned on the grand pattern of the Taj and the tomb of emperor Humayun. The 66 feet square edifice stands in the middle of a raised stone flagged platform. At each corner it has four graceful octagonal turrets which are capped by plastered kiosks with ribbed decoration. The roof is covered with a false copper dome and crowned by lotus finial, originally gilded and polished for brilliance. The interior of the tomb is divided into nine chambers including 19’-5” square mortuary chamber. The tomb chamber is entirely veneered in white marble in the center of which is a simple stepped cenotaph formed of three steps. The faces of the steps are relieved with shallow foliated designs, while its top bears, in low relief, a takhli design, indicating the grave of a lady. The floor is laid out in small pattern on white marble. Of the other eight chambers, four central side rooms are 14’-8” long by 10-8” broad. The walls of the four side rooms are decorated with white marble up to the dado level. However, the walls of the corner square rooms are decorated with glazed tiles up to the dado level. The colors of the panels are dark blue, orange, green and purple on a yellow ground with borders of orange and lilac flowers on a green ground.
Of the four entrance doorways of the tomb chamber, three are closed with arched white marble jalies and the fourth to the south, originally fitted with sandal wood door leaves, bearing Chinese cross motifs (all of which, according to Syed M. Taifoor have now been stripped by Aleyar Khan and Mazher Ali Khan, who claim descent from Shaista Khan). The most striking device to span the roof of all nine chambers of the mausoleum is the primitive pre-Islamic corbelling system. Huge black-basalt slabs overlap one another from sides to meet at the apex and thereby, form a pyramidal roof. The tomb chamber has 13 overlaps up to 19’-11” height whereas all side rooms are roofed by seven overlapping courses of black stone, rising from 7-8” to 13’-6” with a flat terrace above. Cunningham noted in 1880 during his visit to the Lalbagh Fort, following inscriptions on the eastern and western faces of the tomb.
A loose black basalt slab, bearing inscription in flourishing tugrik style with some floral ornamentation was discovered inside the tomb, which was presumed for long to be her tombstone. Later careful study has revealed that there was nothing in the inscription to indicate the elegiac effect usual in tombstone. On the contrary it is a eulogist tribute to an emperor who did wonderful works to his country. The text consists of five verses of a Qasida in Persian, each hemistich inscribed in segments. It is now on display at the fort Museum. It refers to an emperor who has claim of sovereignty over vast empire created by his predecessors whom spread over Sind, India and the Chinese territories of Central Asia. The last verse in the Qasida mentions an aging city, which probably alludes to the city of Dhaka, where Aurangzeb initiated a scheme of building a fort and other monuments. It is probable that the stone inscription was intended to be an inaugural inscribed tablet to be fixed on the gateway of the fort on some auspicious occasion. In the southeastern corner apartment, there is another marble tomb somewhat similar to the central tomb. It is believed to be of another daughter of Shaista Khan, named Shamshad Banu. The open platform on South is occupied by the grave of Ser Buland Khan, grandson of Khoda Banda Khan Alias Mirza Bangali, son of Shaista Khan. The idea of dividing the interior of a tomb into a number of rooms is, no doubt, derived from the system followed in the Tajmahal and the Mausoleum of Humayun, and probably the use of marble is also inspired from the same basis.
PRESENT CONDITION:
Pari Bibi’s Tomb is in a good shape because of the continuous repairing of the authority and now it is a part of the Lalbagh Fort area, which is not only a place of great recreation to the visitors but also a place to learn about our enrich history for those people who want to know in depth about Dhaka city.
Old Dhaka in New Look 