William Carpenter (1818–1899)
Grave of Mughal Emeperor,Aurangzeb at Khuldabad, Aurangabad, 1850s. “He desired in his will that not more than 8 rupees was to be expended on it” The epitaph reads his own couplet in Persian: Az tila o nuqreh gar saazand gumbad aghniyaa! Bar mazaar e maa ghareebaan gumbad e gardun bas ast!. Translation: “The rich may well construct domes of gold and silver on their graves! For the poor folks like me, the sky is enough (of a dome to shelter my grave)!” Aurangzeb like his elder sister Jahan Ara, forbade people to raise mausoleums on their graves like his father’s Taj Mahal. His grave lies in open ground at Khuldabad like his sister’s ordinary grave at the shrine of Shaikh Nizam-u’d-din Auliya at Delhi. The grave lies within the courtyard of the shrine of the Sufi saint Shaikh Burhan-u’d-din Gharib (died 1331). This disciple of Nizam ud-Din Auliya of Delhi was buried at Khuldabad near Aurangabad.
Date1850-1856 SourceBritish Library