Once upon a time, the banks of the River Yamuna was lined with forty five beautiful gardens as per the map in Jaipur City Museum. It is in the garden mansion of Raja man Singh that Emperor Shah Jahan built the grand mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz Mahal- the Rauza e Munawwara or as its known today the Taj Mahal.

Not many of the gardens remain but we can see the pavilions and burjis scattered along the bank. One of them houses a tomb with glazed tile ornamentation called Chini ka Rauza.

Visitors to Agra invariably end up in front of the Taj Mahal, or Itmad-ud Daula’s tomb and venture out to Fatehpur Sikri.

It’s only a few who go to the Chini ka Rauza. Rauza is a Persian word which means garden and is used to describe a tomb of a saintly person. This is the Rauza of Afzal Khan, a Persian poet who was the wazir of Shah Jahan. He was the brother of Amanat Khan , the famous artist who designed the calligraphy on the Taj mahal

Though Afzal Khan died in  Lahore 1639, he had already built this tomb for himself and was brought here for burial. It was built around the same time as the Taj Mahal was being built.

It stands out because it is not built in the usual marble or red sandstone style of architecture prevalent in Agra but in the Persian style with beautiful glazed tiles. Most of the tiles covering the exterior have been destroyed but the interior gives clues  of its grandeur. It is three storied. Today there is just one pavilion standing near the ghat and its approach gate from the ghat has vanished.

Since porcelain is known as chini (chinese) in many parts of India it got the name Chini ka Rauza.

The plan is square with a proportionately small dome on it with the inverted lotus and finial. There are arched central  bays on each side, which form the large entrance arches  (iwans). On the corners aresmall minarets known as guldastas.

The exterior is now a muddy brown and hardly prepares one for the glory of the interior. One can only imagine what it must have looked like in the 17th century.

It has calligraphy from the Quran on the band bellow the drum of the roof and many arched windows above it. The interior is painted and was probably repaired in the 19th century.

The entrances are honeycombed

There are two graves inside it without any inscription. If there was one it has got lost in time.

The lone surviving burji of some garden.

It is one km  on some crowded lanes from the tomb of Itmad ud Daula and is governed by the ASI timings. Entry is free.

At first glance the name seems an improbable name till you realise that Chini here isn’t sugar but glazed tiles which were imported from China.

It is the tomb of Allama Afzal Khan Mullah, a scholar and poet who was the Prime Minister of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. It  was built in 1635. 

The facade of the monument was also known for one of finest examples of glazed tile work. Now one can only see it in patches.

When we hired an auto driver to take us there he said, ” Saheb wahan kuchh nahin hai.” ( saheb there’s nothing to see there). He must have thought we were crazy to go there instead of the exquisite Tomb of Itmad -up Daulah. But I had visited it on earlier trips and somehow always missed this.

Situated on the Riverside it’s got an enviable location. I don’t know how much land it occupied earlier but now there’s a narrow road which goes through a small mohalla and ends at its gate.

It’s very dark inside but once your eyes get used to it very beautiful. Beautiful floral and geometric designs brighten it up and the inside hasn’t fared as badly as the outside.

There are two pretty 3 storeyed octagonal Towers near it, one adjoining it’s boundary and the other a little far away. The one near it is in ruins and used as a lavatory from the smells and mess.

There are two pretty 3 storeyed octagonal Towers near it. One is built in its wall while the other is a little further down the river. 

These seem to be buildings associated with the ghat.

There was another tomb like structure on the left but in another compound and we didn’t visit it.