Tomb of Jamal Khan

In Rupnagar stands a large double-domed tomb known as the Makbara of Jamal Khan. The city has grown up around it since Charles Rodgers recorded it as lying outside the town in 1891. Little is known about Jamal Khan. Rodgers found that nobody in the town knew who he was. The historian Subhash Parihar suggests he may be the Jamal Khan who died in the attack on Kangra Fort in 1620, which would place the tomb in Jahangir’s reign. Some recent writers state this as fact, but the book words it as a possibility. The tomb is two storeys high, with each side about 19 metres long. The main hall is a tall, square room open on all four sides through arched doorways. Its ceiling turns from a square into an octagon to carry the inner dome. Patches of painted plaster survive on the ceiling and in the arches, though much of it has worn away, and there is a hole near the centre of the ceiling where brickwork has fallen. Staircases in the corners lead up to passages that circle the hall and let light and air in from above. They lead on to the roof. There is no grave or gravestone inside, so the building may be a memorial and not an actual burial place. Rodgers also found no inscription and no mihrab. Parihar shows that its plan matches the Ustad and Shagird tombs at Sirhind, which in turn recall the Delhi tomb of Abdur Rahim Khan-i Khanan’s wife, who died in 1598. Rupnagar and Sirhind are the only two places in East Punjab with this design. Birds are painted in the corner arches, one of the few animal motifs found on Muslim buildings in the region. The condition is poor. A visitor in March 2024 found damage to the plaster and dome, a ruined stair, no information board, and an unrelated building in the compound that seemed to encroach on the site. The same visitor described litter inside, including syringes, which points to misuse of the tomb. Source: Parihar, Subhash, Some Aspects of Indo-Islamic Architecture (Abhinav Publications, 1999), chs. 11-12; Rodgers, C.J., Revised List of Objects of Archaeological Interest in the Punjab (1891); visitor accounts on Instagram (@timesofyore, 7 December 2025) and in the Facebook group Indian Historical Monuments (visit of 4 March 2024).