Tomb of Sarai Nurdi

Along the old Agra-Lahore road near Tarn Taran, the village of Nurdi takes its name from Sarai Nur al-Din, a caravanserai that once stood where the village is today. Little of it survives except a kos-minar west of the village and a tomb on its western edge, now in poor condition, with its plaster gone and its walls blackened and cracked. The tomb is octagonal, with four large sides and four small ones, and a double dome over a square chamber. Its plan is very close to the tomb of Muhammad Mumin at Nakodar, built in 1612. No inscription names who is buried here. The historian Subhash Parihar thinks it holds Nur al-Din Quli Isfahani, a Persian noble and kotwal of Lahore under Jahangir who was assassinated in 1632, but this is his inference and not a proven fact. What makes the tomb special is its walls, which are covered in ink graffiti left by travellers. Parihar published five. One, dated 25 June 1635, was written by a man travelling to Agra with his father. Another, dated 3 November 1645, was written by a soldier on his way to join the Mughal campaign against Balkh, and it names the commanders Ali Mardan Khan and Raja Jagat Singh. Most of the other writing has faded away. Sources: Parihar, “Some Interesting Visitors’ Records: Five Examples of Graffiti Found in a Tomb at Nurdi”, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1997); Virasat Mughal-monuments documentation (vmis.in); Tribune India.