7C2B2592 - a photo on Flickriver

7C2B2592

            Old Monument 
In DAV College 
Now Islamia College Civil Lines
Lahore
Punjab
Pakistan
These are Nakain Kaur, Chand Kaur and Sahib Kaur's Samadhis. A brief history about these is as under........These samadhis of the royal ladies of the Sikh Empire are situated within the grounds of the Islamia College at Civil Lines, just south west of the Chilla of Baba Farid Ganj Shakar. The samadhis are placed on a solid 10 feet high square platform. The original staircase was on the east end of the platform and led up to the samadhi of Maharani Nakain Kaur. Her samadhi is square in structure measuring 16 feet on each side surmounted by a fluted dome. The dome was topped by a metal finial, which is no longer extant. A door has been provided on each of the four sides. Inside, at the center was an 18 inches high and 3x3 feet wide platform on which was placed the stone urn containing the ashes of the second wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and mother of Kharak Singh. Her original name was Raj Kaur but she changed her name to Datar Kaur because Ranjit Singh's mother was also named Raj Kaur. She was married to the Maharaja in 1798 who lovingly addressed her as Mal Nakain. She died on 20 June 1838 and her samadhi was built around the same time.

South of the samadhi of Nakain Kaur, on the same platform is the samadhi of Maharani Chand Kaur, wife of Kharak Singh and mother of Naunehal Singh. Her samadhi is also square in construction and measures 16 feet on each side, similar to that of her mother-in-law's. Each of the four corners of the building are topped by small domed towers. In the center is a fluted dome similar to that of Nakain Kaur's samadhi, however; it was never topped with a finial and only the metal rod could be seen emanating from the top of the dome when Kanhaiya Lal wrote about them in 1884. Chand Kaur was married to Kharak Singh in 1812 at the age of 10. She claimed the throne of Lahore in November 1840 for about two and a half months following the deaths of her husband Kharak Singh and son Naunehal Singh. She challenged Sher Singh, the second son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, on the grounds that her daughter in law, Kanvar Naunehal Singh's widow, Sahib Kaur, was pregnant and that she would assume regency on behalf of the unborn legal successor to her husband's throne. Sher Singh, winning support of a rival group at the court and of a section of the army, marched upon Lahore. In July 1841, Nau Nihal Singh's widow Sahib Kaur delivered a stillborn son. This ended whatever hopes Chand Kaur had of realizing her claims. She was killed on 11 June 1842 by her maids who had been appointed by Dhian Singh in collusion with Sher Singh.

Between these samadhis, to the west is another smaller samadhi belonging to Sahib Kaur, wife of Naunehal Singh. It is octagonal in shape, about half the height of the other two samadhis and topped by a smaller simpler dome. Naunehal Singh was married to Sahib Kaur in 1837 at the age of 16. She died in 1841.
Presently, the samadhis are utilized for a debased function of a dispensary, a far cry from their original purpose of safeguarding the ashes of the royal ladies of the once proud rulers of Punjab.

   

Taken on: May 3, 2015

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Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III, f/16.0, 1/5 sec, 17mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens:	TS-E17mm f/4L
Aperture:	f/16.0
Exposure Time:	0.2 sec (1/5)
Focal Length:	17mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.7 (Windows)
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