In 1526, after winning his battle for control of Hindustan at Panipat, Emperor Babur recorded his entry to Delhi in his journal: “On Tuesday, I circumambulated Shaykh Nizam Awliya’s tomb and camped beside the Jamuna directly opposite Delhi. That evening I toured the Delhi fortress...”" That Babur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty, would offer his reverence at the saint’s grave on his entry to Delhi and prior to even visiting the fortress he had just conquered demonstrates the spiritual signi+icance of the area to the Mughals. As it is considered auspicious to be buried near a saint’s grave, an abundance of tomb building occurred in the area beginning in the fourteenth century.
Source
From The Area of Humayun's Tomb in Heritage of the Mughal World (Philip Jodidio, editor)
Nanda, Ratish. "The Area of Humayun's Tomb". In
Heritage of the Mughal World, edited by Philip Jodidio, 157-183. Munich: Prestel, 2015.
Prestel and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture
