Itmad-ud-daulah (dawn-dusk; Rs235 [Rs10]), the beautiful tomb of Mirza Ghiyath Beg - an important member of Akbar's court and later wazir (chief minister) to, and father-in-law of, Emperor Jahangir - stands amid gardens with scampering monkeys on the east bank of the Yamuna, less than 3km from the city. The first building to be built of white inlaid marble in Moghul India, this charming two-storey mausoleum, which Agra's rickshaw-wallahs misleadingly call the "Baby Taj" , is small but perfectly executed, with translucent stones set into its walls and tracery-work. It's unmistakeably feminine, having been designed by Ghiyath Beg's daughter, the favourite queen of Jahangir, and the most powerful woman in Moghul history, named Nur Jahan, "Light of the World", by Jahangir. He respected her intellect and talent so much that he ordered coins to be minted in her name, and by the time of her father's death in 1622 she had substantial control over the empire.

 

The square mausoleum, with an octagonal turret at each corner, foreshadows the Taj Mahal in its exclusive use of marble, but is more daintily proportioned, and has a pavilion on its roof rather than a dome. However, recent "restoration" work has resulted in poor-quality plaster obscuring some of the exquisite detail, and in other places semiprecious stones that were once embedded into the marble have been winkled out and stolen. Ghiyath Beg's grave is underground, next to his wife's sarcophagus, shrouded in flowers. A pierced and intricately carved wall in front of the entrance to the grave casts a soft hazy light over paintings of flowers, cypresses, vases and wine vessels, all symbols of paradise, in the inner chamber