The Grave Platform is the central point of interest in the northwestern quadrant of Humayun's Garden Tomb. Six cenotaphs are presented on a large masonry platform that sits under a canopy of trees. As a result of careful landscape planning, the Grave Platform appears to sit on top of a square pool where four water channels meet. The fourth water channel is implied, since a water channel begins at the other side of the Grave Platform, and the rectangular pool is placed perfectly in the position that it would be in if there were another half of the pool underneath the Grave Platform. "The delight in allusion and illusion was a pronounced feature of Mughal architecture."1 Although Ruggles was discussing a different garden when she wrote this, it is fitting to this feature at Humayun's Garden Tomb.
The Grave Platform is one of a few places at Humayun's Tomb where Mughal dynastic graves can be found.
1. D. Fairchild Ruggles, Islamic Gardens and Landscapes (Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008.), 110.
Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme. Revitalization of the Gardens of Emperor Humayun's Tomb. Geneva: Aga Khan Trust for Culture, 2003.
Ruggles, D. Fairchild. Islamic Gardens and Landscapes. Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008, 103-16.
