1

Dr. Subhash Panhar

P.O. Box 48
St. # 2. Green Enclave
KOT KAPURA-15 1 204.
E. Punjab INDIA

TRAVELLING WITH THE MUGHALS

A SURVEY OF AGRA-LAHORE HIGHWAY

SUBHASH PARIHAR

The Mughal Highway from Agra to Lahore earned great appreciation from most of

the seventeenth century European travellers who traversed the route. The British

traveller Thomas Coryat (1612—17) considered the route as the most

incomparable road his eyes ever surveyed.1 For Thomas Roe (1614-18), the

English ambassador of the King James I to the Mughal Court, this highway was

“one of the great works and wonders of the world." 2 Richard Steele and John

Crowther (1615-16), two other British travellers, besides mentioning shady trees

on both sides of the road, also write that all along the route “Every five or six

Course, there are Serais built by the King or some great men, very faire for

beautifying of the way, memory of their names, and entertainment of Travellers.”3

Jahangir (1605-27) was the emperor of the Mughal empire when all these

travellers visited the road and showered praise on it. Most likely, the upgrading of

the route was carried out under his orders as a clear-cut statement to the effect can

be found in his memoirs. Here, in 1607, the emperor orders the zamindars on

Agra-Lahore route to "plant at every town and village and at every stage and

halting place, all the way from Lahour [Lahore] to Agra, mulberry, and other large

and lofty trees affording shade, but particularly those with broad leaves and wide

spreading branches, in order that to all time to come the way-worn and weary

traveller might find under their shadow repose and shelter from the scorching rays
 2

of the sun during the summer heats. . . . 4 The emperor further directs “that spacious

serrais, choultries or places of rest and refreshment, substantially built of brick or

stone, so as to be secure against early decay, should be created at the termination

of every eight kosse, for the whole distance, all provided with baths, and to every

one a tank or reservoir of fresh water (should be provided...).” 5 According to the

royal decree convenient bridges were to be erected at the crossing of every river,

so that the industrious traveller might be able to proceed on his journey without

obstruction or delay.

The above-quoted travel-accounts of contemporary or near-contemporary

European travellers indicate that the royal order was duly complied with.

Fortunately, this Mughal highway has left more tangible evidence than mere written

accounts, in the form of numerous caravansarais, bridges, kos-minars, baolis and

tanks, all erected to facilitate travel along the route. On surveying these

architectural remains, we see that the process of building along the highway was

not limited to the period of Jahangir alone but that it continued with the same

vigour throughout the seventeenth century, during the rule of later Mughal

emperors Shah Jahan (1627-58) and Aurangzeb (1658-1707). And by the end of

the seventeenth century the concentration of sarais along the route exceeded the

ideal set by Jahangir, by about sixty percent, i.e. instead of having a sarai at the

termination of every eight kos, there were sarais at the average distance of every

five kos.

For the most part the patrons of buildings were not emperors themselves,

but queens, princes, princesses and above all powerful and wealthy nobility.

Occasionally, philanthropists also built sarais as acts of charity.6

Alignment of the Route

 3

On the basis of the Mughal chronicles, the itineraries of various travellers and the

surviving architectural remains, we can trace the alignment of the Mughal Agra-

Lahore highway with fair accuracy. Covering a distance of more than seven

hundred kilometres, it ran as follows (Fig. 1):

Agra - Runkata - Bad - Mathura - Azamabad - Chhatta - Kosi (stages up to here lie

in the present State of Uttar Pradesh, hereafter the route enters Haryana State)

-Hodal - Palwal - Faridabad - Khwaja Sarai (hereafter starts the territory of Delhi)

-Badarpur - Nizamuddin - Delhi - Badli - Narela (here, the route again enters

Haryana) - Sonepat - Ganaur - Smalkha - Panipat - Gharonda - Karnal - Taraori

-Thanesar - Shahabad - Kot Kachhwaha - Ambala (here, the route enters East

Punjab) - Shambhu - Rajpura - Sarai Banjara (Aluwa Sarai of Finch and Jahangir) -

Sirhind - Khanna - Sarai Lashkar Khan - Kanech - Doraha - Ludhiana - Phillaur

-Nurmahal - Nakodar - Malhian Kalan - Sultanpur Lodhi - Goindwal - Fatehabad

-Naurangabad - Nurdi - Sarai Amanat Khan - Raja Taal (after this stage, the

remaining route lies in West Punjab, Pakistan) - Sarai Khan-i Khanan - Lahore. 7

The Route in Historical Perspective

Since ancient times, India’s land contact with the outer world has been through the

passes in the north-western ranges of the Himalayas. Travellers, traders, and

invaders all entered India via Kandahar, Ghazni or Kabul. Pataliputra, Delhi, Agra

or any other city that served as the seat of royal power in Hindustan needed a

strategic and efficient road system connecting it to the north-west. During times of

invasion or uprising in a far off region, this system facilitated easy mobilization of

forces. In times of peace, travellers and traders utilized the roads. Rulers who

contributed to the development of such communication networks increased their

personal glory and filled their coffers with tax revenues.

 4

The alignment of the route connecting Hindustan to the north-western

border fluctuated throughout history, although not much is known about its early

history. Of the stages from Kannauj to Kabul and Ghazni, mentioned by Alberuni

(970-1039), Panipat, Sunam and Lahore are clearly identifiable.8 Later, when

Lahore was destroyed by Mangols in 1241, the route connecting Delhi to Kandhar

and Ghazni passed through Multan. Of the two main routes leading from Delhi to

Multan, the direct road ran through Kharkhauda, Rohtak, Hansi, Sirsa, Bhatner and

Marot. The second route proceeded by way of Abohar and Ajudhan (Pakpattan). 9

When at the beginning of the fifteenth century Timur devastated the

territories between Delhi and Multan and Multan became independent of the Delhi

Sultanate, the route to the north-west turned eastwards and northwards, again

through Lahore. Gradual northwards encroachments of the Thar desert, as

suggested by Alexander Cunningham (the first Archaeological Surveyor of India),

might have also forced the Mughals to abandon the old lines of road and develop a

permanent route further north, via Ambala and Sirhind.10 This then became the new

Mughal Highway. From Agra to Delhi to Ambala, it marched almost parallel to the

river Yamuna. Then up to Lahore, it passed through north-western Punjab, running

parallel to the Shiwalik range. The route remained operative till Mughals held

Punjab under their control. With the rise of the Sikh power in the region their

control was disrupted. Some areas of the route passed into the hands of different

Sikh rebel brigades.

Public Works for the Benefit of Travellers

The surviving architectural remains of the various types of buildings for the benefit

of the travellers along the route have been thoroughly surveyed by the author. 11 The

building types include caravansarais, bridges, baolis, tanks and kos-

 5

minars. The main features of all these typological categories of monuments are

summarised below.

Caravansarais

Prior to the introduction of automobiles, people used oxen, bullock-carts, camels

and sometimes horses or other such means for transportation. Those who could

afford to travel more comfortably, made use of a palanquin. Obviously, not much

distance could be covered in a day by any of the above means. Cities and towns

were widely spaced. The constant menace of marauders was also there. All these

factors compelled people to travel in large groups called caravans. After a day-long

tiring journey, for a night halt some secure site was indispensable where they could

be sure of food and water for themselves and their animals. Caravansarais fulfilled

this need.

Along the Agra-Lahore route, caravansarais are known to have existed at

least at the following thirty-five stages: Bad, Mathura, Azamabad, Chhatta, Kosi,

Hodal, Palwal, Khawaja Sarai, Badarpur, Nizamuddin, Badli, Narela, Gannaur,

Samalkha, Panipat, Karnal, Taraori, Thanesar, Kot Kachhwaha, Shambhu, Rajpura,

Sarai Banjara, Sirhind, Khanna, Sarai Lashkar Khan, Doraha, Phillaur, Nurmahal,

Nakodar, Mahlian Kalan, Sultanpur Lodi, Fatehabad, Naurangabad, Sarai Amanat

Khan and Sarai Khan-i-Khanan. Of these, almost complete specimens still survive

at Mathura, Chhatta, Kosi, Taraori, Shambhu, Rajpura, Sarai Lashkar Khan and

Mahlian Kalan. Sarais have partially survived at Azamabad, Thanesar, Shahabad,

Doraha, Nurmahal, Sultanpur Lodi, Fatehabad and Sarai Amanat Khan. Only

gateways are extant of the sarais at Palwal, Badarpur, Badli (Azadpur), Gharonda

and Sarai Banjara.

Architecturally, most of the extant sarais more or less follow the same plan.

They are invariably square or rectangular structures enclosed with high

 6

battlemented curtain wall (the largest of the surviving sarais is the one at Chhatta

and covers a square of some 210 m side) (Fig. 2). Each corner of the enclosure is

strengthened with a bastion which gives the sarai a fort-like presence (Fig. 3). So

much so that today local inhabitants think of them as forts. Even some European

travellers thought them so.

But for the sarais at Mathura, Thanesar, and Sultanpur Lodhi, which have

only one gateway each, the access to every sarai is provided usually through two

splendid gateways, set on opposite sides and wide enough to permit heavily laden

beasts such as camels (Figs. 6-8) . These portals are so large as to accommodate a

number of rooms of various shapes, arranged in two or three storeys. A resident

staff of caretakers and guards also may have been permanently housed in these

rooms.

The central courtyard of a sarai is always open to the sky and along the

inside walls of the enclosure are ranged single-storeyed small rooms to

accommodate travellers (Fig. 10).12 From amongst the extant sarais, the sarai at

Shambhu has the minimum number of 88 rooms whereas the sarai at Chhatta has

maximum, 148. The middle portion of the two sides not having gateways, is

emphasized with a large block of rooms, to complete the four-ivan plan, a Persian

form developed during the Seljuq period (circa 1000-1157). In each corner of a

sarai was also a larger set of rooms. These larger suites were meant for the

travellers of rank.

Every sarai was provided with a mosque for public worship (Fig. 11).

James Forbes writes that each mosque has a mulla to assist pious Muslims in their

prayers.13 The quarters adjoining the mosques or in its basement, found in some

sarais, e.g. at Doraha, Shambhu, Azamabad etc. were, most probably meant for

resident mullas.
 7

Often a splendid hammam, as seen in the sarais at Doraha and Nurmahal

also formed a part of a sarai. Along with a bath, wells also were dug inside the sarai

to supply drinking water to travellers and residents inside a sarai.14

In the standardised plan of the sarai, architects exhibited their creativity in

the architectural and decorative treatment of its gateways. These magnificent

portals display the stylistic development of Mughal gateways over a century (Figs.

4-6). And in the absence of epigraphic or literary evidence, the architectural style of

these gateways help us fix the chronology of a sarai.

Broadly speaking, sarai gateways can be classified into two types. The first

type follows the well-known Buland Darwaza, i.e., the sides of the high central

facade containing the archway, are turned at an angle. The Sarai at Fatehpur Sikri,

built by Akbar, has this type of gateway which can also be found in the sarais at

Shambhu and Nurmahal. The second type of portal has a broad facade, in a single

plane, flanked by an octagonal tower, usually covered with a dome or a chhatri.

Most sarai gateways are of this type. Both types have some recesses or projected

balconies on the facade and usually have rich decoration done in a contemporary

style. The western gateway of Sarai Nurmahal has carved decoration exhibiting a

vast variety of animate motifs (Fig. 7-8). Sarai gateways at Fatehabad, Doraha and

Sarai Amanat Khan, have excellent glazed-tile mosaics done in variegated colours

(Figs. 9-10).

The institution of the sarai had existed in India, in one form or the other,

since ancient times. As mentioned in the 7th Pillar Edict of King Ashoka, the royal

road connecting his capital Pataliputra with the north-western city of Taxila was

furnished with a chain of rest-houses and wells at regular intervals. 15 Buddhist

viharas along major trade-routes also served travellers, merchants and pilgrims.
 8

There is also ample evidence suggesting the existence of sarais during the

Sultanate period. For example, Sultan Alauddin Khilji’s directive that no one should

drink, sell or have anything to do with wine was proclaimed through the streets and

wards, bazaars and sarais of the capital.16 An inscription of Muhammad bin

Tughlaq from Bhadgaon (Maharashtra) records the construction of a sarai there by

Sunbul, the Mehtar-i-Sarai or inn-keeper, in 1328.17 Shams Siraj Afif, the author of

Tarikh-i Firozshahi, clearly mentions the erection of monasteries and inns for the

accommodation of travellers by Sultan Firuz Shah, where travellers from all

directions were hosted for three days.18 Three sarais are specified by name in the

list of eighteen places which were included in the newly built town of Firuzabad by

Firuz.19

But it appears that the above-mentioned sarais of the Sultanate period were

situated in cities or towns and not along highways. The credit for providing sarais

along highways first goes to Sher Shah Sur (1540-45), the Pathan emperor well-

known for his civic works. He showed an avid interest in the promotion of trade

and travel throughout his empire and can be credited for having built sarais at the

termination of every two kos ( approximately 8 kilometres) to facilitate travel.20 His

name is so deeply attached to the institution of sarai that common lore would have

us believe that every sarai in India was built by Sher Shah as in Iran every sarai is

attributed to the Safavid emperor Shah Abbas I (1589-1627).

Sher Shah’s son Islam Shah tried to emulate his father by building more

sarais.21 But all these pre-Mughal sarais are known only from literary and

epigraphical sources. None of the actual structures survive, probably because these

buildings were made of impermanent building materials such as beaten earth or

mud-brick.
 9

The construction of such public works was possible in stable and

prosperous polities. Therefore the largest number of brick and stone sarais were

built under Mughals who held the most prosperous state in medieval India. Indeed

all surviving sarais along the Agra-Lahore route date from this period.

The sarai was one of the most important public buildings not only in

Mughal India but in most of the Islamic world. Magnificent sarais were built in

Syria, Turkey and Persia. But in general appearance, Mughal sarais along the Agra-

Lahore highway bear closest resemblance to the Persian prototypes. The only

difference is that whereas the Persian sarais show great variation in planning, it is

not for the Mughal ones.22 It appears that the Persian form, was simplified here to

suit local climatic conditions. In the absence of any structure of this class in India

from the pre-Mughal period,23 it is difficult to say which elements of these Mughal

sarais were of indigenous origin.

A clear picture of the working of the Mughal sarais is provided by various

European travellers in Mughal India. A traveller who wanted to stay in a sarai was

allotted a room. When he had taken up his lodging, no other could dispossess him

of it.24 As already noted, the maximum number of rooms for common travellers in a

sarai along the Agra-Lahore route are 148, as seen in the sarai at Chhatta. But

Niccolao Manucci, a Venetian who lived in India from 1656 up to his death in

1717) records that each sarai “might hold, more or less, from 800 to 1000 persons,

with their horses, camels, carriages, and some of them are even larger.” 25 So the

other travellers, who could not get rooms, most probably pitched their tents in the

sarai's courtyard. During a heavy rush these buildings must have resembled “large

barns”, as recorded by the French physician traveller Francis Bernier (lived in India

during 1656—68), where hundreds of human beings were visible “mingled with

their horses, mules and camels.”26

 10

Each traveller was provided with a cot but he had to provide his own

bedding. Provisions such as flour, rice, butter and vegetables could be bought

inside the sarai or in its vicinity.27 There were also servants in each sarai who

prepared food for small payment.28 Sweepers cleaned the rooms. The Portuguese

missionary Fray Sebastain Manrique considers the attendants in a sarai very

obliging and better than European stablemen and innkeepers.29

Manucci records that in every sarai “is an official whose duty it is to close

the gates at the going down of the Sun. After he has shut the gates he calls out that

every one must look after his belongings, picket his horses by their fore and hind

legs... At six o’clock in the morning, before opening the gates, the watchman gives

three warnings to the travellers, crying in a loud voice that everyone must look

after his own things. After these warnings, if anyone suspects that any of his

property is missing, the doors are not opened until the lost thing is found.”30

Manucci also mentions the presence of cloth-dealers, “musicians, dancing

boys, women dancers, barbers, tailors, washermen, farriers with horse shoes,

endless cheating physicians and many sellers of grass and straw for the horses” as

well as “women of pleasure”.31

Most probably, it was merely in theory that one could stay in a sarai without

any recompense as mentioned by Edward Terry.32 An inscription on the western

gateway of Sarai Nurmahal forbids taking payment from the travellers. But in

practice, the keeper of the sarai must have charged something, if only a nominal

amount.

Although critical of the Indian sarais, Bernier was so impressed by the

Begun Sarai (not extant now) at Delhi that he wrote: “If in Paris we had a score of

similar structures, distributed in different parts of the city, strangers on their first

arrival would be less embarrassed than at present to find a safe and reasonable
 11

lodging. They might remain in them for a few days until they had seen their

acquaintance, and looked out at leisure for more convenient apartments.”33

None of the European travellers mention that the Mughal sarais were also

used as dak-chowkis or relay stations as in the days of Sher Shah Sur. According to

Waq'i Alamgiri, dak-chowkis were set up as distinct from sarais.34

Bridges

The Agra-Lahore highway had a number of rivers and streams that required

bridging although no permanent bridges are known to have spanned any of the

main rivers along the route. Instead, these waterways were crossed by bridges

made of connected boats or ferries. Only small streams were spanned with masonry

bridges which still survive in varying states of decay, at Khwaja Sarai (Fig. 11),

Nizamuddin (Delhi), Madhuban, Thanesar, Sirhind, Mahlian Kalan and Sultanpur

Lodhi.

These bridges commonly consist of multiple arched openings, separated by

piers provided with rectangular, triangular or circular cutwaters. Only the smaller

bridge at Sultanpur Lodhi has piers pierced with small arches. Usually, these

bridges were higher at the middle. The pathway over the bridge was flanked with

minars. The bridge at Nizamuddin, popularly known as Barahpula, measuring some

196 meters in length, is the largest of the surviving bridge. Built during the reign of

Jahangir, it consists of 11 arches carried on 12 piers. In its pristine condition, the

second bridge at Sultanpur Lodhi appears to have been longer in size.

As all the streams of the region have alluvial beds, the bridges were

founded on the standard system of well foundations. The major flaw of medieval

bridges, as first pointed out by Cunningham, was that their piers had approximately

the same thickness as the span of the arches which obstructed one half of the

waterway with the result that the river soon made a way for itself by cutting away
 12

the bank at one end of the bridges.35 The destruction of bridges was usually caused

during violent floods when rivers swell suddenly. Even piercing of piers as noted in

the first bridge at Sultanpur Lodhi, could not save it. An appropriate solution was

found in the Sirhind bridge where the side bridges offered additional water-way.

Shifting riverbeds was another factor that contributed to the destruction of the

bridges; for example, probably due to a southward shift in the bed of the Kali Vein

river at Sultanpur that additional arches had to be built for the second bridge.

Baolis

The climate of the north-western India through which the highway passed, is

dominated by a long summer. Water was the most basic need of travellers. Wells

were the most common artificial sources of drinking water. But more ambitious

builders erected impressive baolis and large tanks.

A baoli or stepwell, a building type exclusive to the Indian sub-continent, is

essentially a longitudinal structure comprising two parts: a circular or octagonal

well and a flight of steps leading to the water-level. Water could be drawn out of

the well either by descending the stairs or by using a leather bag lifted manually or

by yoked oxen. At baolis, weary travellers could quench their thirst and take rest.

Along the Agra-Lahore route, the remains of baolis are to be seen at

Sirhind, Doraha, Kanech (Fig. 12), Sultanpur Lodhi, Goindwal and Sarai Amanat

Khan. But for the one at Goindwal, the rest of these structures are in advanced

stages of decay. In some areas, the rising water table has submerged them.

Tanks

Whereas a baoli supplied fresh water, a tank provided stored water. In contrast to a

baoli which could serve only a limited group of travellers, tanks were more suitable

for large caravans. Besides providing drinking water, the surrounding agricultural

land could also be irrigated from a tank. As an adequate supply of water was
 13

essential not only for travellers but for every habitat, the original number of tanks

must have been very large although only a few of them have survived. Extensive

tanks are extant at Raja Taal, Sarai Banjara, Taraori and Sikandra etc. These tanks

of large compass, were usually rectangular in shape, ‘closed with brick or stone

wall. In some cases, these tanks were surrounded with steps, whereas in others,

steps were provided only in the middle of each side. More ambitious structures

have kiosks at the extremities of the ghats as seen in Guru-ka-Taal, Sikandra.

These tanks were filled with rain water or some water-channel from a nearby

stream or river.

Kos-Minars

Kos-Minar literally means a tower marking the distance of a kos. It is a medieval

equivalent of the modern milestone. Such structures served as beacons for

caravans who also could compute the distance they traversed using these markers.

Emperor Akbar, during the nineteenth year of his reign (1574), ordered the

erection of kos-minars along Agra-Ajmer stretch.36

In 1619, Jahangir ordered Baqir Khan, the faujdar of Multan to set up a

post at every "kos from Agra to Lahore to show the distance... ." 37 A large number

of these kos-minars are extant, partly due to the fact that these were repaired by

the inhabitants from time to time, as an act of public welfare. As actually measured

between some sets of these minars between Agra and Delhi, one kos is equal to

4.17 kilometres.

The actual number of these kos-minars if the exact uniformity of distance

was maintained, would have been about one hundred and sixty-seven or eight.

More than one hundred of these still survive. Although these structures broadly

follow the same design, some of these have graceful proportions whereas others

are quite clumsy. Each tower is a brick or stone structure covered with plaster and
 14

soaring from a slightly tapered octagonal base which rises up to nearly half of its

total height (Fig. 13). Above this base, the minar becomes a tapered cylindrical

pillar. The octagonal base is separated from the cylindrical portion by a moulding

and a red coloured band. There is also another moulding below the spherical top.

These kos-minars were uninscribed.

This Mughal system of travel continued to function until the late nineteenth

century until the advent of railways and motor-vehicles. Now most of these

structures are in ruin and those which survive are merely empty monuments or

encroached spaces.
 15

NOTES
1
William Foster, ed., Early Travels in India (1583-1619), rpt. Delhi, 1968, p. 244.
2
William Foster, ed., The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to India (1615-1619), rpt. Jalandhar, 1993,
p. 493.
3
E. D. Maclagan, “The Earliest English Visitors to the Punjab 1585-1627” in Selections from Journal of the Panjab
Historical Society, vol. 2, ed., Zulfiqar Ahmad, Lahore, 1982, p. 31.

Almost similar praise is showered on the route by some later European travellers also. These include French Jeweller
Jean Baptiste Tavernier (who visited India for the first time in 1640-41 and for the last time in 1665-67) [ Travels in
India, tr. V. Ball, ed. William Crooke, vol. I, rpt. Delhi, 1977, p. 78], another French traveller Jean de Thevenot (visited
India in 1666-67) [S. .N. Sen, Indian Travels of Thevenot &, Careri, Delhi, 1949, pp. 57, 85]; Francois Bernier [Travels
in the Mogul Empire A.D. 1656-1668, rpt. Delhi, 1968, p. 284], and Portuguese missionary Fray Sebastian Manrique
(1641) [Travels of Fray Sebastian Manrique 1629-43, tr. C. Eckford Luard, vol. II, Oxford, 1927, p. 184].
4
Jahangir, Memoirs of Emperor Jahangueir, trans. Major David Price, rpt. Delhi, n. d., p. 157. This order is not
mentioned in the larger version of Jahangir’s memoirs translated about 1909 by Alexander Rogers and edited by Henry
Beveridge under the title Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri or Memoirs of Jahangir and the recent translation by Wheeler M.
Thackston under the title The Jahangirnama: Memoir of Jahangir, Emperor of India (Washington, 1999). (The
references in the following notes are to the Thackston’s translation.)
Of course, in the larger version, Jahangir records at a later date that “as ordered, two rows of trees had been planted to
form an avenue from Agra the river at Attock. ...“ P. 310.
5
The ideal of a rest house at every eight kos was already an established one as early as the reign of Asoka (268-231
BCE). D. C. Sarcar, Inscriptions of Asoka, rev. ed. Delhi, 1975, p. 67.
6
Foster, Early Travels, p. 325

7
The present author has traced the route traced on the basis of the following sources: Foster, Early Travels (Account of
William Finch), pp. 155-60; Tavernier, op. cit., pp. 77-78; K. L. Sachdeva, “Dutch Ambassador Johan Josua Ketelar in
Punjab”, Proceedings of the Punjab History Conference, l7th session, Patiala, 1983, pp. 91-96; Bhagat Singh, “Akhbar-
i Darbar-i Mualla”, The Panjab Past and Present, vol. 18, October 1984, pp. 11-15; Abdul Kadir Khan, “Memorandum
of the Route between Delhi and Cabul (1797)”, Asiatic Annual Register, 1806, reprinted in The Panjab Past and
Present, vol. 12, April 1978, pp. 15-21; Rai Chatur Man Kayath, Chahar Gulshan, tr. J. N. Sarkar in India of
Aurangzeb, Calcutta, 1901, pp. 171-72.
8
Alberuni’s India, ed. and tr. Edward C. Sachau, rpt. Delhi, 1993, vol. I, pp. 205-06.

9
For details of various routes between Delhi and Multan, see A. M. Stow, “The Road between Delhi and Multan”,
Selections from the Journal of Panjab Historical Society, vol. 2, pp. 81-94.

10
Alexander Cunningham, Archaeological Survey of India Reports, vol. 2, rpt. Varanasi, 1972, p. 208.

11
For details of each and every monument along the Highway, see, Subhash Parihar, Land Transport in Mughal India:
Agra-Lahore Mughal Highway and its Architectural Remains, Delhi, 2008.

12
Only the now extinct Begum Sarai (Delhi) built by Jahan Ara Begum is known to have had rooms arranged in two
storeys. Bernier, op. cit., pp. 280-81.

13
James Forbes, Oriental Memoirs, vol. III, London, 1813, p. 124.

14
Iqtidar Alam Khan writes: “On the road connecting the two gateways [of a sarai] .. . we often find a line of shops....”
["The Karawansarays of Mughal India: A Study of Surviving Structures", Indian Historical Review 14(1990), p. 133].
The basis of his observation is not known. And so is the basis of Stephen P. Blake’s observation that “a katra (walled
enclosure) for storing travellers’ goods were found in most sarais.” “Cityscape of an Imperial Capital: Shahjahanabad in
1739” in Delhi through the Ages, ed. R. E. Frykenberg, Delhi, 1993, p. 78.

15
Sarcar, op. cit., p. 67; A. L. Basham, The Wonder that was India, rpt. Delhi, 1967, p. 226.
16
Ziya al-Din Barni, Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi, in Elliot and Dowson, History of India as told by its own Historians, vol. III,
rpt. Allahabad, n. d., pp. 180-81.

Ravinder Kumar in his article “Planning and Lay-Out of the Mughal Sarais”, writes, on the authority of Barni that
“There is evidence suggesting the existence of sarais in the vicinity of Delhi as early as Balban’s reign [ Proceedings of
Indian History Congress, session 38, 1977, p. 354] . However, the reference is not traceable in Tarikh-i Firuz Shahi [vol.
I, ed. Shaikh Abdur Rashid, Aligarh, 1957].

17
Q.M. Moneer, “Two Un-published Inscriptions of the time of Sultan Muhammad Bin Tughlaq”, Epigraphia Indo-
Moslemica (1939-40), Delhi, 1950, pp. 23-24 and plate X(b).

18
R. C. Jauhri, Medieval India in Transition: Tarikh-i Firozshahi, Delhi, 2001, p. 187.

19
The names of these sarais are: Sarai of Shaikh Malik Yar Paran, the sarai of Abu Bakr Tusi and the sarai of Malika.
Elliot & Dowson, op. cit., vol. III, p. 303.

20
Abbas Khan Sarwani, Tarikh-i-Ser Sahi, tr. Brahmadeva Prasad Ambashthya, Patna, 1974, pp. 761-62.

21
Khwajah Ni’mat Allah, Tarikh-i Khan Jahani wa Makhzan-i Afghani, vol. I, ed. S. M. Imam al-Din, Dacca, 1960, p.
377.

22
For plans of all the surviving caravansarais of Iran, see, W. Kliess and M. Y. Kiani, Iranian Caravansarais, 2 vols.,
Teheran, 1983 and 1989. See also, A. U. Pope, Persian Architecture, London, 1965, pp. 238-41, figs. 325—29.
23
The building (dated c. 1432) in front of the Malik Mughith’s mosque at Mandu, is believed to have been a sarai. [D.R.
Patil, Mandu, Delhi, 1975, pp. 44-45]. But its plan has little in common with the surviving Mughal sarais.
24
Maclagan, op. cit., p. 31.

25
Niccolao Manucci, Storia Do Mogor, vol. I, trans. William Irvine, rpt. Delhi, 1990, p. 69.

26
Bernier, op. cit., p. 233.

27
Tavernier, op. cit., vol. I, p. 45; Manrique, op. cit., vol. II, p. 101.

28
Ibid. James Forbes writes that the travellers “were often supplied with the necessaries of life gratis; at least such as
sufficed the lower classes of pilgrims. [Op. cit., p. 123]. It may be true of a few sarais and not all.

29
Foster, Early Travels, p. 225; Tavernier, op. cit., vol. I, p. 45; Manrique, op. cit., vol. II, p. 101.

The fifteenth century Russian traveller Afanasy Nikitin recording the same practice during pre-Mughal period, writes “In
India travellers put up at inns, and the food is cooked for them by women, who also make the guest’s beds.” Voyage
beyond three Seas (1466-72), Moscow, n.d., p. 20.

30
Manrique, op. cit., p. 102.

31
Manucci, op. cit., vol. I, p. 67.

32
Foster, Early Travels, p. 311.

33
Bernier, op. cit., p. 281.

34
Waq’i Alamgiri, ed. Chaudhury Nabi Ahmad, Allahabad, 1374 AH (1954-55 AD), p. 99, quoted by A. K. M. Farooque,
Roads and Communications in Mughal India, Delhi, 1977, p. 129, n. 14.
35
Cunningham, Archaeological Survey of India Reports, vol. XIV, p 57.

36
Abul Fazl, Akbar Nama, vol. III, rpt. Delhi, 1973, p. 156. Historian Badaoni laments that “Would that instead of these
[kos-minars] he [Akbar] had ordered gardens and caravansarais to be made!” Muntakhab al-Tawarikh, vol. II, tr. W.H.
Lowe, rpt. Delhi, 1973, p. 176.

37
Jahangirnama, p. 331.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Sketch—map showing various stages along the Agra-Lahore Mughal Highway.

2. Mahlian Kalan: Dakhini Sarai, general plan.

3. Mahlian Kalan: Dakhini Sarai, a distant view.

4. Nurmahal: Sarai, western gateway.

5. Gharonda: Sarai, eastern gateway.

6. Sarai Amanat Khan: Sarai, western gateway.

7. Nurmahal: Sarai, western gateway, Carved animate motifs.

8. Nurmahal: Sarai, western gateway, Carved human figures.

9. Sarai Amanat Khan: Sarai, western gateway, glazed tile-work.

10. Sarai Amanat Khan: Sarai, western gateway, inscription executed in glazed tile-work.

11. Khwaja Sarai: Mughal bridge over Budhiawala nala.

12. Kanech: Baoli.

13. Sikandra: Kos-Minar.