Amritsar, PUNJAB :

His was the hand behind the Arabic inscriptions on the Taj Mahal, which have captivated tourists from across the world.

But today, the mausoleum and the dwelling of Amanat Khan, the calligrapher of the Taj Mahal, lies in decay, neglect and encroachment.

Sarai Amanat Khan, about 29 kilometres south-east of Amritsar on Tarn Taran Attari road, was built by Khan in 1640, where he lived a reclusive life following the death of his elder brother Afzal Khan, the prime minister of Shah Jahan.

But here too, Khan, who came to India from Iran in 1609 and whose real name was Abdul Haq before being conferred the title of “Amanat Khan” by Shah Jahan for his impressive calligraphy, has left the imprint of his craft — the sarai has beautiful Islamic calligraphy inscribed on its fading blue and yellow tiles.

Sarai Amanat Khan was also a guest house, where travellers on the Lahore-Agra route on the Grand Trunk Road would stop for rest in the middle of a long strenuous journey. They would live in the small rooms inside the sarai, and pray in the adjacent mosque and large courtyard.

Today, Sarai Amanat Khan is dilapidated — the Nanakshahi bricks are falling off, and the eastern gate is in disarray; some 800 feet below it is Khan’s ruined tomb.

The sarai is in the middle of a densely populated village, also named after Amanat Khan.

With several shops in its immediate vicinity, the Archaeological Survey of India-protected monument is a site of rampant encroachment. Several families live inside the rooms of the sarai illegally, and claim to have been doing so since Partition. “I was born here,” says 50-year-old Ranjit Singh. “People have been living here since 1947. There had been talks about giving us alternative land and compensation, but those have not materialised,” he adds.

source: http://www.archive.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Archive / by Navjeevan Gopal, New Delhi / July 29th, 2012