WHEN ARSLAN KHAN was appointed Sultan of the Malwa Sultanate (now part of Madhya Pradesh) in 1406, he became known as Hoshang Shah. He ruled until his death in 1435.

Hoshang’s body lies within a splendid, white marble mausoleum in Mandu. It has one large central dome and 4 smaller domes, one at each corner of the square edifice.  As soon as I saw this marvellous building, I  thought of the Taj Mahal,  which I have seen in many photographs.

Hoshang Shah’s mausoleum was constructed in the fifteenth century, long before the Taj Mahal.  A tablet within Hoshang’s mausoleum has an inscription that records the visit of 4 of Shah Jahan’s architects in 1659. They came to pay homage to the builders of the tomb. One of the four was Ustad Hamid, who was closely involved in the construction of the Taj Mahal in Agra (completed in 1653). This illustrates the high esteem that Hoshang’s mausoleum inspired.

I wonder whether those builders saw Hoshang’s mausoleum before designing the Taj Mahal.