Carved in stone: Gujarat’s rich cosmopolitan legacy in a 15th-century tomb complex

Some 8 km southwest of Ahmedabad’s historic centre stands one of the oldest clusters of monuments from early modern Gujarat (c 1400s-1750 CE): the Sarkhej Roja, or mausoleum complex. The sprawling site is the resting place of Sheikh Ahmed Khattu, a well-known Sufi, who moved to Gujarat from Delhi at the turn of the 15th century.

The Sheikh – also referred to as Ganj Baksh, or the bestower of treasures – was one of the four great men called Ahmed after whom the city is named. He died in Sarkhej at the remarkable age of 111 in 1445 CE. Inside the main courtyard, 16 pillars elevate a stately structure of nine uniform domes that announces the quadrangle’s main building, the Sheikh’s tomb and shrine.

On its opposite side lie the burial chambers of his patrons and the complex’s builders, the Muzaffarid or Gujarati sultans who ruled from c 1407 to 1591 CE.

Historically, the expansive complex was not just a site of graves but also a spot that combined religious, royal, and leisure spaces. In Sarkhej, the sultans built palaces for themselves and their queens, gardens and orchards, lakes and sluice gates to regulate the flow of water between them, and several mosques.

This was an imperial leisure resort of...

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