The Tomb That Lost Its History

 Tomb of Shamsher Khan



At a distance of 12 km from Daud Khan's fort, there's a tomb on the east of the Sone river of Shamsher khan. This tomb is situated in Shamshernagar, Aurangabad, Bihar. The Village Shamshernagar itself has historic values. When you enter the village you'll find some amazing multi-storeyed old mud houses and some antiquated houses. And among all these, the centre of attraction is the tomb of Shamsher Khan.

There's not a much-written history about Shamsher Khan or the Tomb of Shamsher Khan. According to the locals, Shamsher Khan was the nephew of Daud khan (Former Governor of  Bihar appointed by Aurangzeb). Prof. S. H. Askari has written that Shamshir Khan was governor of Bihar and was the cousin of Daud Khan in his journal "Bihar in the 1st quarter of the 18th century".

 However, we can see the difference between Shamsher Khan and Shamshir Khan. Perhaps It's just a spelling mistake or Shamshir Khan was a different person. But it is for sure that these three names belong to the same house.

In the book "the new Cambridge history of India Volume 4 Architecture of Mughal India" Catherine B. Asher writes that Shamsher Khan was the governor of Patna during the reign of Bahadur Shah I. And he built his own tomb, a Sarai and well before his death in 1712.


The tomb of Shamsher Khan is said to be built around the early 1700s. The architecture of the tomb looks similar to Mughal architecture. But it is mainly made of bricks and the stones have been used only for pillars. The main building of the tomb is surrounded by walls which make a beautiful passageway but they are not connected to each other from the upper side as we see in other tombs.

It is a 2-storeyed mausoleum in which the first floor is square and the second is octagonal. The gates are made in arched shapes with stunning carved pillars. 4 small minarets can be seen on the first floor, and there are 4 turrets similar to Rajputana architecture as we see in Sher Shah Suri's tomb of Sasaram. There are two graves inside the mausoleum which are said to be of Shamsher khan and his wife.




As this tomb is in the village, it is in slightly better condition than the fort of Daud Khan. But still, Its wall has fallen from one side, only one minaret is in good condition, and one of the turrets has fallen apart.

The site comes under the Archaeological Survey of India But the last time it was repaired was about 8 to 9 years ago by them. The condition of this heritage site is getting worse day by day. The people of the village are doing many efforts to save it. But neither the ASI allows them to do anything nor does it themselves.

I want to draw the attention of the government and administration through this post. If it is taken care of well, it will increase footfall in Bihar tourism.

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