Sarkhej Roza

Sarkhej Roza is a tomb, mosque and palace ensemble on the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Highway at Makarba, in the south-west of Ahmedabad, about eight kilometres from the Old City. It grew around the tomb of the Sufi saint Sheikh Ahmed Khattu Ganj Baksh, spiritual adviser to the Sultan Ahmed Shah I, who died in 1445. Construction of the saint's mausoleum began soon afterwards and continued into 1451, and the complex was expanded, above all under Sultan Mahmud Begada in the later 15th century, who added a large rectangular tank, pavilions, a palace and the tombs of his own family. Begada also made Sarkhej a royal retreat and, according to tradition, was buried here with his queen Rajabai. The composition is arranged around a great stepped water tank, with the saint's tomb and the Jama mosque on one side and the Sultan's mausoleum on the other, linked by a pillared gateway and courtyards. The buildings are built of sandstone in the trabeate Gujarat Sultanate manner, without arches in the main mausoleum, and are covered in domes, latticed jaali windows and geometric relief. The saint's tomb is in fact a pilgrimage site, so the ensemble combines living devotion with monumental architecture. Sarkhej later attracted the attention of the modernist architect Le Corbusier, who admired it and is said to have called it the Acropolis of Ahmedabad, an attribution repeated locally. The complex was largely abandoned after the Mughal conquest and fell into partial ruin, and it has since been repaired in stages by the Archaeological Survey of India and the state, including a tank clean-up and restoration of masonry and jaali. The present state is that of a maintained but weathered heritage site, with lawns and cleaned tank steps. Visitors can wander through the palace halls, the Jama mosque and the tomb courtyards, although some interiors, including the shrine of the saint, follow religious custom on dress and footwear. Because the site lies outside the Old City, it is often seen as a half-day trip together with the Vishalla ethnic village nearby.