HERITAGE magazine | Page 5

#ShadowOfThePast Tomb of Balban was discovered in the mid-twentieth cen- tury. The tomb is surrounded by the ruins of an exten- sive late-medieval settlement and it offers, from certain angles, a remarkable view of the Qutub Minar. To the east of Balban’s tomb, lies a ruined rectangular struc- ture said to be the grave of Khan Shahid, Balban’s son, whose original name was Muhammad, who died fighting against the Mongols near Multan in 1285. There is no roof left to the tomb, but it has three cham- bers adjacent to each other. The biggest and the central chamber would have been the burial chamber of the sul- tan but no grave exists now. Around Balban’s tomb there are a number of buildings dating from the late-Mughal times, which probably constituted a residential area.