Khokari Tombs

Infobox Historic building
name = Khokari Tombs

---

caption = Tomb of Sidi Surul Khan
map_type =
latitude = 18.301561
longitude = 72.980928
location = Khokari
location_town = Murud
location_country = India
style = Indo-Saracenic

"Khokari" (Or "Khokri") tombs are three 500 years old massive stone tombs of earlier Janjira rulers, located on the western part of India, near Murud in the state of Maharashtra state.

History

The largest is the tomb of Sidi Surul Khan who was chief of Janjira from 1707 to 1734. One of the two smaller tombs is of Sidi Kasim, commonly known as Yakut Khan, who was in command of Janjira (1670-1677), of the Mugal fleet (1677-1696), and again of Janjira (1696-1707). The other smaller tomb is of his brother Khairiyat Khan who was in command of Danda-Rajpuri (1670-1677) and of Janjira (1677-1696).

The tomb of Surul Khan is said to have been built during his lifetime. Yakut Khan's tomb has an Arabic inscription stating that he died on Thursday 30th Jama-Dilaval AH 1118 (AD 1707). Khairiyat Khan's tomb has also an inscription. The figures of the date of his death are AH 1018, but the Arabic words give the date H. 1108 (AD 1696). Later is believed to be the correct one.

The tombs were kept in repair by the Nawab who had assigned the village of Savli-Mitha-gar with a yearly revenue of Rs. 2,000 for the maintenance of Surul Khan's tomb, and the village of Dodakal for the maintenance of Yakut Khan's and Khairiyat Khan's tombs. In the past, Kuran was read at these tombs on Thursday nights, on yearly death-days or when urus were celebrated.

[http://books.google.com/books?id=QKJg1dQsk7oC&pg=PA464&lpg=PA464&dq=Khokari+tomb&source=web&ots=xscYTs695t&sig=UNel0O-9Xnjfx_uskRe8ck2wbAg&hl=en Gazetteer By Bombay (India : State), Bombay (Presidency) (Published 1883)] ]

Restoration/Preservation

This monument is reserved by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). It has undertaken restoration of this historic monument. It falls under the Mumbai circle of ASI.

Architecture

The tombs are beautifully done in the Indo-Saracenic style.

Legend

There is a legend [http://www.tripsedia.com/Murud%20Janjira.html tripsedia.com] ] that "untold wealth lies within the silence of the tombs spelling death or madness to the grasping seeker unless he is able to read the Koran backwards without pause or repetition; a treasure secured by the word of god. Evidently, no one has as yet performed a successful recitation or excavation."

References

External links

* [http://asi.nic.in/asi_monu_alphalist_maharashtra_mumbai.asp Archeological Survey of India List of Monuments under Mumbai Circle]
* [http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=1158139 Google Earth KML file from Google Earth Community]