Celebrating Death: Mausoleums keep public memory alive By News Desk| Updated: 24th February 2021 4:35 pm IST Quli Qutb Shah's Tomb Salma Ahmed Farooqui Death is serious business. In historical terminology, grave, crypt, tomb, mausoleum, memorial and necropolis are differently meaning words but are sometimes used interchangeably as their core function remains the same i.e., to keep alive public memory. Take the case of South Asia alone, there are aesthetically crafted, ostentatious tombs of various kings and queens and their close relatives spread out in the entire country. These grand tombs of the medieval Indian period of history which have come to be known as mausoleums serve as memorial monuments to convey forceful messages about the events or individuals they commemorate. To name a few: the Humayun’s tomb and Adham Khan’s tomb at Delhi, the tomb of Itimad-ud Daulah and the Taj Mahal at Agra, Akbar’s tomb at Sikandra, Sher Shah Suri’s tomb at Sasaram, Jahangir’s tomb at Lahore, the Bibi ka Maqbara at Aurangabad, the tombs of the Bahmani and Baridi sultans at Bidar and Ashtur, the Gol Gumbaz and the Ibrahim Rauza at Bijapur, the Qutb Shahi necropolis, the Asaf Jahi graves at the Mecca masjid and the Paigah tombs at Hyderabad, and the Gumbaz at Srirangapatnam, were constructed for a special purpose.