The Gumbaz at Srirangapatna is a large rectangular mausoleum with a garden in the center built by Tipu Sultan in Srirangapatna in 1782-84 to house the tombs of his parents. The British allowed Tipu to be buried here after he died at the siege of Srirangapatna in 1799. It houses the tombs of Tipu Sultan (west side), his father Hyder Ali (centre) and his mother Fakhr-un-Nisa (east side).
Gumbaz is about 127 km from Bangalore. It is about 27 km from Mandya city and just 15 km from Mysore city. Mysore Railway Station is just 16 km away and Srirangapatna is 01 km away.
Gumbaz is open from 09:00 AM to 6:30 PM.
Gumbaz is designed in Islamic style, Gumbaz uses Bijapur style of construction. Gumbaz stands on a raised platform in the center of the garden. The dome is supported by 36 sharply cut black granite pillars. The doors and windows have lattices cut in stone on the same black granite material. The inner walls are painted with tiger stripes, paintings of Tipu Sultan.
Inside the mausoleum, the central tomb is that of Hyder Ali, the tomb of Tipu Sultan’s mother Fakhr-un-Nisa to the east and Tipu Sultan to the west. Outside the mausoleum many of Tipu’s relatives are buried in the garden. Most of the tomb inscriptions are in Persian. It was built by Tipu Sultan.
Full military honors were also accorded to Tipu’s funeral. The body was taken in procession, accompanied by European soldiers of Nadiar’s division. The main eulogy was dedicated to Tipu’s son Abdul Khaliq, then some officers and men who had died in the war.
The mausoleum was surrounded by a cypress garden with various species of flowering trees and plants collected by Tipu Sultan from Persia, Ottoman Turkey, Kabul and French Mauritius.
On the south side of the outer veranda are the tombs of Tipu’s sister Sultan Begum, Tipu’s daughter Fatima Begum, infant daughter Shahzadi Begum, Tipu’s son-in-law Syed Shahbaz, Mir Mahmud Ali Khan and his father and mother. On the eastern side is the black tomb of Madina Begum, Tipu’s foster mother. The verandah has a height with 3 rows of tombs, the first of which has no nameplates. Another row has 14 tombs 08 female and 06 male, tomb of Malika Sultan e Shaheed or Ruqiya Banu, Burhanuddin Shaheed – brother-in-law of Tipu and Rukhiya Banu, brother of Nizamuddin. The third row contains 14 tombs, 09 women and 05 men and the tomb of Nawab Muhammad Raza Ali Khan or Ban Ki Nawab who was killed in the Coorg war. On the north side there are many rows of graves of both sexes, only a few with headdresses.
British officer Governor General Lord Dalhousie visited Gumbaj in Srirangapatna on his way to Nilgiris. During his visit in 1855 Lord Dalhousie ordered the renovation and maintenance of the buildings as the dome was architecturally beautiful. Lord Dalhousie paid for replacement doors for Gumbaz.
The original carved doors of the tomb have been removed and are now on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The present doors, made of ebony and decorated with ivory, were gifted by British officer Lord Dalhousie.
