the elements, this
tomb can hardly be called a mausoleum.

It was built
courtesy Babar who, after the First Battle of Panipat, sent out his men
to find out the fate of his rival. They discovered the body of Ibrahim
among the slain, for he had died fighting gallantly and the Mughal
invader could not but salute his bravery. Babar had the body buried in a
mud grave which was later built upon by Ibrahim’s mother (the Sultana
Begum). She had been taken into protective custody by Babar, who later
allotted a special place to her among the ladies of his harem. But bent
on avenging her son’s death she bribed a cook to mix the dreadful poison
Kalakuta in the Mughal emperor’s food. Babar became seriously ill but
somehow survived. The effects of the poison, however, it is said,led to
his early death. A debatable point but worth consideration.

Ibrahim
Lodhi’s tomb should also get a roof and the buildings at Sikandra in
Agra, where Sikandar Lodi wanted to establish a new capital, too need to
be reclaimed. The tank he built is now known as Guru-ka-tal and the
tomb of Khwajasarai Itibari Khan, the royal eunuch who tortured Shah
Jahan in his last days in the Agra Fort, has become a gurudwara.
Actually the Khwajasarai had converted a Lodi monument to serve as his
future tomb. Nizam Khan Sikandar Lodi was the greatest king of the
short-lived dynasty and preserving his legacy so close to Delhi should
not be difficult. But one thing that no renovation can probably restore
is the missing grave of Balban. The grave of one of his sons and that of
another relative can