Two Mughal tombs stand in a field on the edge of Nakodar in Jalandhar district. They are the tombs of Ustad Muhammad Momin, a court musician, dated 1612, and of his pupil Haji Jamal, dated 1657. They are known as the Ustad-Shagird tombs, the teacher and the student.
They are octagonal brick structures faced with glazed tilework in blue, green and yellow, of a quality found otherwise at Lahore and Multan, and the tile decoration on the Ustad's tomb is among the finest surviving in Indian Punjab.
A pupil built a tomb for his teacher and was buried beside him forty-five years later, and both buildings survive.
They are protected monuments in poor condition. The tilework has been deteriorating for a century and restoration has been intermittent.
Two Mughal court musicians in a field outside a Jalandhar town is not on anybody's itinerary and is one of the best pieces of architecture in the state.
The two tombs are of Ustad Muhammad Momin and Haji Jamal, built in 1612 and 1657, in brick faced with glazed tile, standing in a walled enclosure outside the town.
Muhammad Momin was a musician at the Mughal court and his pupil built the tomb. That a court musician received a monument of this quality in a Doaba town says something about the reach of that patronage.
The tilework has been repaired and lost repeatedly. They are protected monuments, they are not signposted, and they receive almost no visitors.