East Bank of the Yamuna Guide: Tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah (Baby Taj), Chini Ka Rauza & Mehtab Bagh

While the western bank of the Yamuna River hosted Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal, the quieter East Bank (Trans-Yamuna) was lined with riverside pleasure gardens (baghs). Stretching 4 kilometres from Emperor Babur's 1528 Ram Bagh down to Mehtab Bagh, this shore holds the 1628 Tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah ("Baby Taj") and the glazed-tile Chini Ka Rauza. Below is how to link all four East Bank monuments into a peaceful 3-hour afternoon and sunset loop.

01Stop 1: The Tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah ("Baby Taj"), Nur Jahan's marble jewel box

Crossing the Yamuna via the Ambedkar Bridge brings you to the red sandstone gate of the Tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah. Entry costs around 310 INR for foreign visitors and 30 INR for Indian citizens as of November 2026. Built between 1622 and 1628 CE, four years before the Taj Mahal was begun, this riverside mausoleum was commissioned by Empress Nur Jahan (born Mehr-un-Nissa). As the twentieth and favourite wife of Emperor Jahangir, Nur Jahan minted coins in her own name and co-ruled the empire from 1611 to 1627.

Nur Jahan built the tomb for her parents, who both died in 1621 to 1622. Her Persian-born father Mirza Ghiyas Beg served as Grand Vizier under Jahangir with the title Itimad-ud-Daulah ("Pillar of the State") and was the grandfather of Mumtaz Mahal. Beside him rests her mother Asmat Begum, famous at court for distilling attar of roses perfume. Architecturally, the Tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah marks two revolutionary breakthroughs in Indian history.

• 1. The First Mughal Building Faced Entirely in White Makrana Marble. Leaving behind the red sandstone of Akbar's reign, Nur Jahan clad the 21-metre-square central pavilion and its four octagonal corner towers (burj) in polished white Makrana marble. Instead of a bulbous dome, the upper floor is crowned by a square canopy pavilion (baradari) with a curved canopy roof inspired by Persian and Gujarati models.
• 2. The Birthplace of Parchin Kari (Pietra Dura) Inlay in India. While earlier monuments used broad stone tiles (opus sectile), Nur Jahan's artisans pioneered delicate parchin kari inlay. They set thousands of cut slivers of yellow jasper, brown agate, black slate, green jade, and carnelian into the white marble exterior. Walk around the veranda before removing your shoes at the entrance steps (wear thick socks from our Agra packing guide). Unlike the strictly floral Quranic motifs of the Taj Mahal, Itimad-ud-Daulah's walls celebrate Persian court imagery, depicting wine decanters (surahi), drinking cups, rosewater sprinklers, fruit platters, and cypress trees.
• 3. Pierced Marble Jali Screens and Painted Stucco Ceilings. Step inside the four corner burial rooms and the central chamber, where the yellow stone cenotaphs of Mirza Ghiyas Beg and Asmat Begum rest side by side. Afternoon sunlight filters softly through geometric carved marble lattice screens (jali), illuminating seventeenth-century painted stucco alcoves and gold leaf overhead.

02Stop 2: Chini Ka Rauza and Emperor Babur's Ram Bagh (1528)

Before driving south to Mehtab Bagh for sunset, ask your driver to make two quick stops just 1 to 2 kilometres north of the Baby Taj along the eastern riverbank.

1. Chini Ka Rauza ("The China Tomb", 1635, Free Entry). Built between 1628 and 1635, this riverside brick monument is the mausoleum of Allama Afzal Khan Mullah Shukrullah of Shiraz, Prime Minister to Shah Jahan. It takes its name from its exterior sheath of glazed ceramic tiles (chini or kashi kari). Walk to the northern and western walls to inspect the vaulted arches, where bands of cobalt blue, turquoise, green, and mustard-yellow glazed tiles form floral arabesques above a foundation of subterranean brick river arches.
2. Ram Bagh (Aram Bagh, "Garden of Rest", 1528, around 300 INR as of November 2026). Located 1 kilometre further north, Ram Bagh is the oldest surviving Mughal garden in India. First Mughal Emperor Babur laid out the garden in 1528 CE because he missed the cool streams of Kabul and Samarkand. Engineered with stone water chutes (chadar), sunken cascades, and riverside pavilions fed by Yamuna waterwheels, Ram Bagh is also where Babur's body rested in 1530 before being carried to Kabul.

03Stop 3: Sunset across the Yamuna at Mehtab Bagh ("The Moonlight Garden")

Three kilometres south of Itimad-ud-Daulah along the East Bank road lies Mehtab Bagh ("The Moonlight Garden", entry around 300 INR for foreign visitors as of November 2026). Originally laid out by Emperor Babur as the last of eleven eastern riverfront gardens, this 300-by-300-metre square charbagh was redesigned by Shah Jahan in the 1630s as the night-viewing garden opposite the Taj Mahal.

When the Archaeological Survey of India cleared decades of flood silt from Mehtab Bagh in the 1990s, archaeologists uncovered a large octagonal water tank on the exact north-south centerline of the Taj Mahal. Built to hold a mirror reflection of the white dome under the full moon, the garden was replanted with forty fragrant night-blooming Mughal flora species including jasmine, magnolia, and oleander. Those 1990s excavations also disproved the 1665 tale by French merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier claiming Shah Jahan planned a matching "Black Marble Taj Mahal" here. Archaeologists proved the dark stones were simply weathered white marble blocks from the garden's ruined pavilion.

04Traveller tips

Arrive at Mehtab Bagh by 16:30, as the gate closes strictly at sunset (around 17:30 in winter and 18:45 in summer) and tripods and drones are prohibited by CISF guards. Walk down to the southern boundary wall beside the surviving red-sandstone corner pavilion (chhatri) on the riverbank. As the sun sinks in the west, it illuminates the western side of the Taj Mahal's marble dome and reflects golden-pink clouds across the Yamuna. Outside the western wall of Mehtab Bagh in Kachhpura village, you can join the community-run Mughal Heritage Walk. The trail visits the 1530 Humayun's Mosque and the astrological sandstone trough of Gyarah Sidi. Hiring an auto-rickshaw for the three-hour East Bank loop covering Ram Bagh, Chini Ka Rauza, Baby Taj, and Mehtab Bagh costs roughly INR 500 to INR 700 (~USD 6.00 to USD 8.50 as of November 2026). An air-conditioned taxi from Tajganj or Fatehabad Road costs INR 1,100 to INR 1,400 round-trip. As you walk between the Tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah and Chini Ka Rauza along the eastern riverbank, notice two further layers of Mughal history. On the riverside terrace of the Baby Taj stands a second two-storey red sandstone pavilion overlooking the Yamuna, where royal barges once moored at stone river stairs after rowing across from Agra Fort. Half a kilometre north of Chini Ka Rauza lies the ruined red sandstone enclosure of Zahara Bagh (Rambagh-i-Zahara), laid out by Emperor Babur and later gifted to his daughter Zahara Begum and expanded by Shah Jahan's daughter Jahanara. Because all four East Bank monuments face west across the Yamuna, visiting between 14:30 and 17:30 puts warm golden light on the Baby Taj and Chini Ka Rauza. At 16:30, drive south to Mehtab Bagh to watch the western sky glow behind the Taj Mahal. Remember to carry your passport or a digital copy for the cashless ASI QR ticket scanners at both the Baby Taj and Mehtab Bagh gates, and keep INR 100 in small notes for shoe attendants. Pair this afternoon circuit with Day 2 of our 3-day Agra itinerary.