Burhanpur

Burhanpur is one of central India's great overlooked histories, a city on the Tapti that was, for a time, among the most important places in the Mughal south. Named in the 14th century after the saint Burhanuddin by the Faruqi rulers of Khandesh, it was absorbed into the Mughal empire and became the strategic gateway to the Deccan, a garrison and provincial capital from which the emperors pushed south.

Its Mughal chapter left a dense, atmospheric fabric that few travellers reach. Shah Jahan served here as governor, and it was in Burhanpur that Mumtaz Mahal died in childbirth in 1631; tradition holds her body was first interred at the Ahukhana garden across the river before its journey to the new Taj Mahal at Agra. The Shahi Qila fort still stands above the Tapti with its carved hammam, alongside the twin-minaret Jama Masjid, the Raja ki Chhatri, and, most extraordinary of all, the Kundi Bhandara, a four-century-old underground water system of tunnels and wells that still supplies the city. Some 20 km out, the great hill fort of Asirgarh commands the pass that made Burhanpur matter.

MyTripMyTravel treats Burhanpur as a rewarding detour for guests who want genuine, uncrowded history. We read the monuments with a guide who knows the Faruqi and Mughal story, descend into the Kundi Bhandara waterworks, and connect the city to the Taj Mahal narrative in a way that surprises even seasoned India travellers.