Nurmahal Serai

Nurmahal Serai is a Mughal roadside inn in the town of Nurmahal, about 33 km from Jalandhar, and is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India. The town is named after Nur Jahan, wife of the emperor Jahangir, who is believed to have spent her childhood here, and she ordered the serai built. Work was supervised by Zakariya Khan, governor of the Doab, and is dated to 1618; the inn served travellers and merchants on the road between Lahore and Agra.

The serai is a quadrangle of 140 cells set around a big courtyard, each room with an arched porch, a verandah and small niches, probably for lamps. Buildings line three sides of the lawn, while the fourth holds a mosque and a hamam (bathhouse). The western gateway, of red sandstone, is carved with elephants, camels, birds, fairies and human figures, and carries an inscription of four rhyming verses. Octagonal towers mark the corners, and the decoration mixes Islamic and Hindu motifs.