The tomb is situated at the edge of Mehrauli village, to the west of the Quwwat ul Islam mosque complex. It was built by Akbar, and dedicated to Adham Khan, the son of one of Akbar's wet-nurses. Adham Khan was a successful courtier for a time, but when he assassinated Ataga Khan, Akbar's Prime Minister, Akbar had him thrown from the ramparts of the fort. Akbar built the tomb in the memory for Adham, and for his grieving mother.
The tomb stands on the wall of an ancient Rajput fortess, the Lal Kot. It is large and octagonal in plan, with a single, wide dome. The tomb at the time of its building would have represented a traditional, old-fashioned pattern of tomb-building, of the type developed under the Sayyid dynasty early in the 14th century.
Source:
Tillotson, G.H.R. 1990. Mughal India. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 36-7.
Koch, Ebba. 1991. Mughal Architecture. Munich: Prestel, 101.
Asher, Catherine. 1992. The New Cambridge History of India: Architecture of Mughal India. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 42-43.
