Zafar Mahal (Mehrauli)

Zafar Mahal
Zafar Gate of Zafar Mahal
Location within India
General information
Architectural style	Mughal Architecture
Town or city	Delhi
Country	India
Coordinates	28°30′57″N 77°10′39″E / 28.5158°N 77.1775°E / 28.5158; 77.1775
Completed	19th century
Demolished	Ruins
Client	Mughal dynasty
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Akbar Shah II and Bahadur Shah Zafar II

Zafar Mahal, in Mehrauli village, in South Delhi, India, is considered as the last monumental structure built as a summer palace during the fading years of the Mughal era. The building has two components namely, the Mahal or the palace, which was built first by Akbar Shah II in the 18th century, and the entrance gate that was reconstructed in the 19th century by Bahadur Shah Zafar II, popularly known as "Zafar" (the nom de plume of Bahadur Shah II) meaning ‘Victory’. It has a forlorn history because Bahadur Shah Zafar, who wished to be buried in the precincts of the Zafar Mahal (palace) and the famous Dargah of Khwaja Qutubuddin Bakhtiar Kaki in Mehrauli, Delhi, was deported by the British to Rangoon, after the First War of Indian Independence in 1857, where he died of old age.^[1][2][3] The monument today is in a neglected and ruined state, locals play cricket and gamble freely inside the protected monument. The 18th-century palace has been all but subsumed by unauthorised constructions.^[4][5]