Burhanpur

Burhanpur stands on the north bank of the Tapti River in Khandesh, south of the fortified pass of Asirgarh. In 1388 the Faruqi ruler Malik Nasir Khan named the town for the Sufi saint Burhan-ud-Din and made it his capital. Under his successor Miran Adil Khan II, who built a citadel and palaces, Burhanpur grew into a major centre of trade and textile production.

Akbar annexed Khandesh in 1601 and made Burhanpur the capital of a Mughal province. Its governor Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan provided the city with a new water supply and gardens. Prince Parviz chose it as his headquarters in the Deccan, and Shah Jahan spent much time here and added to the Shahi Qila palace. His wife Mumtaz Mahal died in Burhanpur giving birth to their fourteenth child and was first buried here before her remains were moved. In the eighteenth century the city came under Maratha control; it passed to the British in 1818.