Tombs in India were generally dedicated to the Muslim rulers who ruled India for centuries. Basically, there was no indigenous tradition of building tomb in India. The ashes of the dead were carried away by the sacred rivers. Even in Islam, tomb building was restricted. The building of tomb to glorify a grave by constructing a building over it was forbidden for centuries, as this would run counter to the equality of all men in death. Admiration of tombs was considered to be an improper habit derived from Christian and Jewish customs.

By the time of the Muslim invasions of India in the 12th century, the proscription against tomb building was extensively ignored. In India a Muslim tomb or qabristan mainly comprises a single vaulted domed chamber or huzra, in the centre of which is the cenotaph or zarih. Below lays the mortuary chamber or maqbara, with the grave or qabr in the centre. Occasionally, the west wall possesses a mihrab. Often some bigger tombs have mosques attached as separate buildings, the whole ensemble being contained within an enclosure or garden and called a rauza.

The tombs in India of men and women can be differentiated easily. Generally, the tomb of men bears a long, arched ridge along the top which slopes slightly north to south, while the tomb of women possesses flat tops. The body lies with the head to the north, lying on the right-hand side, with the face towards Mecca. A vault is believed to be essential since the body can sit up and reply to the angels of the grave.

Some of the prominent tombs are known as dargahs, a Persian word which means, a palace or a court. Often these bear the remains of Sufi shaikhs and are places of pilgrimage on the anniversary of the death of the saint, the urs. As spiritual disciples and descendants of the shaikh sought to be buried near their master, dargahs often possess a great concentration of tombs and graves, which militates against any sort of architectural cohesion. Sometimes a whole set of monuments in different styles and forms ranging over a period of 500 years can be found juxtaposed, obscuring the principal tomb.

The reason for this crowding against the qibla wall is the belief in Baraka, a spiritual energy coming out from the grave of a saint or holy man. Great importance is given to this psychic force. The tomb of Humayun, tomb of Akbar, Jahangir and above all, Shah Jahan rank with the Pyramids as the greatest funerary monuments in the world, but the concept of the tomb in a walled enclosure predated the Mughals. The tomb of Sher Shah Suri is also one of the notable tombs in India.

The site of a monumental tomb at the centre of an enclosed garden alluded to basic cosmological ideas. In essence it was the Garden of Eden that was lost to man through original sin, but it was also the Garden of Paradise. Inscribed over the entrance to the tomb of Akbar at Sikandra are the words; `these are the Gardens of Eden: enter them to dwell therein eternally`. The garden was a microcosm of the physical world, maintained symmetrically and axially in accordance with modern cosmological beliefs. At the centre is the tomb, the material universe, crowned by a dome, the symbol of eternity.