very costly and curious piece of worke". Further he notes that it is a grand building with beautiful gates, cupolas, arches, chawtress, galleries, pillars and rooms above and below. The step-well consists of a gate, four flights of stairs leading down to the water level and a well-shaft at the farther end of the main axis, all constructed in red sandstone. Another European traveller, Thevenot who noticed this complex of garden and baoli notes it as a Royal house insinuating that this building was also meant to house the royal owner of this complex during her occasional visits to the locality. The main gateway of the baoli is represented by a double-storeyed structure facing east where the smaller rectangular portal is framed into a high arch. This gateway appears to be typically representative of the post-Fatehpur Sikri Mughal architecture of the early 17th century, it also carries an imprint of Rajput conceptions. Although there are only two stories, it is constructed to give the three-storeyed effect from the front. The baoli was built as a part of the garden built by the empress. Rajeev Bargoti notes that her interest in indigo trade might have been because her revenue free grants were located in the indigo producing tract around Bayana including pargana Jansath. Inscription on Mariam-uz-Zamani Baoli (step-well): Death Mariam-uz-Zamani died in May 1623, immensely rich and powerful, and due honour was given by burying her in a mausoleum close to that of an equally redoubtable man she was married to, Akbar. Her desire of being close to her husband even in death is visible in the proximity of her tomb to that of her husband, Akbar. There is no concrete evidence stating the reason for her death though it is believed to have been because of sickness. Jahangir had made several references in his autobiography towards her declining health since 1616 and calls her decrepit. Her tomb, built between 1623 and 1627, is on Tantpur road in Jyoti Nagar, next to the tomb of Akbar. Mariam's Tomb, commissioned by her son, Jahangir, who grieved her loss immensely, is only a kilometre from Tomb of Akbar the Great, in the direction of Mathura and she stands as the only wife buried close to Akbar. Her tomb resembles her husband's mausoleum in one important aspect, the upper storey of both is open to the sun and rain, and its upper corners are