| Nur Chashma | |
| Location: | Ajmer, India |
| Status: | Ruined |
| Completion Date: | 1615 |
| Owner: | Mughal Emperor Jahangir |
| Known For: | Hunting palace |
Nur Chashma is a palace built by Mughal Emperor Jahangir for hunting in 1615 and christened the place Chashma-i-Nur (چشما نور – spring of light), after his own name, Nur-uddin Mohammad Jahangir.[1] It is situated in present-day Ajmer, India and is now just a ruined pavilion.[2]
Hafiz Jamal, the daughter of Khawaja Muinuddin Chisti, lived for some time as a religious recluse here. Jahangir came to Ajmer in 1613 A.D. and built a hunting palace here and named it Mahal Shah Nur-ud-din Jahangir (̠ Palace of King Jahangir).
Jahangir lived in Ajmer for nearly three years (1613 to 1619 A.D.) The Emperor himself describes the place in Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri and ordered a palace to be built in the valley and some couplets to inscribed on a stone and the stone to be fixed over the arch of the lower building.[3] Sir Thomas Roe also describe this place as a ' Place of melancholy delight' in his Journal.[4]
There is another historical important relics, the massive unfinished water lift, now known " Roothi Rani Ka Mahal " as built by Rao Maldeva of Merwar, who took Ajmer in 1535 A.D. The lift was consist of a chains of towers, one overlooking the other, and the water was to be raised from the Chashma to the fort of Taragarh.[5]
The Chashma valley widens a little towards the end and it was here that the historic Battle of Ajmer[6] fought between Dara Shikoh and Aurangzeb and decided the fate of the rightful heir of Shah Jahan.