Hiran Minar is set in peaceful environs near Lahore in Sheikhupura, Pakistan. It was constructed by Emperor Jahangir as a monument to Mansraj, one of his pet deer. The structure consists of a large, almost-square water tank with an octagonal pavilion in its center, built during the reign of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan; a causeway with its own gateway connects the pavilion with the mainland and a 100-foot (30 m)-high minar, or minaret.
At the center of each side of the tank, a brick ramp slopes down to
the water, providing access for royal animals and wild game. The minar
itself was built by Emperor Jahangir in 1606 to honor the memory of a pet hunting antelope named Mansraj. Unique features of this particular complex are the antelope's grave
and the distinctive water collection system. At each corner of the tank
(approximately 750 by 895 feet (273 m) in size), is a small, square
building and a subsurface water collection system which supplied the
tank; only one of these water systems is extensively exposed today.
Another special feature of Hiran Minar is its location and
environment: the top of the minar is perhaps the best place in the
province of Punjab to get a feel for the broader landscape and its
relationship to a Mughal site. Looking north from the top of the minar, one can see a patch of
forest which is similar to the scrub forest vegetation of Mughal times,
while to the west are extensively-irrigated fields, a product of the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but similar in size and
appearance to the well-irrigated fields of the Mughal period.
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