The oldest Mughal Garden of the Indian subcontinent, built in 1527 AD by Babur, is located in the small
village of Jhor (about 15 km from Dholpur). The historic Mughal Garden in Dholpur was discovered in 1978 AD
by Elizabeth Moynihan, the American Ambassador's wife of that time in India. Using Babur's autobiography as
a guide, Elizabeth meticulously traced clues from Uzbekistan to Dholpur. But by that time much of the
once- an- elaborate- garden was well wiped. The Archaeological Survey of India has put in lot of efforts
to keep the remains nicely preserved. Being impressed with the beauty of the hills in Dholpur,
Babur instructed Ustad Shah Mohammad to flatten a hill by cutting it; and digging & carving out a
foliated octagonal water tank. The diameter of the tank is 8.8 meter. Adjoining it are smaller lotus
shaped pounds. The large water tank and smaller ponds, connected with water channels, have been chiseled
out of a single outcrop of the rock. Other structures are hammam, a standing octagonal well with radiating
chutes, a structural complex and Sikander Lodi’s bund on the reservoir to the west of the village.
The garden was named by Babur as the Bagh-i-Nilufar, meaning ‘Lotus Garden’.