The tomb was desecrated by British invaders in 1842 with the view that it will upset the sentiments of Afghans and gratify the Hindus of India.
James Atkinson writes:
The interior of the building, which contains the tomb of this far-famed conqueror, is about twenty-four feet in length by fourteen in breadth. The tomb itself is of polished white marble, and of the usual Mahomedan shape. The inscription on it gives the date of the Monarch’s death A.H. 421, or A.D. 1005. At each end is a wooden post adorned with peacock’s feathers, supporting a silken canopy of pale blue, variegated with gaudy colours, but now faded and in a tattered condition. Upon the white washed walls are written distichs in Arabic and Persian. Priests dare daily in attendance reading the Koran in honour of the illustrious dead. All sorts of votive offerings are hung up and spread out on the wall: among them is the preserved skin of a large tiger. The door, said to be made of sandal wood, and to be that brought by Mahmood from the Hindoo Temple of Somnath in Kattywar, when he sacked and desecrated that shrine, is in panels, carved and well joined. Each half is formed of two folds hinged together. In height it is about fourteen feet, and the entire width nine. This is the relic which the Sikh Chieftain Runjeet Sing so much coveted as to wish to make its restoration a condition to his affording aid to the cause of Shah Shoojau, but that Monarch replying that his compliance with the demand would disgrace in the eyes of his nation, the request was not insisted on. It has now, however, been brought to India under orders from the Governor General, Lord Ellenborough, by Major General Sir William Nott’s force, as a record of the triumph of the British arms, and the humiliation of the Afghans. It is to be restored to the Temple whence it was originally taken.
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