Agra Historical Descrip'iive - Forgotten Books

AGRA

H ISTORICAL DESCRIP'

I‘

IVE,WI T H AR AC C OUNT OF

AKBAR AN D H I S C OURT

AN D O F T H E

M O D E R N C I TY O F AGRA .

I llusfrated w i th P ortrai ts of theMoghul E mp erors and D rawings of the P rincipalArchi tectural Monuments of that C i tyand i ts Suburbs, and

MAP D E AGRA

SYAJ) N‘IUH AMMAD L AT IF

,KH AN BAH AD UR

,

ME N BRB D E I3A S O C I E T E AS I AT I Q UE , P ARI S ; FE L L OW

,P UNJAB UN I V E RS I TY

u nu nnn, ABIAT I C S O C I E TY O F mum“ ; AUT H OR O F um “ms'rony

O F rm: P UNJAB,

” “moron O F L ABO RE ,” &c . , &c .

QIalw ttaP R I N T E D AT TH E CAL C UTTA C E N TRAL PRE SS C OMPANY, L IMITE D ,

40,CAN N I NG S TRE E T .

CAL C UT T AP RI NT E D AT T H E CALCUTT A C ENT RAL P RE SS comm“ , L I N KT R ID

40, cu smo ST REE T .

P RE FAC E .

TRULYthese Franks are a great nation, and I purpose sending myblessings to my son, the King of S pain,

”so said the great Tartar con

queror, TimurBeg, or Tamerlane, when, in 1403 , he was visited at his

far-famed metropolis, the then mistress of Asia, Samarkand, by the

good C hristian knight, D on RuyGonzalez de C lavijo, the plenipotent inty of h is sovereign, the King of Casti lle, who has left an account ofthe great C hanghattai

’

s court in that ci ty, andof his feasts anddisplays

there held. far more glowing than that painted by S harf-md-din, the

eminent biographer of Timur. The possessor of twenty-eight crowns,

the Lord of the E asternWorldwas quite unconscious at the time that,

fully three hundredyears after he had paid this publ ic compliment to

the great Franks in his grand hall of audience, where had assembled

the nobles and digni taries of his vast empire and the ambassadorsfrom the greatest potentates of the known world, a hero of the same

great nation was, on the distant soil of India, the land of the Mahabharata, to shake hands with one of h is lineal descendants and be

hailed by h im as a deliverer from his oppressors and persecutors. I t

was the Bri tish General. Lord Lake, the conqueror of D elhi , the Indra.Prastha of the H indus, and of Agra of ancient fame, who , in 1803 ,

tak ing out of his captivi ty the helpless S hah Alam, mayni homim’

c

umbra, blinded by the cruel dagger of one of his own co-religionists,and disgraced by the Marathas, gave him h is liberty, honour, andthrone. The people,

”

says the author of the Térikh-i -Muzaf ari ,were filled with admi xi ng joyand the E mperor with grateful delight

so much so that tho joyful tears shed by him restored his sight , that

had been destroyed by the steel of the hardy Rohilla fifteen yearsbefore 1

"

But it was not the great T imur alone who spoke so warmly of the

greatness of the Franks as a nation. Akbar, the seventh in descent

from that conqueror, and by far the most enlightened of the race o f

sovereigns that ruled over the destinies of India for two hundredandfiftyyears, invariably styled them the D an '

tyan-i -Fawny, or the Wise

Men of the Franks, as we find evidenced by the eloquent pages of

i i P REFACE .

Abnl Fazl. A greater sovereign, a greater pacificator a more belovedruler, or amore generous and sympathetic friend, India had never seenduring the most palmydays of her rule. And true it is, if India has

her just pride in Akbar and his mnnificent rule,Akbarabad, orAgra,

the ci ty founded by himand known after h is name, has i ts chief

g lory in i ts associations wi th that monarch—associations so intimateas to render his great name inseparable from it so long as the bright

beams of the sun shine overthe castellated battlements of the palace

he built there, and the calm, serene light of the moon enhances the

immaculate grace of the Taj , the brightest architectural jewel that

embellishes the ancient city. I t is the history of this city, of i ts

great founder. of his court there held, that I have attempted to relate

in the following pages.

And if I am called upon by the critic to reconcile the introduction,

at the outest of these lines, of the name of the nation spoken of as

great’

byT imur and by Akbar centuries ago, with Akbar’

s city at

the present time, I shall bring forward‘standing testimony to plead

mycause. Much as you may admire the matchless beauty of the Tajas you stand in wonder to gaze at it ; deeplyas you mayfeel the ex .

cellence of the P earlMosque in the famous ci tadel, described in the

enthusiastic words of Mr. Taylor as a sanctuary so pure and stainless,

as to revealan ex alted spirit ofworship ,”whenyou see it great as may

be your sense of praise when you behold the mausoleum of the great

Emperor himself at Sakandra what heart can there be which. while

i t melts at the sight of past greatness and the thought of the instabi

lity of human glory, is not equally impressed with a deep sense of ad

miration and gratitude for the P owerwhose generosity, toleration, and

goodwill to all has preservedwhat we to-day see and admire 2 I f, as

India had been accustomed to witness, the conqueror of Agra had

drawn his sword in retribution ; if fire and destruction had followed

the war, as they had done for countless ages, neither had the poet

been able to pourtray, nor the minstrel to sing, nor the painter to o

paint, the beauties of the Taj , nor its hereditary custodians to pride

themselves on the charge of it. But the British conquerors were lovers

of art and literature, and, as scientific men,’

admirers of human ski ll

and ex cellence ; hence they not only preserved these monuments of

ancient fame, but. took measures to maintain them at enormous cost.

Theygarnished, cleaned, and, as faras canbe, restorcd them. I f S hah

Jahan could come back to earth , it is not too much to say he would‘

names .i i i

thank the Bri tish rulers for the labour of love,

bestowed in the pre'

servation and restoration of the great monument of his beloved consort,

and for preserving it from the spoi ler’

s hand. May i t not, then, be justlysaid that the character attributed to the Franks by the C haughattai

conqueror at the grandbanquet of Samarkand, three hundred years be

fore, was fully confirmedon the victoryof the Bri tish , who brought for

the citizens ofAgra and D elhi , and the countless millions of the peopleo f India, the reign of peace, of law, and of good order ? Thus, the

history of Agra, faithfullynarrated, is inseparable from the history of

Bri tish greatness, as admitted by i ts founder and his great primo

genitor, andas evidenced by the victory of the i llustrious oommen

der, L ord Lake .

The condition of the country since i ts conquest by the Briti sh can

not eseape the attention of the lover of H istory. T he blazing firethat reduced to ashes the palace of the Nawab, and burnt in i ts turnthe cottage ot

'

the peasant ; the hot blasts that scorched the tree of

hope ; the sharp steel that shed the blood of the innocent, sparing

neither sex nor age , have, happ ily for the country, all disappeared,

never more to devastate the land or disturb the public peace. Where

the sword was the sole arbi ter of fate and thedreaded instrument ofdestruction, there is now the mi ld hand of the law to shelter and

protect. I n drearyjungles and desolate deserts, where not ablade of

grass ever grew, ora brook of water was to be seen to quench the thirst

of the antelope, may now be seen fields of verdant cultivation.

or trees bending beneath their load of fruit, and. by their cool shade ,afl

'

urding shelter to the weary traveller. I n village and hamlet, mirthand gladness are the order of the day. and, instead of wai ling and

lamentation, the traveller hears from afar the songs of village maidens,the sound of trumpets, and the noise of musical instruments

, to an

no nnce a coming marriage, a pending festivi ty. or some other joyfulceremonyor religious rite. T he cityenvirons. once infested by robbersandmurderers, and haunted by the jackal and the wo lf, have g rowninto rich and prosperous suburbs, where friendsmeet in pleasureo

gardensfor refreshment andamusement.

And to turn to Agra itself. For centuries it was a prey to anarchyand confusion. T he Muhammadans, on the invasion of Nadir S hah ;the Jets, during the ascendancy of S uraj Mal ; the Maratha, in thetime of S hah Alam,

—each in his turn did their work of destruction

P REFACE .

and spoliation, and rendered life, property, and honour unsafe. The

mighty change that has taken p lace is the work of Providence, through

the agencyof amightynation. I t is this nation, sent in H is all-wise

wisdom to govern us, that Timur, and later on his illustrious descendant,called Great ,

’

and trulygreat it is in the strictest sense of the term.

Much has, no doubt, been wri tten about Agrabyhistorians and

travellers, but beyondMr. Keene’

s H andbook to Agm , ameri torious

little work,intended chiefly as a guidebook for travellers, there is

no book that g ives a connected account of this h istorical ci ty, dealing

with i ts past and present history and i ts archaeological remains

and antiquities in awaywhich might commend i tself to the attention

of the student and the traveller, the antiquarian, and the general

reader. T he inscriptions, too, which form the chief value of the several

more important monuments, and help to furnish correct data onwh ich

to base the accounts, are entirely omi tted, and what is most important

seems not to have received adequate attention. namely, the associa

tion of past events with the interesting architectural objects whichmeet the view.

Again, though to the superficial observer the gloryof Agra consists

in the far-famed Taj andsome other of its chaste monuments, its real

pride to lovers of H istory lies in the circumstance of its having. for

half a century, been the capital of by far the most illustrious

and the most enlightened sovereign Asia has ever seen, the great

Jalal-ud-din, surnamed Akbar. Current histories of Indiaare full

of accounts of his wars, carried on in distant provinces, which , though

useful, are very tedious. T here was no work which dealt with the

great Emperor’s life in his capacity of reconciler of conflicting relig ions

and enunciator of those measures of amelioration and reconcilement

which bound H indu and Mohammedan alike wi th one tie of affec

ti on, or which pourtrayed his character in the various phases of his life

as he passed i t in the halls of Fatehpur S ikri , or in the ex quisite

marble chambers of private and public audience constructed by him

in the capi tal of Agra.

T he accounts scattered over various books are confined to general

descrip tions of monuments, which for the most part repeat one nu

o ther. There was li ttle in the works ex tant which could be of spe

cial value to the antiquarian, or of interest to the scholar. I

P REFACE .

have, therefore , consulted the originalPersian andArabic tex ts, some of

them rare, and have suppliedmuch information on subjects connected

with Agrawhich has not hitherto been published in E nglish.

‘

Such , then, is the scope of the present work , which, be it premised,

makes no pretentious to completeness, despi te the time and care

bestowed upon it. But if, notwi thstanding its shortcomings, the courte

ous public receive it as kindly as former attempts of a similar na

tured' I shall regard the time devoted to this undertaking as not spent

wholly in vain.

I would now ask the reader’

s permission to address a fewwords

tomyyoung countrymen, in the hope that they will prove beneficial

to

My dear young countrymen,—I herewi th present you wi th the

history of one of the chief ci ties of India, one of the most beautifuland splendid cities ofAsia, if not of the world. P osts of the East and

West have been sanguine in i ts praise ; and travellers from the

remotest parts of the earth come to see i ts beaut ies You are welcometo read the pages of this book and, having read them. to bestow the

praise justly due to the memory of the founder of the Taj , or the

architec t of Sakandra, true triumphs of Saracenic architecture and

monuments of past greatness. But remember that the real greatness of

a sovereign does not consist in the beautyof the palaces he has bui lt, intheir rich decorations and marble pavements , or in the ex cellence and

gorgeousness o i a unique and imposing monument raised to the memoryofa lov ing relation, or in the splendour o f his throne, or in the bri lli

ancy of h is crown. What is it to the world if a king slept in a hallof

a thousandmirrors, guarded in his seraglio by C ircassian, Georgian, and

Calmuck female guards, or watched at the royal gates bybrave ltaj puts

or if he sat pompously on a sumptuous masnad, reclining against a

pillow that cost a lakh of rupees, under a shami ctud, of gold-embroi

dered work that took severalmouths to produce, and wi th the lords of

great fortune and wealth and the ambassadors of foreign kingdoms

standing in his presence with downcast eyes and folded hands. T he

world is not concernedwith his big establishments ofbirds andbeasts of

I n the transliterationof I ndian names, the H unterian system of orthography hasbeen adop ted in the followi ni mace

s. ex cep t in the case of fami liar names of persons and

places, tho spelhng ofwhi ch as oms stereotyped by popular usage.

1' H istory of the P unjab H istoryof L ahore and the E arlyH istory 0]fl idtdu

v i P REFACE .

prey, or curious domesticated animals, or with the numbers of the

Burmese elephants and Arabian and T urk isténi horses in the royal

stable. T hese are not the things which make a sovereign great.

T he real greatness of a sovereign lies in the measures he adopts to

protect Go d’

s people consigned to his care ; in the peace of the

country over which he rules ; in the prosperity of the nations

committed to his charge ; in the administration of even-handed

justice to all h is subjects ; in giving them freedom of conscience ;

in short, in acting on the principles of justice and toleration, and

in introducing measures calculated to make his people contented

and prosperous and help to raise them higher in the scale of

nations. Nor does the greatness of a sovereign consist in the battles

he wins, in the number of prisoners he makes in war, or in the

countless millions of treasure he hoards up ; but in the triumphs

achieved under his sway in science and learning , in the advancement

of trade and agriculture , in the development of the resources o f

the country by the ex tension of railway communications, in the

construction of roads and the guarding of high-ways, in the break

ing down of insuperable barriers to human ski ll and energy, in

the cultivation of industrial arts, in the bridg ing of large and

impetuous rivers and streams, in the embellishment of the country

with public edifices, in the founding of chari table institutions for

the alleviation of the distress of mank ind, and in works calculated

to promote the public good. T hese triumphs of peace, these victories

of science, are far more brilliant and Splendid, far more solid and

enduring, than the victories of war, however great. I t is these

lasting v ictories that have made the E nglish nation glorious and

great, and their greatness the envyof the nations of the world and it

is our good fortune, we are proud to say, to be the subjects of a nation

so glorious and great. I f rightly read, the historyof Agra will, I hope ,

teach you, my dear countrymen, what the greatness of a so vereign

reallymeans—whether that greatness lies in the raising of a memorial

to the memory of a beloved wife that cost the public treasury crores o f

rupees; or, on the otherhand, in the inauguration of measures of publicutili tyandgood, ofwhich we see abundant evidence around us,

- aud

i t will teach you what real greatness in a nation means.

After you have read this history. you will, I hepe, no longer labourunder anymistake as to the part assigned to you in the great spectacle

P RE FACE . v ii

which this age of progress andenlightenment lays open before you. My

fri endlyadvice to you is this : S hun p leasure ; g ive up idle talk (V i r

sap i t qui pauco loqui tm'

) eschew the society of those who fill your

brain wi th an air to inhale which must prove poisonous ; imagine that

the doorway to the grand palace that leads to the summi t of human

gloryhas, by the bountyof the British, been open toyou ; but, scramb

ling chi ld as you still are, do not run out precipi tately to reach the

desired place, for, in a rash attempt to do ao , you are likely to fall

headlong and break your neck ; gain the esteem of your own country

men V i rtute ct flde et labore)and the regard of your rulers V i rtute,

non nstutid, non verbis) walk in the path of righteous men ; obey

your rulers, who are the custodians of your life and property, and to

whomyou owe all you possess of education, wealth , and position prove

the nobility of your race, and the beneficial effect of the education

g i ven to you, byacts of loyalty and devoti on to them respect your

parents and elders ; and pass your li fe with honourand credit, which

can only be done by honourable deeds. And i f you do this, I shall

feel,that a study of this book , read in the way I have enjoined, has

g iven you awholesome lesson, and great wi ll then be myjoy.

T he sources of information have, as far as possi ble, been acknow

ledged in footnotes and in the contex t. For the historical portion of

the book my acknowledgments are due to the celebrated work, the

Ferishta byMahomed Q uasam, the Memoirs ofBaber by Abdul Rahim

Khan- i -Khanan, the T uzk Jahang iri byMotamid- id-Khan, the Ain-i

Akbari and Akbarnama by Allami Abul Fazl, the Muntakhibul

T awarikh of Mulla Abdul Quader, Baduani , the Tabekat- i -Akbari of

Mirza N izamuddin Ahmed, the Shah Jahan Nama of Mulls. Abdul

H amid, Lahori , the Alamg ir Nama of Mahomed Kazim, the Moasiri

Alamgi ri of Mahomed S éki , the se Mutaakh irin of Moulvi GholamH usian Khan, the Muntakhibul L ubah of Khat

'

i Khan, the histories of

India in E nglish by the H onorable Monstuart E lphinstone, Wheeler,Keene, S ir William H unter, Murray, etc . T he descripti ve portion has

been written chiefly from my own notes taken on the sport, but I havealso deri vedmuch help from the able works of Mr. Keene, the Revd.

C . J. French, Mr. James Fergusson, Mr. Bayard Taylor and other

wri ters. The account of the Taj has been chiefly drawn up from

an oldmanuscript history of the Taj in possession of the hereditarycus

todians of theMausoleum. The materials for the C hapteron the li fe of

Akbar and his court have been drawn from the works ofAbul Fazl and

vi ii ru n es.

the historians ofAkbar before referred to, but I have also, inwriting the

chapter, been assisted by the ex cellent translation of the Ain by

that talentedOriental Scholar, the late P rofessorBlockmann. I nwriting

the last Chapter on modern Agra, I have consulted the Gazetteer

of India by S ir Wi lliam H unter, the official reports kindly furnished

by H . T . H oare, E sq Collector, Agra, and the Municipal Reports

very courteously furnished by Rai Babadur Munshi Shiv Narain,the able Secretary, AgraMunicipal Committee.

u tmnnsm

2 7th S eptember, 1 896.

LIST OF CONTENTS.

MAP or A6 11A (Cantonment, C ityand E nvirons)a u cr.

C H AP TE R I .

Acm : H I STORI C AL .

L i en uumrmsronr or AenA

Aeu an on : m x Manounnm rrs xon

Tn: s mvmn on us“

Tm: Gh onu u AN D S LAV E DYNAsrms

Tu L em D rm srr

T sz Moons ); P x nxonBaber o

H umaynn

Akbfl o

Jahangir o

“

Successors of Am ngzeb

e rsn P nk xon

C H AP T E R I I .

Acne : D nscmrn vn.

Tms F our

FA-ru znrt'

n 811ml

AN ac conx'r or S snx n SALEM C msnrx

N on e ]: or orsrn um or non :wno n onmssnn m Fu rssros

S IU N D BA

Tm: T ons or I T I I AD -UD -DAUL A

O L D Mox uusnrs m rm: C u r km) rmc 80 3 13t

C H AP T E R 111 .

A s n AND H rs C ons'r.

T sz E ursnonAKBAR 204 to 2 45

T ax 00mmor AKBARS hekh Abnl Fazl

Shekh Fyzi

Baja Bir Bar

Bahrain Khan

Baja T odarMal

Min aAbdul Rahi rn

Min aM 2 , K0“ 0 o

Mian T an S OD . o a o

Khawja N i zamuddin Ahmad o

Mulls Abdul Q uadnr, Badaoui

Urfi of Shiraz

Royal P hysicians

Tn: Mo on s Cm

I ndGX Q

L I ST O F I L L USTRAT ION S .

l .—T ss Emp nnon BAsAa

2 .—Tns E x rnnon H UNAYUN

‘

.

3 .—Tm Emp snon AKBAR

4—Tns E x rsson JAH ANGm5.—NunMABAL

6 .—Tm : E MP ERO R S H AH JAH AN

7 —Tru: 11611 9 1111011. AUBAN ezss8.—s '

rcn MAP or run Four

9.—T 1m Fen'

r (from the river si de)10.—Tm: Font (from the side of the JamaMasjid)

11 . DEWAN -l -AM

1 2 .—T 11z D EWA‘N - x -Ax (interior)

1 3 .— T 11 11 D rIWAN x KuA

'

s

14. -T lu DEWAN I KH AS (interior)15.— l

‘mi: D z‘

wm‘

Km‘

s, theT hrone dud tlie Saihmuna j

16.— Tm KnAs

'

MAnAL

11 — 1 111 : d or'

m n P ALA '

C E1 8.—T 111: Smsfi MAhAL (or Palace of Mirrors)

19. SAitx AN'

Bun?!

2 0.—T H E MARBLE T nnom:

2 1 .—Tmr. Mon MAs or P earl Mosque (ex terior)

2 2 - T 11 1' Moi ‘ x Mos (interior) .

2 3 .—JA11ANGmx MAH A' L (ex te rior vi ew)

fi —JAH ANG lh ’s P AL AC l-i

2 5.—P AL AC E or Jonn BA!

2 6 .—ABJUNAND BAN o BEGAN al ias TAJ MAH AL

2 7.— T H E GAT EWAY or run: TAJ

2 8 .—T 111: TAJ '

2 9 .—T 11 E TAJ (from the riyer side)

3 0.—T s s T ons or S H AH JAsAN

3 l .— T unMosque or run: T A:

3 2 .—s rcn P LAN or FA'r

'

r'

x-zup cn Sum:

3 3 .- Tmc K H AWD -GAH or Royal Bed-room

3 4.—T H E K H As MAH AL , Fattehpnr S ikri

3 5—T ln P ANJ MAH AL, Fattehpnr S ikri3 6.— Tm MAUsow ou or sr1s SAL E )! C H I SHT I (ex terior v iew)

3 7.—T 11n:MAvsonsnu or 8 111111 11 SALEM 0 1115111 1

3 8.- T H E T ons or NAWAs I S L AM K H AN

3 9.— T ns BO LAN D DARWAZA , Fattehpnr S i kri

40.—T H E MosQ UE bf Fattehpnr Sjkri

41 .—B111. BAs

’

s P ALAC E42 .

- Tmr. H mAN MI NARA43 .—T H E GAT EWAY or S EKAN D ARA

44. MAusonsnx o 1rAKBAR

45.

-T H E T ons or AKBAR46 .— T s s MAusO I 111 m 0 1? I T IMAD UD O UL A

47.—T 11 1 JAMA MASJU) or AGRA

AGRA,

H ISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.

C H AP T E R I .

H ISTORI C AL .

AKBARABAD ,’or the city of Akbar, as Agra1 is called among

the Mnhammadans, is si tuated on the west or right bank of

the Jumna about,

the centre of the district of the same name,300 miles above i ts confluence with the river Ganges, 1 39

miles south-east from D elhi , and 841 miles by rail from

Calcutta.

T he regions of the Jumna, the Yamuna of the ancient

P urduas, are the classic spot of the birth of Vydsa (from

the S anskri t vi and (i s, literally throw in different directions,’

hence the reputed arranger of the V edas, and

the reputed author of theMahdbhd'ratd, the P urdnaa, the Brdh

ma S z’

ctras and the D harma S z’

otras, the son of the celebratedsage Parasara. Agra was then i tself unknown, and Indraprasthd

and H astinapur had not been founded. Yet the regions are

interesting, being , according to the H indu scriptures, associated

with the birth and earlyyears of a personage of no less celebritythan Vaséya, who, being aBrahman in a former life and attaining final beati tude, resumed, by special command of the deity,

a corporeal form and human shape at the period intervening be

tween the thirdand fourth ages of the present world. The hunt

ing ex cursions of Santanuprove the country to have been drearyanddesolate, inhabi ted by a numerous and powerful tribe of

fishermen who had a king of their ownandsubsistedon the chase.

According to the d shdh N dma. of Mulls Abdul H amid L ahort, the nameAkbarébéd was

’

ven to Agra b S héh Jahan,who ordered that in all ublie

correspondencegs ci ty shouldhe calle dAkbarébzid, afterthe name of the ennd

ar, his grandfather.

1' Agra. is believed to derive i ts name from the H indi word agar meaningsalt-pan ,

’

as, the so i l being brack ish , i t once used to be aPlace

.

for mull ing salt

by evaporation. Some ascribe the name.

Agra to Agarwé bum s, whose numberso much predominates in the United P rovmces.

AGBA t H I STORI C AL .

I t is remarkable that the descendants of those men, now livingalong the banks of the sacredriver, should be abstemious.

The place is also held in great reverence bythe H indus, as

the scene of the incarnation of V ishnu under th e name of Parasu

H induofisin O f the H indu origin of Agra there can be no doubt. T he

very root of its name, Ami , is Sanskrit, meaning prior, or first,

which has led some to conjecture that it was the first of the

manygroves where Krishna, the sporting shepherd-

god of the

H indus, by blowing his famous pipe, captivated alike the dairy

maids of Brindraban and the princesses ot'

the Gangetic regions.

I t is identifiedwith the Aggrames mentionedbyQuintus C urtius,the Greek writer, as a prince of the Fi rst inhabiting the countryof the Gangarides.

I tsantiquity» The antiquity of Agra is also evidenced bycertain ancient

towns comprised in the district. C onspicuous among these is

Bates“ , otherwise known as S uraj pur, founded, according to

tradition, by 1143'

s S uri sena, identified by General C unningham

as the nephew of the great King Ramaof Ayudbia. Ancient

images and sculptures have been found amidst its ruined

temples, and the remains of Buddhist structures and figures, the

remnants of ancient monasteries, have been discovered in I timad

pnr and the tracts bordering the C hambal. There is no doubtthat all these ancient towns were once dependent on the mightyH indumonarchywhich hadMathrafor its capital.

P assing from legend to history, the first mention we find of

Agra is in a P ersian work byAbdulla, known as Tdrflch-i -Ddudz’

,

being a chronicle of the Afghan L odt kings from the reign of

Behlol-i-L odi , the first king of the Afghan dynasty, to that of

Muhammad Adil-i—Sur and Band Shah, the last ruler of the race .

The authorwrites of the origin of Agra T he H indus assert

that Agra was a strong place in the days of 3 d Kane, the

ruler of Mathra, who confined everyone who incurred his dis

pleasure in the fort of that place, hence, in the course of time ,

it became the established S tate prison.

”

Invasion of According to the same author, when the Ghiznivide conqueror,

53 22‘s: Sultan Mahmfid, invaded India, his armies so devastated Agra

INVAS I O N O F MAH MUD .

that i t was reduced to the status of an insignificant village.

Th is was about 102 2 A.D .

After the departure of Mahmud from the country, Agragagiutb

dseems to have regained i ts importance and become once more a 11133 3 .

111 0

H indu principali ty, for, in the poems of Salman, written in praise

of the Gbizni vide Sulténs, Mahmfid,’ Ibrahim and Bairamshdh,

we find mention of the capture of the cityby the Muhammadan

army underMahmud.

The fort of Agra, wri tes the author, is built amidst the

sand,li ke a hill

,and i ts battlements are like hillocks. No

calamity hadeverbefallen i ts fortifications, norhaddecei tful time

treacherously dealt with it.”T he ci ty was besieged. In the

night the chiefs of Jeypal the Rajahad a dream. The followingmorning, the Baja, coming out of the fort, made obeisance

to S ef-ud-doula, who introduced him to the King. But the

K ing was determined to bring destruction on the fort, and hated

the idea of alleg iance with the unbelievers.

’ I have come,said he, to this country to prosecute a religious war. I havereduced countless forts, andwas in search of a large virgin fortress,

such as this one,and I must reduce i t and bring it under

the sway of Islam.

”T he King, with a drawn scimi tar, plunged

into the midst of the fight,‘ like a lion.

’

The falchions of the

holy warriors made the ground of Agra flow like a riverwith

the blood of the enemy. T he soldi ers of Islam, according to

the author, surrounded the fort and made the day appear like

night. The stones discharged from the mangonels ascended

to the vault of heaven li ke the prayers of saints.

”At last

th ere arose, from the warriors of Islém within the fort, the shout,V ictory to our sovereign, L ord Mahmud. The fort was

reduced, and the neighbouring chiefs sent in their presents, in

leads of gold and files of elephants, to the conqueror.

P rince Mahmfid, to whom the ode is addressed, returned to

G hizni after conquering malwaand Ujjain, having crossed the

I ndus at the point of Attock . Salman regards the act as

meritorious, and compares his ex peditions with that of Moses,who had crossed the N ile in E gypt.

Mahmhd noticed bythe poet Salman. was a great grandson of Mahmund

Ghiznewt. The author as been also quoted by Jahangir in his autob iography,as wi ll be found further on. T here can therefore be no doubt that A was animportant citybefore it became the cap ital of the bed! Afghan k ingsof elhi .

AGRA H ISTO RI C AL .

Under the Ghori , Khilji , Tughlak and Sayyid dynasties,

Agra seems to have been an insignificant place, comprised i n

the carkdr, or dependency, of Biana. O u the return of Moham

mad Ghori , to H industan, in 1 195 A.D . , he proceeded to Biani ,

took it, and conferred the government on his general, Baha-ud

din T oghral.’ T he power of the C hehan chief of C handawar,

who then occupied the country about Agra, was efl'

ectnally

crushed ; but the H indu chiefs, who had been compelled to pay

tribute to the Muhammadan sovereigns, soon returned to a state

of semi -independence. O n the invasion of Tamerlane, in 13 98 ,

the Rajput chiefs enjoyed abrief interval of independence. D ur

ing the Sayyid dynasty, the Muhammadan emperors of D elhi

te-established their authori ty in the district of Agra, but during

the latter period of the dynasty the H indus asserted their i h

dependence.

Under the Ou the accession of S ultan Sakandar L od1’

to the throne o fM dym w'

D elhi , Sultan Sharaf, Governor of Biana, on behalf of Azim

H umayun, grandson of Behlol-i -Lodi , having closed the gates o f

the fort of Biana, prepared to defendhimselfagainst the troops o f

Umar Khan Sherwani , who had been directed by the new K ing

to take charge of the fort. T he K ing, however, choosing to

overlook the circumstance, proceeded to Agra, where H aibatKbdn Jahroni , who held the fort under S ultan S haraf, also shut

the gates. This insult incensed Sakandar Lodi , who made war

on Sultan Sharaf, and the forts of both sum and Agra fell

Sultan Sbaraf, after his defeat, being banished to Gwalior.

Rem“) ledbySultan Sakandar nowdirected his attention to te-

peopling the

sumniam . town of Agra. The city of the Lodi kings, however, lay on thed 155" M L

eastern bank of the Jumna. N iamatullé, the author O f the

Tdri kh—t Khdn Jebdu Zodi , a contemporarywith Ferishta, who

compiled his work in 16 12 A.D . , or the eighth yearof the accession

of Jahangir, furnishes the following account of the founds

tion of Muhammadan Agra by Sultan Sakandar -The

Government officers and the peasantry in general in the

sarkd'r of Biana having complained to the S ultan of the

ex cesses committed by the refractory population of that

division of the empire, H is Majesty resolved on founding a town

on the banks of the Jumna which should be utilized as the

Feriehta.

AGRA H ISTORI C AL .

be struck at Nagore in the S ultan’

s name. T he report of this

submission delighted the King , who sent him a horse and bone .

rary dress. H is Majesty then left D holpur, and, visi ting Agra,

spent some time there in a round of p leasure and festivi ties, in

Who fix es h is visi ting gardens and in hunting ex peditions. I t was about th is

there. time,”

continues the author, that Agra, formerlya dependency

of Bitina, was fix ed upon as the residence of the S overeigns.

”

As“ , a naI n the time of the S ultan, Agra became a grand resort of the

thepeople of all nations, and learned men from Arabia, P ersia,

Bokhara, and other countries of Asia, flocked to h is court, and

were honourably received and handsomely provided for. I t was

from this place that the Sultan issued the many edicts having for

theirobject thewelfare of his people, the prosperityof his country,

and the suppression of crime and abominable usages in h is do

minions, which have obtained for him a foremost place among

the Muhammadan sovereigns of H industan. Among his other

edicts, may be mentioned the abolition of the annual procession

for the displayof the spear of salarMasud,’ which had become a

Muntficentmeasures of standwg nu1sance ; the proh1b1t1on of n u ts byfemales to tombs

or pilgrimage, and the establishment of factories where the

young nobles’ and soldiers’

sons were taught useful handicrafts .

The King led a most simple life, and was averse to pomp and

show.

A strange custom prevailed at this time, to ex press the awe

and reverence in which the King was held. I t was the practice

for every chief who heard of the coming of a royal mandate to

travel two or three 1008 to meet the bearer. A high platform was

then constructed, and cushions of the richest workmanship were

spread upon it. The messenger seated himself on this platform,

while the noble who was to receive the mandate, standing

beneath , raised both his hands with the utmost humili tyand res

pect, and instantlythefarmdn was placedin them, andhe kissed

it andplaced it on his head and touched his eyes with it. I f i t

was a private communication, he read i t si lently ; if it was on

public business, it was read out from the pulpit of a mosque .

This was in imitation of a Tartar custom, which still obtains in

China, but Sakandar had i t discontinued.

T he C haridn-kdtmdd.

is still held in honour of th is saint throughor tH mdustan. At this fan ad1sp lay is 111ads of long bamboos or canes wh ich are helderect and balanced on the head or the forehead, or on the teeth of the lower jaw.

H UMAYUN .

O h the 3 rd of Safer, 911 (5th July 1505M l ), Agrawas visited Oman “by a violent earthquake. I t was so severe that lofty buildings 1

were levelled wi th the ground, and several thousands of the i h

habitants were buried under the ruins.

“ Such a severe earth

quake had never been ex perienced in India before.

I n the year 92 3 (l517 the Emperor Sakandar Lodi sum 33 11211

1

of

moned all the distant nobles to Agra wi th a view to reducinglsglkmd”

Gwali or, and was in the midst of his preparations for war when7°

he was taken i ll wi th quinsy, and died in his palace in Agra, on

S unday, the 14th D ecember, 1517. H e founded Sakandra, the sauna” .

famous burial-place of one of the most illustrious sovereigns Indiaever had, and built the fine red-stone summer house which sub

sequently became the last resting-

place of Mariam Zamani ,Akbar

’

s P ortuguese wife.

O n the day on which the celebrated battle of Panipat was Agra

fought (2 9th Apri l and the Emperor Ibrahim L od1, the gz

l

igmtxy

son and successor of Sultan S ekandar, slain in the battlefield,

Mbar’

Babar pushed forward two detachments, the one to D elhi and

the other to Agra, to secure the public treasure in those ci ties.

H e himself reached D elhi on the third dayafter the battle, and

on the Fridav following, the Khutba having been read in his

name in the grandmosque, be sealed up the different treasures

there and hastened on to Agra, where he had sent Prince

H umayun in advance. Agra was taken from the house of Lodi

on loth May, 152 6.

Agra was occupied, wi thout any severe resistance, by P rince P rince

H uméytm. At this time there lived in Agra the family of Bak £95332?srama Ji t, the Raja of Gwalior, whose country had been con

H umay‘m‘

quered by Azim Buwayt'

i n S irwani , a General of the Emperor

Ibrahim. Bakrama Jit was called to service in the battle of

Pani pat and slain in the battlefield. H is wives and ch ildren and

the heads of his clan, who were in the fort, tried to escape, but

were seized and detained there. H umayun treated this ancient

H indu family wi th consideration in the hour of their misfortune,

and saved them from being plundered. I n return for thisE311? gir

th"

generous conduct, they, of their own accord, made to H umayt'

m dm ond'

a present of jewels, among which was a famous diamond which ,

Ferishm.

The greatbattle wi ththeRajputsatFatehpurS ikri , 1527.

RatjaBangs.

AGBA H ISTO RI C AL .

according to Baoar, had been acquired by S ultAn Ala-ud-din o f

Malwa. I t is so valuable,”

writes the Emperor in his Memoirs ,that a judge of diamonds valued it at half of the daily ex pense

of the whole world. I t is about eight miskals (or 3 20

Baber, on his arrival at Agra, took up his residence in the old

palace of Sultan Ibrahim. H umayun’

s first act, on his father’

s

arrival, was to present him wi th the diamond he had received

from the fami ly of RajaBakrama Jit. Bébar gave i t back to

H umayun as a present. This was the valuable diamond whichwas shown by Aurangzeb to Tavernier, the jewellerandmerchant ,and valued by the latter at nearly sterling , and is

believed to be the famous Koh- i -N fir(or Mountain of

T he Emperor pardonedMalik Daud Kurant, the chief officer

of Ibrahim in the fort, showed him favours, and permitted his

followers to retain their property. O n I brah im’

s mother hebestowed a parganaof seven lakhs of rupees, and she was con

ducted, wi th all her effects, to a place wh ich was fix ed on for her

residence about a belowAgra.

a

Babar often resided at Agra, and it was at Fatehpur S ikri ,

near Agra, that his great anal decisive battle wi th the Rajputs

was fought, in 152 7. T he Emperor has given a graph ic account

of this battle in his Memoirs. mt Sanga, si x th in descent from

H amir, who had recovered C hi ttor in the reign of Ald-ud-din

Khi lj i (A .D . and re-established the Rajput dominions over

Mewat, E astern Malwa, and Ajmere, was at this time recog

nised as the leader of all the Raj put princes. H e had opened

friendly communication wi th Babar wh ile that monarch was

advancing against S ultan Ibrahim ; but, now that the power of

the Mughal sovereign had been established i n D elhi and Agra,he began to enter into intrigues against him,

and was, on th is

occasion, joined by Mahmud, a Prince of the house of Lodi , who

had in his train a force of men. H e also found a

valuable aux iliary in H asan Khan, chief of Mewat. T he Raja,

with the combined forces of h is allies and the p icked warriors

of the Rajput tribes, advanced to Biana, with in the dependencyof Agra, and, defeating the garrison of that place, cut off all

communication between them and the cap ital. Bébar on th is

° For a full h istory of the Koh-i -Nur diamond, see my H istory of L ahore ,pp . 3 76-383 .

BABAR .

reached S ikri , but his advancedo

guard was defeated with great

loss. These defeats greatly dismayed Babar’s veteran troops,

and they began to regard the contest in a very serious light.

W hi le the Mughal army was yet in a state of alarm and panic,

Mahammad S harif, an astrologer from Kabul, foretold its defeat, T he Kabulm aintaining that at that time Mars was in the West, and that astrologer

whoever should engage coming from the opposi te quarter would

be defeated.

“Without listening to his foolish predictions,”writes

the E mperor in his Memoirs,

“ I proceeded to adopt such steps as

the emergency seemed to demand, and used every ex ertion to put

my troops in ti t state to engage the enemy.

”H e recognised the

di fficulty of his posi tion, and became penitent before God. H e P enim ce of

forswore drink ing , to which he had been so much addicted, sentBi b”

for h is goldand si lver goblets and cups and other utensi ls used for

drinking parties, broke them in pieces, and gave away the

fragments to the darweshes and the poor. H is ami rs followedhis

e x ample. T he choice wine of Ghizni , which Baba D ost, the

butler, bad a few days before brought from Kabul on three

camels,was mi x ed wi th salt and converted into vinegar. Other

wine wh ich the E mperor had, at the time, was poured on

the ground. H e made a vow to let his beard grow,and promised

to remi t the tamgha, or stemp tax , on all Musalmans. O bserv

ing that general consternation and alarm prevailed among the

ranks of h is army, he assembled all his amirs and emeers, andaddressed them N oblemen and soldiers l—E very man that H is addrm

comes into the world is subject to dissolution. When we are 3?passedawayandgone, Godonly survives, unchangeable . Whoever

comes to the feast of Life, must , before i t is over, drink from the

cup of death. H e who arrives at the inn of Mortali ty,must one

day inevitably take his departure from that house of sorrow in the

world. H ow much better is i t to die with honour than to livewi th infamy!

I t is myglory to die adeath of fame,

Rather than to'

live a life ofdisgrace and shame .

T he most high God has been propi tious to us, and has now

p laced na in such a crisis that, i fwe fall in the field, we die the

death of martyrs ; if we survive, we rise victorious, the avengers

o f the cause of God. L et na, then, with one accord, swear onGod’

s

h oly word, that none of nawill even think of turning his face

2

AGBA H lSTORlC AL .

from the warfare, nor desert from the battle and slaughter that

ensues, ti ll his soul is separated from his body.

”

The replywas a fervent about of devotion. All swore on the

Kurdn to conquer or die. T he courage of the army having been

revived, Bébar drew up his tr00ps in front of his intrenchments.

H e then gallopedalong the lines, cheering the soldiers and gi vingBu veryof instructions as to howtheywere to act. T he Rajputs fought bravethe Reupnts.

lyand desperately. Baber has g1ve11 an account of thi s great

battle in the elaborate despatch of his secretary, who thus

describes the action of the Mughal troops in the th ickest of the

fight T he warriors of the fai th , who were in the temper of self

devotion, and prepared to submi t to martyrdom, heard from a

secret voice the glad tidings, Aad be notdejectednor sorry, yem a

wait”; and from the infallible informer heard the joyful words.

Assistance is from God, and v ictory isat hand spread theglad

tidings among the Faithful} They foughtwith such enthusiasm

that praises were showered down on them from the pure above,

andthe angels, who are neartoGod, hovered like butterflies around

their heads. And between the first and second prayers, the fire

of battle blazed so that i ts flames raised the standard above the

V iew , offirmament. V ictory at last declared for Baber. H asan Khan

tho Mum . and many other chiefs fell in the action, andmaSanga escaped

with difi culty. After h is v ictoryBaber assumed the proud ti tle

of Ghdzi , or C hampwn in the cause of the Fai th. T he battle

was fought wi thin view of a small hill near S ikri . H e had

a tower constructed of the skulls of the enemies slaughtered

pu h hmm in the battlefield. T he Kabul astrologer came to congratulate

2323 3 3“the E mperor on his v ictory. I poured forth ,

”says the Emperor,

“a torrent of abuse upon him, and when I had relieved my

soul by it, although he was heathenishly inclined, perverse,

ex tremely self-conceited, and an insufierable ill-speaker, yet, as

he had been my old servant I gave him a lakh as a present.

and dismissed him,commanding him not to . l

°

omein wi thin mydominions.

”

34m »

, Fresh from a country that abounded in beauti ful scenery.

gff

fig'ét

g?

green vales, lux uriant lakes, and running waters, andgifted by

nature with a lively imag ination al genius, Bébar was

the first of the

MsAa’

s GARD EN AND PALACE .

India for laying out beautiful gardens and pleasure-

grounds,

constructing artificialwater-courses, andarranging places of public

recreation.

“We were disgusted,”observed H is Majesty, with

three th ings in H industén : one was i ts heat, which was unbear

able another, i ts strong wi hda, which carried everything before

them ; and the third, its dust, which found its way into every

nook and corner of a house.

"To remove these inconveniences,

Baber had baths constructed at Agra. We can do no better than

give the talented King’

s own description of the bath, from his

celebrated Memoirs T he bath room in which is the tub, ormug. bathcistern, is constructed entirely of stone . T he water-channel is

“t “r"

constructed of white stone ; all the rest, floor and roof. is made of

red stone brought from Biaua. T he temperature of the siren

not ati'

ect the'

bath for. when the hot winds blow, the bath can be

artificiallycooled, so that aman can hardlybear the cold produced.

”

Babar laid out a garden beyond the Jumna and founded am. cm ,“

palace. T he garden he calledGulafslcdn ; in the P ersian dialect“ dm

i t was called Chdrbdgh. The following is his description of theTM

laying out of these places and the causes which led him to

adopt such a course I t occurred to me that one of the chief

drawbacks of H industan, which provedan obstacle to the development of its agricultural resources, was want of artificial water

courses (abi -rawdn). T o remove thisdefect, I resolved, wherever Ifix edmyresidence, to ex cavate artificial streamsandwater-courses,

to cause water-wheels to be constructed, and elegant andwell

p lanned pleasure-

grounds to be laid out. S hortly after my

arrival at Agra, I made a close inspection of the banks of the

Jumna, with this object in view, and to select a suitable spot for a

garden. The whole countryappearedso ug ly and desolate that I

passed the river thoroughlydisgusted, and gave up for a time all

idea of mak ing a garden in this locali ty. H owever, as no better

si tuation presented i tself in the neighbourhood of Agra, I con

c luded that I could do no better than make the best use of the

same spot that was in my power. I began by sinking the large

well which supplied water to the baths ; nex t, I put in order the

spot of groundwhere there are the tamarind trees and the octa

gonal tank ; then I proceeded to make the large tank wi th its

i nclosure. This done, I had a hall of audience constructed in

front of the stone palace. The ball is open in front, andsupported

by p illars. Nex t, I finished the apartments and the baths wi th a

AGBA H ISTORICAL.

fine garden attached to them. Going on in this way, after the

H indu fashion, without, I must own,much regard to neatness or

order, I producededifices and gardens which , on the whole, looked

elegant andafi'

orded an agreeable and pleasing sight.”

T he Emperor’s love of gardening and planting led him to lay

out gardensafter the fash ion of Turk islan. H e observes I n

every corner I planted beautiful gardens ; in everygarden 1 sowed

roses and nareissus in a regular fashion, and in beds correspond

ing to each other.

”

H is ex ample was followedbythe ami rs and nobles of his court,who vied with each other in the ex cellence of their designs and

the elegance of their arrangements. T he suburbs of Agra looked

quite green and fresh. Wheels, after the fash ion of Lahore and

D epalpur, were constructed for raising water from wells and

among the amirs who constructedgardens and tanks on the banks

of the Jumua in th is way, Bébar mentions the names of Khali fa

S heikh Zen and Yunis All. T he men of H ind,

”wri tes the

E mperor, who had never before seen places formed after such

fashion, or laid out with such elegance, gave the name Kabul tothe quarters of the Jumna on which . tl1ese gardens and places

were laid out and constructed.

”

UndergroundO n an empty space

,

wi thin the fort of Agra, between the

cumbempalace of S ultAn I bral11 111 and the ramparts, the Emperor had

spacious underground chambers constructed, the floor o f wh ich

was on the same level wi th the surface of well water.There

were three open halls, each hall h igher than the other by three

steps, and the descent was bymeans of fl ights of steps. I n con

nection wi th the middle story was constructed a dome for the

bullocks to move round to work the wheels. T he way in which

water was raised from the bottom of the reservo irs (that had been

constructed by the side of the wells to receive water) to the

upper gardens was most ingenious, and several water-wheels were

construc ted wh ich , lifting the water from one reservoir to the

other, raised i t to a level wi th the ramparts and made i t. run

smoo thly through the various beds of the gardens that had beenlaid out.

Baber died in his palace at the C harbagh on 2 6th D ecember

1530,whi le yet only forty-eight years of age. H e died honoured

A oceu iJ“

by Shi rS hi h Sm'

Afghhn, 1540.

Anecdote.

AGBA H ISTOM CAL .

presented themselves before the newE mperor and tendered theirallegiance, moneywas scattered among the populace, publie prayers were read, and coin was struck in the name of the newPrince.

After the great discomfiture oi.

H umayun at Kanauj , S her

Shah S nr Afghan took possession of Agra, in 1540, and, seiz ing

i ts treasures and arsenals, hastened on to D elhi , whence parties

of Afghans pursued H umaytmacross the S utlej .

S her Shéh was one of the most enlightened Princes that

ever ruled the destinies of this E mpire. H is justice was

proverbial, and the impartiality wi th which be administered

i t obtained for him 11 h igh place among the sovere igns of

India. T he author of the Klmldsut ad Tawdri kh has related

an instance of his justice which will serve to i llustrate the

character of this King . O ne day his eldest son, Adi ! Khan,

riding on an elephant, passed through one of the streets of

Agra, attended byhis cavalcade. As he was making his round, he

happened to see a young wi fe of a citizen who was bathingnaked in the upper story of her house, the walls of which were in

a di lapidated condition and allowed the objects inside to be seenby a man ridi ng on an elephant. T he P rince was charmed with

her looks. The moment he saw her, he served her wi th a

betel, or bird pd”, which he threw to her to secure her afl'

ections.

S he was not awoman of easy virtue, and, when her husbandcamehome, narrated the circumstance to him. T he husband, feelinghis honour wounded, laid h is complaint before the Emperor, who

was convinced of its truth. H e gave it as his verdict that the

principle of retaliation enjoined by the Muhammadan Law

should be enforced I t was directed that the complainant, seated

in his turn, on an elephant, should pass through the street and

see the Prince’s wi fe when undressed and bathing . Great was

the ex citement that prevai led in the court, and the alarm caused

in the King'

s harem at the prospect of a female member of the

royal household being thus publicly dishonoured. The King

was inflex ible in his resolution. I n vain did his amirs and coun

sellers ex ert themselves to mollify him.

“ S uch is,”

said H is

Majesty, the lawof ourreligion, and i t must be enforced in its

entirety. That the accused happens to be a king’

s son, is no

reason whyhis gui lt should be passed overwi th impuni ty. L aw

is meant to be obeyed, and, in administering justice, there should

sass sum.

be no difference between a prince of royal blood and a peasant.T he complainant, seeing that his honour had been sufficientlyv indicated, withdrew his complaint , declari ng that he had gained

his right, and was satisfied with the S ultan’

s justice, and at his

earnest solici tation the matter was dropped. S uch was the k ind

of justice administeredat Agra during the prosperous days of

S her Shah S ti r.

S her S hah was a great patron of architecture, and of the pub Arcmmmmlie buildings constructed in his time throughout India manyex ist57:2nto this day, the admiration of the world. T he only architectural

relic of h is time in Agra is the interesting mosque of Alawal

Bi lawal, or Shah “fi layat, in Nai ki Mandi , which has sunk intothe ground up to about the middle of the walls.

T he peace of Agrawas disturbedduring the reign of the last Salem

monarch’

s son and successor. S ultan Islam,better known as

S alem S hah Sur, the second son of Sher S hah . Agra was stillS l'ah '

the D dr ul S ultanat of India. The claim of Adi l S hah, the Adil Shah ,

eldest son, hav ing been set aside on account of his weakness of

character and imbecili ty, Salem S hah was saluted Emperor of

H industan. Immediately on his accession, he invited his elder

brother, Adil Shah, to Agra, feigning a desire to tender his allegi

ance to him and telling him that he had been forced by circum

stances alone to occupythe throne, his object being to p revent

commotion, and that, as soon as he made his appearance in the

capi tal, he would resign in his favour. Adi l S hah arrived at Agra,

anda meeting between the brothers was arranged. Salem had

g i ven strict orders to the guard of the citadel that h is hrotht r

shouldbe allowed to enter i t with only two or three attendants.

Adi l Shah, suspecting the sinceri ty of Salem, pushed forward

i nto the hall of public audience with a large number of followers,

and thus the plan of Salem to seize the person of his brother was

defeated.

Undeterredbythe failure of his scheme, S alem tried to gain Resigns the

byhis eloquenceand byflatterywhat he had failedto do by stra fffx’

our of

tagem. H e renewed his formerassertions that he had been con 3 h“

strained to assume the royal titles andprerogatives against his

will, merely from political considerations and to keep the

Bat is defeated, 1545.

AGRA H I ST O RIC AL

turbulent classes of the public in check , and he loaded Adi l S hah

wi th marks of distinction and honour. Then, approach ing h im

and holding him by the hands, he placed him on the throne .

Adil was not decei ved by the apparent sinceri ty of his brother'

s

professions, but, being h imself a lover of ease and freedom, and

feeling that his situation on the throne would be unsafe,forth

with came down,and, in h is turn, seating Salem S hah on i t,

saluted h im as the Emperor, and offered the customarycongratu

lations. T he grandees of the court instantly followed h is ex amp le ,and, tendering their homage to Salem, presented h im ofi

'

erings.

Adi l S hah retired to h isJag irs at 1314114.

This didnot, however, satisfy Salem. H ardly two months had

elapsed when be despatched Ghazi Mahli , a eunuch of rank , to

Biana, with a pair of golden fetters, and with orders to seize the

person of Adi l Shah and bring him 11 prisoner to the court.

Khewas Khan, of Mewat , a partizan of Adil,whose ex ertions had

chicflyled to the late amicable settlement between the brothers,hav ing heard of this breach of fai th on the part of S alem, set out

for Agra at the head of a large army. H e was joined by Adi l

anda number of chiefs who had guaranteed the safety of that

Prince.

A battle was fought in sight of Agra (A.D . in which ,

in spi te of the ex ertions of Khewas Khan,victory declared itself

for Salem. Adil S hah fled from the battlefield, escaped to

Tabia, and was heard of no more.

After his defeat, in Monghyr, by a detachment sent by S herS hah, in Juse , 153 9, H umayun continued his flight with a small

retinue to Kalpi , with the v iew of proceeding thence to Agra.

B is army, including the best part of his father’s veterans, had

been cut off for the most part, or perished in the inundations .

H umaynn’

s E mpress, whom i t had been the last endeavour o f

that sovereign to save, hadbeen taken prisoner by the Afghans ;but S her S hah treated her wi th every mark of courtesy and

attention and sent her to Agra in safety. H umayun shortlyafterwards joined the Empress at Agra, and, after making pre

parations there, once more moved from Agra, in Apri l, 1540, to

g ive battle to his adversary, who was nowin possession of Bengal.H is army was at this time strengthened by a reinforcement

nomfl fi x .

of men belonging to Kdmrdn, who had himself retiredE1;ffif‘

igfif

t o Lahore. The final defeat of H umaynn at Kanauj has beenalready noticed.

* T he defeated monarch turned his thoughts

to S indh but, h is attempts to re establish his authority in that

part of the country having failed, he fled to Persia, where he grmgsligé

o

was magnificently received by Shah Tahmasp , the Safvi King

( 154 T he S hah sent an army, under h is son, to restore H uma

ynn, who recovered Kabul (April and marched to recover

India in January, 1555, after an ex ile often years. H e engaged

Sakandar S hah S umAfghan at S irhand, and gained a decisive 1555.

v ictory, the Afghans flying to the mountains under the H imalaya.

T his victory once more decided the fate of the E mpire of H indus

tan and established a dynasty which proved more prosperous

and enduring than any of those wh ich had preceded it. An ad

vance force of the victor immediately took possession of D elhiaovc

lh

gaandAgra (July

urn.

T he death of H umayun in D elhi , and the absence of his

successor, the young Akbar, in the Punjab, gave fresh courage to

H emn, the H indu minister of Muhammad S hah Adi ti , to recover

the capital for his master. H emu was originally a shop-keeper

who, by the force of his talents, had risen to the highest post in

the g i ft of the crown. At this time he set out wi th a powerful

army of men and elephants against Agra, and his Agra oceu.

numbers increased as he advanced through a friendly country. fly,“T he Mughal officer in charge of Agra was hardly prepared to

meet this formidable invasion and thought it his best policyto fall back on D elhi . Zamdn Khan, anotherMughal officer, at

th e head of hors‘

e, tried to oppose the advance of S hndi

Khan, one of H emn’

s Generals, but he was defeated, and almost

the whole of his force was cut off. Agra was taken, after a

short siege, by H etnu,who, now advancing on D elhi , took posses

sion of i t, and, setting aside the pretensions of Sakandar S ti r,

assumed the ti tle of Raja Bakrarna Ji t, of ancient fame.

T he Mughal army under Bairam Khan graduallyassembled T het attle of

at N owshera and advanced upon D elhi. H emu marched outF! ipac,

with a considerable army to P anipat, the old battlefield which

had so often decided the fate of the E mp ire since the age of the

See page N sup ra.

AO RA H IS TORIC AL .

Mahabharat. Benin was defeated and captured. The v ictorious

Agra t e -occu Bairatn Khan and the youthfulAkbar both displayed prodig ies of

mgwtzy1525“ velour in this battle. After the victory, Sakandar Uzbek, a

General of H umayun, was sent fozward to occupyAgra, and the

place was surrenderedwithout any resistance in 1556.

Modern Agra was founded on the west bank of the river

Jumna byAkbar, the son of H umayun, who removed the seat

of government to that p lace. The orig inal idea of the E mperor

was to bui ld his entire metropolis at Fatehpur S ikri , south-west

of Agra, in honour of the birth there of his eldest son, S alem

(afterwards Jahang ir), believed to have been born through the

blessings and benedictions of S alem C hishti , a faks'

r of great te

lig ions sanctitywho resided there at the time ; and traces o f

fortifications sti ll ex ist there. T he reason why the idea was

abandoned is ex plained further on. T he establishment of the

metropoli tan capi tal in its present locality is attributed

by some to the superiori ty of Agra on a navigable ri ver. coupled

wi th i ts salubrions climate, and by others to the circumstance

of the saint. Salem C hishti , havi ng told the Emperor Akbar

that the presence of aroyal court at the residence of the fuki r

seriously interfered with his devotions, and that H is Majestywoulddo well to remove it to some more convenient locality,

and leave Fatehpur for the undisturbed engagement of the faks'

r

in his sp iri tual pursuits.

Abul Fazl, in the Akbu'mdma , gives the following account

of the foundation of modern Agra by Akbar H is Majestymade Agra the cap ital of the Empire , and, in the third year of

the reign (1558 an), took up his residence in the ci tadel for

merly known as Bédalgarh. H e assigned different quarters for

the accommodation ofthe grandees of the realm, thusrendering the

palace the centre of wealth , happiness and prosperity. Through

the auspicious attention of H is Majesty, the ci ty, within a short

t ime, became an ornament of the seven cli znes. I t is a c ity pos

sessing a salubrious climate, the heat and cold being moderate in

their respective seasons ; the soil is congenial to the growth of the

trees and fruit of Khorasan and Iraq ; the river J{i n (Jnmna)the water of which has few ri vals for lightness and taste, flows in

the midst of the ci ty on e i ther side of it the nobles and servants

Page 18 .

AGRA H lSTO RI CAL .

Akbar held public audience everyday, in the afternoon, in the

public hall of assembly, known as Darbdr-i -Am, which was an

open court with a royal throne set up in i t. I t was not, however,

customary with him to si t on the throne : he stood at the foot

o f i t, on a platform. still preserved in the D t'

wdn-i -Am,and gave

all orders in a standing posture, whi le all his ministers and amirs

stood before him with folded hands.

According to the testimony of E uropean travellers, Akbar

devoted special attention to the administration of justice.

" I n the

citywhere he dwelt he heard all causes himself. N o malefactor

was punished without h is knowledge.

” Mutilation of bands was

the punishment for theft and pi racy; while murderers. adulterers

and highway robbers were impaled or hanged. N o sentence of

ex ecution was carried out unti l Akbar had personally pronounced

i t three times. H e po isoned his enemies by administering to

them wi th his own hands betels, or so-calleddigestive p i lls, wh ich

he carried wi th him in a box , divided into several compartments,

and which no one dared to refuse when offered by the Badshah .

At evening a private darbdr was held in the ghusl kha’

na,

or imperial drawing-room

,at which peti tions from the V iceroys

of Provinces were read out to H is Majesty, who passed orders

on them, and other state business was transacted.

D uring relig ious discourses, or when hearing histories, Akbarsat on carpets, always accompanied by twelve learnedmen.

Ala-nd-dtn Khi lj i was the first Sultan of Indiawho married aH indu Princess, KonlaD evi , the Réjput Queen of Rai Karan,

the

Bajaof Gujrt'

tt ( 1306 S he had been taken prisonerduringthe Réjs

’

s lifetime,and so fascinated Ala-ud-din by her beauty

and talents, that she gained a great share of his favour. H er

equally beautiful daughter was married to Khizr Khan, the

E mperor’

s eldest son, and their loves form the subject of a cele

brated Persian poem,byAmtr Khnsro, the great poet; of India.

Ala-md-din, in ex ternal qualities, very much resembled Akbar,

Like h im, he married a H indu Princess. H e was the first to set

T his p ractice was followed by Akbar’

a two immediate successors. S hahJaklin caused the culprits to be bi tten by s cobra.

AKBAR .

aside the authority of the Kuran as propounded by the Ulamas ;

as also did Akbar. H e was the first Muhammadan S ultan who

founded a new religion and sought to become a prophet ; as also

did Akbar. ln Als-ud-diu’

s case i t was probably h is H induwife

who upset his relig ious fai th the same was the case with Akbar.

Both were i lliterate and of eccentric temper. Akbar married

two Rajput Princesses—first, the daughter of Bags Bihéri Malandsister o f Raja Bhégwtin D ds, and then Jodh Béi , a P rincess of

Jodhpur, the mother of Jahangir, commonly called Marian.

Zami ni . There was, however, this distinction b etween Als-ud

din andAkbar, that, while the former secured h is alliance wi th

the Ri jput Princess as the result of war and oppression, the

latter gained his bymeans of conci liation and friendship. There

was the further difference between the two, that, wh ile Alé-ud-din

was a tyrannical despot, Akbar, on the contrary, was generous,

forbearing , element and afi'

able. Akbar was no fanatic , and was

not carried away by religious frenzy. D uring the time ofboth,the wealth of India increased and led to various forms of lux ury

and improvements.

Religi ous reform was dear to Akbat ’e heart : but he hatedAfin r

’a

fno H indu orMuhammadan on aecount of his relig ion. H e raised

H indus to the highest S tate offices. H is land settlement, carried

out by his friend and minister, T odar Mal, was based on good

j udgment and humanity. According to the testimony of con H is privatelife.

temporary E uropeans, he was plai n m hi s habi ts, frugal, self

controlled and devoted to the useful arts. A sketch ofAkbat ’e

career has been separately gi ven, and i t is only necessary here

to describe brieflyhowbe closed his eventful life.

T he murder of Abul Fazl deeply afflicted Akbar. By h is H is domes

death he lost a trusted counsellor and a personal friend.

“ Other221mm? "

calami ties befell him about the same t ime. H is mother,H amida

'

Bano Begum, commonly known by her ti tle of MariamMakani,

(dwelling with the V irgin Mary) died. Prince D enial, his ownson, died of delirium tremens, in 101 3 (1604 in the D eccan.

S alem’

s jealousyof his son, Khusro, created a dispute betweenthe former and the latter

’

smother (the sister of RajaMan S ingh),

For the grief felt by Akbar on Abul Fazl’

s death, see L ife of Abul Fazl.C hap ter III .

H is death isaccelerated.

H is burial.

AGRA H I STO RIC AL .

who was so affected that she swallowed po ison, and thus a fresh

sting was inflicted on the alreadydistressed mind o f Akbar. T he

Emperor’

s own end was drawing near. H is last days were em

bittered by the rebellion of the heir-apparent, Salem. A recon-s

ci liation was effected between father and son, and S alem repaired

to the court at Agra and made submission. T he Emperor eon

ferredon him the pri vilege of using the crownj ewels, but placedhim under temporary restraint. D omestic troubles hadalreadyundermined the oldmonarch

’

s health. and he grewworse in S eptember, 1005. H e lost his appetite. andwas for the last ten

days confined to his bed. P rince Khurram (afterwards S hah

Jahan), then a mere boy, was constantly by the bedside of his

grandfather. Finding his endapproaching , the oldmonarch in

vited the nobles of his court to his chamber, together with the

heir apparent , Salem and when all had assembled, he earnest!y

looked on them all round and asked them to forgi ve him i f he

had been guiltyof any offence towards any of them. Salem now

threwhimself at his royal father’

s feet and b urst into a torrent

of tears. T he k iud-heartedAkbar, looking on him with feelings

of tenderness and afi'

ection, po inted to his favouri te scimi tar, and

made a sign to Salem to bind i t on him in that assembly. H av ing

recovered from his ex haustion, he addressed a fewwords of ad

monition to S alem. H e eagerlyasked him to look to the comfort

of the ladies of the harem and not to forsake his old friends and

dependents. H e then permi tted the ch ief mullah, who was a

personal friendof Salem,

to be brought to him, and in his presence

he repeated the confession of fai th and died in all the forms of a

goodMusalman.

T he event occurred in the Fort ot'

Agra, on 13 th October 1605,

in the six ty-thirdyear of his age and the fifty

-first of his reign.

The burial ceremonies of Akbar were performed in a simple

style. H e was interred in a splendid mausoleum in S akandrtt,

near Agra, bui lt by hi tnself.’ T he body was placed upon a bier.

Salemandhis three sons carried it out of the fortress. The young

princes, assisted bythe officers of the imperial household, carried

i t to Sakandrtl. Seven days were spent in mourning over the

I t was finished byJahang ir.—See C hap ter I I .

.Jam sots .

grave. P rovisions and sweetmeats were distributedamongst the

poor every morning and evening throughout the mourning, and

twentyreaders were appointed to recite the kurdn by the grave

everynight without ceasing.

’

The chief buildings of Akbar’

s period in Agra are his own bugldings tn

mausoleum at Sakandré, the Agra Fort, and the palaces andA

mausoleum of Sheikh Salem Chishti i n Fattehpur S iltri .

T he periodof mourning of the late Emperor being over, Salem .1d,“

entered the Fort of Agra by the western gate, and was crowned

E mperor of H industan, in October 1605, in the thirty-eighth year

of his age, under the pompous ti tle of N fir-ud-dinJahéngir (C on

queror of the World). T he people filled the air wi th acclamations

ofjoy. E verydemonstration ofmirth was made, and festivities

and rejoicings were the order of the day. The royal kettle-drum

was beaten for fortydays, and the palace was illuminated with

thousands of lights every night. Largess was profusely distri

buted. Rajas and Nawabs, grandees and nobles, prostrated

themselves before the newKing , and, to commemorate the event,an inscriptionwas cut upon the sandstone panel of the guard

-room

in the D elhi gate of the Fort, where i t is still to be seen, ending

with the prayer,“Mayour King Jahangir be the King of the

World, The newEmperor conferred the ti tle of Mahabat

Khan on his ahds'

(or ex empt), Zamana Beg, with a mamab of

fifteen hundredand appointed himP aymasterof the Royal H ousee

ho ld. H e had beenattached to thenewEmperorwhile the latter

was still C rown Prince. Another faithful friend of his early days

andh is schoolcompanio n, S hartf, son of KhwéjaAbdul Samad, was

created Ami r-ul Umra, or premier noble, with a manaab of

fi ve thousand. Salemwas much attached to him, andwhenthat

P rince rebelledagainst his father in Allahabad, he had been sent

to him to e flect a reconci liation. S hari f acted so that be widened

the breach between the father and the son, who made a rash

p romise to him to gi ve him half the kingdom on ascending the

throne. When a reconci liationwas eflected between Akbar and

S alem, S harit'

had to fly for his life ; but on hearing of Akbar’

s

death , he returned to Agra andwas honourablyrecei vedby the

new E mperor, who created him Amir-ul-Umm , and put him in

Wheeler.

AGRA H IST O RIC AL .

charge of the great seal. Nar S ingh , the murderer of AbulFazl, was made a grandee of three thousand.

Jahangir showed himself at the iharaha (window) every

morning to the multi tude who assembled beneath to offer thei r

obeisance to the Emperor, as in the days of Akbar. H e attended

the darba’

r court and the ghusl Ichdna. At noon there were

parades, games, sports, and animal fights, at wh ich the Kingattended. T he nights were spent in revelry and merriment wi th

boon companions—a strong contrast wi th the mode in which

the ph ilosophical and good Akbar spent his nights in talking

wi th learned men until earlymorning.

Jahangi r, in his Tusk, or autobiography, gi ves the followingaccount of old Agra and the foundation o f the new ci ty by h is

father, Akbar Agra is one of the most ancient and important

ci ties of H industan. I t had an old fort on the bank of the Jumna

but my father, before mybirth, having levelled i t with the ground,

built on i ts si te a fort of red sandstone so magnificent that men

who have travelled through the world maintain that they have

seen the like of it nowhere during their travels. I t took fifteen

or si x teen years to complete. I t consists of four gates and two

smaller gateways, and was constructed at an outlay of thirty-five

lakhs ot'

rupees, equal to one hundredand fifteen thousand tamans

of Iran and one crore five lakhs of khaais of a an. T he c ity

population ex tends along either bank of the Jumna. The part to

the west, which is verydensely populated, is seven has in circui t,

two loos long , and one has broad that to the east, two andahalf loos

in circuit, one kos long , and half a kos broad. T he buildings are

so numerous, that several cities of the size of those in Iraq,Khorasan, and Mahwaral Nahr could be made of them. Most

people have built their houses to the height of three and four

storeys, and the city is so overcrowded wi th populationthat one

cannot pass through a lane or street without trouble.

”

gm, T he Emperor writes as follows of i ts history previous to the

flfifizi‘zt

it’

ggf time of the Afghan Lodi k ings Before the time of the Afghan

L odis, Agrawas a large ci tyand had a fort. Masnd Sad Salman,

in a poem composed byhim in praise ofMahmfid, son of Ibrahim,

son of Masud, son of Mahmud Ghiznavi, on the occasion of the

T he E m p ero r Jahang ir.

Page 2 4.

AGRA : H ISTO RIC AL .

Then comes rai bel, which is ofa snowycolourandgives out

fragrance like that of the jasmine. T he leaves grow in several

layers, one over the other.

Another is the moulsri 1 flower, the plant of which is also of

agreeable size, symmetrical and shady. I t possesses a very mi ld

odour.

S eotz'

1 is aspecies of kawra, with this (liti'

erence, that the

latter has thorns in it,'

wh ile the former is W i thout thorns. I t is

of a yellowish colour, while kewra is of awhite colour. P roni

the flowers above-mentioned and the jasmine (the white jasmine

of V i layet) they ex tract perfumed oi ls.

”

I n 1608 C aptain H awkins wai ted on the E mperor Jahang ir

with a letter from James the Firet, King of E ngland. Mokarrab

Khttn, V iceroy ofGujrat, met him at S urat, and he was conducted

to Agra in safety. T he Emperor took a great fancy to H awkins,

who settled at Agra to promote the interest of the E nglish

Company. Jahang ir spent the earlier years of his reign in Agra.

According to Father Catron, all Franks (or E uropeans) had freeaccess to the palace during the reign ofJahangir. The Emperor

drank with them allnight, even in the month of the Musalman

fast.

According to H awkins, who was in Agra in 1608-1 1 , Jahangir

was a stout man of forty-five. C oryat, who was in Agra about

16 15, says he was fifty-three. H awkins has furnishedan interest

ing account ofJahangtr’

s dai ly life.

I n the morning at daybreak, with his face turned towards

Mecca, he repeated the different names of God on a string of

beads of pearls, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, lignurn aloesand coral.H e then appeared at the jharoka (window)to receive the salu

tations of the multitude who resorted to the plains opposite every

morni ng. This done, he went to sleep for two hours more. H e

then took his mealswith the ladies of the seraglio. At noon he

again showed himself to the people at the baicony of the palace

iharoka (window), and sat there until three o’

clock to witness

pastimes bymen and beast. “At three o’

clock the nobles in

Jasmmum Zamhac. 1 Baulsm'

. 1 C hina rose. Rosa olamlulik ra.

JAH ANGIR.

Agra, whom sickness detaineth not, resort to the court, and the

King comes forth in open audience, sitting in his seat royal, P ublic audi

every man standing in his degree before him : the chief within

a redrail, the rest without. T he red rai l is three steps higher

than the place where the rest stand. Men are placed by officers ;

there are others to keep men in order. I n the midst, right be

fore the K ing, standeth an ofl'

icer with his master hangman,accompanied byforty others of the same profession, with badges

on; theirshoulders, and others wi th whips. H ere the King heareth

causes some hours everyday; he then departs to his house of

prayer.

”

At evening the Emperor was in the ghusl khdma, or The ”M,“

pri vate room,where ministers and selected oflicers and ami rs m

wai ted on H is Majesty, and S tate business was transacted. The

S tate writers were in constant attendance until the King slept,

and they wrote all that the King did. A rope with ring ing bells, QM“, 1,iplated wi th gold, was fastened to two pillars in the King

’

s cham m"

her, with an end hang ing over the ground opposite the palace .

Any poor man who demanded justice, shook the rope, and the

King hearing the bells ring called him forthwi th , heard him

and didjustice to h is cause.

H awkins drank with Jahangir in the ghusl klut'

ua. H e had H ostile p ro .

his enemy, Mokarrab Khdn, summoned to Agra on a charge of ex fifzflmb“

torting money and seizing a H indu girl under the pretence ofKM“

sending her to the King . All h is property was confiscated ; but

Mokarrab heavi lybribed the officials and was restored to favour.

H e revenged himself on H awkins. Jahangir was led to believe

that, if the E ng lish once got a footing in India, theywould soon

become masters of the country. Jahangir was alarmed ; and123 2

1231e

forbade them from trading in India. H awkins, wi th his Ar- mu,

menian wife, whom he had married in Agra, left that city for

E ngland in 16 11 .

Jahangir was not at Agra when S ir Thomas Roe landedat

S urat, in.

1615, as LordAmbassador from King James l. Journey Roe, 1615-5;

ing from Burhanpur, he visi ted Mandt’

l , and then C hi ttor, the

ancient capi tal of Rdjputana, and wai ted on the Emperorat

Ajmere, which H isMajestyhadmade his head quarters about that

time. Roe never visited Agra or D elhi , b be has left agraphic

and faithful account of Jahangtr’

s court he presents from the

N tir hi ahal.

T he Seraglio.

AGRA ll lSTO ltI C AL .

King of E ngland consisted of virginals, kni ves, an embroideredscarf

, a rich sword, and an E nglish coach. The ambassador hada

musician in his train, and he was ordered to playon the virginals.

Jahangir gave the coach to NurMahal, his beloved queen. T he

E nglish lining was taken otf and the coach coveredwith gold

velvet and decorat ions. Jahangir asked ltoe i f the E nglish would

gi ve h im jewels, to which the ambassador replied that jewels

came from I ndia where Jahang irwas King ; how than could the

E nglish bring back his own jewels ? ltos accompanied Jahangir

to Mdndfi and Gujrat, and left him in the end of 1618.

N fir Mahal’s influence over Jahangir was unlimited. For

twentyyears she ruled the King and the k ingdom. N o i tnportant

office in the S tate was filled without her consent, nor any

treaty with a foreign S tate concluded wi thout her appro val.

Money was coined in her name, wi th the inscription, Gold has

gained a new value since it bore the name of N t'

i r Mahal.”

H er

father became the wazfr, and herbrother, Asaf Khén, was raised

to the first rank of the nobili ty.

T he seraglio of Jahangir consisted of si x thousandwomen,

including female slaves, attendants, women soldiers and guards.

There were C hinese , C ircassians, Georgians, Turks, Pers iansAbyssinians and H indus. I n Jahangir

’

s palace, in the Agra fort,

are to this day to be seen numerous labyrinth of courts, of apart

ments and of passages, in wh ich these female servants andguards

were posted to watch the stately suites of chambers, most

ex quisitely carved and painted, that were once the lovely home

of some lady of rank or the wife of some chief.

T he part of the palace where N t’

i r Mahal Spent the greater

portion of her life sti ll stands in the fort of Agra. I t is known

as the Jasmine Bower (Samman Burj ). I t has lately been re

paired, under the orders of Lord Mayo ,late V iceroy of India.

I t still bears the stamp of Nfir Mahal’s artistic instincts, sk ill,

and refined judgment . H er private rooms and balcony may

also be seen on the high castle walls. I t was in these rooms

that N t’

i t Mahal passed the gloomydays of her widowhood, after

the murder of her brave husband, S her Afgan, and before her

mart iago with Jahzing ir, who had neglected her for four years

and even refused to see her. H ere she liYL tl quite forgotten by

u naware.

her royal lover, who had once pass ionately loved her ; but she

was kindly received by her former patroness, the good-hearted

old lady, Mariam Zamani (Princess of Jodhpur), mother ofJahan

gir. N fir Mahal had adorned these chambers with ex traordinarysp lendour and magnificence. All the designs were her own,

and

the workmanship was by the hands of her own female slaves,

under her personal direction. All the ladies of the harem con

sulted her in matters of jewellery and the painting of si lk , and

she introduced qui te novel styles and fashions into the court.

T he seraglio resounded wi th her charms and talents. I t was

in these apartments that, Jahangir happening to see her one

morning in her plain dress of white muslin, his passion for

her was renewed. Instantlyhe threwround her neck a necklace

of forty pearls which he‘

wore, each pearl being valued at

and N ( uMahal was removed to the imperial quarters and became

h is favourite queen.

Jahangir reigned in peace, but that peace was disturbed in

Agra by the rebellion of his son, S hah Jahan, in 162 3 . T he

P rince marched from Mdndt’

i wi th his army towards Agra.

Sack and outJahangir sent Asat

‘

Khan to Agra to remove the imperial treasures fizsgggh

Asm

before Shah Jahan should arrive there. S hah Jahan occupied Jahan, 162 3 .

the city of Agra andsacked i t, but he was unsuccessful in captar

ing the fort, which contained the imperial treasures. According

to the particulars furnished bv D ella Valle, a noble Italian fromltome ,

‘ who has written them on the authority of letters recei ved

by him at Surat from Agra, Shah Jahan and his soldiers com

wi tted fearful barbari ties at Agra on this occasion. The citizens’

of Agra were subjected to torture to compel them to give up

their boarded treasures, and many ladies of quality were

outraged andmangledrl'

All the E uropean travellers who visitedAgra during the time Agra during

of Jahangir have written of i ts wealth and splendour in glowing 3mm“

terms. C albanke, writing about i t to S ir Thomas Smi th, in

the beginning of the seventeenth century, speaks of it as “a

H e was a Roman C atholic , and had v isited I ndia. in 162 3 . out of ani ntelligent curiosi ty, begotten of the learning of the time

, to discover anyatii ni t that might ex i st between t he relig ion of E gyp t and that of India.

”

Wh er .

1“ Wheeler.

AGRA H ISTO RIC AL .

O fgreat and populous city entire]y built of stone, wi th a great dealof merchandise, the whole city being even more imposing than

L ondon of that age.

”Finch, noticing the splendour of its gran

dees and nobles, remarks that they never allowed the garments

of their concubiues once worn to be put on again, but that they

were buried in the ground as unfit for further use. There weremany nobles in Agra so rich that each had athousand Mashalch is

or torch -bearers in his service. Edward TerryandThomas C oryateach describe Agra as a magnificent c i ty, worthy of the cap i tal

of the great Mnghal.

E dwardTerry, who accompanied the mission of S ir ThomasRoe , as C haplain, menti ons Agraas one of thirty

-seven large Pre s

v inces under the Mughal, wh ich the traveller has described in

C hapter I I of his work . H e wri tes of Agra thus Agra.

a principal and very rich province, the chief ci ty se- called, this

great Emperor’

s metropolis in north lati tude about 2 8 degrees and

a half. I t is verywell watered by the river Jumna. This andLahore are two princ ipal and choice cities of this E mpire, betwi x twhich is that long walk which I have mentioned before) of four

hundred miles i n length, shaded by great trees on both sides.

This is looked upon by the travellers, who have found the comfort

of that cool shade, as one of the rarest andmost beneficial works

in the whole world.

”

Thomas H erbert, who v isited Agra during the reign of

Jahang ir, describes i t as semilunary in shape, like London, wi th

streets long andnarrow. Akbar ismentioned as having commenc

cd the building of the fort, after his victorious return from

Ahamadabéd, in place of the old castle, which was pulled down.

H e describes Agra as a populous and flourishing city.

O u his return from Gujrat, Jahangir visi ted Ujjain, andthence he came to Agra; where he became reconciled to his

eldest son, Khusro, through the intervention of P arwez, h is

second son. After some wanderings he proceeded to L ahore, and

thence went to Kashmir, in the hot months of 162 7. H e was

compelled by asthma to return, but death overtook him on the

wayat Kajoari , on 1 2 th October, 162 7. H is remains were brought

to Lahore, and, according to his will interred in the garden of N ( u

Mahal, on the banks of the Ravi .

A Voyage to E ast I ndia, by E dward Terry, 81.

AGRA H IS T ORIC AL .

Bolaki in triumph to Lahore, where S haharyar was taken

prisoner and depri t ed of his sight. T he youthful,

king was then

brought to Agra, where he assumed roval functions, wi th Asaf

Khan as wzzzi r. Asaf Khan was now all-powerf'

ul both in thearmy and in the emp ire. H e had by this time succeeded in fur

thering the interests of S htih Jahan by gaining over a great

number of officers and nobili tyto his side. I n order, however, better

to conceal his game and to lull the suspicion of the young King ,

who was wanting in ex peri ence, if not in intelligence, i t was given

out at Agra that Shah Jahan was dangerously i ll nex t, that be

A stratagem. was dead. he young Badshah was, according to adesire ex pressed

by S hah Jahan, solici ted to allow his burial in the precincts

of Akbar’

s tomb at Sakandra. Overjoyed at the intelligence

of the death of his rival, Bolaki gave his sanction to the wazir’

s

proposal. An emptybier, followedbya funeral cortega, proceeded

in solemn grief from Agra to Akbar’

s mausoleum. The living

dead (S hah Jahau)himself followed i t in disguise ! Asat'

Khan

impressed on the youngk ing ,

that the rules of etiquette required

that H is Majesty should come out of Agra to do honour to the

body of the deceased Prince, who was no other than the brother

of his own father, when i t should come wi thin a league or two of

the city ; and, following this advice, he came out to meet the

body, wi th a smallescort. Squadrons of Rajputs followed the bier,and S hah Jahan, having gradual]y approached i t,

'

secretlygot

into i t, anaperture sufficient to enable him te breathe having been

left in i t. T he bier .was then carried into a tent, where all the

principal ch iefs, who were acting in concert with Asaf Khan,

assembled as if to do honour to the dead Prince. I t was, says

T avernier, at this juncture that Asaf Khan saw that the time had

come for the ex ecution of his design ; he had the bier opened

before the eyes of all the army ; S hah Jahan was saluted as k ing

byall the generals and other officers.

"T he young king , whowas

sti ll on the way, finding himself deserted byalmost all the ami rs ,

wi thdrew and fled to Lahore.

Immediately the trumpets sounded and S hah Jahan was pro

claimed Emperor amidst the acclamations of an enthusiastic mul

ti tude. H e entered the fort of Agra in great state, and the same

moment began his auspicious reign. Thomas H erbert has thus

noticed the event in h is Tratsls With great pomp h e

sum JABL N.

made h is intrude into Agra, and forthwith gave orders for his

coronation, which accordingly, by a general assembly of thesfor

SO

fitinn

amras and nobles of his empire, was performed. Then by s h ut: in:

proclamation he assumed the name of S ultztn S haba'

o-ud-diuAer"

Muhammad.

"

S hah Jahan, on ascending the throne, avenged himself on the P ersecutionof the

P ortuguese, who had refused to render lnm assi stance when he P ortuguese.

was in rebellion against his father, and who had joinedthe armyo f P arwez and fought against him. Fi ve or si x hundred of them

were taken prisoners and sent to Agra. S ome were compelled to

embrace Muhammadanism others suffereddeath.

Khan Jahan L od1,who had been placed in the chi ef com gga

tffh“

mand in the D eccan by the Emperor Jahangir, asserted his {?gt Agra,

independence in Malwa. H e returned to obedience after S hah

Jaban’

s accession to the throne, and was invited to the court,

where he was treatedwi th the utmost consideration. H isdistrust,

however, having been ex cited by some circumstance, be assembled

all his troops one night soon after dark , and, placing his women

in the centre on elephants, suddenlyquittedAgra, accompanied

by twelve of his sons, wi th his kettle-drums beating and escorted

by of h is veteran Afghans. H e proceeded to the D eccan,wh ither the Emperor marched in person. After many conflicts,

K han Jahan was compelled to fly from the D eccan, but was cut

off in Bundelkhand bya Raijput, who struck him through with a

p i ke, 1630 A.O . I t was in this ex pedition that the Emperor lost new, of

h is favourite wife ArjumandBano, a niece of Nurjahan, who diedfizmmfiggm ’

in Burhanpnr at the end of 162 9. The war in the D eccan 162 9.

continued, and the Emperor returned to Agra in 163 2 , leaving

Mahsbat Khan in supreme command in the D eccan. Great S hah Julian’

return toi mprovements went on tn the palace for some time, and S hah Agra, 1339.

Jahan now commenced the construction of the mausoleum of his

deceased wife on the bank of the Jumna, which was to become thewonder of the E astern World. I n 163 9 S hah Jahan founded new23:0

0

:3tD elhi , to which he gave the name Shahjahanabad, andthe capital?&P

elhi ,

was removed there.

I n 1657 the Emperorwas seizedwith adangerous i llness , and, {Il

'

lheEmperox s

as a temporarymeasure, D araS hekoh, his eldest son, was entrusted

' m "

AGRA 2 H I STORI C AL .

with the administration of the Government. D ara Shekoh

was ahigh-spirited, generous prince, whose relig ious views were as

Wan m a broad and liberal as those of Akbar. Aurangzeb , having beenh is sons.

informed of his father’

s i llness through his sister, Roushan Ara,

marched from the D eccan, after concluding a hasty treatywi th

the King Adi l S hah of Bijapur, and left S ultanMoazzam, his

second son, in charge of affairs in the D eccan. T he Emperor’

s

two sons, S huja, V iceroy ofBengal, andMurad, V iceroyoi'

a rat ,

asserted their independence in their respective prov inces and

marched their armies to the capital. Aurangzeb marched to

join Murad. D ara marched from Agra to oppose his brothers,

The“me of and the two armies havi ng met at Samagarh, one march from

Agra, in the beginning of June 1658, D ara was totally defeated

and fled to D elhi .

Three days after the battle, Aurangzeb marched to Agra, andencamping before the walls, at once took possession of the c ity.

H e interfered in no waywith the interior of the palace, his objectbeing to finda favourable opportuni ty for seizing the person of

the old Emperor. Meanwhi le a report was assiduously spread

by him that S hah Jahan was dead, and he pretended to believei t in order to have an ex cuse for entering the citadel. S hah

Jahan, on the other hand, spared no pains to make i t known that

he was alive. E x asperated at the conduct of his son, the o ld

King sent for Fazil Khan, the grand chamberlain, andasked him

to assure Aurangzeb that his father was ali x e, and that he had

no longer anypretence for prolonging his stay at the capital, but

should retire forthwi th to his kingdom of the D eccan, in which

case all that had happenedwould be forgotten. Aurangzeb, who

had his own designs to serve, affected to disbelieve the statement

of Fazil Khan, and replied that he was qui te convinced that he

had become fatherless, and that i t was upon that ground that

he had fought for the throne, thinking that he had asgoodarigh t

to it as any of his brothers. I f, urged he, the King was alive ,

well and good ; he was his dutiful son, ever ready to obey h i scommands as an humble suppliant. But in order that he migh t

be convinced that he was alive, he desired to see him and to kiss

his feet, after which he would retrace his steps to his kingdom

of the D eccan, and implicitlycarryout the royal commands.

SHAH JAH KN .

T he reply having been conveyed by Fazil Khatn to the King , gagggegf

H is Majesty at once ex pressed his approval of his proposed inter

v iew ; but Aurangzeb , more astute and cunning than his father,

assured Faz il Khan that he would not venture into the citadel

unti l the garrison located in i t was entirelywi thdrawn. Shah

Jahan,seeing the reasonableness of the demand, orderedthe garri

son to wi thdraw. The garrison accordingly vacated the Fort.T he action of

RoushanAraBegam sent amessage from theharem. to Aurangzeb, RoushanAraBegum.

warning h im of the presence of armed Tartar women, who would

se ize and murder h im if he entered the Fort wi thout a strong

guard. Aurangzeb met device by device H e postponed his

v i s it to his father from day to day, on various pretences, pleading

at one time that he awaitedan auspicious hour for an interview,

and at another that he had important S tate business to transact.

Meantime, Aurangzeb won over anu’

rs and grandees to his side.

H is eldest son, S ultan Mahmud, acting under the orders of his

father, subjected the palace to 9. blockade. Shah Jahan saw this

from the towers ofhis palace. H e plantedcannon on the ramparts,

but these hadlittle effect on the besiegers. Aurangzeb now tried

another artifice. H e sent his confidential eunuch to Shah Jahan

wi th a message that the tr00ps hadattacked the ci tadel without

h is orders, and a request to be allowed to send his son, Mahmfid,

to tender his submission andbeg forgiveness, adding that hewould

h imself payhis respects to his parent as soon as his health showed

some signs of improvement.

S hah Jahan consentedto receive hisgrandson. Mahmtidgained

o ver the soldiers of the guard, and, entering the fortress,made

h imselfmasterof the palace withoutdifficulty. S laughtering every

one who came in his way—soldiers, slaves, eunuchs, women,—he

forced hisway into the interior of the palace with a strong contin

gent of troops. H e entered the royal chamber of S hah Jahan.

T he Tartarwomen,who surrounded the oldking, remainedmotion~

less,like statues. Mahml'

td then personally announced to S hah

Jahan Your great age, my lord, has rendered you incapable

of reigning. Retire with your wives into the palace gardens ;

pass the remainder of your days in tranquillity. We do not

grudge You the right Of the day, butyoudishonour the throne:you

must resign i t to your children.

”

Wheeler.

AGRA H ISTORI C AL .

3 1.3 1.)n a At this demand theTartar female-guards roused a great shout ;”m m"

but Mabmt'

tdwas equal to them, and Shah Jahan, yielding to cir

cumstances, retired to the innerpavilions with hiswivesandbecamea prisoner. Inviting Mahmt

’

td to a second visit, S hah Jahan

ofl'

ercd him the crown and the possession of Agra, provided be

cast off his adherence to his father, who, having dethroned his

own father, was not likely to spare the son. Mahmfid for a

time considered the matter, but resisted the temptation and

secured the palace keys from the E mperor. H encel'

orth Aurang

zeb became master of Agra and the citadel. T he prace of Agra

was not disturbed on the change of sovereigns. S hayasta Khan

was appointed newGovernor of the place.

H i. helpless S hah Jaluin, incensed at the conduct of his son, made somecondi tion.

efl'

orts to efl'

ect h is escape, and slew some of the guards who

O pposedhim. This inducedAurangzeb to subject him to a closer

confinement. T he gates and entrances were walled up and the

ex -king’

s chamber was placed under strict guard. I t is most

surprising ,” writes the traveller, Tavernier, that not one of the

servants of the grand King ofl'

ered to assist him ; that all his

subjects abandoned him, and that they turned their eyes to the

rising sun, recognising no one as king butAurangzeb S hahJahrin,

although still living, having passed from their memories. l i

perchance there were any who felt touchedby his misfortunes,

fear made them silent, and made them basely abandon a king

who had governed them like a father andwith ami ldness which

is not common with sovereigns. For although he was severe

enough to the nobles when they fai led to perform theirduties,

be arrangedall things for the comfort of the people, by whom

he was much beloved, but who gave no signs of it at this crisis."

T he traveller, Bernier, who was at the time (1658 A.D .) in

Agra, ex preu es the same surprise H e writes : I can indeed

scarcely ex press my indignation when I reflect that there

was not a single movement, nor even a voice heard in behalf

of the aged and“ injured monarch ; although the Omeras who

bowed the knee to his oppressors were indebted to him for their

rank and riches, having been, according to the custom of the

court, raised byShah Jahan from a state of the lowest indigcnce,

andmanyof themeven redeemedfrom absolute slavery.

”

B is illness.

T he funeralceremonies.

AGRA H I STORI CAL .

which the ci tadel of Agra is associated. T he following are ex

tracts from this work

I n consequence of protracted i llness, the Emperor became

very weak. H is bodi ly strength failed, and on this account he

was attacked wi th various complaints, so that the treatment of

proved directly injurious to the other. T he best physicians

thought his case had become very complicated. H is hands and

feet trembled through ex treme weakness, and medicines were

of no avail. At length, in an early hour of the night ofMonday,the 2 8th of Rajah ( l666 his case having become qui te hope

less,the signs of death became visible. H is Majesty kept h is

courage at this time of trial, and struggled bravely wi th the last

enemy. H e turned his mind to God, and, in an audible vo ice,

offered thanks to the Almighty for the thousand g ifts H e had

conferredon him. W i th all sinceri tv and humi li tyhe then prayed

forg iveness for the sins he had commi tted in the world then, in

full possession of his consciousness, be repeated the confession of

faith. While he was repeating this, his affectionate daugh ter, the

hlalika Jahan Begum (Jahan Ara), and other female members of

the family, began to weep. H is Majestyadmonished them to be

content wi th God’

s will and resign themselves to H is pleasure. H e

spoke a few consoling words to them, and, immediatelyafter, his

soul departed from the body.

By command of Mstlika Jahan Begum, Rand Andaz Khan,

the commander of the fort, andKhawja l’ hti l presented themselves

in the ghnslkhana. T he windows of the gates of the fort were

opened, and menwere sent to call the most revered SyadMuham

mad Kanauj i and Kazi Kurban, the chief Kazi of Akbarabzid, to

perform the funeral ceremonies. They came two watches before

sunrise. Although H is Majesty, since he had attained the age of

discretion, had never missed a single prayer of the prescribed five

times dai ly prayer, or a single fast of the month of 3 4111 2 60 ,

atonement for themwas g iven in a large sum ofmoney, which was

set apart for the purpose. T he two religiousmen above namedwere,

by order of Malika Jahan, called to the Samman Burj , where the

E mperor had breathed h is last. From this place h is body wasremoved to the hall(swan)close by, where itwaswashedaccordingto the form prescribed by the Muhammadan law. T he body

3m JABKN .

having then been enclosedina coffin, holy passages were read overi t. Finally, the bodywas placed ina chest or receptacle of sandal

wood, and the coffin,followed bya procession of mourners

,was

conveyed out of the fort through the low gate (darwdzd. nasheb)of the said tower, wh ich used to remain closed

, but was opened

for the occasion. T he procession then passing through S her H aj i T he funeral

gate O pposi te the low gate . the coffin was brought out of the fortprm wfl '

enclosure . H oshdar Khan, V iceroyofAgra, accompaniedbyofficers

of state, reached the bank of the river at day-break , and the

colfin, hav ing been conveyed across the ri ver, was interred with

due formali ties, by the side of the tomb ofMumtaz Zamani , in the The burial

mausoleum bui lt in her honor by the deceased E mperor, who was

now following her to the grave. T he prayers over the ootha be

fore i ts interment were read by his holiness Syad Muhammad,Kazi Kurban, and other learned and pious men.

”

Shah Jahan had lived seventy-si x years and reigned for H is age.

thirty-one.

At the time of the Emperor’

s death, Prince Mahammad Arri val ofMoazzam (afterwards the E mperor S hah Alam, Balladnr S hah), 51mm

the eldest sonof Aurangzeb, and the heir-apparent, was encamp“t Agm ’

cd at a distance of seven from Agra. T he intelligence of

the E mperor’

s demise having reached him the same night, he

arri ved in the ci ty the nex t day, and on the third daywent to

the fort and ofl'

ered condolence to the Begum Sahib, his aunt,

and the other female members of the royal family. O n that day,

under orders of the Prince, the whole Kurdn was read by the

p ions and learnedmen, and holy passages were reci ted. A meet

i ng to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet was held on a truly

royal scale, and large samsoi moneywere distributed among the

poor and needyas alms.

”

Aurangzeb was at D elhi when his father died. O u hearing

of his death . he could not refrain from shedding tears. Mulla

Muhammad Kazim wri tes Although H is Majesty possesses

a strong mind and a resolute and inflex ible temper, he wept so

bi tterly on hearing the intelligence of his royal father’

s death,

that the courtiers and nobles, who were present, were shocked.

”

Alamm'

rndmd.

AGRA H ISTORICAL .

H is Majestyand the P rinces Royal andthe ladies of the harem

put onwhi te clothes, andthewhole courtwent into mourning. T he

Emperor-elect said to h is nobles I t was my desire to be

present at the last moments of my father, to have a last look at

his face , take part in his burial ceremonies, and thus to obtainhis benedictions ; but, unfortunately, none of these desires have

been fulfilled. I shall now proceed to Akbai dbéd at once, and

pay respects to the tomb of my father, and offer condolence to

mysister and other members of the royal fami ly in that capital

city.

”

T he royal camp accordinglymoved toMustakirul Is'

hfidfat‘

(Agra). T he new Emperor, marching by stages, reached Agra

on the six th day. I t was decided that, before entering the fort,

the Emperor, on this occasion of mourning, should put up

temporarily in the house of DaraS hekoh (styledthroughout by the

historians ofAlamgiras D ara‘Be Shekoh,

’

meaning D ara,“without

dignity,

’

in contradistinction to‘ S hekolc

’

meaning

A fewmiles from the city, H is Majestywas received by H oshdar

Khan, V iceroy of Agra, and other notables and officers of the

metropolitan city. From the village of Bahddarpur, H is Majesty,wi th the royal party, came by boats to Agra, and, as previouslyarranged, put up in the house of Dara S hakoh. T he following

day he paid his respects to the tombs of his parents and read

the fateha, or prayers for the benefit of their souls. H e shed

again tears of grief at the sight o f the tombs of h is parents.

H aving then distributed twelve thousand rupees as alms amongthe servants and attendants of the mausoleum, he read the after

noon prayers in the mosque of the mausoleum. T he following

day he entered the fort and offered his condolence to the Begum

Sahib and othermembers of the harem, and spoke to themwords

of consolation and kindness. T he Begum Sahib on this occasion

presented her brother with a large golden basin full of jewels.

H e then caused the female members of the fami ly to put aside

theirmourning and bestowed on them rich dresses, in accordance

“ I n the P ersian histories of the t ime of Shah Jahan and Auran .eb, Agrais calledMunlakim l Khilafdt ; D elhi , D am! Khila/at Lahore , D arn b

’

altauat

andMultan, D arn!Anna .

1' Aurangzeb generally disregarded good or bad omens, andwas g ery scrap“.

Ions, but i t seems that he was led away bysuperstitionm regard to Ins first entryas amonarch into the fort of Agra.

E mp ero r Aurang z eb .

Page 40.

AURANGZEB.

wi th their position and dignity. Two watches after sunrise,h e returned to the ci ty. Two days afterwards H is Majestywent V isi t to theagain to the fort, on a visi t to the Begum Sahib, and, at his

Begum Sah ib,

i nstance, all the nobles of the Empire and officers of state offered

their salutations to her and presented nazars, or ofierings, in

money. The P rincess was pleased to confer on them khilats, or

dresses of honor, according to the rank anddignityofeach. A few wi th

days after the newK ing again paidhera visit, and the P rincess 33 23 521221performed the ceremonies ofm

'

ssdr, namely, she offeredmoney bywayof sacrifice for H isMajesty

’

s welfare. H isMajestywent dailyto the mausoleum, andread the fatchu. Twice he held there the

meetings ofmaulzfd, or the celebration of the birth ofMuhammad,when thousands of rupeeswere distributedto relig ious people and

the poor.

I t being considered advisable that H is Majesty should prolong

his stayin Mustak irul Khil fat (Agra), he sent for the members

of his family from the D arnl Khilafat (S hah Jahéuabad), andac

cordinglyAbdul Nabi Khan, Mukhalis Khan, andKhizmat Khan,the headeunuchs, were sent to the latterplace, with a large party,

to conduct the Bcgums and ladies of the zamina to Agra on

elephants. As the I d festival of Ramzan was approaching, i t

was further ordered that the Peacock Thronebe brought to Agra,

together with all the articles of decoration and embellishment

used on festival occasions.

O h the I d festiraLH is Majestyproceededon an elephant, sur The

mounted bya golden howda, to offer prayers at the grandmosque.

m l at Ag“

Re turning before noon, he helda grand reception in the hall of

public audience andmade h is appearance wi th all the pomp and

magnificence of an E mperor, taking his seat for the first time on

Grand

th e celebrated Peacock Throne of Shah Jahan, which he hadwon durbarheld

wi th such disrepute. MuhammadKazim, the historianof Alamgir,at A3“

is here profuse in his panegyric of theKing , who bestowed honours

and rewards on the grandees and nobles with the true generosity

o f a King. A meeting was then convened in the ghuslkhana

and the business of state transacted in the presence of the officers

and nobles assembledthere. The rejoicings in honour of the first

I d festival continued for three days. H is Majestywas on this

6

AGBA 3 B ISTORICAL .

occasion, pleased to bestowone lakh of goldmohnrson the Begum

Sahib, and made an addition of five lakhs of rupees to her

annual allowance of twelve lakhs. O ne lakh of rupees was bes

towed on each of her two younger sisters, Parhez Bano Begum

and Gowher AraBegum. P rince Muhammad Moazzam received

two lakhs of rupees and a special dress of honour, wi th armlet

and bracelets set with precious jewels, and an addition of

horse to h is rank of foot and horse and

P rince Muhammad Azim,a dress, an aigrette and a dagger

set with diamonds, with an addition of horse to his rank o f

foot and horse. Then follows a long list of

grandees (Muhammadans and H indus), Rajas, and Nawabawhowere presentedwith dresses andan increase ofMansab, or rank .

I n the fifthyear of the reign, the S tate treasures hadbeen removed

from Agra to Delhi , but at this period—namely, the ninth year

of the reign—it was ordered that the treasure be again

conveyed to Agra. NfimdtSr Khan, having been presented

with a horse and jewelled trappings, was entrusted wi th th is

duty, and the treasure was brought from D elhi to Agra on

imbue, or carriages drawn by bullocks, and safely deposited in

the fort.

Agra was v isited in 1638 byWandelslo , a page to the D uke

of H olstein, who had travelled in P ersia in the retinue of an

embassy which the D uke had sent to the S hah. H e describes

i t as a beauti ful ci ty, at least twice as large as Ispahan (then

in its greatest glory). I t was the favourite residence of Shah

Jahan all the nations of the East carried on trade in Agra ; and

the streets were broad and linedwi th fine sheps. There were

eighty caravauseraz'

s for travellers, each being in charge of a

superintendent. The traveller has left graphic accounts of the

ham, the darbar court, the ghuslkhdna, the mahal (or harem)and the j haroka. Wandelslo left India in 1840, and, after he left

Agra, Shéh Jahan fix ed his capital at NewD elhi .

Francis Bernier, with more poli tical insight, was in India for

twelve years (1655 and he has given a description of Agra.

in his travels very similar to that given byWandelslo.

AGRA H I STORIC AL.

unbounded influence over the Emperor and her ascendancy in

the court have alreadybeen referred to. , According to Bernier,

she was very handsome, of lively parts, and passionatelybelove dby her father. H e reposed the most implici t confidence in h is

favourite child she watched carefully over the safety of her royal

father andwas so scrupulous about i t that no dish was allowed

to appear on the royal table that had not been prepared under

her eyes. S he regulated the humoursof her father, and themost

weighty concerns of S tate were settled through her. She drew

large allowances from the Imperial treasury and recei ved the

most valuable g i fts from the amirs, whose affairs were confided

to her charge, and was thus enabled to amass a great fortune.

fl ” She espoused the cause of her brother, D ara, and promoted h is

interests in court, while hisyoungersister, KoushanAra, supported

the party of Aurangzeb. D ara, finding in Jahén Ara a valuable

coadjutor,°

had, accordingr to Bernier, promised her that , on

his accession to the throne, he would grant her permission

This pledge, says the traveller, was a remarkable one,

the marriage of a Princess being of rare occurrence in H in

dustan, no man being considered worthy of royal alliance ;

and an apprehension being entertained that the husbandmigh tthereby be rendered powerful, and induced, perhaps, to aspire

to the crown.

”

Bomb“ Au .

Koushan Arawas less beautiful than her elder sister, and less

remarkable for wit and intelligence ; nevertheless, she possessed

sprigh tliness of temper, was not deficient in cunning, and she

conveyed, by means of spies, intelligence of the doings at court

to Aurangzeb, which was of such importance and value that

i t enabled the crafty Prince not only to escape the snare

which his father is reported to have spread for him in Agra,

but tendedmaterially to pave his way to the throne.

The battle of Samagarh, nine miles east of Agra, resulted

in the discomfiture of D ara S hekoh by the combined forces

of Aurangzeb andMurad Bakhsh . Aurangzeb duped Murad byconcealing his own ambi tions designs of sovereignty in the garb

of dtsinterestedness, sayi ng I em afaki r of the threshhold of

JAM N ARA.

God. I live as a falci r, andmy highest ambition is to die as a

fakt'

r. T he k ingdom and country is Murad'

s.

”T hrning to

Khalilulla Khan, he'

said that Murad Baksh alone was,fitted to

wear the crown, and that i t was due to his ski ll and valour that.

the victory over D ara was gained, he having onlyacted as h is

lieutenant. Three or four days after the victory, Aurangzeb andMurat]presented themselves before the gate of Agra and put up

in agarden about a league distant from the palace. A confidential

eunuch of Aurangzeb was then despatched to the old K ing , who

was saluted in the name of h is master and assured of the royal

son’

s undiminished respect and affection for his august parents,

deep regret being ex pressed at recent events,which were

attributed to the sinister designs of D ara, and an assurance

given that the Princes had come to Agra to receive and ex ecute

the King’

s commands.

Shah Jahan affected to ex press his’

unqnalified approvalS héh Jalufinand Aurang

oi his son s conduct, and sent a trustworthy eunuch, who, m zeb trr to

behalf of his master, ex plained to Aurangzeb howsensible the

King was of D ara’

s improper conduct’

and incapaci ty, and

reminded the Prince with what atfec tion and tenderness he

regarded him. H e was therefore invited to vis it his loving

parent in order that arrangements for the future conduct of

affairs might be concluded. S hah Jahan was trying byartifice

and dissimulation to entrap Aurangzeb, li ttle thinking that h is

duti ful son surpassed all men in both. Aurangzeb had been

apprised by his sister, Roushan Ara, of the presence in the font of21;

a large number of strong and robust Tartar women who acted A la.

as female guards in the seraglio ; and who would fall on him

wi th arms as soon as he entered the palace.

H e knew full well that the Begum Sahib would not quit

the King, day or night , and that he was entirely under her ia

fluence. H e knew,from the information suppliedbyRenshan Ara,

howstrongly S hah Jahan was attachedto D ara. S he had inform

cd him that, after the discomfiture of D ara, the King had sent

him two elephants laden wi th gold mohurs, and this furnished

h im with the means to collect newarmies and prolong the war.

H e doubted very much the sincerityof the old King’

s protes

AGRA 3 H ISTORICAL .

sions, though he considered i t impolitic to disclose his mind to

him. T he P rince thanked his father for all the favours he

had been pleased to shower on him,but would not venture

within the walls of the citadel, and, though he fix ed the day

for obeying the monarch'

s summons, he, day by day, deferred

T he m om. h is visit. Matters went on in this fashion for several days, when

at last the resolution and skill of SultanMahmud, son of Aurang°fAumngz°b°

zeb,drove the old lion into a cage. This intrepid young man ,

having previously posted a number of armedmen in the vicinity

of the palace, entered i t on the pretence of taking amessage to

the King. T he armed retainers immediately followed, and,

falling suddenly on the guards, who were unprepared for an

encounter, ex pelled them. Thus in a few minutes the Princemade himselfmaster of the fort. I f ever man was astonished,

”

says Bernier, that man was S hah Jahtiu when he percei ved thatbe had fallen into the trap he had prepared for others, and that

he himself was a prisoner.

”I n vain did the old King send a

messenger to his grandson, entreating him to liberate him, and

swearing on his crown and the Kurdn to acknowledge him as

King i f he served him loyally. T he young P rince, actuated

by a sense of duty to his father, disregarded these ofl‘

ers, and

even refused to enter the King’s apartments. H e asked the

King for the keyof everygate in the fort, in order that Aurangzeb

might come with a perfectly settled mind to k iss the King’

s

feet.”T he old King, seeing that his own men were deserting

him, delivered up the keys with much hesi tation after two

days. Aurangzeb appointedhis trustworthyeunuch, I tibar Khan,S heaJam“ nGovernorof the fort, andplaced S hah Jahanand the BegumSahib"mm ”

in close confinement. Manyof the gates of the fort were walled

up and communication between the King and his friends was

effectuallystopped. H is -confiuement was so rig id that the Kingwas not permi tted to leave his apartment wi thout the permission

of theGovernor.

Roushan Ara T hedeep-rootedanimositywhich RoushanArabore towards her

wreaks hervengeance on brother, D ara Shekoh, rankled m her heart when the latter hadD am .

been reduced to the condition of a helpless prisoner in the hands

of his hypocri tical brotherAurangzeb. When a second council o f

the ulemaswas convened inD elhi, to discuss the questionwhether

ROUSH AN ARA.

D ara should be sent to Gwalior to be confined in the fortress

there, agreeablyto the original plan, or ex ecutedwi thout furtherdelay, Koushan Ara betrayed her enmi ty towards him by joiningD anishmand Khan, Khalihi lla Khan, and S haesta Khan in pro . 1

eis ex ecut

e

posing the ex treme penalty of the law, which was ultimately

carriedout.

After Aurangzeb had firmlyestablished himself on the throne

of India, his sister Roushan Ara Begum ex ercised privileges and

powers very much the same as had been ex ercisedbyher elder

sister, Jahan Ara, during the reign of Shah Jahan. S he had

labouredhardforAurangzeb during his father’

s reign, andi twas in

fact mainlydue to her help that he ascended the throne. S he be Exil

e? c?cend

came now the sole mistress of the seraglio. S he was allowed an RoushanAn

ex tensi ve establishment, and like her elder sister in the days of

S hah Jaban’

s reign, drew enormous allowances from the S tate.

H er retinue and equipagewere immense, and she enjoyed all the

privi leges of aqueen of the first rank . H erpower quite cast into

the shade the influence of the first Sultana, aRajput P rincess, the

mother of the heir-apparent, S hah Alam. The traveller Bernier

hasfurnishedagraphicdescriptionofRoushanAra’

s state procession.

S he came out in state in a littergi lt andcoveredwi th magnificent

si lk nets of diversified colours, encircledwi th embroidery, fringes H er equipage

andrich tassels. This elegant li tter,which was open,was suspend“ dmm'

ed between two beautiful camels, or between two small elephants.

I n front of the li tterwalked a young , well-dressed female slave,

with a chauri of peacock feathers in her hand, with which she

k ept 011 the flies from the P rincess. O f the P rincess’

s journeyon

elephants, Bernier observes S tretch imagination to i ts utmost

limits, andyou can concei ve no ex hibi tion more grand and im

p osing than when Roushan AraBegum, mountedona stupendous

P egu elephant, and seated in a howdah blazing wi th gold and

azure, is followed by five or six other elephants wi th howdahs

nearly as resplendent as her own, and filledwi th ladies attached

to her household. The elephant of the P rincess was surrounded

by a troop of female armed retainers, Tartars andKashmirians,fantastically attired and riding handsome pad-horses. Between

these and the P rincess, rode the chief eunuchs richlydressed.

Then came footmenand lackeys, with large canes, bearing ensigns

S et ionsi llness O iAurangzeb.l664.

RoushanArn

'

s p lans

AGRA H ISTORI CAL .

of royalty in their hands. These travelled a long way before theE mpress, right and left of the road. The principal lady of the

court, mounted and attended in very much the same style as

the Princess, immediatelyfollowed the equipage of Roushan Ara.

This was followed by the elephant of the thirdlady, and that by a

fourth, and so on until fifteen or si x teen elephants, wi th ladies

of rank , passed, each having a retinue proportionate to her rank

and office. S i x ty or more elephants passed in state and royalty

with bri lliant and numerous followers, and the spectacle was so

grand and imposing that, according to Bernier, if he hadnot re

garded th is diaplayo magnificenco wi th a sort of phi losophical

indili'

erence, he wouldhave been apt to be carried awayby such

fl ights of imagination as inspire most Indian poets when they

represent the elephantsas cont eying so manygoddesses concealed

from the vulgargaze.

"

I n the year 1664 , the health of Aurangzeb seriously broke

down. H e sank into a state of debility,which made him uncon

scious for hours ofall thatwas going on. Roushan Arawas in sole

charge of his chamber, wh ich was guarded by Tartar women,

armed with swords and bows. T he strictest secrecywas observ

cd as to the state of the E mperor’

s health , and not even the

ladies of the seraglio knewwhether H is Majesty was alive or

dead. At thismoment, when the K ing’

s life was in peril, Roushan

Ara thought of plans of seif-aggrandisementf in the event of

H is Majesty’

s death. S he resolved to set aside the King’

s eldest;

O rsonqnmnm. son, Shah Alam,by his first wife, aRajput P rincess, then in his

disemeut.nineteenth year, and to place on the throne his younger brother,Azum S hah , then a boy of si x , by a Mahomedan Sultana S he

contrived to wi thdraw the E mperor'

s signet ring from his hand

and’

issned letters under th is:seal to various Rdjas , V iceroys and

Governors in favour of Azam Shah. H er po licy was to act as

regent during the long minority of her ward,and thus to secure

the throne for herselfi to the ex clusion of the rightful heir.

T he ladies of the seraglio feeling suspicions of what was

go ing ou, the first S ultanaheavily bribed the female guards over

the doors, and they allowed her admittance into the sick man’

s

room. The Rejput P rincess saw her royal husband lying

mamas“ .

unconscious, and unable to.

recognise her. Meanwhile Roushan

Ara, having observed the intruder, gave her a beating so severe

that her face was torn and she was forced to quit the room.

‘

Th is was a great insult to a Rajputéni P rincess, the wife of:

the youth of Aurangzeb, who, as the first lady in the harem,

possessed enormous influence. She was so much dreaded that

she burnt incense before her idols in the palace, and her husband,who was known to be astrict Muhammadan, never interferedwi th

her religious Observances. S he informed S hah Alam of the

treatment she had received at the hands of her aunt, and he

adopted measures for defeating the latter’

s plans. Sanguine

hopes were entertained at Agra that Aurangzeb might die, and

S hah Jahan, still in captiv i ty, be :restored to the throne of h is.

ancestors but such was the dread of Aurangzeb that there was

no attempt even at an outbreak .

Aurangzeb recovered and gave public audience at D elhi. Ad Recoveryof

mi ttance was given to the meanest of his subjects in the public“ ram “

hall, and the joyand gratification of the people at seeing their

K ing seatedon the throne passed all bounds. H e asked his sister

about his missing S ignet ring, and was not satisfied with hC '

e x planation. S he had become veryunpopular wi th the seraglio,

and the ears of Aurangzeb were filled by the ladies and the

eunuchs with all sorts of stories about her.

intrigues andambitious

designs. The emperorwas greatly incensed at the slight put byT he fall of

K oushanAra on his first Queen. To console the Sultana, be con 3 0m“ A" .

ferred on her new titles and honours and eulogised her patience

under adverse circumstances. Roushan Ara, .feeling herselfmorti

fi ed, intimatedherdesire to leave the palace and live in the town ;

but her request was refused, on the groundthat shesupervised the

tuition of the King’

syounger daughters.

Meanwhile the Emneror’

s own daughters had grown up, and

a spirit of ri valry was created between them and their aunt

Roushan Ara. According to C atron, Zebnlnissa, the eldest

daughter, was a more ambi tious Princess. S he had once proved Zebnlaissa

a valuable aux iliary to her aunt, sharing in her gallantries, butm"

daughter of

she now quarrelled with , and sought to supplant, her. S he' Aurangzeb.

Wheeler, through Manonehi .

seas : msroalcat .

supplied her father with information about her aunt’

s irregulari

RousingIii “ ties, andRoushan Ara soon disappeared for ever from the scene.

" move yI t was said she was removed by poison. This was before the

Emperor left for Kashmir.

ZEBULNI SSA Bsutm.

Zebulnissa Begum, better known by her poetical name

Mukhfi (C oncealed), now took her aunt’

s place in the harem.

She was born of a Muhammadan P rincess on 5th February163 9 .

The Emperor devoted personal attention to her studies, and she

Emma? soon became a learnedand accomp lished lady. At an earlyage

mentl she committed the Kuran to memory, and for this meritorious

act was rewardedbyH is Majestywith gold mohurs. She

was well versed in Arabic and P ersian, andwas ski lled in various

modes ofwriting , such as Nastalik,‘

'

askh1 and Shikasta; and

composed ex cellent prose and poetry. She was also the author of

some books. H er librarywas most ex tensive, containing several

thousands of volumes on relig ious and literary subjects. She had

in her employa large stat? of learned men, poets, authors, pious

men, andmen versed in caligraphy. MaliaSafi-u'l -din Arzbeg i

stayed under her orders in Kashmir, and wrote the transla

tion of Tafsi r-i -Kabir, which was, after her name, called

Zebid Tafasir. N umerous other compilations and original works

were dedicated to her. Zebulnissa ex ercised an ascendancy

in the court and overher imperial father, that was felt and known.

She was thoroughly proficient in Arabic and P ersian, and, by her

sagacity and wisdom, made herself complete master of the court

politics. According to Manouchi , she was worshipped as the

dominant star of the Mughals.”

She was now (1664 A.D .) twentyfiveyears ofage. The Emperorwas still far fromwell. Zebulnissa

advised him to travel to Kashmir for the benefit of his health

his physicians also recommended a change to that place. The

P rincess nrged~the matter from considerations of self-aggrandise

ment. She was anx ious to showthe worldher superior position in

the court andwasenvious to appear, in her turn, amid apompous

and magnificent equipage, as her aunt had done before her.

Aurangzeb was most reluctant to move to Kashmir as long as h is

A fine round hand.

T he Arabic character.

3:A running hand.

aces : ms'romcan.

Shah Mm O u thedeath ofAurangzeb, when a struggle forthe sovereignBahadurS hah, 17074 2 . tyarose between h is eldestson, P rince Moazzam, and h i s brother

P rince Azim, Agra occupied a prominent place in the conflict .

T he brothersassembled large armies in i ts neighbourhood toassert

their pretensions. The forces ofMoazzam concentratednearAgra.

H e was joinedbythe Ja chief, C huraman. Azi rruS hah advanced

from the D eccan at the head of a large army. A bloody battle

was fought not far to the south of Agra, in which Azim Shah ,

with his two grown-up sons, was k illed, and the youngest son,a

minor, was taken prisoner. MukhtiarKhan, Governor of Agra

who had taken the side ofhis father- ia-law, Azim Shah, was taken

prisoner. Moazzam proclaimedhimself Emperor under the name

of S hah Alam Bahadur Shah . The victory was commemorated

by the construction of amosque and hostel in Jajan.

’

Accession of O u the death of Bahadur Shah , the usual struggle for

giaifiiiz empire ensuedamong his sons. Azimushan, the second son of the

deceased Emperor, was defeated and put to death by the eldest

son, Jahandar S hah, who, succeeding to the throne, appointed

ZulfikarKhan, who hadbeen mainly instrumental in securing the

victory, to be hiswazt'

r.

Firokhsere, son of Azimushau, who was in Bengal at the

time of Bahadur Shah’

s death, assembled an army at Allahabadto give battle to his uncle. H e was aided in his project bySyed H usein Ali, Governor of Behar, an old adherent of h is

father, and his brother, Syed Abdullah, Governor of AllahabAd.

T he neighbourhood of Agra was again the scene of a g reat

struggle for sovereignty. Firokhsere advanced at the head of a

large army, and was met near the city by Jahandar S hah

and his wazt’

r, Zulfikar Khan, with an army of men.

The battle was fiercely contested, and Jahandar S hah was

defeated and put to flight. T he vanquishedKing fled in disg uise

to D elhi , but, with hiswaza’

r, was put to death . T he site of

the battle was Kuchbehari , identifiedwi th Bichpuri , near Agra,on the high road to D elhi ?

Aku‘

r

lzmgce of battle, according to SerulMtua is Ajaiu, close t

‘t ScrulMuta-alchirtn, C hap . I .

rtaox sssaa AND N IKO SERE .

Flrokhsere was still on the field of battle, when he resolved Fimkhm

‘

e

succeeds,at once to assume the crown. Accordingly, on l st January, 1713 , 1713 .

he ascended the throne at daybreak and gave public audience.‘

Churaman Jat, a powerful zami ndar in the neighbourhood of C hut‘

fl p gnJ“, 1414.

Agra, belonged to a fami lywh i ch had ri sen to importance duringthe time of the previous emperors. The family had attained so

much ascendancy that it had been necessary to despatch royal

troops to punish the conduct ofC huraman’

s ancestors. Churamanbecoming troublesome again, the E mperor, in September, 1717,appointed Raja Jai S ingh Sewai o i

'

Jeypur, to punish him.

T he Rdjawas on this occasion presented by the Emperor with eu.

elephant, a suit of jewels and several lakhs of rupees, and

p romoted to a higher militaryrank . Syed Khan Jahan, brother

of the wazi’

r Syad Abdulla, was also despatched to the Raja’

s

assistance with a large body of troops. T he fort of the Jats was

laid under siege for a whole year. At length the refractory

ch ieftain made his submission through the wazt’

r Abdulla, and

paired to D elhi to otter his personal submission to the

E mperor.

Firokhsere occasionallyresided in the palace ofAgra. H e was ddethroned and put to death in 1719. and was succeeded byfyl

t

gto death,

Rafi -ud-dara-jat andRafi-ud-daula, nominal Kings, set up by the

Syad brothers, who each reigned a fewmenths anddied. D uringN ikosereroclarmcd

the reign of the latter, N 1kosere, son of P ri nce Akbar, youngest son‘

mperor at

of Aurangzeb, whose sister had been married to Rafi-fi l-kadr (orAgra. 1720.

Rafl-ud-danla), having been taken out of his prison in the ci tadel

of Agra, was proclaimed Emperor by the Governor and officers

of that place, as well as by the mi li tia of the vi llages subordinateto the fortress. H is accession was announced by salvoes of artil

lery, and coins of gold and silver were struck in his names]T he P rince was also supported by the inhabitants of the ci ty of

Agra, who, on seeing the convulsions that shook the empire, gladlyembraced his cause. The Syad brothers, who had caused the

downfall of Ftrokhsere, andwho were now acknowledged as the

king-makers, were much alarmedwhen t he news of the accession

Semi Mula-akhirin. C hap . 1 .

1 Muntékh ibnl Tart’

kh of Kh i fi Khtu.

AGRA H I STORI C AL .

of N ikosere reached the court at D elhi. Ami r-ul-Umra SyadH usein AllKhan sent H aidar Kuli Khan, with a force in advance,

against Agra, and on the 7th Shabcm he himself marched to that

city, with an army of about men. N ikosere was at th is

time joined by Baja D hiraj Jai S ingh , wi th a contingent of

horse, and Raja C habi la Ram. Towards the end of

Shaba'n, Kutbul Mulk Syad Abdulla, taking with him the

young EmperorRafl-ud-daula, marched from D elhi to Agra W i ll!

23550 of the Maharaja Aj it S ingh and other amirs and an army of upwards

of horse. T he fort of Agra was besieged, lines of

approach were formed, and batteries were raised. A heavy can

nouade was opened, andmany houses, both inside andoutside thefort, were destroyed. T he siege lasted three months. At length,the provisions in the fort falling short, the defenderswere put to

great straits. A proposal to surrender was accepted and an

assurance of safety to life and honour was given. T he keys

were g iven up and possession of the fort was secured. N ikosere“

and his principal adherents were made prisoners. Mi tt S ea,the author of the revolt, killed himself with adagger.

33273 73323 After the fall of the fortress, Ami r-ul Umra H usein Ali

fm °f Khan, having entered it, took possession of all the treasures,

jewels, and valuables which had been deposited there for three

centuries, and which successive Emperors, from the t ime of

Sakandar Lodi , had accumulated.

“ There were the effects of

N ur Jahan Begum and Mumtaz Mahal, amounting in value,

according to various reports, to two or three crores of rupees.

Sheet of There was, in particular, the sheet of pearls which S hah Jahénl f

3332311 31“ had caused to be made for the tomb ofMumtaz Mahal, of thetomb o the

value of several lakhs of rupees, which was spread over it on the

anni versary and on Friday nights. There was the ewer ofN urE wer ofNurJahan. Jahanand her cushi on of woven gold and l

‘

lCh pearls wi th a

border of valuable garnets and emeralds.”

T he elder brother,Abdulla Khan, got nothing of this spoil, till after four months,

when twenty-one lakhs of rupees were grudgingly given to h im.

The quarrel between thebrothers about the treasures of the Agra

fort was settled through the intervention of Ratan Chand,

D ewan of H usein Ali Khan?

Khafi Khan. 1' E lliot.

mummisb SHAH .

O u the death ofRafi-ud-daula, theSyadbrothersraisedRoushanMuhm mga

Akhtar, son of Khuj ista Akhtar, commonly called Jahan S hah , 321

3151

8

3 3“

one of the sons of Bahadur S hah, to the throne. T he young1719.

Prince was then in his eighteenth year, and from the time of

the accession of his uncle Jahandar Shah he had lived in

obscurityin the castle of Salamgarh , D elhi. The ceremony of Seat of

installation took place at Fatehpur. T he new Emperor assumedfgxmsea"the ti tle

.

of Abul Fath Nasir-ud-din Muhammad S hah . TheA8“

seat of Government was removed to Agra, where the E mperor

remained for two years. D istrust between the Emperor and themam“Syad brothers soon arose. C hin Ki lich Khan, surnamed Asaf

Jab (whose descendants are known as the N izams of the D eccan),who had been brought up at the austere Court of Aurangzeb,defied the authori ty of the Syads, and assumed independence

in the D eccan. H e was now advancing in the direction of

Burbanpur. After much hesi tation, the brothers quitted Agra,but their troops under D i lawar Ali Khan, who commanded

the Wazir’

s army, were defeated. T he report of this tdefeat,

having reachedAgra, afforded secret but sincere satisfaction to the

Emperor and to all those who professed attachment to him, but i t

caused no small degreei

of consternation to the two brothers.

“

H usein Ali Khan was, about this time (October, assassinatedAssassination

by a hired ruflian. T he surv iving brother, Abdulla, despatched ighiiiifiizizo

i “

two noblemen ofconsequence to D elhi to raise one of the princes

of the house of Timur to the throne. Accordingly, P rince Ibrahim, A new Em

son of Rafi-ul-Kadr, grandson of Bahadur 811611 , was placed on per" 3“ “1"

the throne, under the title of Abul Fath Zahir-ud-din Muham

mad Ibrahim. Abdulla. Khan, arriving two days after, paid hishomage to the new King. H e conferred new digni ties andAbdulla

offices in his name, and began to assemble an army to sup

port him. H e was joined by Churaman, Raja oi'

the Jets,

and by manyof his deceased brother H useinAli Khatn’

s soldiers,

who deserted the Emperor. Muhammad Shah was, on the

other hand, reinforced by horse from Reja Jai S ingh

Sewai and by contingents furnished by some Rohilla C hiefs.

An armyfor the defence of the Empire was organized at Agra.

The two armies met between Agra and D elhi . AbdullaKhén

Sain tMuta-akharin.

I s defeated,D ecember,

AGRA H ISTORIC AL .

was defeated and taken prisoner. H is life was spared, probablyout of respect for his sacred lineage. Muhammad Shah, after this

v ictory, proceeded to D elhi , and the seat of governmentwas re

moved there.

After the above victory, Asat'

Jah was appointed Wazir but

a breach soon afterwards occurred between him and the Emperor,

and the Mughal monarchy ex hibited signs of rapid decay.

S tiadat Khan, surnamed Barhan-ulMulk (whose descendants

subsequently became the Nawabs of Oudh), was appointed the

first V iceroy oi'

Agra, in addition to his government of Oudh .

D esirous of visi ting h is former government, he left for Lucknow

in 172 2 , leaving as his deputyat Agra one Rai N ilkanth Nagar,

a man of ability. This deputy had some difference with a

neighbouring Jat zamiudar. O ne day, followed by a gorgeous

retinue, he had gone out on an elephant for the sake of recreation

when aJdt, who had taken his seat on a lofty tree and was

watching his opportunity, levelled h is p iece leisurely at Rai

Murderof the N ilkanth in the midst of his numerous retinue and ki lled him atD eputyGovernor ofAgra. 172 2 .

Raja JatS inghsucceedsSaadat Khanas GovernorofAgra.

P unishmentof the Jate.

the first shot. T he culprit, having accomplished his end, found

means to effect h is escape . The news of the outrage hav ing

reachedthe court, RejaJai S ingh Sewai , of Jeypur, the old enemy

of the Jats, having been appointed Governor of Agra, was sent

thi ther wi th instructions to revenge the murder of the D eputy

Governor.

RAja Jai S ingh marched against Churaman, the leader

of the Jets, and laid sieze to his fortress of Tun. By a dex terous

arrangement, be causeda dissension among the C hief'

s relations

of the blood, and secured the co -operation of Badar S ingh , h is

nephew, who joined him in the attack on the fortress. Mohkam

S ingh , son of Churaman, had a quarrel with his father and

rebuked him in open darbar. This mortified the old C hief to

such a degree that be swallowed poison and died. MohkamS ingh

gave way to the superior power and talents of IngaJai S ingh.

who appointedBadar S ingh to the zemindari of the late C hief

and got the appointment confirmedby the court.

‘

Sairul Muta-akharin.

AHMAD SH AH AND AL AMGlR I I .

I n 1736 the‘Maratha horse, under Mulhar Rae

penetrated as far as Agra. Baj i Rae, son of Balaj t'

Wiswa Natl), 1733‘

the ablest oi'

the Peshwas, ex cept S ivaj i , carried on his incur

sions and ravages in the country beyond the Jumna. Khatr i

D oulan and Kamar-ud-dlu Khan, two of the ablest Imperial

generals, marched against Baj i Rae, while Mulbar Rao wassharply attacked by Sendat Khan, the V iceroy of Oudh ,

who forced him to retreat. The V iceroy then moved on to

Agra, wri ting amagni loquent despatch to the Emperor, in which

the check was magnified into a great victory.

After the sack of D elhi by Nadir Shah, that conquerornwmon of

le vied contributions on the Governors of Provinces, and AgraShi h’

contributed i ts quota. The power of the Jats continued to goat?! of them for

i ncrease after the death of the E mperor Muhammad S hah, which Mn mmad

occurred in 1743 , and during the re ign of his son and “

successorSh

im"48°

Ahmad Shah , Suraj Mal, nephew of the famous C huraman, Ahmad Shi h

attained such power that he materiallyassisted Safdar Jung , thesucceeds'

son of S tiadat Khan, V iceroy of Oudh, who had been appointedgassing?

!

waz ir, against the Rohillas, who were defeated in apitched battle

and driven to the lower ranges of the H imalayas.

A breach soon after occurred between Safdar Jung, the

wazir, and the E mperor, who promoted Ghitzi-ud-din, grandson

of Asaf’

Jah, to the h igh office of C ommander- ia-C hief. . T he EmperorAhmad S natt

result of the measure was a civil war, but the wazi r consenteddeposed, 1745,

t o make peace . T he Emperor now,disgustedwi th the arrogance

o f Ghazi-ud-din, plotted against him, but was deposed, taken

prisoner anddeprived of his sight.

Az ud-din, son of Jahandar Shah, and grandson of BahthlurAh mflll‘ U

snceeetls,1745.Shah (S hah Alam was proclaimed E mperor, under the ti tle

o f Alamg ir II, with Ghazi -ud-din,as wazir. Safdar Jung died

soon after this revolution, andwas succeeded in the V iceroyaltyof Oudh by Shuja-ud-daula.

D uring the third invasion of Ahmad Shah D urtm'c’

, that T hird

conqueror, after marching to D elh i , sent an ex pedi tion to Agra iil

iiiiiiiln

gliah

andMathraunder his wazz'

r Shah Wali Khan, who laid siege

Alum"1757'

to Agra. Sardar Jahan Khan, one of the principal lieutenants

8

anus :

of the D urant sovere ign, was at the same time sent ' te lmycontri butions from the Jars, and he laid siege to one of the Jat

'

forts. Fazil Khan, the Mughal Governor of Agra, defended' the

citywi th great valour ; but the summer season was far advanced

and, mortality breaking out among the D urant troops, smutWali K han was compelled to retire.

The invaders indemnified themselves bysuddenlyfailing on

the neighbouring . city of Mathra, which they plundemd e t 6

religious festival, putting the helpless votaries to the swordwith

out distinction of age orsex . After these transactions, theAbdali‘ directed his

'

steps to his own nativedominions '

~Ahmad S hah Abdali, on retiring from the c ountry, had

appointed Naj ib-ud-dsula, a Rohilla nobleman oi abi lity and

character, to be Commander-in~0hief of the . imperial forces.

MarathasThis ex citedthe jealousyofGhazi-ud-din, who calledthe Marathas

gum under Mulhar Rao H olkar to his aid against the Emperors.0 ‘W W“Naj ib-ndodaula retired to his own countryabout Saharanpnr.

The t roynl : fort of - D elhi was takena fter a month’

sfsiege ;‘

the

Emperor opened the gates and received Ghazi-ud-din . as ib is

wazi r. I t was at this time that aMarathaGovernor took charge

of the Agrafort.

byGhazi-ud-dtn, the wash , nowp lotted against theEmp

’

erot‘,

“b land had h im assassinated by a savage Uzbek , as h alighted

from his palanquin to pay his respects to a hermit of'

fieculiar

sanctity, who,i t was given out, had taken up ; bis-abode in

“

the

ruined fort of Ferozabad, near D elhi , and to consultwhom the

harmless devotee hadrepaired thither.

Ali Gohar, son of the deceased Emperor, was raised to the

throne, by the title of S héh Alain II. T he power of the

Marathas had now reached i ts :zenith, their frontier ex tending

on the north to the Indus and H imalayas, and on - the tenth

nearly to the ex tremi ty of the P eninsulanl' But a fatal blow

was inflicted on them by the Abdali Ahmad S hah in the famous

battle of P anipat, fought in January 1761 . Naj ibvudwlaula.

T heMemo irs of Ab dul Kargim.

E lph instone, V ol. p . 637

AGRA H I STORI C AL .

ggOBC

IJS

-

yhu The Marathas rc -appcarcd and occupied the whole D oab in

1770. I n 1772 theysent a force from Agra, which, joining with theBhartpur Jats, forced the imperialists to retreat towards D elh i.

B‘lied

a

he T hc Maratha forces having retired southwards in 1773 , in

consequence of the death of hladho llao I’eshwa, Mirza N ajaf11118 f t

11m“Khan,a

Khau resumed his office as Minister at D elhi , and, assisted byShuja-ud-daula

, the Wazir of Oudh, ex pelled their garrison

from Agra and the provinces sti ll possessed by the Emperor?

fizfiammefl The Jats recovered Agra, but only to be finally ex pelled by

gmiflfifitf the minister in 1774. T he imperial ministerwrested from them

Am b the fort ofAgra andoccupied it wi th a garrison of h is own, under

aMughal officer, Muhammad Beg of H amadan, who held the post

of Governor of Agra for the nex t ten years. N ajat'

Khan con

tinned to live inAgra in v iceregal state, surroundedbyh is faithful

Mughals and P ersians. H is chief subordinates were Samru,Najaf Kuli , his adopted son, a H indu convert, MuhammadBegof H amaddn, andMirza Shafi, the minister

'

s nephew.

S amrudied at Agra on 4th May 1778, andMirzaNajafKhan

at D elhi , where he had been called by the facile monarch , S hah

Alam, on 2oth April 1 782 . T he Mirza had held the direct civ il

administration, wi th the receipt of surplus revenues of the P ro

vince of Agra and the Jat terri tories, for a considerable period.

O n the death of the minister, Afrasyab Khan, a near relationof the deceased, was electedminister, with the ti tle of Ami

'

r-ul

Umera, or the P remier noble.

A tr‘ ge"y.

A contest now arose among the survivors of the deceased

ministerand resulted in a tragedyas shocking as it was barbarous.

O u 2 3rd S eptember 1783 , MirzaS hafi, nephewof the deceased

minister, who was then at Agra, was refused admi ttance into the

palace as he returned after an ex cursion. S uspecting Afrasyab

Khén as the author of the afi'

rout, the Mirza assumed a hosti le

attitude towards him. A meeting was subsequently arrang ed

between the MirzaandMuhammad Beg of H amadan in the open

air in front of the D elhi Gate of the fort, wi th the avowed obj ectof settling the dispute amicably. As the elephants on which the

Taylor’

s H istory of India, p . 508, cd. of 1883 .

SH AH ALAM 11.

two noblemen were seated drew near to each other, the Mirzafrfhm'i '

stretched forth his handforgreeting ,whereupon Muhammad Beg , fiizz

zmshg .

at once seizing his p istol, firedat him belowthe arm andshot him

dead. S ome say, according to an account furnished by Prince

Jawau Bakht, eldest son of the E mperor, that the perpetrator of

the crime was an attendant who occupied the back seat of the

Iwwdalc, probably Ismail Beg , nephewof the H amadan.

I n 1784 the confederate armies of the Mughals and bladhop MuhammadBeg rebels at

S indhia marched to Agra to punish the refractory governor As“ , 173 1,

MuhammadBeg.

T he Emperor signifiedhis wish to proceed to Agra in person,

but he was dissuaded from carrying out his purpose byNaj ib -ud

daula, the Finance Minister. I n November 1 78 1, the P remierAfrasyab Khan was assassinated by Zenal-abi -din, the brother

ofMirza Shafi, who thus avenged his brother’

s death.

H is death faci litated afi'

airs and the partyhe had created lost

spirit. Muhammad Beg , being deserted by his troops, threw

himself on the mercy of S indhia. T he fort ofAgra surrendered T he fort snrrendered to

on 27th March 1785, and property of Afrasyab Khan to the value S indhia.

of 11 crore of rupees fell into the conqueror’

s hands. The power

of S indhia now reigned supreme in H industan.

I n 1787abattlewas fought between theMarathasunderS indhiagméwmand the Raj puts under the confederates Raja P artap S ingh of Rain “. 1707.

Jeypur, Rajae S ingh of Jodhpur, the Ranaof Odeypur and other

minor C hiefs of Mener. 0 11 the side of the Marathas wereAmbaJr I ngia, Apps Khandi and General M. de Roigas.

Muhammad Beg , wi th his nephew, Ismail Beg, adesperate leader,was at the head of the Mughal horse on the side of the

confederate Chiefs. The battle took place at Lal Soti, in Jeypurterritory. MuhammadBeg was killed, but the Marathas wereworsted

.

and fell back upon Alwar. Ismail Beg proceeded to

Agra wi th horse,four battalions and si x guns. O u this “1° “ l im b

S indhia made terms wi th Ranj it S ingh, the Rajaof the Jats, B is be"

and strongly reinforced the fort of Agra, the garrison of which18mm 8°

was placed under the command of Lakwa Dada, one of his best

generals.’

Keene, p . 149.

AGBA H I STORICAL .

Towards the end of the rainyseason of 1787, another per.

8011n appeared on the scene. This was Gholam Kadir, son

'

of Zébita,

Khan, a Rohilla C hief, who aspired to the digni ty of

P remier Noble at the C ourt of D elhi . Under the guise of

relig ion, he made a violent attempt to revi ve the Musaltnancause, and he was aided in his attempt by Ismail Beg . The

Emperor, who hadhi therto supported the cause of the Marathas,was, about this time, known to be 1n p

_

1 ivete correspondence

Wi th the Rajput Chiefs, who shortly after inflicted another‘ f heavydefeat on the Marathas. O u this S indhia was compelled

to fall back on Gwalior, leaving his army, under Lakwa Dada;

shut up in the fort of Agra, wh ich was c losely besieged byIanatl neg I smail

.

Beg. Following these transactions, Gholthn Kadir was,

m afia”through his‘ principal adherents, introduced to S hah Alam, who

invested him wi th the digni ty of the Premier N oble, Amz'

r-ulUmera, H isMajestyhimself binding the jewelledfillet on his head.

1, Jo ined by1 Gholam

‘

Ktfidir then proceeded to effectajunction between his

i231?“ forces and those of Ismai l before Agra, and the siege continued

:for same months. While these operations were going on, new?reached Agra, at the end of the cold season of 1787-88, of

B indhia having crossed the Chambal with large reinforcements

from the D eccan. Ismail Beg and Gholam Kadir forthwithraised the siege of Agra and marched to meet the advancing

31111, m mofMaratha army. A fierce battle took place near Fatehpur Sikri

S ikrif’i'

fss.on the Bhartpur road, on the 2 4th Apri l, 1788, in which the

Marathas under RanaKhan were defeated and withdrew to

Bhartpur under cover of night. Gholam Kadir then moved

northward, while Ismail Beg renewed the siege ofAgra.

Enticed by a handsome mum and the presentation of the

g oiden key of the fort of Ajmere by an embassy of the Béjpnt

Rajas fromJodhpur, the imbeci le Shah Alam took active step s

against S indbia and his own minister. H e appointed Min a

Jawan Bakht titular Governor of Agra. That P rince, withthe aid of Ismail Beg, made strenuous efforts to take posses

s ion of the fort and the province. H is attempts failed, and,

narrowly escap ing an attack made on his life by Gholam Kadir,

he fled to Benares, in British terri tory, where he died of a

broken heart, in 1788.

saith 11. d?)

14811364t 1116 , the 111 1111111 G‘

enera'

i,still held out 111 fi ke

fort of Agra. Rana11111 11 having joinod S indhiaon the C hambat“r

with a’

fre'

sh contingent from the D eccan, S indhia, thus reinforbed,»

onoe ’more moved to the relief of his General. The charge 011

this occasion was made from the eastward, and was met byE mail Beg with

"

a furious cavalry charge. Bet'

o'

te, howeter,’

Glmltm Kadir could cross the Jhmna and efl'

ect a junction withthe H ugh

'

s], the Maratha infantryand cavalryudder Generaldd531

3 359eaeflag

Boigua had repulsed the Muhammadan troops. Ismail Beg n é ly raised,

severely wounded in the action and fled, fording tbs swoltelti

stm m (Jone

The 0011federates, GhulamKadirandIsmail Beg , nowcollectedT ransactionstheirscattered tr00ps at Shahdara, near D elhi—the scene, it may

09 1111

be recollectéd, ot'

S 1’

1raj Mel’

s fall.

Gholam Kedir negotiated wi th Shah Alam to throw off

S indhia’

s yoke, and, the Emperor hesi ta‘

tmg to act on his advice,‘

the desperat eman, dropping all disguise, opened‘

firé‘

on thepalaoe

of D elhi . 114411051S indhia sent small reinforcements which were i ,

of no avai l, and the confederates took possession of D elhi . The

Emperor was deposed and blinded (loth August, 1888) I nEfififiefi'fi n

March following the Maratha put GhuldmKadir to death, and in

1792 Ismail Beg was sent into confinement at Agra, where he D eath of

remained till his death, which occurred the same year.

I 'm" ! Beg’

The Maratha Governor having rebelledin 1799, the fort wasT he Marathacaptured by General P erron, in the employ of S indhia, afteraggg

fm

siege of nearly two months. John Bessing ,.

e Dutch O tfiber,

was commandant of Agra for some years he died in the fort in31803 .

By the decisive victory of l l th September 1803 , gained byShah Alamrestored by

General (afterwards L ord) Lake , the British became Masters of the British.D elhi. O u the memorable 14th S eptember, the British Army

1m

under that hero crossed the Jumna and entered D elhi. T he

“unhappy blind old King, Shah Alam, was liberated fromconfinement and his freedomanddigni tywere restored. 011 241th C onflue't O f

A r b h

fi eptember, General Lake, with his army, left D elhi for Agra.Bgi t

‘

ishy181

0

13

1 For 1111 account of his tomb see C hapter I i i

MI RA H ISTORICAL .

Arriving at Agra on 4th October, he encamped within longcannon shot of the fort. T he Agragarrisonat this time consisted

of fighting men under the nominal command of the D utch

O fficer, John H essing, and other French andE uropean edveh

turers, about si x in number ; but the troops, distrusting them,

had mutinied and put them in confinement. I n addition to this

force, there were stationed under the walls of the fort three

battalions oi'

the troops that had been defeated at D elhi , and

four battalions of P erron’

s, fifth brigade, just arrived from the

D eccan, under the command of Major Brownrigg, wi th 2 6 pieces

of cannon. T he garrison had refused them admittance,because

there was a treasure of 2 5 lakhs of rupees within the fort, the

result of spoliation of the country, and it was feared that, i f they

were admitted, the spoil would have to be dividedwi th them.

The troops therefore occupied the ci ty and the glacis. Besides

these, twelve battalions of regular troops took up posi tion in the

rear of the besieg ing army, on the D elhi road, wi th the view, in

the event of the siege being protracted, of savmg the imperial city.

The consummate Bri tish General, observing the state of

affairs, resolved, wi th his usual energy and determination, to

move against the troops located outside the fort, before com:

mcncing the siege, so as to dislodge them from the cityand

the glacis. Accordingly, on the morning of loth O ctober, . he

detached two battalions of Nati ve Infantry, under Brigadier;

General C larke, to attack the city: one battalion, under C olonel

M'

C ollough, to attack the enemy to the west of the fort ; and

another battalion, under C aptain Worsley, to attack them on the

southern side. T he enemymade a sharp andobstinate resistance

wh ich lasted for some days, but they were at length defeated

and dislodged from their posi tion. T he loss on the side of the

Bri tish was 2 13 men killed andwounded; the enemy lost 600.

All their guns, 2 6 in number, were captured. The defeat

so much dispirited the enemy that, two days after, of

them surrendered to the Bri tish General, on condition that

they should be taken in the service of the British Government

on the same salaries as in S indhia'

s service.

1

21310 01 the The city being occup ied, the British General commenced

in earnest the siege operations against the fort. A promiscuous

BRIT ISH P E RIOD .

fire was opened from the batteries on 16th April ; but the

nex t day the garrison sued for terms of capitulation. Aftersome

discussion, the termswere agreed to, and the fort was occup ied

by the Bri tish on the 18th . By this victory 2 5 lakbs of

mpees that were boarded in the fort, and 162 p ieces of

cannon, fell into the hands of the conquerors. Among the latter

was a great brass gun, which was celebrated in historyas

the great gun of Agra. T he Governor-General intended to send

it to E ngland, as a trophy, to be presented to King George

III. and the gun was embarked on a countryboat, but it sank into

the deep torrent of the Jumnaand never afterwards emerged.

T he newly-conquered B1etr1ot oi’

Agra was placed underxzugmx f

aC ollector in 1805. T he head-quarters ofGovernment for the 1805.

codedandconquered provinces were fix ed at Firokh‘bad under

a Board of C ommissioners, to which the Collectorate of Agra

was made subordinate. Under the renewed Charter of the

East India C ompany, in 183 3 , the first L ieutenant-Governor C onati utton

ship in India for the N orth-Western P rovinces was constituted23 11212332.

at Agra, in 1835. The first L ieutenant-Governor ot‘

Agrawassh iv. la”

S ir Charles Metcalt'

e, and Agra‘

continued to be the capital

o f the N orth-Western P rovinces for aperiod of twenty-two years.

In 1838 agreat famine raged in theNorth-Western P rovinces T hesan d“and the P unjab, and

' it was in that year that the Christian {amm o

missionaries established the chari table institution known as the

SakandraOrphanage.

Under the strong and prosperous rule of Great Britain, the The Se

annals of Agra call for no special notice until the S epoyWarW" ’

of 1857. The Agra P residency, as then constituted, comprised

the D istrict of D elhi, and the news of theMutinywas flashedto Agra from Meerut, which was one of its subordinate C ollectorates. From Agra, as the seat of Government, intelligence

of the great crisis was communicated to L ord Canning, theGovernor-General, who received it with the utmost composure

andproceeded to concert measures to restore order in the country.

T he ruling L ieutenant-Governor was Mr. John Russell, one of

tho ablest andmost conscientious Civilians in the country, who

stoodhigh in public estimation.

AG‘RA H ISTORI CAL .

‘

Alarming.

accolnuts of mutiny having been received from

C awnpur and Firokhabad, a council of the princi pal C i vil and

Mi litary ofi cers b f the station was held at Agra, and it was

resolved to remove all the Christian fami lies into the fort. O u

the morning of the3 lst May, the nati ve regiments of the place

weredisarmed. E arly inJuly, the mutineers who hadrevolted in

N imach and N 1 3 11t advanced towards Agra. Their streng th

dousisted of infantry, cavalryand 1 1 guns. Brigadier

P olwhele, at the head of a small force, moved to -meet them,

anda brisk engagement took place at Sucheta in the suburbs

of the,city, in which the Bri tish troops were compelled to

retreat. The mob of the ci ty, tak ing advantage of the tumultthat followed. rose at once, plundered the cityand killed a num

ber of E uropeans. Bungalows were”

fired and public offices

burnt ahd destroyed ; and, on the 6th July, the chief native police

officer proclaimed the Government of the D elhi Emperor. T he

matineers, however, did not enter the city, but proceeded to

wards D elhi , to join their comrades there. The Lieutenant

Governor succumbed to the complaint of which he had been longailing , and his remains were interred in front of the D ewan

- i -Am.

The British O fficers remained shut up in the fort for three

months, though occasional assaults we'

re made against the muti

neers from various points.

O nt thef

fall of D elhi, in S eptember, the fugitives from that

city, together with therebels from C entral India, advanced to

wards Agra. About the same time C olonel. Greathead’

a column

art ived from D elhi in time to engage the mutineers, who, after

ashort contest, were utterlyrouted and broke up andfled precip i

tately. Orderwas restored in the c1tyand the suburbs. I nOctober

following, the troop underMajor C otton inflictedaheavydefeat on

the renlnants'

ot‘

the rebel fugitives from Fatehpur S ikri , andpeace

was completelyrestored throughout the D istrict.

S iboe the days of the.

Mutiny, Agra has developed into a

great Indian city and has become the centre of the Railwaysystem in Upper I ndia. I n 1 861 a great famine raged in th e

AgraD istrict. .

I n 1867, the first I ndustrial E x hibition was he ldin Agra,

in which the manufactured industries and natural p ro

ducts of the D istrict were largely'displayed.

AGE ! H ISTORICAL .

At the investiture D arbar the Mahdrdjds of JodbpurandKaraulibecame Knights GrandCross of the S tar of India. The 111 11dof Karauli had stood conspicuously loyal during theMutinyand

fought themutineers. The Mahi réjaofBalrampur had saved

the lives of S ir C harles Wingfield and others in Oudh, and the

111111 of 1101 1: Mowhaddone the same for the fugitives from

Cawnpur. Theyreceived their respective orders from S ir John

Lawrence, who in a short speech warm]y recorded the services of

each.

of For the first time in the annals of Bri tish Administration in

India, dida British V iceroyaddress the chiefs andgentrypresentin the language of the people. H is E x cellency

'

s Urdu speech

was a model of its kind. S imple in i ts character, frank and

paternal, philanthrOphic and earnest, it produced a profound

impression on his hearers andwas listened to with an absorbedattention. Afterbidding all who had assembledaheartywelcometo the famous city, renowned for i ts splendid d , and aboveall as having been, in former days, the seat of the government

of the great Emperor, from whom it derived its name Akbara

bad, S ir John Lawrence said

Great men, when living , often receive praise from their

friends and adherents for virtues which theydo not possess, and

i t is only after this li fe is ended that the real truth is told.

O f all fame that such men can acquire, that alone is worth

having which is accorded to ajust and beneficient ruler.”

The

speech of S ir John is full of sympathetic advice and admoni tion.

The names of conquerors and heroes,”he said, are forgotten

but those ofvirtuous andwise Chiefs live for ever.”The days

of war and rapine had passed away from H industan never to

return. T he time must have been within the recollection o f

some of the Chiefs present, andall must have heard of it, when

neither the palace of the ruler, nor the cottage of the peasant, nor°

the most sacred edifices of H indu or Muhammadan were safe

from the hands of the plunderer anddestroyer. I n those days

whole provinces were one scene of devastation andmisery; and

in vast tracts of country scarcely the light of a lamp was to

be seen in a single village. E nglish rule in India has put an

end to all this. No longer is the country a waste and a

BR P ERIOD .

wilderness. I t is now,to a great ex tent, covered with populous

villages and rich wi th cultivation, whi le the inhabitants live in

comparative safetyunder the shade of the E nglish power. S ir

John advised the C hiefs to refrain from wasting their time in

disputes with their neighbours, in quarrelswi th their feudatories,and in still less satisfactory ways. I t

'

a Chief neglected his

own proper duty, the care of his estate, howcouldhe ex pect that

adeputywould perform it for him ? Good laws andwell-selected

officials, carefully supervised, were necessary to ensure good

government. An efficient police and a well-managed revenue

were equally desirable, so that people might live in safety and

enjoy the frui ts of their industry. S chools for the education of

the young and hospitals for the cure of the sick should also be

established. T he British Government, said the V iceroy, would

honour that Chiefmostwho ex celled in the good management of

his country.

The speech of S ir John Lawrence laid down, in short, the

theory of government, andwill ever stand high in the estimation

of the people as a specimen of imperial eloquence.

I n 1870, Agra was honoured with a visit by H is Royal 112112 Go

ffthe

H ighness P rince Alfred, D uke of E dinburgh , second son of H er?sqaabursh t1

Imperial Majesty Queen V ictoria Empress of India, and wasreceived with everydemonstration of loyal welcome andrejoicing.

I n January 1876, H is Royal H ighness the P rince of Wales V isi t of the

graced Akbar’

s capi tal with a visit, and a most cordial and 111763sp lendid reception was accorded to h im. O u 2 6th January,

he received the respects of fourteen C hiefs. First came the

Maharao Raja of Bundi , a noted hunter, a fine specimen of

a Rajput. T he Prince won his heart byremark ing that he

heard the Maharao had attended a D arbar held by L ordWilliam

Bentinck, and badwitched him by noble deeds of horsemanship .

"

A fter him came the 1113'

s of Bikaneer, lo1°d of the desert ; then

th e Maharajaoi'

Kishengarh , whose C hief, the P rince wasglad

to hear, had devoted himself to works of i rrigation and had

ex ecuted tanks and other public works of great uti lity. Then

came the 111 111 14511 ot'

Bhartpur. After Bhartpur, the chief of

Alwar paid his respects. Then came insuccession the Nawab of

1 11111 11 13 1011101 1 ”

Tonh ; the E ana'

of D holpur; the H aharsjaofO reha,”

a 11111 11 1 11111

a sportsman ; the Nawab of Rampur, a poet and literaryman,whom the Prinée invested with the inmgnia of G.0.3 L ; the

Rae llahhraja ot'

D atia ; the Maharaja of Chihari ; the Baja of

Tehri ; the llabarajh of S halpura ; and the Jagirdar of Alipura.

The P rince the nex t day honoured these C hiefs with return

visi ts. A Civil Service Ball was organized by S ir JohnS trachey,the ruling L ieutenant-Governor, and, after bri lliant festivities

i nd ex cursions to Sakandrlt and'

Fatehpur S ikri , H is Royal

H ighness proceeded to D holpur.

Agra Water T he Agra WaterWorks were openedwi th great ceremonyby“01 111 . 18"o' Lord Lansdowne 1n D ecember, 1890.

I n October 1895, H is E x cellency L ord E lgin, V iceroy and

vifl‘

iosifi fGovernor-General of India, paid a visit to Agra. The Munici

pal C orporation presented H is E x cellency wi th an address o f

welcome, in which theydwelt on the happy co incidence that this

was not the first time Agra had been .visited by a member of

the illustrious E lg in family, for some of the Municipality could

T he M‘mi ' rememberwhen Lord E lgin’

s father, wi th an imposing militaryp 11Address.

escort, rode across the pontoon budge ln February 1863 to

preside at a D arbar. Great changes-had . occurred since then.

Agra was then the terminus of the E . I . Railway, and

the late L ord E lgin, when he left for the hills, continued his

journey on horseback. N ow three lines of railway were

uni ted under the roof of the railway station, and a survey

for a fourth line fromMathra bad lately been completed by the

Bombay, Baroda and C entral India Rai lway. S ince 1863

population had immensely increased, new hospitals opened, and

vast progress made in education and sani tation. Referring to

the relations between the relig ious sections of the nati ve com

munitywhich had been strained and formed the subject of a

speech by Lord Lansdowne when a V iceroy last visitedAgra, th eC orporation remarked that, thanks to the energy anddecision o f

those responsible for the public safety, aided by the good sense

of the bulk of the inhabi tants, no overt acts of hostilityhad taken

p lace, and the feeling on both sides wasmore pacific than before.

H is E x cellencyreplied as follbvvs

L ord E lgin’s Gentlemen of the Municipal Committee of Agra,

-I have toSwech‘

thank you for the address which you have presented to me, and

.nnmsn rnmon.

‘

l t

for the terms'

inwhich you have been pleased to ex press yonr

welcome. Theyare well calculated to rouse anewmemories'

which,

though 3 2 yearsago I was farawaya boy at school in E ngland,

I trust I mayalmost claim to share wi th you, and gentlemen, I

may also say that i f the changes which 30yearshave brought

about and to which you have drawnmyattention are such that

you couldscarcely have foreseen them, still less could I imagine

then that I should ever come‘

here as my father did to study

questions that are of interest to this great city, and to enjoythose unrivalled sights which have given i t a worldwide renown.

Gentlemen, I rejoice to observe that the record, which you are

able to submit, is one of progress. I t may be that takenby i tself

an increase of 2 0 per cent , in the population might not ,perhaps,

necessari ly denote prosperi ty. I t is no light matter to find food

for 20,000 or 3 0,000 more mouths, or employment for so many

ex tra bands, but the other facts of this case give a sufi cient and

asatisfactoryex planation. I t,was one of the chief objects of

my father‘

s journey, in 1863 , to ex amine the progress of'

the rail

waywh ich was then about to complete communication between

this ci tyand Calcutta. N othing has in the last 30years, nothing

inmy opinion will have in the nex t 30 years, so materially

afl'

ectcd and jmproved the condition of the people of the Indian

Empire as the ex tensionof i ts railways, and in respect; of railways

youare able to boast ofgreat if not‘

ex ceptioualgood fortune. Al

ready30 years ago you had tasted the first fruits of railwaycom

munication. N ow I suppose there are few ci ties in India that

in this respect could compete with you. I em well aware that

there is another side to this picture, andyou have not omitted it

from your retrospect. Increasing population and increasing

p rosperitymust always bring increasing responsibilities to.

those

1 11111 111 11 you, gentlemen, are charged wi th the’

duty of providing

for the health of the community. I knowalso well the anx ieties

that arise when we see clearly the importance of taking certain

steps and carrying out special works,‘

and the means and

ex penses are not so obvious. I em glad to see that you

frankly admi t what I believe to be the case, that the

Government of India has dealt with munici pal bodies in this

matter in a liberal spirit, and also that you recognise that the

ex tent to which assistance can fairly be claimed must be detain

mined bythe state of the imperial ex cheqner. I need not re

72 sen ms'ronrcu .

mind you as men of business that, when we speak of the state

of the imperial ex chequer, that does not imply merely counting

the cash which mayat anymoment he in the treasury, but that

we have to look to other considerations and particular!y to weigh

carefully the demands that have been made upon the general

tax -payer. Unfortunatelyduring the last two years theGovernment

of India has had to make increased demands upon the general

tax -

payer, and we have just seen in the last fewhours how that

sensitive instrument, the money market, upon which the com

mercial transactions ofmen depend,may suddenlyupset the best

calculations. Therefore, although I do notdifier from the opinion

ex pressed elsewhere that the financial prospects of the Govern

ment are brightening , I should be holding out false hO pes i f I

led you to ex pect at present anymaterialalteration in the condi

tions, fair and honourable as theyhave been,of the assistance we

can ofi'

er you. But, gentlemen, if I um obliged to say that, I

hope you will not take it as sarcasm it I ask you to persevere in

your patriotic efforts. I trust from what you have said in your

address that you will be able to successfully appeal to that

generous and patriotic spiri t which you tell me has secured you

the support of your leading citizens in the great causes of educa

tion and hospital accommodation, and, perhaps, I may be allowedto say, speaking on behalf of the P resident of the Lady D ufierin

Fund, Lady E lg in, that she sincerelyrecognises the great efforts

made here for the benefit of Indian women and their medical

treatment. Gentlemen, I feel deeply thankful that it is not

necessary for me to day to repeat the solemn warning of my

predecessor, to which you have alluded in the concluding para

graph of your address. You have given just credit to the energyof the local authori ties in fearlessly carrying out the poli cy of

impartiali ty, both in the tolerance of O pinion and the repression

of‘

the ex ecutive, which LordLansdowne proclaimed, andto which

the Government of India unreservedlyadhere. But I have equal

pleasure in joining wi th you in placing beside the action of the

ex ecutive as instrumental in the cause of peace the good sense of

the people, and I would add the efforts made in various parts of

the ccuntryby leading members of various phases of religious

thought, by whom I gratefullyacknowledge that much has been

done to promote good will and remove the causes of strife. I

trust they will never forget, but rather increasing]yappreciate

BRIT IS H PERIOD .

howmuch of the responsibility lies with them. I f, as you are

kind enough to wish, I should be in a position again to visit

Agra, I can hope for nothing better than to be able to refer to the

growth and development of this spiri t of conciliation which it

is the constant desire of mmywho love India best to foster.”

At noon the same day ( z5lib H is E x cellency 79 °

ceived formal visits from the Maharaja ofKarauli , the MaharajaRana of D houlpurandthe Nawab ofRampur. Wi th the ex ceptionof the Maharaja of Karauli , who spoke in H industani , conversa

tion was carried on in E nglish. The V iceroy visited Fattehpur

S ikri andAkbar’

s tomb at S ikandra. O u the 2 8th H is E x cellency

gave audience to the Maharaja of Bhadawar, the Raja of Main

puri , the Rain ofAwa, the Raja ot'

P irwa and Seth Lachman D an,

the celebratedmillionaire banker of Mathra. T he Rajas are the

descendants of ancient Rajput families, those of Bhadawar and

Awa having rendered good service to the Government duringthe Mahratta war and the Mutiny.

The Bikaneer Camel Corps, the only corps of the kind infiffiaflry

India, paraded before H is E x cellency on the morning of 28th camel

October. I t was 440 strong under the command of T haknr

D ip S ingh, and i ts organization was admitted in every detail to

be perfect. As it was drawn up in line 420yards long, its appear

ance struck all spectators wi th surprise. Ao eye witness writes

of it in the C ivi l and Mi li tary Gazette, Lahore I t looked

most imposing, while the smartness of the men’

s turn-out in

their neatKhaki. coloured 11'

nit'

orms, with redfacings and the gold

tarrea of Rajputana in their turbans, the ex cellent condition

of the camels, and the remarkable steadiness of their movements,commanded universal admiration.

”H is E x cellency was pleased

to see this manoeuvring power of corps and complimented

Thakur D ip S ingh on i ts general appearance and smartness.

H is E x cellency visited the principal architectural monuments

at Agra and left it forGwalioron the 3oth, carrying with him very

pleasant impressions of his first visit to Akbar’

acity.

sons : nascarr'hvn.

Between the colossal towers 1s a passage covered by two

domes, which, rising majestically from accretions of prismatic

stalactites, give succession to a beautiful range of bui ldings

comprising alternate niches and small arched openings, adorned

with carvings andmosaics. Surrounding these edifices is the

Nath r Nakkar Khana, or R iyal kettle-drum,

which announced to the

populace the functional hours of the Court. T he elegant portal

opens on a noble courtyard, and the centre of the palace, 500 feet

by 370, surrounded byspacious arcades, which formerly served

as a tilt yard.

The inner gateway, on the side of the open space between theT i” 11111111

quay and the fort, is known as the H a’

thi P ol, or E lephant

gate. H ere were placed, in the time of Akbar, two stone ele

phants p f ex quisite workmanship, with their riders Jaimal and

Patto in statues of stone representing two Rajput heroes

of C hittore, whose memory was thus honoured by the politic

Emperor.

*

£2:Dm han The gateway is the Durshan Darwaza, or the Gate of S ights

ol'

W1ll1am Frueh, who vrs1ted Agra 1n the tune of Jabaugm

H ere the King showed himself everymorning at sunrise to his

nobles and Umras, who stood on a kind of scafl'

old, and to the

multitude who assembled beneath the window. The same was

done each morning by Akbar, who worshi pped the sun at this

window, the crowdwho thronged the plain below worshippingAkbar. H ere, later in the morning , l1e appeared again, to witness

f5533 1

1

131 114the combats of an1mals 1n the plane below. H e took much dehgh t

sports in fights between trained elephants, camels, buffaloes, rams and

h um an .

ham, andwas entertainedwi th the combats ofcocks, the portom

ancea of gladiators, wrestlers, actors of comedies, dancers and

fencers. Singers, male and female, remained in wai ting , whi le

Tho storming party failed in i ts first attemp t to carrythe bu ttons, andanotherwas in women when the Em ror chanced to see Jarmal, the Governorof the Fort, d n oting the re ir oi

'e

one of the breaches by torchlight.’ B 15

Maj esty. having seizedamatc h och fromasoldierwho stood by, shot Janna! 111 theforehead. The Rajputs, seeing their leader (lead. became desperate; and reaolvrngto die the death of heroes. performed the ceremony of Jowhar, p utting themwomen and children to death and burnim'

.r themwi th their commander

’

s bodythe then retired to their tem Ice and awai ted the ap proach of the Mnham

ans. T he Emperor, seeing t e walladeserted, entered the p lace at da light.T he p tatnes of Janna]and P atto were fine spec imens of art , but were kento

l‘neceabyAurangzeb. T he fragments of one of them having been subsequently

co acted, the statue of the elephant was restored. T his statue is sti ll to be seen111 the EmpressGarden, Delhi.

TH E FORT .

clever jugglers and tumblers disp layed their dex terity and

agi lity.

’

S outh of the fort is the Amar S ingh Gate, known after th e Amar S inghGate.

name of Amar S i ngh, Raq t.

O n one side of the great court-yard is the D iwan- i -Am,or D iwan-i -Am.

H all of public audience, the judgment-seat of Akbar,where the

court receptions were heldand business was transacted. H ere

the monarch daily sat on his throne raised, on an estrade, as we

still see i t, and surrounded wi th inlaid work of marble. H ere he

gave audience to his splendid court, received the tnibutary ruling

chiefs of H industan and the ambassadors and envoys from foreign

countries, administered justice and issued orders. At the foot

of the alcove, on which the throne was placed, is an immense

slate, ofwhite marble , raised some three feet above the ground»

on which the ministers took their stand to present and hand up

peti tions to the E mperor and to recei ve and convey his com

mands. I t was formerly fenced wi th si lver rails, but theyhave

nowdisappeared. The ball is 192 feet in length by 6 1 in breadth

I t is an open portico, or loggz'

a, the roof being supported bythree

rows of high p i llars placed at regular intervals and connected by

Saracenic arches of white marble , wh ich g ive i t amajestic appear

ance. Towards the eastern side is the elevated oblong niche, or

gallery, before mentioned, in which the King took his seat on a

throne. The throne described by E dwardTerry, chaplain of S ir

Thomas Roe, was“ascended by steps plated wi th silver and

ornamented wi th 4 silver lions, spangled wi th jewels, which

supported a canopy of pure gold.

”T he pavi lion is of pure

marble, wi th beauti fully carved recesses, and inlaidwi th mosaics.

The court hall in Akbar’

s time was profuselyscented wi th sweet

perfumes and fragrant odours. O n this subject Allami Abul

Fazl writes in the Ain The court hall is continually scented

with ambergris, ale wood, and compositions according to ancient

recipes, or mi x tures invented by H is Majesty; and incense is

daily burnt in goldand si lver censors of various shapes, while

sweet smelling flowers are used in large quanti ties”

.

T he seatT he order ofrecedence inroyal was separatedbysuccessi ve rai li ngs, the i nnermost of whi ch, ihe Du b “.

raised from the ground and enclosed by a red rail, was occupied

Ain-i -Alaba rt.

AGRA D ESCRI PT IV E .

the ham was constructed for Jahangir Shah, the son of Akbar

S hah, in 1019 AJI . (1016 the year in which the Emperor

was married to N nrjahan. I had to devote some time before Icoulddecipher the following two couplets on this remarkable

c istern, which can still be read

3 1-3 fifty ! Jt

fi H? tu a“ 3

e—Jaé i ; JU am”; 4

3 51 6

s 0” assIL A],

tSfimre u

é)‘ 3 | 0

» 5 t s s.51 s: ulti

Asylum of S tate and relig ion, King Jahang ir, son of the King Akbar.

An E mperor to whose wi.dom fate owes its success.

Khizr° having been asked the date of its construction, W isdom replied

The Zumzamf. on seeing the cistern of Jchang ir, concealed i ts face out

of shame):

T o the right and left of the hallare galleries of lattice-work

through which the ladies of the H arem pecped to see the proceed

ings of the Court. A door at the back of the throne admitted the

Emperor and his confidential servants to the interior of the

Zena'na, or seraglio.

The same door leads to the Machi Bhawan. I n the

court-yard of the palace, the water of the Jumna was conveyed

byartificial channels and used to be accumulated here to form a

store-house for fishes which afiorded sportive amusement to the

Emperor and his favorite H arems and courtiers, who took delight

in ensnaring them. T he place consists of an oblong room of

white marble, most elaborately carved, and communicates wi th

an openmarble loggia of beautifullycarvedarches in the Saracenic

style. The chambers on two sides served as office rooms. Between

the Machi Bhawan and the small mosque (known as Mina

God of wood and water. A saint sk illed in divination.who is said to havediscovered the water of life . Mahomedans otter oblations to him. of lamps ,flowers, &c . . p laced on li ttle rafts launched on the river. T ravellers by boatalways invoke h im on start ing .

1 T he name of asacredwell at Mecca. called also H agsr’

s well.

i T he numerical value of the words, H ans: Jahangiri is 1113 . Wthis the numeri cal value of Zamzam (94)is taken away. the date of foundation(1019 A. H .) is found.

T he author of the T ravels o a H indu has in his work alluded to the favouri tedrink ing cup of Jahan I t ad been ecoo hollow out of an uncommonlylarge sized ruby, more t nan three inches lon yas man broad, in the fashion o fa goblet wi th the name of Jahtng ir inscri b on i t in go den letters. S ide by side

was placed a similar but smaller cap with a leg to stand on. wh ich had belongedto the cat Tamerlane. Bo th were the property of the ex -King of 0udh andwere p aced for sale in

o

one of the.

E nglish Jewellery shops in C alcuttaa fewyearsbefore 1800. Theirultimate fate ts not known.

A6“ 2 D E SCRI PT I V E .

whi ch gives entranceto another great court, which is‘

also sur

rounded bygalleries, underwhich there are also small rooms for'

soin'

e“

ofi cers ofthe palace. From this second C ourt yon pass

into'

s thirdwhere the King’s apartments are situated. S hah

‘

Jahan had intended to cover the arch of a great gallerywh ich is

ui the right hand wi th silver, and a Frenchman, named ‘

Angu’

stiaD e Bordeaux ,was to havedone the worlr. But the great

Mnghal; seeing there was be one in his kingdomwhowas capable

to'

send”

to Goa to negotiate an'

affairwith the P ortuguese, the

work was not done, for, as the abili ty of Augnstinwas feared,‘

he was‘

poisoned on his return from Cochin. This gallery

is painted wi th foliage of gold and azure, and the floor is

covered over with a carpet. There are doors under the gallery

,giiging entraace into very small square chambers._

I saw

two or three of them which were opened foras, andwe were

told that the others were similar. The three other sides of

the C ourt are altogether open, and there is but a simple wall

to the height of the support. O u one side overlooking the

river'

there is a projecting D iwc’

m, or belvedere, where the Kingcomes to sit when he wishes to enjoy the pleasure ot

'

O

seeing

his.

brigah tines and making his elephants fight. I n front of

the D iwan there is agallery which serres as a vestibule, and

the . design of S hah Jahan was to cover. i t throughout by a

trellis ,

of rubies and emeralds which would represent. after:

naturet green grapes and those comniencing to become red ;but thisdesign, proving too ex pensi ve, had to be abandoned.

”

Nex tg

tothe D iwan-i -Khas, overhanging , the ri ver, istheZenana, or H arem, before alluded to, called the Khas Mahal, or

the privateapartments of the ladies of the Royal H arem. The

substructures oi‘

the palace are . of red sandstone, the Jnmnawashing the walls seventy feet below; but the whole oi its

chambers, corri dors, and pavilions are of pure white marble,{post elaborately carved, and ex quisitely ornamentedwith flowers

M. V elant, C hief of the D utch factory at Agra, as soon as the King hadleft. went to salute th is noble and to make h im a present accordin to thecustom. Comp h xhenth havmg on both sides. the Governor as cd Mr.

V olant what he desi red h im to o to serve him, and. he hav ing prayed h im tohave the goodness. as the C ourt was absent, to permit him to see the interiorof the palace, at was granted h im and si x menwere given to accompany

as.”

Travels in I ndus by Tam wr, V ol. L . 108. T he account has clear erence

ib ths traveller’

s second voyage when e visited Agra froma ionrneyto Shu tin 1640, when Shah Jahtn was cmoying a peaceable reign. See Introduction.

and testoons. This lovely mansion was built by Shah Jahan

before new D elhi ; and its lux urious pavilions, with gilded

roofs anddomes, are all of the rich style of Florentine mosaic,

and of singular elegance and beauty. They glitter all over

with jasper, cornelian, lapis-lazuli , agate and bloodstone, and

the balconies and terraces are wrought in open patterns of

such rich designs that. according to an American traveller,“they

resemble the fringes of lace when seen from below.

”The

adaptation of one part to another, the perfect harmony

prevailing in the various sections of the bui lding, the richness

of style, and above all its elegance, are proof of the taste

of the authors, and fill the curious observer with asense of

admiration and awe. N o chamber, no pavilion, no terrace or

window is wanting, and i t seems as i i‘

the imperial halls

had just been vacated by their occupiers, and were ready to

be repeopledwith the household of the great Emperor. T hey

bring vividly before the eye a living p icture of the dai lyroutine

of his public duties and his private pursuits and domestic life.

I n a balconyoverlooking the river are marks of blank spaces, TheM oon"I n these spaces were p ictures of the Mughal Emperors fromT imfir, mounted on glass placedagainst the walls. Suraj Mal,the Jci t, Raja of Bhartpur, took away these p ictures, and

the spaces are left blank as signs of spoliation of the Jets.

T he injnrious etiects of time and spoliation are visible hereand there. A cannon ball burst through the marble trellis

work in a small courtyard in front of the D iwan-i -Khas,causing a rent in the screen of the royal pavilion. T his was

the result of the cannonade by General P erron, Commandantof S indhia’s troops, who besieged the fort in 1803 , and selected

that side as the most assailable. Many flowers and blossomsof cornelian, with leaves of bloodstone and gems, inlaid in

the marble, have been wantonly dug out, and the polished

fountains and tanks are dry.

T he following P ersian poems are beautifully inscribed on the

walls of the KhasMahal.

b & f “ 0L}? Ml ) . gi lt

Jan; W .)

M ei" em ” ali bi : n

‘ s ’e'

room,while the carving in bold reliefand the superior polish of

the marble used contributed to the perfection ofthe work. Two

passages from the H ammam, both of red sandstone, lead to the

Jurnna, which washes the walls. O ne of these was a passage for

the Royal ladies and their fair concubiues, and the other for Jodh

Bai , the H indu Queen ofJahangir. From the balconies of the

P alace Royal, a beautiful viewofthe gardens and pahn-

groves

on the Opposite bank is'

obtainedl while about a mile down the

stream is to be seen that wonder of I ndia, the Taj , shining li kea palace of ivory and crystal.

The nex t C ourt is paved with squares of white and blackmarble so as to represent a P ach isi board. The game is a kind of

Eastern backgammon, or trictrac. E ach square in this spacious

boardis wide enough to allowaman to sit wi thin i t. I n ordinary

games‘

ivory p ieces or figures are used. But it is saidAkbarand his wives played on th is boardwith gaily clad girls, distin

guished by badges to specify their position in the game, who

trotted from square to square, according to the movements of a

wand used bythe players.

The Pachisi .

O u one side of the court of the P achisi board is the Samman3mm "Bur], or octagonal tower, the boudoirof the chief P rincess. I t is

the work of Shah Jahan, and i t was here that that Emperor

breathed his last with his eyes turned towards the glitteringmausoleum oi

'

the wife of hisyouth and his afl'

eetionate daughter,

JahanAra, si tting by his side.

“ The mansion is of pure marbleand most elaborately carved and inlaid. I n the midst is a

small but neat reservoir ofmarble in the shape of a rose. Th iswas the reservoir used byArjumand Bano Begum. the King

’

s

favouri te wife, and the lady of the Taj , for washing her face ,hands, and feet. I t was decorated wi th precious stones, all of

which were carried away by the Jdts. Two small windows

higher up the wall are pointed out as having been used by thechief Sultanaas a repository forher jewels and ornaments, accessto which was obtained by a golden staircase. I t was from this

tower that the Royal ladies witnessed the animal fights in theopen space below. The King sat on the marble throne opposite.

Badahah Nama, p. 933 .

TH E FORT .

'

The open terrace facing the ri ver, where'

the marble throne

now is, was originally roofed, andformed part of the D i sband

Khas. But, the hall having been dismantled by the Raja of

Bhartpur, the materials were removed byhim. Five marble

blocks oi'

the material were sent to London as a curiosity,

while seven are lying on the spot at the moment of wri ting.

“

To the north of the white rharble palace, called the D iwan

i -Khas of Shah Jahan,'

ia to be seen a rarity of the sculptor’s

art, via, a black marble throne, hewn out entire, with i ts four Thegilack

mar 0

legs, from one block. I t is 10 feet 75 inches long , 9 feet 10 throne.

inches broad,and 6 inches thick. The stone is 1 foot 4 inches

in height and is supported by octagonal pedestals, or feet. I t is

completely penetrated by a long fissure, which is ascribed to

i ts hav ing been profaned by the feet of the Jet usurper,

Jawéhar S ingh , Rajah of Bhartpur, son of S uraj Mal 1 111,

who was in temporary possession of Agra in 1765. T he

credulous maintain that, having been profaned by the Jzit

chieftain, not only did.

i t crack from side to side, but bloodrushed out of it 1n two places. T he usurper was

‘

shortly

afterwards assassinated in the palace, whi le his father was

slain in the battle with Naj ibuddaula. T he presence of

red marks on the throne 13 , however, due to am1neralsubstance.

T he throne was used by the Emperor Jahangir in pri vate

audiences with his ministers. An inscription in large P ers1an

letters runs rouu

ndall the four sides of the thickness of stone

and 18 as follows

ai

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hf m a ] M 3 b ; 3 s fi 13

When Shah Salim, the heir to the crown and seal,

Set on the throne and administered the world,

September 1802 .

AGBA D ESC RIP P IV E .

The prett iest‘

str ucture in the fort is the Mali Nusyzd, or

P earl Mosque ,as i t is poetically and justly called. I t stands

north of the D iwan-i -Am, on a lofty plateau, to which access

is obtained by a long flight of steps. E ntering a sirnple gateway

by steps oi.

free-stoue roughly hewn, and ex pecting nothingvery grand, one is surprised by coming suddenly in sight of a

structure at once grand, fascinating and sublime, which, withmajestic and colossal form, combines ex quisi te simplici tyrefined taste and elegance. I t is, as a writer says, an agreeablesurprise ,

”filling the curious observer wi th a fervour of admiration.

You see before you a sanctuary of whi te marble rising grace

ful ly over the silvery surface formed by its lovely court. T he

mosque measures 187 feet by 2 3 4 feet. T he square court is

paved with large white flags, and is surrounded bya chaste

gallery and colonnade of the same material. The beauty of

the mosque,”says Fergusson, resides in i ts courtyard, which is

wholly of whi te mai ble from the pavement to the summit of

the domes.

”At the ex tremity of this spacious court, and te

moved about 100 feet from the gateway, is the noble mosque ,

comprising a single room, 150 feet by 60, supported bya triple

row of p i llars, joined to one another by the most ex quisitely

proportioned Saracenic arches. T he three lovely domes 0 1'

white marble, wi th their g i lded spires spring ing gracefully from

the pavilions. rise considerably above the ramparts, g iving i t a

truly grand appearance. I n the enthusiastic language of Mr.

Taylor, in all distant v iews of the Fort these domes are seen like

silvery bubbles which have rested a moment on its walls, and

which the nex t breeze may sweep away.

”

E uropean artists and travellers have pronounced the archi

tecture to be absolutely perfect, and, while i ts style is the purest

Saracenic, it possesses the simplici ty of D oric art. T he

whole design is instinct wi th life, and, whether judged from the

ex act proportions of i ts dimensions, or the admirable sk ill of

i ts design, the mosque is justly the admiration alike of the

student of art, the traveller and the spectator. I t is truly

the gem of mosques.

”

O ne eminent authori ty writes of its

surpassing beauty“ Any woodcut cannot do i t justice ; it

must be seen to be appreciated.

”

Another writer, comparingi t wi th the grand mosque of Shah Jahén at D elhi , ex presses his

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This bright Katiba and second Tabernacles of Bliss is so

pre-eminentlyluminous that, compared to it, the bright dawn of

morning looks like the dusk of evening ; the efi'

ect of i ts great

brilliancy is such that the sun, compared to i t, is like an eye

that is dazzled by brightness. I ts firm foundation is as high as

that of the highest heaVen. I ts bounty-showering towers are as

loftyas the porticoes of paradise. I ts grand foundations indicate

that it is amosque founded on the basis of piety; and its turret!

m row. 93

via in brilliancy with the meridian sun when passing through

thezodiac. whi le theysurpass it in height. E ach of i ts flower

pinnacled shafts is like a bunch of light connectedwi th a cluster

of bri lliant stars, or likea fountain of beneficent rays emanating

from the sun. E ach of its gilded pinnacles affords light to the

heavenly luminaries ; each of i ts resplendent arches resembles

the newmoon, and is everhailed as the festival of I d.

O u either side of i t is the fort, built of red sandstone, of the

metropolis ofAkbarabad ; the Masj id is to this fort as the seven

planets are to the sky one may say i t is a halo round the moon,

which is sure proof of the advent of clouds of mercy or i t is a

circle round the luminous sun,which is an unmistakeable sign of

the coming fall of beneficent rain. V eri ly, i t is a loftymansionof

paradise, made (as i t were)of one precious pearl, for from the

beginning of the inhabited world the like of a mosque built

entirely of pure marble was never produced and since the crea

tion the parallel of a temple so brilliant and bright from tap to

bottom has never appeared.

Built by the command of the potentale of Solomon’

s magnifi

cence the Sultan of Abraham’

s honour ; the embellisher of the

countenance of Islam ; the founder of the Empire ; the king of

kings, whose court equals in digni ty the highest heaven ; the

shadow of God ; the asylum of . the people ; the strength of the

pillars of State ; the prop of the basis of justice and benignity;the earth, being blessed with his footsteps, feels more dignifiedthan the heavens in a thousand ways ; through the profusion of

his gifts the heavens are compelled to acknowledge the earth’

s

superiority; prosperi tyandwealth, through love of service to him,

are ever awake to their duty; S tate and religion are greatly

attracted by the beautyof his countenance ; the zephyrs of Paradise crave the dust of his Sanctuary;dignified as the heavens; the

destroying fire of hell solicits a stipend from the polish of the

steel of his sword, which destroys the enemies ;

T he foundations of S tate receive streng th from him

The basis of justice obtains duration from him

H is v ictorious sword

E verdespatches the infidels

H eaven is one of his slaves ;

The dawn of day is amirror-holder for his countenance

AGRL nrscmr'rrvs.

H e is the supporting ax is of the heavenly faith and of the

laws ; the centre of the circle of justice andadministration the

father of victory ; S hahabuddin Mohammad, the second lord of

the fortunate conjunction of the planets, the valiant King Shah

Jahan.

This building was completed in a space of seven years,at a

cost of three lakhs of rupees towards the end of the 2 6th year of

the fortunate reign corresponding to the year 1063 H ijri.

May it so pleaseGod, the Godwithout compeer, that, through

the blessings of the good intentions of this sovereign, the de

fender oi'

the Faith, all people may have an increased desire

for performing devotions and doi ng virtuous deeds ! And may

the direction and guidance in the right way have as their result

the salvation of this righteous King. the accepted of God 2 0

L ord of the universe Amen l”

A passage to the north-west corner of the Machi Bhawan

leads to the Nag ina Masj z'

d, a small but veryhandsome mosque,

60 feet square. I t was founded by Aurangzeb for the ladies o f

the Zenana, and, being built entirely of white marble after the

fashion of the Moti Masj id, may be called i ts smaller counter

part. C onnectedwith it, on an elevation overlook ing the waters

of the Jnmna, is a set of chambers in which Shah Jahan was

kept in honourable confinement byhis ambitious son Aurangzeb,

and the room is still pointed out where he used to live, with

little to console his heart ex cept the sight before h im of the

monument raised by his own genius to the memory of the

wife of h is youth, the renowned Lady of the Taj . I n a wall

opposite is a cavitywhere used to be stored warm water for the

purpose of ablation before going to prayers.

The apartments which were the actual quarters ofS hah Jaheln

while reigning E mperor of H industan are also noticeable for

containing the reputed“ Somnath

”

gates. T he aveng ing army

of Lord E llenborough, under the command ofGeneral Pollock ,brought these gates from Ghazni , as a trophy of British success

in Afghanistan. T he gates are 12 feet high by 9 in

breadth, and are elaborately carved and inlaid. They werethe subject of a. proclamation from the Governor-General

AGBA D ESCRI PT IVE .

and piercing. The passion was mutual. T he court is now

used for lawn-tennis.

To the south of the Khas Mahal, and close to the Amar S ingh

Gate, is a massive building in redstone, called the Jahangiri

Mahal, or the P alace of Jahangir, a singularly elegant and

beautiful structure. I t is a two-storeyed building , most

ex quisitelycarved and inlaidwith reliev ing lines ofwhite marble,and two courts paved in red sandstone, the largest of which

is seventy feet square. T he peculiari ty of the structure lies

in the general avoidance of arches, the roofs resting on flanks

of free redstone, supported bymassive but singularlyhandsome

andrichly carved p illars of the same material. T he structure

ismost perfect, and, as Fergusson remarks, is singularlyelegant

in detail; and having escaped the fate of so many palaces of

India, time has only softened, without destroying; the beautyof its features.

”The stones on the interior and ceiling were

once covered wi th lovely paintings in gold but these have all

been obli terated through lapse of time. T he H indu brackets,ex quisitely carved, the moulding of conventionalised lotus

flowers, supported bya pair of birds on either side, the carvings

of elephants on the roof of the building in red sandstone,

facing the river, are all unique decorations in the Saracenic

style, andex hibit H indu proclivities. This was the palace , the

residence of Jodh Bai, the wife of Jahangir, and daughter of

Moth, the RajaofJodhpur, called byMohammedan historians.

Mariam Zamani . I n a niche in one of the walls was placed

the image of H anumanj z, one of the principal gods of H indu

mythology, which was destroyed by Aurangzeb. Behind the

ladies’

chambers is a covered passage, separated from the rest

of the building by lattice work . This was the place for the

female guards who performed watch and guard duty to the

royal personages when they retired to rest. There are cham

bers of peculiar construction in which the game of hide-and

seek was played bythe royal inmates.

The upper storeyconsists of two pavilions, of massive style,

elaborately carvedand ex quisitely ornamented. O ne of these

has been modernized, andhas been converted into a residence for

awarrant officer, and the other is still perfect. O u the roof there

88 sens : nmcntr'nvs.

comprises four gateways, wh ich open the door of wealth and

prosperityon the four quarters of the world. A number of

to masons andartisans was employeddailyon the work ,

and it took eight years to build the fort.

T he superintendent of the architecturewas Qasim Khan, the

L ord of the Admiralty. The cost was 7 krore Tankas, or 3 5

lacs of rupees.”

Bvalsn Tomas mscovsaso i s T H E Four.

According to Mr. Deal, the author of Miftahal Tawarikh ,

when, in (1803 the Fort of Akbarabad (Agra)came into the possession of the E ast India C ompany, the Jadgo

’

s

C ourt was built in it. Forty-two years afterwards, or in 1845 1 . D . ,

orders were received for the demoli tion of the old court-honse,

anda newone was built in its steal on the same spot. O u

digging the foundations of the old walls, four tombs were found,

at adistance of one hundred paces from the tower called .Ihan

Jka'n Katora. Two of these were without inscription ; bnt the

other two containedmarble sarcophag i with Persian inscriptions.

O ne of these inscriptions shows that the tomb belonged to some

grandee who died in the 46th year of the I lahi year of Akbar, or

1010 A. H . (1601 A. This was the time when Akbar was

occupied in mili tary operations in Khandesh, and Salem, the

Crown P rince, had rebelledagainst h im. Both tombs, from their

locality in the fort, seem to have belonged to some beloved

members of the Royal family who died a premature death, thus

causing intense grief to their relations.

One of these inscriptions was thus

k in g ’s W au gh ; 0° e l i la 0735 ileum?

te) A W } c)‘ t.:W A r

i s que dtc

UJJlJ azj l 015Ar v.9 3 ) c)“J) ? u J-p ') w 1 )l 1 79.

115 JJU end W h y 11 w as05um;

Ls dlt use w areN 6 M .

’ £ 75dt é ‘ l) u“L: U )

In the 2 111]year of the reign Q aslmKhanwasmade Governor of Agra. H oconqueredKashmi r for Akbar. andwas s

ggfintedGovernor of Kabul in the 34th

year. li ewas assassinated at Kabul in l s. n.

TH E FORT .

Ah 1 Alas mybeloved

llas departed subjecting th e to grief .

When I asked Iteason the year of his death,H e replied,

‘0 poor unpretentling man !

I t was 1010 of the H ijra

That he proceededto the paradise fromthis mortalwerhl.’

L isten anotheryearof S laum'

H e diei in 46th of I lab'

.

With perfect sincerity I pray for his sacred soul.0 God1may it find place in the paradise of Aden

The sarcophagus containing theabove inscriptionwas in the fortat the timewhenMr. Ben]wrote hiswork in 12 64»A. B. (1847A.

The other tomb has the following inscription on it,

Alas ! the life of the world has departed from the world

Without him the body is without soul and life ex tinct.

lt believes that 1 should weep bitterlyand cry out, H at lai .’

For he was like the moon and has diedyoung .

My son,who was as dear to me as life,

“as hadno mercy on me, and prose. (led towards H im.

When I asked reason the date of his death,he repliec}

Both the branch of the rose and its leaf have left the rose-garden.

’

P ut an end, it behoves, to thy life, 0 writer 1

For the sweet-tongued and sweet-beaked parrot has gone.

The above poems seem to have been written by a lovingfather to commemorate the monrnt

'

nl death of a youthful son

who pre-deceased him. H ow short and unstable human life

is, and how changeable and uncertain are its afl'

ai i s, when it is

seen that the afiectionatemourner, towhom lifemusthave become

amisery, as his poetic effusions show, is no more, too, nor the

dwellers in those high palaces and gorgeous edifices, lifting their

heads to the sky,which are left on the spot forsaken andforlorn. as

amark ofworld’

s evanescent and transient nature ; and further,

what trace had been discovered of a dearlybeloved during life,was bymere accident, centuries after he had shrivelled into dust

and clay! Temporamutantur et 1108mutamuria“lie.58 1 3 2 9 3

T H E TA].

ABOUT a mile distant from the Fort is that wonder of the

E ast, the jewel and glory of Indian arch itecture, the far-famed

Taj . Being situated on a bend of the river Jnmns, it looks muchnearer the direction of the city than it really is. T he road

is by the river strand and was constructed by the labour of

The .umd.

the destitute poor in the famine of 1838 . The strand, eighty

feet wide, is ex cellent, and the beauty of the town is cubano

T be bath ing cd by the c’

ommodious bathing Ghdts along the river bank .

ghatl . t

T he numerous temples, towers, summer houses, and other

elegant buildings on the ri ver side render the sight of the city

ex ceedingly sham ing and picturesque. T he space between the .

Rain, 0, old East and t he T4]was once studdedwith . the villas of the nobility,"in“ the state]yedifices,

and superb palaces and garden houses of the

O nnerahs ot'

the Moghal E mpire but nothing new remains of

themex

‘

cept’

hage mounds and shapeless masses of earth. Bernier,

whosaw‘

t hese buildings, describes them as a row of newhouses

with arcades resembling th ose of the principal streets in D elhi .“

They have been also noticed by contemporary h istorians, Mnlla

Abdul H amid. author of d uhdh Name , and Mohammad.

Satleh , author of Amal- i -Sdleh. There were ex tensive Bazars

in which commodities of all descriptions were sold by mer

chants from various parts of India and distant countries

and the merchant classes had built edifices of solid masonrywork and shops in which they ex hibited the articles for sale.

I n making the strand, old masonry works and foundations,

sometimes ten feet thick, were found, and they were so solid

that theyhadto be blasted by powder.

mm ofArjnmand Bano Begam, surnamed Mumtaz-nz-Zumani , or

firjnnignd

°

Mnmtaz, Mahal, was the daughter of MirzaAbnl H asan Asif“ 0

°

or Asi l’ ‘

Jéh’

,the son of Mirza Ghias Beg I timtidnd

danla, whose daughter, N t'

i r Jahan, was the wi fe of Jahang ir.

S lie’

was thus niece to N nrjahan, the step-mother of S hah

Jahan. As the aunt was famous for her surpassing beauty

and“

accomplishments, so was the niece ; as N (i r Jahdn had

fascinated the libertine Jahang ir with her charms so Mumtazsubdued the stern S hah Jahan with her loveliness. Both,

Bernier’

s Travels in the Moghal Empire, p . ens.

ms T its.

i n their turns, ex ercised great influence over their lords and

husbands.

JahtingirbetrothedMumtaz-uz-Zamani to Shah Jahdn when H ermarriage

the latter was fifteen years and 8 months old. After the rivaling

“

ex piry of five years and three months while S hah Jahan was

twenty years . and eleven months old, he was married to

Mumtaz . The bride, at the time of marriage, was 19 years

eight months and 9 clays old. T he marriage took place on

the night of Friday, the 9th of Rabt-ul-Awal, 102 1 A. H .

(161 2 A. The affectionate royal father, at a propitious

moment, bound the wreath of pearls to the turban ot'

the bride

groom with his own hands. T he nuptials took place in the

palace of I timad-nd-daula, the Emperor Jahangir gracing the

occasion with his presence. The dowry was fix ed at five

lakhs of rupees. T he couple remained on terms of deep affection

throughout their lives.

I t must be noted that Shah Jahan was already the hnsShah Jam“

band of a wife when he married Mumtaz-as-Zamani. O ne “h“ WM ”

year and eight months before that marriage, he had beenafiianced to the daughter of a afi

'

ar H ussein Mirza, son of

Sultan H ussain Mirzi , son of Behram Mirzai , son of S hah

Ismai l Safvi , King of P ersia. T he marriage took place in

Rajah , 1019 A. II , when Shah Jahan was above 19 years of

age. T he result of the union was P urhnnar Bane Begam.

born 1 2 th Jamadinl-Akhir, 1020 A. H . Five and a halfyears

after his marriage with Mumtaz-nz -Zamani , he was married to

the daughter of Shah Nawaz Khan, son of Abdul Rahim

Khan- i -Khandn, out of,”according to Abdul H amid, motives of

policy.

”T hemarriage took place in Agra, and

'

the result_ of the

union was a son named P rince Jahan Afroz,who died in

Bnrhanpurat the age of oneyearandnine months. N otwithstand m, “m ,“

ing these two'marriages, H isMajesty was so much attached to m “ t°

Mumtaz-nz

Mumtaz-nz-Zaunam, that she was h is i nseparable compani on, and Zam b i

he could not part with her even when engaged in mili tary ex pedi

tions in remote parts of India such as the D eccan. What she

wanted was never refused. She, in particular, acquired great

fame for obtaining the free pardon of persons sentenced to under

go the ex treme penalty-of the law, and manywhom she

, cut of

AGBA 3 D E SC RIPT IV E .

compassion, recommended for the ex ercise of the King’

s preroga

tive, owed their life to her.

Shah Jahan had fourteen chi ldren by Mumtaz-uz-Zamani, of

whom eight were sons and si x daughters ; of these seven were

alive at the time of the Empress’

s death.

The following are the names of the ch ildren

1 . H nrnl-N isa (daughter)born in Agra on 8th Safar 102 2

A.H . ; died in 1025 A.H aged three years and one month.

2 . Jahan-Ara-Begam (daughter), commonly known as the

Begam Sahib, born on Saturday, the 2 l st Safar, 102 3 when

S hah Jahan was engaged in an ex pedi tion against the Rana of

Mewar.

3 . Mohammad D araS hekoh (son), born in Aj rnir after the t eturn of the Emperor from Mewar, on the night of Saturday, the

2 9th of S afar 1024 A.H .

4. Mohammad S hah Shuja (son), born in Ajmir on the

night of Sunday, the 18th ofJamadinl-Akhir, 1025 AH .

5. Roshanara Begarn (daugh ter), born in Bnrhanpur on the

2 nd of Ramazan 102 6 A.H .

6. Mohammad Aurangzeb (son), born on the night ofSatur

day, the 15th ofZ ikad 102 7

7. Ummed Baksh (son), born in the neighbourhood of Sar

hand on 11th Mnharram 1029 A.H . ; died in Bnrhanpnr

103 1 A.H .

8 . S nrinBanoBegam (daughter), born 2 oth Rajah 1030 died

103 7 at the age of seven years.

9. Another son, born 103 1 A.H .,but died a few days after.

N o name hadbeen gi ven to h im.

10. Mnrad Baksh (son), born in the fort of Rohtas on

Wednesday. the 2 5th of Z i lhij , 103 3 A. H .

1 1 . L ntl‘

nllah (son), born in Safer 103 6 ; died in Ramazan

1037, aged one year and 7 months.

D anlat Afza (son), born in 1037 died the following year.

A daughter, born in 1039 A. H . died the same year.

AGRA D ESCRI PTWE .

the garden of Zenabad across the Tapti river, in Burhanpnr, where

the king was then encamped, prosecuting the war against Khani

Jahan Lodi in the D eccan. T he bodywas interred in a plot of

ground in the midst of which was a beautiful fountain which

adorned the garden palace of Zenabad.

O n the afternoon of Thursday, the 2 5th of the month before :

mentioned, H is Majesty, having crossed the Tapti , visited the

gardenofZenabad to recite the Fatiha, or prayer, on the temporary

tomb of the Empress. H e made it his rule, as long as the camp ,

was in Burhanpur, to visi t the tomb every Friday. Grief so over

whelmed him that fora week he refused to see any Amir of

the Empire and did not appear at the Jharoka windowof the

Rhés Am,or transact any business of S tate. H e was more than

once heard to say that, i f the burden of an E mp ire had not lain

on his shoulders, and i f the precepts ofMohammedan law (S hara)had not strictly forbidden demonstrations of sorrow on the death

of anyone which in anyway infringed the rules of resignation

and full reliance on the will of the C reator, so overpoweredwas

he with grief, that he would have at once resigned the Empire

and diadem andmade a parti tion of the countryamong his sons.

For two years he abandoned all sorts of pleasurable pursuits,

especially the hearing of music and musical instruments, the

wearing ot‘

jewels, the use of perfumes, the partaking of rich food

and the wearing of precious costumes. O u the I d festivals and

other festi vities when the ladies of the royal householdassembled,

according to custom, about 11 18 person, the E mperor, missing his

beloved wife among them, could not help shedding tears. When

ever he went to the apartments in which the deceased had lived,not finding the object of his heart there, he invariably for a long

time afterwards could not help bursting into tears. Mulla Abdul

H amid, who has furnished these accounts , says that, at the time

of the death of Mumtaz -uz-Zamani , there were not more

than twenty white hairs in the king’

s heard, but in a short

time after the Queen’s death the number of such hairs greatly

increased.

According to Mulla Mohammad Saleh, for a long time after

the death ofMumtaz , mourning was observed in Court for the

whole month of Zika-ad each year, when the Emperor put on

ran TAJ.

white garments and all the Omerahs dressed themselves in

mourning costume.

T he Emperor was much attached to his eldest daughter, grgflf eslm

Jahan Ara Begam. O i the jewels, ornaments, andgoldand silver

coin, all valued at more than a karor of rupees, the Emperor

gave one half to the Begam Sahib and the other half to the

other chi ldren. All the household establishments previously

in charge of the deceased Empress were put under the control

of the Begam Sahib. The annual allowance of si x lacs, allow

cd to the deceased, was, on her death, transferred to the Begam,

with an addition of four lacs, half of which was cash and half

represented byajagir, or royal grant of land. Mirza Ishaq BegYezdi , the Mir Sdmén of the deceased, was appointed D iwan to

the Begam S éhib, and Basti-ul-N isa Khanam was, as in the

time of her mother, appointed to the charge of her seal and

the household affairs.

S i x months after the melancholy event, or on Friday, the Roman. of

17th of Jamadiulawal, 104 1 A. H . (163 1 A. the mortal $333“

remains of the deceased E mpress were sent to Akbarabad (Agra),1°

the D am l-khi lafat under charge of Prince Mohammed Shah

S huja Bahadur, Bastinl-N isa Khanam, the head of the Royal

household in the time of the late Empress who enjoyed her

fullest confidence, and in the words of Abdul H amid, understood

her temper,’

and who now was the head of the Royal house

hold affairs under the Begam S éhib, and Wazir Khan,‘ the

Physician Royal. Under orders of the Emperor, food and cash

in silver coin were distributed to the poor .and needyall the

way from Burhanpur to Agra, the last resting place of the

E mpress. T he si te selected for the mausoleum was to the south

of the city. I t was originallya palace ofmaMen S ingh but where they

i t was°

now the property of his grandson, Raja Jey S ingh.afthjgmggH is Majesty gave the Raja a lofty edifice from the Khalsagag?”

M“

estate in ex change for this bui lding , and the spot was used for

the mausoleum of the deceased Empress. T he interment at

this spot took place on 15th Jamdi -ul-Sani , 1041 A. H . At first

a temporary dome was built over the tomb , so that i t might

H is name was l lmuddin, a native of C hiniot in P unjab. H e founded thecelebratedmosque beari ng his name in Lahore.

T he famousmausoleumbui lt.

AGRA D ESC RI PT IV E .

remain concealed from the public view ; but, under orders of

the Emperor, an edifice was built over and around it which to

this dayremains the wonder of the world. The ex penditure on

this building was estimated at fifty lakhs of rupees.

A large outer gateway opens on to a spacious quadrangle,

surrounded byarcaded rooms of solid masonry and adorned by

T he C aravan feur gateways. This is the C aravan Serae where the travellersBerna.

and the poor were accommodated and entertained at S tate

ex pense. I t has been aptly remarked by the best of judges

that ‘ beautiful as i t is in itself, the Taj would lose half of i ts

charm if it stood alone.

’I t is the combination of the most

chaste structuresandofdiverse beauties andplans each subordinato

at to the other in the most ex act and perfect preportions that

have rendered the Taj , as a whole,what it is and such as the

world cannotmatch.

’

As you attempt to see i t, on entering the

caravan same, i t does not burst upon your v iew all at once, but.

like a coy maid, conceals i ts face, the grand portal opposite

serving as a veil to cover its transcendent form P assing over a.

broad pavement of stone, you enter a great gateway of red free

stone, a noble structure most elaborately carved and i nscribed

wi th sentences from the Koran. I t is surmounted by 26 wh ite

marble cupolas, wh ich rise over an octagonal room of about

45 feet square, wi th a roof like the inverted curve of a dome

and galleries disposed in the most appropriate manner. Righ t

and left of the inner passage are platforms, raised about eigh t

feet from the ground, on which merchants ex hibi t articles

for sale.

T he gateway opens on to a spacious quadrangle , feet

from east to west, and feet from north to south . I t is

surrounded by lofty red sandstone walls,with turrets at the

anglesandagatewayon three sides, and the fourth facing the river

Jumna. S lowly, as the demi - vault whose arch hangs high aboveis passed, a descent bya flight of steps reveals before your eyesthe lovely Taj wi th i ts thousand charms. You see before you

a sanctuary, pure and spotless as the sanctuary of heaven, dis

playing at once in the grace and symmetry of its form, th e

chasteness of its appearance and the majestyand efl'

ulgence of i ts

style, the lofty spirit of its founder. A long and wide pathway,

TH E TAJ.

‘

paved'

wi th square stones anddi viding the whole at thegarden

into two equal parts, now lies before you. I t is shaded by‘

a

delightful avenue of tall, dark cyprus trees, all in ex quisite

harmonywi th the solemnity of the scene.

After advancing a few paces towards the garden, the visitorgm°

°l fat.

would do well to turn round and view the back portions of the{1

31

3' to

1 oor.

architecture, which he will find as splendid and,

magnificent asthe front in all i ts detai ls, from the columns to the . arehi traves

and the cornices. O n either side of the pavilion along . the garden

wall, are a series of wide galleries, supported by lowcolumns.

According to Bernier, the poor were admitted into these galleriesthree times a week during the rainy season to recei ve the -alms

founded in perpetuity by S hah Jahan. T he traveller was an

eye-wi tness of the distribution of these chari ties, and thousands

were the needy fed here and to whom cash moneyand clothes

were also g iven by the State officers.

Between the gatewayand the Taj i tself is a spacious marble The Taj

platform, in the centre of wh ich sparkles a lovely little fountain“m um

of the same material and a long row of j ets déau placedsomefeet from each other and carried from end to 011 11. T he beautiful

walks on either side of this row of fountains,‘

eaeh ofwhich sends

up a single slender jet, branch off in difi'

erent directions andate

shaded by trees of various kinds. The stately palm, ,the

feathery bamboo , the handsome green‘banian and the shady

orange tree mingle their lux uriant foliage, whi le the odorifgrous

lemon flowers, roses, jasmine and other fragrant shrubs and

plants sweeten the air. T he garden is most tastefullykept up at

Government ex pense. T he eye thus cooled and refreshed, the

mind thus cheered and enlivened, a gentle walk of a quarter of a

mile through the principal avenue, brings you in contact wi th a

dead wall of whi te marble, to the right and left of which are a

double flight ofmarble steps of great smoothness and elegance.

These marble steps lead to a p latform,18 feet high and 31 311.

square, in the midst of which stands the mausoleum i tself.

Arri ved at the terrace or platform and pausing here, one Theplatform.

is lost in admiration at the beautyandmagnificence of the struc

ture. At everystep he discovers newbeauties. As one ex amines

AGRA 2 D E SC RI P T I V E .

each part, he is left in astonishment at the grandeurof the soul

that planned and the genius that ex ecuted so marvellous a

task. The tesselated pavement of black and white marble, form.

ing amosaic of great neatness and elegance, is surrounded on all

sides by a low parapet about two feet high . At each angle

Theminarets of the terrace stands a minaret,13 3 feet in height, of most

ex quisi te proportions, built of whi te marble, surmounted by a

light, graceful cupola supported on eight elegant p illars and

reached by a spiral staircase. I n the centre of the platform

stands the mausoleum,a square of 186 feet, encircled bya num

ber of turrets, all of the purest marble, descending one below the

other in regular succession. From the centre springs the princi

paldome, 3 8 feet in diameter and 80 feet in height, surmounted

bya gilt crescent, about 2 60 feet from the ground level. T he

upper terrace round the spring of the dome is protected by

a higher parapet of about 6 feet, each angle being surmountedby

cupolas supported on slender p illars ofmarble. These structures,

v iewed from the garden below, g ive the tout ensemble a light

and aerial appearance, affording ,on comparison with the bulky

dome near i t, a relief to the sight ; for wi thout them the vast

swelling wouldwear a heavy look .

The sides of the central octagonal room, about 60 feet in

diameter, face the four cardinal points and contain entrances,

each about 130 feet long. There are suites of octagonal rooms

all round, to the number of eight, having

.

direct communication

with the centre apartment. I n these rooms the Koran was

constantlyread by the Mullahs for the benefit of the soul of the

royal couple whose ashes lie buried here. Bernier, in his travels,

has referred to the reciting of the Koran by these Mullahs.

Tavernier, noticing the same subject, writes —“ From time

to time, theychange the carpets, chandeliers and other ornaments

of that kind, and there are always there some Mullahs to pray.

”

The elliptic arches forming the doors are each 18 feet h igh ,

and above each is an elli ptic window. The grand entrance is

formed ofa single pointed arch rising nearly to the cornice. T he

entrances and arches from the top to the basement, the

dome and the upper galleries of the minarets, are decoratedwi th

flowers in relief, cut out of marble in various patterns and inlaid

with ornamental designs in marble ofdifferent colours, especially

AGBA D E SC RIP T I V E .

wi th such ex actness and accuracythat they comprise tittyorsix tyvarietiesof stonesof difi

'

ereut colours wi thina space of less thanan

inch each , and with such finish anddelicacyof ex ecuti on are they

blended together that, seen with the naked eye, they produce the

appearance of natural flewers truly imitated. I t is only wi th

the aid of a microscope that they can be distinguished. Tho

eenotaphs are surrounded with an octagonal screen eight feetp ar.

high , carved out of solid blocks of white marble, highly polished,

the doorway to the enclosure, in the shape of an are, being a

couple of feet higher. T he carving is open tracery in ex cellent

devices, the li lies, irisis and other flowers being inter-wrought in

the most intricate ornamenteddesigns. T he surface of the walls

internally is highly polished and furnishes evidence of sculptural

art in its greatest intricacy, minuteness and elegance. All the

spandrels and angles are embellished with wh i te marble oi'

the

purest description, inlaid with precious stones such as bloodstone,

jaspers, agates and the like, representing wreaths of flowers,

scrolls and frets, and set in a hundred ways, forming , according'to the best judges, the most beautiful and precious style of

ornament ever adopted in architecture.

”

“The judgment, indeed, says Fergusson, with which this

style of ornament is apportioned to the various parts is almostone remarkable as the ornament itself, and conveys a high idea

of the taste and sk ill of the Indian architects of that age.

I nscriptions The following is the inscription on the tomb of Shahon th e tomb .

018116“

upM l f lash; gau dulyé)3 L

:

dqj th ‘

11} uyu—‘g j li sLi-J

'

ealta sl itsV300 bi b le l

fi

l u mI 5« Li n

«1 12 0 1 1 130 67»

9 4 1 1 13ffi ': W m u v

a' 1 9

-1 “119 11

N .)J! Jli sii l g

in J la. 3 Kc k"3 1.5 U lfi j l 4 1 9

0

The illuminated sepulchre and sacred resting place of H is most ex alted

Majesty, dignified as Razwan,° hav i ng h is abode in paradise and his

dwelling in the starry heaven,1' dweller in the reg ions of bliss, the second

lord of constellation, Shah Jahan, the K ing valiant, may his mausoleum

:rRszwan is the name given by the Mohammadans to the guardian cf

ra use.1»'l' T he word is I llim

'

n. some reg ionabove the starry heavens. where . accordingto t he belief of the Mohammadans. all souls of the pious assemble afterdeath.

T hese are th e regionswhere only the angels have access.

The E cho .

AORA D ES C RIPT IV E .

The following is inscribed on the Emperor’

s sarcophagus in‘

the real tomb

The sacred sepulchre of H is most ex alted Majesty, dweller of paradise,

the second lord of constellation, the King S luih Jalu’

m,may h is mausoleum

ever flourish, 1076 A. H (1665A.

T he inscriptions on the tomb of the Empress are the same as

on the upper sarcophagus.

T he vaulted chamber was, during the lifetime of Shri h Jahtin

opened once a year, namely, on the anni versary of the death of

the queen Mumtaz Mahal, wi th great ceremony, and professors

of other religions were not admi tted into i t. Bernier,in h is

travels, has thus referred to this prohibi tion of a(lmissionz—“Asno

C hristian is admi tted wi thin, lest its sancti ty should be profaned,

I have not seen the interior, but I understand that nothing can be

conceivedmore rich andmagnificent.

The stately dome of the Taj produces an echo at once pure ,

sweet and prolonged. A single tone floats and soars in the vault

overhead in a delicious v ibration ; reverberated echoes augment

into a volume of harmonious voices, fading away graduallyunti l

they are swallowed up in the blue vault o f heaven. Writers are

most enthusiastic indescribing the effects producedby the nadnla

tion. I pictured to myself,”

says one, the effect of anArabic or

P ersian lament for the lovelyMumtaz sung over her tomb. T he

responses that would come from above in the pauses of the song

must resemble the harmonies of angels in paradise.

"Another

, re

ferring to the vibrations caused bya low sweet song of praise and

peace, says,“ I t is as though some congregation of the skies were

chanting their earnest hymns above our heads.

”T he masterly

pen of Raynor thus paints the majesty, the awe, and the pro

found and dignified stillness of the vaulted chamber

The ball, notwithstanding the precious materials of which i t

is built, and the elaborate finish of its ornaments, has a grave

and solemn effect, infusing a peaceful serenity of mind, such as

we feel when contemplating a happydeath. S tern, unimagina

tive persons have been known to burst suddenly into tears on

even after death. But his subsequent capti vityprevented the

ex ecution of his design, and, when he died, his austere son,

Aurangzeb, as has been alreadynoted, buried him by the side

of his wife, observing My father entertained a great affection

for my mother ; so let his last resting place be close to here.

"

Thus, in the words of Mr. Taylor, Fate conceded to L ove what

wasdenied to vanity.

”

T he sight of the Taj bymoonlight ismost entrancing. The

whole structure appears to sparkle like a diamond in the brightslanting rays ; and the pure white dome, raised on amarble pave

ment, viewed from a distance, looks like abrilliant pearl on asilveryplate.

"

The decorations on the marble wall seem like so

many gems set on an ornament, while the calm stream flowingbyits side, coupledwith the soft shadowcast aroundby the trees,

adds to the loveliness of the scene. Nothing but a whisperingbreeze breaks the surrounding calm.

Recent writersdiffer as to the or1gin and conception of the

design of the Taj . S ome suppose that i t was planned byan

Italian artist and others that aFrench artist was the author offl fi fl fl “

the eaisite inlaid work on marble which xs to be seen here 1n

the highest perfection. The court of S hah Jahan was visi ted by

the French travellers,Bernier andTavernier, and theyhave given

a full account of the building in their respective Travels.

Tavernier sawthe commencement and completion of the Taj . andBernier came to India onlyfive years after it had been finished.

I f any of their countrymen, or if any E uropean artist, had been

the author of the design, i t isnot at all likelythat theywould

have omitted mention of i t in their chronicles, and would not

have been the first to give them the credit which might have

been justly due to them. But not even an allusion to i t has

been made by them in the accounts they have furnished to

posterity of the results of their inspection of this wonderful

building. Moreover, the Taj itself aflords the best evidence thati t owes its ex istence to no foreign design. O ne look at it,

”

writesan E nglish author, ought to assure any intelligent man,

that this is false, nay, impossible from the verynature of the

thing . The Taj is the purest Saracenic in form, proportions and

ornamental designs. I f that were not sufficient, we have stil

mmm .

the name of the Moslem architect sculptured upon the building .

Another E nglish writerobserves T he idea stamped upon the

building is entirelyMohammedan andOriental.”The idea is in

perfect accord wi th the love of symmetry characteristic of the

Moslemnations, and the Taj is most assuredly the highest work

of art of Saracenic style, the verymarvel of mausoleums.

The building of the Taj was commenced in 1630, or one year D upe p f

after the death of Mumtaz Mahal. T he date of the completion

of the building. inscribed on the front gateway, is 1057

I t thus took eighteen”years to complete. The cost was three

millions sterling.

T he silver gates of theMausoleum, which were removed and S i lver gates.

melteddown by the Jats, alone cost Rs. l ,27,000.

We are told'

in the Badshak Namah that , in 1042 (163 2 Solid gold

a fence or enclosune of solid gold studded with gems was“009 °

placedaround the Empress’

s sarcophagus. I t was made under

the directions of Bebadal Khan, the Superintendent of the

Royal Kitchen (Khdsd, Shdrifd), and was a perfect specimen of

the art of Indian jewelry. I t weighed forty thousand tolahs of

pure gold andwas valued at sixlakhs of rupees. The interior of

the Mausoleum was decorated with a variety of chandeliers,

candles, andornamental lamps, lanterns of various sizes, shadesand

colors, which had cost lakhs ofrupees, andwhich, coupledwi th the

highly-finished carpets of Tehran and Constantinople that were

spread on the floor, made the place resemble a fairyscene, or

a paradise on earth.

I n the year 1052 Al l . (1642 AD .) the golden palisade above

mentionedwas removed, as it was feared that gold in such mass

wouldbe ex posed to the dangerof theft byill-tlisposedpeople, and

in its steadthe present not work of marble, previously referred

to, wasput up.+ This structure, which in elegance and beautyis amaster-piece of sculp ture, was, according to the Badshah Nama,

prepared in a period of ten years, at a cost of fifty thousand

rupees. I n 1720 a sheet of pearls, made by Shdh Jahan for

According to Tavernier, 2 2 years, which , 110'

doub l d t

the construction of the bui ldings attached to the Taj , thet’drfagag

a

Selxofg

izd 0!

See page 110ants.

AGBA W W I }.

covering the tomb of Mumtaz Mabel, at a cost of lakhs of

rupees was removed.

I witnessed, says Tavernier, the commencement and

accomp lishment of th is great work, on which they have

ex pended twenty-two years, during which twenty thousand

men worked incessantly; this is sufficient to enable one to realise

that the cost of i t has been enormous. I t is said that the

scaffolding alone cost more than the entire work , because, from

want of wood. they had all to be made of brick , as well as

the supports of the arches ; this has entailed much labour and

a heavy ex penditure. Shah Jahan began to bui ld his own

tomb on the other side of the river, but the war which he

hadwi th his sons, interrupted his plans, and Aurangzeb, who

reigns at present, is not disposed to complete it. An eunuch

in command of men guards both the tombs of Begam and

the Tasemacan, to which it is near at hand.

”

The artists; T he P ersian historians of Shah Jahan have given full lists

of the workmen from diverse countries who assisted in the

building of the T i j , and of the materials used, as well as their

dimensions and price. We gi ve only a summary of these here,

from a manuscript Persian work called the Tafi kh-i -d Mahal,

1n possession of the Khddims, or hereditary custodians of the

mausoleum.

“a emf T he chief”

archi tect was Ustad I sa, called the Naksha Nawis,

or the plan-drawer ; his salarywas Rs. a month. H is son

,

Mohamed Shari f, was employed as an archi tect on Rs. 500 a

month. The passages from the Koran in the Tughra characters,

inscribed on difi‘

erent parts of the bui lding, were ex ecuted bythe Illuminator, Amanat Khan oi

‘

Shiraz, who received a salary

ofRs. a month . H is name is found inscribed in bold

Tughra characters on the right handside as the tomb is entered.

I t is thus given after the date, A. H . lo48. The humblefakir

Amanat Khan of Shiraz. The mastermason was one Mohamed

H anif, from Baghdad. also on Rs. amonth . There were

also Ismail Khan, the architect of the dome, a resident of Rum

(Asiatic Turkey). on Rs. 200 amonth ; Mohamed Khan, writing

See page 54 ante.

No building in the civilized world -bas beenthe subject Ofso much enthusiastic admiration on the part of writers and

trxi vellers of diverse conntries and nationalities as the Taj at

Agra. H uman taste and human ideas alwaysdifi'

er. . Yet historians of the E ast andpoets of theWest have united in .eulogrung

i t ssplendouras the most magnificent architecturalmonument ever

raisedby the yanity ofman. Travellers from the remotest parts

of the globe have been equallyenthusiastic in its praise .

I t maybe interesting to know, first of all, what the opinion of

the founder himselfwas of this edifice, which he left in the world

asagloryandmonument of his genius, thus leaving aneverlastingstamp of his passionate love for his departed wife on the earth

’

s

surface, and also of his pride and vanity.

The following eloquent poems of Shah Jahan’s own composi

tion in praise of the Taj are reproduced from the pages of the

Badshah Nama ofMullaAbdul H amid of Lahore

aw lz M as H Q ),

H owex cellent the sepulchre of the lady of Bilqis'

s ' fameT hat a cradle for the body of the P rincess of the world became.

Bilqiswas a ueen of the cityof Saba inYaman in th ti f SolP ro hot. She was amons for her beauty andwas afire-worzhig

l

n. 801m:$13so

ito theMnssalmanwri ters, sent her a letter inv i ting her to m enace the

fai th 0 herancestors and embrace that of h is own. H e sent this letter through ahoopoo bird which acted as a messen r. T he neen resented h ItP rophet and became a convert to his ai th . S he

Qbeoanibthe wh ogms c

t»?

P ro het. H afiz, the celebrated t of Shi has said'

thmeezage of hoopoo to the cityof baz

M an reference to the

MT“ . Q -s j lfa tfifi M M Mfg

Lyn ch Jr.)“J‘ i l go)

.

H ai lmind for once more has blown themorning bassesT he hoopoo from the ci tyof Saba has brought the happy tidings.

L ike the garden of heavena brilliant spot,

Full of fragrance like paradise fraught with ambcréris.

i n the breadth of its court perfumes from the nose-gay of sweetheart

rise,

The nymphs of paradise use their eye-lids for cleaning its threshold.

I ts walls andgates glitterwith gems,The air is there fresh and delightful like the bri lliancyof pearl.

The architect of this sacred edifice

Brought water for i t from the fountain of grace.

Ou t his sacred edifice orhigh renownShowers of mercyare ever pouring .

Should guilty seek asylum here,L ike one pardoned, he becomes free from sin.

Should a sinner make his way to th is mansion,All his past sins are sure to be washed away.

The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs

And makes sun andmoon shed tears from their eyes.

In this world th is edifice has beenmade

To display thereby the C reator’

s g lory.

Aswas to be ex pected, Shah Jahan, in praising the edifice, his

own creation, has written in hyperbolic style, and, according to

the fashion of the time, composed his poems i n figurati ve

language ; nevertheless, theyshow the warmth of his heart, and

that he fully realized the idea of the greatness of the mau

soleumwhich he has left to posterity, awonder of the world, and

a gorgeous and glorious gift to this splendid E mpire.

S irWilliam H unter takes the beautiful domes of the Taj for

adream ofmarble.

”The Taj , says he, represents the most

highly elaborated stage of ornamentation reachedby the Indo

Mohammedan builders, the stage in which the architect endsand

the jeweller begins."Bayard Taylor describes it as a thing of

perfect beauty and of absolute finish ; in everydetail it might

pass for the work of geni i who knewnaught of the weakness and

i llswith which mankind are beset.

I t is too pure, says a writer,“too holy to be the work of

human hands. Angels must have brought i t from heaven, and

a glass case should be thrown over it to preserve i t from every

breath of air.

”

A Russian artist describes it as a lovelywoman, abuse her as

you please, but the moment you come into her presence, you

AGBA D ESCRI PT IVE .

submit to its fascination. Mr. Keene on this remarks Admit

ting that there is°

something slight and efl'

eminate in the general

design which cannot be altogether obliterated or atoned forby

the beauty of decoration, the simile seems just and calls to mind

the familiar couplet in the Rape of the L ock.

I f to her share some female errors fall,

L ook in her face and you’

ll forget themall.

I n the words of Bishop H aber, though everything is finishedlike an ornament for adrawing room chimney-piece, the general

eti‘

ect produced is rather solemn and impressive than gaudy.

"

Mr. James Fergussonwrites of i t, With i ts puri tyofmaterial

and grace of form, the Taj may challenge comparison wi th any

creation of the same sort in the world. I ts beauty maynot be

of the h ighest class, but in i ts class i t is unsurpassed.

”As oh

served by awri ter, while the sepulchral works adorning the

valley of the N ile will be regarded aswondersof art for their soli

dityof construction and sublimity of conception, the Taj at Agrashall always call forth the admiration ofmankind for i ts beingthe most ex quisite specimen of human architectureand the most

gorgeous romance ofwedded love.

” I asked my wi fe,”

says

S leeman, when she had gone over it, what she thought of the.

bui lding ?‘ I cannot,

’said she,

‘ tell you what I th ink, for Iknow not how to cri ticise such a bui lding, but I can tell

you what I feel ; I would die to-morrow to have such another

over

I t has been truly said of the Taj that i t is in architecture

what the V enus de Medici is in sculpture, or Shakespeare in

poetry.

N o description, however vivid or precise, observes the

Reverend French, no colouring , however brilliant or varied,

even i f supplemented with paintings or drawings, can give one

a correct idea of the Taj for i ts nobleness, an edifice unparalleled

in the annals of E astern architecture.

”

£220 p

arting H aving once come in contact wi th this marvel of monuments.it is not without some reluctance that one severe hi mself from a

spot made so lovelybyart and so rich andattractive bymemorien .

AGRA 2 D ESCRI PT I V E .

No Eastern p i ince forwealth orwisdomfamed,N o mortal hands this beauteous fabric framed.

111 death’

s cold arms the fairMumtaza slept,And sighs over J11mna

’s winding water crept,

T ears such as angels weep, with fragrance filled,

Around her grave in pearlydraps disti lled.

There fi x ed for ever firm, congealed they stand,

A fairy fabric, pride of I ndia'

s land.

The first anniversary of the death ofMumtazMahal took place

in the month of Z ikad, 1041 A. H . (163 1 According to

theBadshahNama, grand preparations were made on the occasion

in the Taj Mahal. The officials of the Royal household

(Mutasaddian - i -Bayutat), acting under the k ing’

s order,

adorned the courtyard of the mausoleum with superb tents and

costly Shamia'

nas. All the princes of blood royal and the Ami rs

and grandees at the metropolitan ci tyassembled to do honour to

the occasion. S o did all the learned men of the fai th, the

S hcikhs, the Ulamas andthe H afizes (those who recollect the

Koran by heart). T he grandees took their seats according to

rank under the Shamia'na, and the Emperor graced the assemblywith his presence. At H is Majesty

’s command, Yaminuddoula

AsifKhan, the fatherof the lamented Empress, took his seat alongwith MohamedAli Beg, the Persian envoy. A table-cloth having

been then spread, the most magnificent dinner, consisting of a

variety of delicious foods, sweetmeats, and frui ts, was served to

the guests assembled, and verses from the Koran were read and

prayers offered for the benefit of the soul of the deceased. O ut

of one lakh of rupees set apart fordistribution as alms to the poor

assembled on the occasion, fifty thousand were distributed the

same day, while the remaining fifty thousand were distributed 0 11

the following day. I t was also ordered that, on the anniversary

of each successive year, fifty thousand rupees be spent in alms

when H is Majesty should be in the metropolis, but when he

should be out in camp , then a sum of rupees twelve thousand

should be spent for the purpose.

S hah JahAn’

s Whenever the King was in the metropolis, he attended thev isits to themausoleum. annlversary of h1s queen 1 11 the company of hls afl

'

ectlonate

daughter, the Begam Sahib, and the ladies of the harem. T he

Anonymous.

FATI ‘E H PUR S IKBI .

lad1es occupied the central platform, being concealed from the

i mblic gaze by Kanats, or screens of red cloth and velvet, while

the Ami rs assembled under Shamianas which were p 1tched for

the occasion. The fix ed sum of rupees fifty thousand was on

each occasiondistributed 1n alms,half on the day

‘

oi the anniver

saryand half on the following day.

People assembled on the occasion of the anniversary from all

parts of India.

FAT T E H P UR S IKRI .

About 2 3 miles south-west of Agra and 141 mi les from the51h

Bha1 tpur fort lie the magnificent ruins of Fattehpur S ikri, the S ikd .

Windsor ofAgra, the imperial residence ofAkbar. I t 1s situatedon the same line as the oldMoghul road, and crosses, on the way,some ancient irrigation works and bridges now no longerm use.

Fattehpur S ikri, nowamunicipal town of the Karowli Tehsil, or

S ub D ivision of Agra, derives i ts name fi om two vi llages that lie

close to each other. S ikri, once a lonely hamlet, is adorned with

substantial buildings, prominent among which is that belonging tothe descendants of the chief architect who superintended the

construction of the palaces for which Fattehpur is justly famous.

Fattehpur was the name given to i t bythe Emperor Akbar, inhonour of the birth there of his son Salem, afterwards Jahang ir.I n the Ain- i -Akbari , Fatehpur, alias S ikri , is mentionedas one of

th e 42 Parganas, or Sub-D ivisions, of the Suba (P rovince)ofAgracalled the D arul Khilafat.

I t was a dependency of the S irkar of Biana, comprising 3 3 Account 11

mdltals. Abul Fazl thus notices it in the Ain-i -Akbari 21

1213121

.

1.

Fattehpur S ikri, a vi llage ofBiana, issituatedat a distanceof twelve kos from the D arul-Khilafat. Through the auspices ofH is Majesty i t has become one of the most magnificent cities of

the world. A fort of sandstone has been founded here, and on

one of its gates have been placed two elephant statues. I t has

been embellishedwith lofty edifices. O u the summits of billshave

been constructed the Royal palace and the houses of the grandees

of the Empire, while the plains overlooked by the hills are

adorned with numerous summer houses and sumptuous gardens.

Bythe commandof H isMajestyamosque, school.

andmausoleum

sans D t scan’nvn.

have been built on the hills, and theyare of such beauty and

elegance that, according to personswho have travelled through

the world, there are fewedifices on earthwhich can equal them in

magnificence. Close to the cityare ex tensive hunting grounds on

which H is Majesty has laid out a cricket ground and built

a tower from which he witnesses the con:bats of elephants.

H ere is a mine of red sandstone out of which stones for

pillars and flanks can be cut in such quantity as mayhe wished. Through the auspices of the Asylum of the

Universe, cloth and silk tex tures of ex cellent quality can be

manufactured here, and the artisans ofall classes are thriving.

I n the record of the l6th year of the reign (1571 AD .)Abul

Fazl gives an account of the bui ldings at Fattehpur S ikri . H e

writes z—S ikri , adependencyofBiana, became the chiefcity(Misrijama). The Emperor of the world, who has the good of his

subjectsat heart, directedhisattention towards the embellishmentof this place. S ikri being the fortunate place of the birth ofRoyal

Princes and being the residence of S heik Salem the chosen of

God, H is Majesty resolved on fix ing his royal residence here, as

wellasmaking it theabode ofthe grandees of the Empire. Accord

inglyunder orders of H is Majesty, royal palaces of great beauty

and magnificence were built here, and the nobles of all rank

constructed elegant edifices for their residence. Order was also

given to lay the foundations of a fort of red sandstone. In

a short time, S ikri became a great city with mausoleums, college

and public baths a bazarwas built of stone, and the grounds in

the environswere laidoutwith fine gardens, canals andaqueducts.

The city became the envy of the great cities of the world. H is

Majestygave it the name Fattehabad, but the place came in time

to be calledFattehpur by the people, and the Emperoraccorded

his sanction to that name.

The fort ofAgrawas commenced in the loth year of Akbar’

s

reign, or in 1566 A.D . , and it was not until the commencement

of the 14th year of the reign, or three years later, that Fattehpur

S ikri was selected as a royal residence. Traces of fortifications

that had been begun are still to be seen at the last-mentioned

place, and itwas the intention of the Emperor to build his entire

metropolis there. For the nex t 17'years, or until the ai st yea; Q t

ransares smart

the reign (1586 he heldhis court at FattehpurS ikri , which 18 called andbeoo th

came to be styled in public correspondence the D arul Khilafat, and11232

153:6

Agrawas thenominalcapital. Wheneverthe Emperorset out on 1509 to 1586

ex peditions, he left hiswives and familyat Fattehpur S ikri , hisA'D '

favouri te place of residence. AbulFazl in the Akbmmamah gives

a graphic account ofthe arrivals of H is MajestyatFattehpur after

long journeysand the wayinwhich hewas greetedby themembers

of his household, the royal princes and the nobles on such

occasions. When, afterquelling the distnrhenes atGujrat, raised

byMirza H ussein (when he performed the marvellous journey of

more than 450mileswith such celerity that, in spite of the season,

he collectedan armyand reached the seat ofwar on the ninth dayfrom leaving Agra), he returned to Agra, after an absence of only43 days (on Monday. the 6th ofOctober the return of the

royal camp was made an occasion of great rejoicings. As the

Emperor approached his favourite residence, S ikri , he mounted

his war-horse, a grey chargerwith henna-stained mane and tail,

gracefullyholding his spear in his hand. Before himmarchedhis

body-guard and his royal comrades with lances adorned with

golden balls on the top. The entire royal household and the

Ami rs, who hadbeen left behind, came out to the foot of the bills

to greet him. Intense was the joyandenthusiasm that prevailed.

The uproar of the acclamations and the strains of music from the

portals oi the grand mosque filled the air and announced the

news of victoryfar andwide. I t may be interesting to describe

the event in the author’

s own beautiful language. Abul Fazl

says

0 00 C JJ) ul-zaJd o ” 1: u) ?

L0 b fr j u j lwit ” rim

s?

At one watch before sunset H isMajesty came to Fattehpur,

the seat of the Emp ire, like health in life and soul in body.

Fresh waters came into the brook, and the world became like

a garden. Their H ighnesses the Begams, the princes of high dig

nity and the secludedinmates of the chaste household, gained

Adm : D ESCRIPTIVE .

honour and prosperity by beholding H is Majesty’s countenance .

T he ceremonies of offering were performed in the best style, and

the eyes of those who had longed for an interview acquired in

creased brightness.

”

An arrival afteranabsence oftenmonths in the Punjab is thus

celebrated in the poems ofMullaFyzi quoted byhis brotherAbul

Fazl in the same work

—da fli ot ‘gj lt d gay fl wai rl lae clg w

The breeze of joy is scented fromFattehpur,For my King is coming from a long journey.

H ow prosperous H is Majesty’s arri val, for every moment

from the heart of the people

A thousand joys are displayed.

May h is arri val be fortunat e to the world, 0 Fazi .

For the whole people are coming to greet him.

H isMajesty entered Fattebpur through a via tri umphatis o i

nobles and elephants, and was greeted by troops, dancers and

performers andmoved to the sound of the martial drum.

T he rebellion ofhis half brother, Mohammad H akim Mirza, towhom Akbar hadgiven the kingdom of Kabul, and his incursions

into the Panjab, compelled Akbar to move from Fattehpur to

Lahore, which for fourteen years enjoyed the di stinction of beingthe capi tal of the Empire. I t was not until the 43rdyear of the

reign, or 1598A.D .; when the E mperorreturned to H industan, that

Agra became the real capi tal. The reasons which led H is

Majesty ultimately to choose Agra for his metropolis have been

described From 1598 to 1605, when Akbar died, he

held his court at Agra, though Fattehpur continued to be h is

favourite residence. Fattehpur was, properly speaking , Akbar’

s

Windsor, Agra his London. The gateways are called respectivelyTheGates.

D elh i, Lal Agra, AJmere, Tab1ra, S uraJpol and C handanpol.

Birth ofSalemAllami S heikh Abul Fazl, in giving an account of the

affix?“ 14th year of Akbat

’

e reign, informs us in the Akbarnamah

See the closing portion of these accounts.

128 AGRA 2 H ISTORI CAL .

saints of India, H is Majesty, in order to gain the desired end,

conceived the idea of having recourse to his blessed threshold.

H e therefore made a vow to himself that, should God the

Most H igh endow him wi th a son, he would travel on foot

from Agra to the mausoleum of his holiness, a distance of 140

kos, to pay his homage to it. I t so pleasedGod that I wasborn on Wednesday, the 17th of Rabi ul Awal 977 A. H .

D uring the time when myfatherwas desirous of being endowed

with a ch ild, there lived on a hill near S ikri , a village of

Agra, a D arwesh, S hekh Salem, a perfect devotee and a

man of very advanced years. P eople living in the vicinity

of the hi ll had great respect for his Spiritual powers. Myfather, who had much confidence in the D arweshes, made the

acquaintance of the Shekh. O ne day, as the Shekh was in a

state of ex cessi ve enthusiasmandrapture, he asked him howmanysons hewould have. The Fakir answered The bestower who

maketh his gift unsolici tedwill endow thee with three sons.’ My

father rejoined I make avowto place myfirst born son inyour

lap and consign him to your care, so that you may become his

protector and guardian.

’

T he S hekh consented to this and

ex claimed : ‘ H ai l ! I , on my part, give him my own name.

’

When mymother was about to be confined, she was sent to

the S hekh’

a house in order that my birth should take place

there. When I was born, I was named Sultan Salem. But

I never heard my father call me, either in a state of

consciousness or unconsciousness, by the nameMohammad Salem.

or S ultan Salem. While speaking to me, he always called

me Shekhu Babe.

Myrevered father, regarding the village of S ikri, mybirth

place, as fortunate for himself, made it his cap ital, and in the

course of fourteen or fifteen years the hills and deserts which

abounded in beasts of prey, became converted into a magnificent

citycomprising numerous gardens, elegant edifices and pavilions

and other places of great attraction and beauty. After the

conquest of Gujrat, the village was namedFattebpur.

Akbar fulfilled his vow by performing a pilgrimage on foot

fromAgra to Ajmere, where the shrine of the saint Moinuddin

Chishti is.

In modern times Fattehpur S ikri is famous as the seat 910 11 5114debts!ruins.

onset the grandest groups ofancientarchitecturalremains inUpper

India. N owhere in the whole of India is to be found coileeud

in one spot such a collection of ancient buildings andmonuments

of all shapes and sizes and of such solidity, massiveness and ex

cellence. still, fm the most part, in astate of perfect preservation,

as is to be seen at this place. Their stability is accounted for by

the circumstance that theyare built of the most substantialmate

rials anddurable cement. According to one authority,‘theadhesive

qualities of the latter have surprised engineers and puzzled even

chemists in their endeavours to analyze the various ingredients of

which it is composed.

’The deserted palacesand court rooms are

specimens of the most elaborate carving . As remarked by an

acute observer : I t is awilderness of sculpture, where invention

seems to have been tax ed to the utmost to produce new combinaq

tions of ornaments. E verything i s carved in a sandstone so fine

that, ex cept where injured byman, it appearsnearlyas sharp as

when first chiselled.

’

I t is a dead city an unburied P ompeu. Although the build. The balm.

ings have stood deserted for nearly three hundred years, they

are still in a state of perfect preservation, and produce the most”mm “

v ividimpression on themindof the visitor. T he gracefuloriginali ty

of the design and the splendour and beauty of the architecture

create an ex alted idea of the founder and bring before the eye

a lively image of the splendour of the great Mugbal. The

animated picture of ancient grandeur thus brought before the

observer requires no great force of imagination to picture Akbar,h is harm and his court in occupation of these lovelycourts and

palaces.

The architectural remains of Fattehpur S ikri , about si x or Their ex tent.

sevenmiles in circuit and surrounded by a battlemented loftywall of red sandstone, are situated on the ex tremity of a low

range of bills. Approaching the ruins from the Eastern, or Agra,

direction over a fair road which is easily traversed by dawk.

ghary, the first object which greets the traveller’

s eye is aspaci

ous gateway, on either side of which are dwellings in a state of The p m ".

dilapidation and long since deserted. Musing on the sad

aolemnityof the scene, you toi l up a deep ascent, with long

17

ranges of ruins and the remains of palaces and habitations ; some

in tolerablygoodcondition, others sbapelessmasses of bewn stone.

Ou one side are a series of vaulted chambers, known as the mint,of andon the other s ball, said to be the H all of Accounts. To the

left of the mint isa spacious quadrangle, 860 feet by 180, with

a series of cloisters on i ts four sides, supported by columns of

free sandstone. This forms the court of the D ewan-i -Am, or

the H all of P ublic Audience, a small ball with awide verandah

overlook ing the court. The colonnade afforded accommodation

to the vast multi tude who assembled here to pay their homage

to the E mperor, or to present petitions before him,or represent

the1r g nevanees, or wi tness the administration of justice byone of the greatest monarchs who ever wielded the sceptre of

this great Empire. Akbar took his royal seat in the small

oblong balcony on one side of the court or stood, as he whs

accustomed to do, in the vestibule, to receive the salutations

oi'

the crowds who assembled there, thus gaining the confidence

of all his subjects. H ere were also held parades of men at

arms and of animals.

P assing through a narrow passage, we come across another

wide court, to the left of which is a spacious building of red

granite, nowusedas a rest-house for travellers, but formerly the

E mperor’

s Record Ofl ce (D aftarkhana).

A little further on is a paved courtyard, 2 10 feet by 1 20, with

a corridor, or suite of chambers, supporting all round an upper

' tier, or range of rooms, havmg cupolas at the four angles. T his

1s the Emperor’

s P alace, or KhasMahal.

T he outer walls of trelliswork ofwhite marble andred grani tethat concealed the royal inmates from the public view, have

all disappeared ; but the remains of the screens are still to be

traced due east to the opposite angle. O n the south of the

t eourtyard is the khwabgah, or King’

s sleeping chamber, a square~

of less than fifteen feet, where the Emperor and his wives took

their siesta after a dinner time.

The Khawb

I t is surmounted by the royal bed-room, a small chamber of

15 feet square, but of singular beauty and simplicity. I t has

fourdoors, one on each side, over each of which is inscribeda

FAI T BH P UB BIKRI .

hemistich in P ersian, the whole forming a stanza complimentary.to the Royal occupant. I t is as follows

6 417 l} e lf ! Lfifi

M l); M ur lyh t u d ls

wfi fl i j l fl efi j fl é w M UyAS

d é. uw- é li Qwfi w é h '

The janitor of P aradise may see his face in thy chamber floor,The dust of thycourt is collyrium for the light of the eyes.

The palace of the King is in every respect better than sublime

paradise

I t is beyond question, what is heaven compared to it

N orth-west of the Khas Mahal is a small mosque intended T he Ladies’

as a chapel for the royal ladies, and a suite of chambers which 0mm"

were used as a hospital. O n the cast are the apartments known

as those of Istamboli Begam, the Emperor’

s Turkish wife. TheP alms of h ,

palace lastnamedcomprises specimens of the most elaborate carv “mm“3 °

ing andworkmanship, representing highly imaginative scenes from

nature and art. There are to be seen the forest scenery, the

H imalayas, the lovely birds of the hill regions, the wi ld beasts

of the jungle, alternate with the sprawling dragons of C hina,

the palm trees of Africa, the vine and other fruit trees of India,wreaths of flowers and bunches of grapes hanging over the doors

in festoons. The pi llars outside are decorated with representa

tions of trees andflowers of various kinds in bold relief.

T o the right of the Emperor’

s palace, or KhasMahal, and ad The Sonehri

joining it, is the building known as the S onehri Manzil, or tham‘mu'

golden palace, an upper roomed square pavilion, nowno longer

embellishedwith golden ornaments or gilt decorations. The in

terior wallsare covered with paintings in fresco. There are the

scenes o i'

the adventures of the hero Rustam, as described i n the

Shahnama; the historyof the Persian kings in poetry, byFir

donsi , the celebrated poet of Mahmud the Ghiznivide Sultan, a

work of which Akbar was part icularly fond. T he niches and

arches over the doors andwindows contain scenes and p ictures

of various character, but chiefly of religious significance. The

house was once decorated throughout wi th gildings andpaintings,

withinandwithout, the arches of the verandahs being inscribed

with eloquent couplets by‘

azi, brother of Abul Fazl, but all

18! mm :m m

these have been obliterated. T he seal of the modernMoslemshas destroyed many carved figures and images, but tracss ‘

them are still visible.

535 3

105“ The art of painting is not encouragedby Mohamadanism, on

the ground that man, however sk illed in art, is imperfect, and

his knowledge of the nature and beauties of God’

s vast creation,

however advanced in comparison with particular sections of the

human community, is defective , and that i t is idle to imitate the

m ks of Godand attemptmaking likenessesof them. Akbar, who

was aman of broad principles, did not share such conservative

views. From his early youth H is Majesty showeda great pre

dilection forthe art of painting andgave i t everyencouragement,tor he looked upon i t asameans of both culture and amusement.

Abul Fazl, in the Ain, has written interesting notes regardingAkbar’s views on theart. O ne day, at a private party, when the

subject of Musalman views on the subject was being discussed,H i Majestyobserved that painters, in his opinion, had peculiarmeans of recognising God and appreciating his perfections.

A p i nur,”continued be

, in sketching anything that has

us and in designing parts of a living subject, must come

to feel that he is incapable of real creation, and thus his

mind is turned to God, the Bestower of life, and the knowledge of h is heart is enlarged.

”H is Majesty himself sat for

his likeness andthe likenesses ofall thegrandees of the‘

realmwere

taken. H e hadmore than one hundred painters in his employ.

l.Thechief feature in the ornamentation and architecture of

the Sonehri Manzil isaGreek C ross, and the remains, on one offi e

“ doors of an Annunciation, the figure of the V irgin and an angel,

parts of which onlycan be now traced. Tradition ascribes t‘his

palace as the abode of Akbar'

aC hristian wife, one Bibi Mariam;and the guides assert she wasa P ortuguese lady. Certain writers

seem to entertain doubts, whether Akbar marrieda Christian

ladyat all. I t is not likely, they urge, that a fact so signi ficant

would have been omitted in contemporary h istories li ke the

Akbarnama and the Tabekat-i-Akbari . I t must, however, be

borne in mind that the works above referred to, notwithstanding

the elaborate manner in which they have treated their subject,eannot be assumed to contain full information ofall that Akbar

that he instructedAbul Fazl to prepare a translation of thegospel

andorderedprince Morad" to take lessons in C hristianity? The

usualMohamadan formula, Bisimullah i rrahman in chim (I commence in the

.

name of God the Merciful), was changed into 4 5

mmi tu Jesus waKrista, (Q thou whose names are Jcans and

C hrist)which means 0 then whose name is gracious andblessed.

’

To the above, S haikh Fazi added the following, to complete the

verse. Subhanaka la Biwakaya Im(We praise thee, there is noone besides thee, O God

The Fathers built a small chapel for their own use, and that

of the P ortuguese traders and residents in Agra and its

neighbourhood. The detai led narrative of D a Jerrie, one of

the missionaries, has been fortunately preserved, and it givesa clear idea of the doings at the Court of the Great Emperor

at Fattehpur. Thi ther, we are informed, came Akbar, alone,without attendants, removed his turban and offered prayers,

after he had first knelt in the fashion of C hristians, then in

his own, that is, according to the mode used by P ersian Saracens

(for he clung to the ex ternals of this faith)and finallyafter

the fashion of the heathen. H e compelled his nobles to treat

the missionaries, their pictures, booksand services wi th reverence.

A P ortuguese Christian died about the same time, in Fattehpur.

With the permission of the Emperor, his funeral procession,

after the Catholic fashion, was conducted through the streets

ofFattehpurwith great pomp. The inhabitants, both H indusandMohamadaus,were gratifiedbythe pageantryandparticipated

in the ceremonies. The Fathers were also allowed to builda

H ospital.

The Jesuits, judging the Emperor from his Christian

tendencies, urged upon h im the advisability of winning for

himself the gloryof anewhero in religion byformally embracingChristianity ; but Akbar was inflex ible. H e assured the Father

of the great respect he held for their relig ion, and that he

H e was born three months after Jahan (Salem). H aving been born in

the hills of Fattehpur S ikri, he got the nic name P ahari (hi ll man). H o wasthen onlyeight years old.

1 Badaoui I I 256.

:l:Akbar allowed the Fathers to p reach C hristianity ia.

an part of his Emp ire,but he did not embrace C hristiani tyhimself, saying hewax for the divine i mination. I t awal:ened interest in o thermen besides Akbar, and Abul Fazl and h iselder brother Abul Faiz seemed to have been greatly influenced by it. Bothmof Sufi persuasion.

mm film .

honoured their church and its many doctrines, sti ll he could

not understand the mystery of the Trinity, and asked with

much concern how i t could be that God could have a son who

was a man.

“The heathen,” argued he, believed their creed to be true, 533?

a

the Moslem the same, and ao, too, the C hristians z—whichreligion are we to believe andwhich reject The ex planations

oflered by the holy Fathers failed to make any impression

on the sharp witted Akbar. D o Jerrie laments H is Majesty’s

sti ffl neckedness and complains that he was never content with

one answer, but drove him over to further enquiries.

“T his,”he observes, is the peccadillo of this prince, as of

many another atheist ; theywill not shackle reason by obedience

to faith, because they think nothing true which does not

enter into the circle of their powers of comprehension ; wi th

the measure of their intellect theywouldmete out The Infinite,

which transcends all human understanding .

” When Aquavivaasked the Emperor

’

s permission for the three missionaries who

were then at Fattehpur to preach Christianity in all the

provinces of H industan, Akbar answered evasively that this

matter was entirely in the hands of God, who alone had it in

h is power to fulfil their wishes, and that he on his part desired

nothing more ardently. Meanwhile the attraction of novelty

having fadedaway, less attention was paid to the Fathers, who, gagt

éom

having been privately told by one of the courtiers that theyGoa. 1582

had been kept more for the sake of amusement and novelty'

than anything else, and that H isMajestyhadnot the slighteet ideaof adopting their tenets, returned to Goa in 1582 , with the

ex ception ofAquaviva, whom Akbar detained, on account of his

great accomplishments. H e was honoured alike by H indus

and Mohamadans, and he learnt the P ersian language, to

facilitate his discussions with the Mohamadans, his object beingto win over Akbar ; but, perceiving that i t was lost labor to

scatter seed on a land so barren, he too, alter some time, followed

his brethren to Goa.

Mirza N izamuddin Ahmad, author of the Tabakat, has given C eremoniaadescription of the ceremonies observedat the C ourt of Fatteh C ourt at

p'

ur S ikri . The occasionwas the arrival of Mirza Suleman, ruler

The D ewan-l

m s : DW I .

d Badakhshan, grandson ofAbn SaidMirza and six th in descent

from Timur, in Rajah 983 (1575A D ). The authorwrites, on

his reaching Mathra, twenty kos from Fattehpur, the Emperor

sent several nobles to meet him. When the Mirza was at a

distance of five kos from Fattehpur, all the nobles and emeerswere sent out to receive him. And when the intelligence of

his having left his stage was brought, H is Majestyhimself went

out on horseback to meet him. Five thousand elephants, wi th

housings of velvet and brocade, with gold and si lver chains and

with white and black fringes on their neck and trunks, were

drawn up in lines on each side of the road to a distance of five

has from Fattehpnr. Between each two elephants there was a

cart with leopards in it which had collars studded with gold and

housings of fine cloth ; also two bullock cartsdrawn byanimals that

were gold embroidered headstalls. When all the arrangements

were made, the Emperorwent out with great pomp andsplendour.

Upon his approaching , the Mirza hastened to dismount, and ran

forward towards H is Majesty but the Emperor, observingthe venerable age of the Mirza

, also alighted from his horse and

wouldnot allow the Mirza to go through the usual Observancesand ceremonies. H e fondly embraced him and then mounted

andmade the Mirza ride on his right hand. All the five kos, he

enquired about his circumstances, and, on reaching the palace, be

seatedhim by his side on the throne. T he young princes were

also present and were introduced to the Mirza, and, after a

great entertainment, he gave the Mirza a house near the royal

palace.

Orders were in the meanwhile issued to Khan Jahan,

Governor of the Panjab, to accompany the Mirza, on his

return from Fattebpur, to Badakhshan, with horse, to

recover the countryand restore it to him, and then to return

to Lahore.

O ne of the most unique of the buildings is the D ewan-ri

Khas, or Privy C ouncil chamber. I t is si tuated due north of

Mariam’

s house and west of the D ewan- i -Am. E x ternally it

appears to have two storeys surmounted by a cupola at each

corner. E ntering , however, we find’

that it is in reality of but one

storey, Open from the floor to the dome. In the centre there is

a singular massive column, richly carved, rising to the height of

the upper windows and supporting a palisaded octagonal seat,

an immense capital of the richest sculpture, three times its

diameter, with four stone causeways, each about ten feet long ,

leading to four side-entrances or corners of the pavilion, where

theymeet a quadrant which communicates with the ground floor

bya flight of six teen steps. I n times ofyore, the seat in the

middle, being covered with silk tex tures and made comfortablewi th satin and velvet cushions, was occupied by the Emperor

Akbar, the four ministers ( Khan- i -Khanan, Bir-Bal, Fyzi and

Abul Fazl) standing at the four corners to receive orders for

their respective D epartments.

The place is associated with many historical scenes. I t was D ialogue be

here that the grandees of the Empire met in Akbar’

s time andfixzndfi ‘“

talkedon religious, social and political subjects. Mulla Abdul B‘dw‘m

Qadar Badaoui , in h isMuntakhi bul Tawari kh, has recordedan

interesting dialogue which took place between him and Sheikh

Abul Fazl in the hall of the D ewan-i -Khas. The Mullawas aMussulman of orthodox type, while Abul Fazl was an atheist.

T he Mullawrites

I remember that, in the early, days of these discussions, I

happened one night to meet S heik Abul Fazl in the P rivy

Audience Chamber of Fattebpur. H e said : I have a fair

objection to make to all writers on two grounds : first, why

should they have not wri tten as detailed a history of the

older P rephets as they have done in the annals of their

own P rophet ? (God bless him and his descendants and peace

be on him I replied,‘ I n the Kassanl Aulia ample accounts

are given,

’

to wh ich he rejoined» N o, that book is too

compendious theyought to have written in detail.’

I answered,

owing to the lapse of time, that much only might have

stood the test of enquiryby the critics and historians, and the

rest remained unauthenticated.

’

H e said: This is no answer.’

H e continued, Secondly, there is no kind of handycraftsmanwho

is not mentioned in the Tazkiratul-auliaand the q ahatul

Una, Stc.’ ‘What harm had the members of the P rophet

’s own

fami ly done that no mention is therein made of them. This is

N ote that the para. in bracket is bythe author.Badaoni .

am : nm mm vn.

amatter of great surprise.

’

O u this topic whatever the time

allowedwas said ; but who would listen Afterwards I asked: O i

the known relig ions which are you the most inclined to accept ?

H e answered ‘I wish to wander a few days in the vale of

unbeliet‘

and apostasy.

’

I rejoined ironically,‘I t would not be a

bad thing ifyou removed entirely the restriction of the marriage

tie, for they have said

(M af ia ani } ! $ 4341 £ 9 02: b

“

di M u):

By the help of God the chain of lawhas removed he

From 05 the neck of the woi-ld, peace to h is memorybe l

H e smiled andwent away.

Badaoni then goes on to describe how Abul Fazl was em

boldened to ofi'

end the Ulmas, countenancedbythe Emperor, and

would listen to neither arguments nor reason in contradiction of

what he himself urged.

‘Truc is the saying’

says the author

j js j lu 9

.6L; M .lu b e,

‘Om favour qf theJudge is better than athousandwi tnesses}

I n the D ewan- i -Khas there is a beautiful side gallery identi

fiedas the I badat Kbana, or house ofworship, as no other edifice

answers the description given by Badaoui and the Tabakat in

noticing the I badat Khana at Fattehpur S ikri .

The I badat Khamawas built in 1574. I t was a place .for {he

reception ofmen of learning, genius and accomplishment.

Abul Fazl thus describes it in the Akbarnama, V ol. I I I , in

connection with the events of the 19th year of the reign

(1574 AD .)

I t consists of four .Ewam , or upost storeychambers,“ the

courtyard of which thousands of people‘from all quarters of the

world assemble and wait for the arrival of H is Majesty, who

talks to them wi th cheerful countenance, bears fi lempatientlyand answers their enquiries. H e .is accessible t to all and free in

0 The book mentioned byAbul Fazl eonh ins the'bi a tea o

'

f saints. Manyof these samts were handicmftsmen. The objection of bu Fazlwas tha whileall ln nfliomftsmen should have h enmentioned in these worhsulhe m m o

the P rophet’

s own fami hadbeen omitted. Badaoui does not what h iscrepl;to this obj ection of am: Full was; but t he reply is clear.

'

T he '

oi-bet 'or member

'seii j the P roph

tzt’

s infin

ityare tseatet

i

l;

bynwrn

tha

fians u far“ Dag

“ to We“.or n cos earn an e were no coun t cntego e

to the tophet hiniself to true believers.ry yare nex t

the wisest man of the age, pointing out that they should not

connt kings,who formedan ex ception.

O n this H akim H amam mentioned his own name and Abul

Fazl that ofJJis father, S heikh Mobarik.

T he Emperor’s visi ts to these meetings were invariablymade

occasions for the distribution of largesses and gifts, and scarce]y

anyone of the guests departedwith empty hands. T he meetings

were usually held on Friday night, and on the nights of holy

days.“

According to Badaoui , many places of worship were built bycommand of H is Majesty during the year 983 (1575 H is

Majesty passed whole nights in contemplation and prayer.

H e occupied himself in repeating the namesYaH i t (O H e—God)

andYa H adi (0 Guide). H e would sit manyamorning alone in

prayer andmelancholic meditation on a large flat stone of an

old building which lay near the palace in a lonely spot, with h is

head bent over his chest, and gathering the bliss of earlymorn.

’

T hs symgi’s I n the same court, there is a pavilion of singular structure,

”mm"where the tolerant Akbar accommodated a Byragi Fakir. I t is

a cupola forming a pyramidal canopy, with traceries and carvings

in the Buddhist fashion, supportedor. four grani te pillars, connect

cdat the anglesby serpentine brackets. T he pavi lion, although

of H indu design, is no departure from the general style of

architecture of the place, which is a massive k ind of Saracenic .

As Akbar toleratedallreligions, and wasmore particular]yinclinedtowards the H indus, a H indu friar, or priest, in the midst of the

Royal Court was not out of place.

Close by the side of the P rivy C ouncil C hamber is alabyrin

thine edifice, of curious design andconstruction, where it is re~

presentedthe Emperor played hide-and-seek with the ladies of

theRoyal household. The place consists of acentral strong room,

with two more on the south andnorth, a precipice, surmounted bya gallery, and quarters forsentinels all round. H ere are marks of

binge holes, showing that the doorways were of stone, closed

by heavypadlocks. This, coupledwith the fact that i t is situated0 Reli

'

oll l assemblies res ided over b th Em t d to IN ho

the su n mosque of Fatte pur S ikri .y e pe oruse da "1

was put under repairs at a great cost, and the ornamentation

were restoredas far as possible.

North -east of the P anj Mahal, over an ex tensive pavement of

stone, is a colossal chess board on which the game known as

P achisi was played. T he board, carved out upon stone pavement,consists of squares of unusual dimensions, each being wide

enough foraman to sit in. T he guides say that women, attired

in beautiful costumes ofdi verse colours, denoted the posi tions in

game. T he board is simi lar to that in the Agra fort wi th this

difference, that, while the one in Agra is of marble, this is of redsandstone. Quite near to the P achisi board there isa small throne

of redsandstone onwhich the dice for the game were thrown.

But the chief ornament of the whole group of buildings, and‘

indeed the paragon of the place, is the mausoleum of S heikh'

Salem Chishti, the holysaint, confidence inwhose spiri tual pom

led Akbar to found here a mighty city and embellish i t with'

royal palaces, gardens and other public edifices. I t is situated to=

the south-west of the royal palaces alreadymentioned, and forms

the nucleus for the other buildings which gradually sprung up

here under the auspices of the E mperor.

An m un, Sheikh Salem, the sonof S heikh Baha-ud-din,was adescendant“fl “Sheikh.

ofShaikh Farid S hakurgunj , the famous saint of P al: P attan, in

the Montgomery D istrict of the Paujab. H e always kept fast

andwent to Mecca three times to perform the holy pilgrimage.

After travelling all over India in the garb of a Fak ir, he came to

the vicinityof S ikri , at that time an inconsiderable hamlet, and

ensconced himself in the forest surrounding the h illocks, which,

removed from human habitations, was frequented by beasts of

prey. The spot, from its lonelyand retired situation, attracted

h is attention. H e lived here the life of a recluse, and from the

reeds of the forest and such leaves and branches as he could

gather, bui lt a hut on the summit of ahillock under a shadytree.

I n this rude and soli tary cell, he passed his days in devotion,

making

“P rayerall his businessjoall his pleasure praise

his pallet being of stalks and straw, and his pi llow of bushes and

pebbles. Akbar’

s former children had died in infancyand he'

had

been long without ason. Conscious that the Empire foundedby

FM E H P UB 81m

the enterprise and energyof his father and grandfather, which he

had'

himse'

lf taken considerable pains to consolidate, would lapse

to strangers, and his dynastybecome ex tinct i f he were not blessed

with a son, he stood in need of the prayers of the Fakir and the

pious, who, he was convinced, were nearer to God,and whose

prayers in his behalf would, he was assured, gain for him the

object of his life, namely, an heir to the throne. H e acquainted

his councillors with the distress of h is mind, and, as before stated,

they advised him to seek the spiritual aid of S heikh Salem,

which theythought would secure for him the desire of his heart.

T he Emperor acted on their advice and the result was the birth

of Salem. E ver afterwards Akbar entertained the highest es

teem for the S heikh, whose sons and other near relations were

raised to h igh honours of S tate. When the S heikh died, Akbar

built over his tomb a mausoleum, which, in elegance and beauty,is surpassed by fewedifices of the kind in India.

A magnificent portal to the east leads to a spaciousA090?“ O fbui ldi ng.

quadrangle of paved red stone, 43 3 feet by 3 66, the four sides

df-wh ich are taken up each by a lofty and majestic colonnade,

forming a verandah of arcaded chambers 50 feet high , all of

the same material as the pavement. Inclining towards the

northern angle is the tomb of the saint, an elegant structure

made entirely of the purest marble with the finest polish,

and elaborately carved. T he tomb rises on a square base and

ends in a graceful, melon-shaped dome of ex quisite beauty.

I t is surrounded by a vestibule, or verandah , of deep clipstone,supported by serpentine brackets of variegated shape and

desi gn, and projecting out of substantial columns of white

marble terminating at the base in a tulip shaped aperture.

T he marble trellis work that surrounds the sarcophagus con

taining the body of the Saint is of such surpassing beautyand

delicate ex ecution that, looked at from a distance, it resembles

lace work on the finest silk. H is Royal H ighness the Princeof Wales was particularly struck with i ts chaste vbeautywhen

he v isited the mausoleum in 1876. T he verandah encloses

an inside chamber, the walls of which are of marble up

to 4 feet from the floor and are inlaid with cornelian, onyx

and jasper.“Above that poi nt , the walls are embellished

with a highly polished stucco and wainscoted with red

T he tomb ofI slam Khan.

I nseri ptionon the tomb

L G“ 2 D I S CRI P'I'IV E .

sand-stone. The floor is of jasper, impressed with flowers o f

various colours and patterns beautifully cut out ofmarble, andthedoors are of solid ebony. T he tomb of the Saint is of pure white

marble, surrounded bya lattice work of the same material and

covered with a precious p iece of brocade. Over this is a sort bf

canopy, shaped like an oblong umbrella, supportedby four slenderstavcs, each encrustedwi th fine mother-o

’-

pearl work , carved in

various geometrical designs. O u the northern side are the tombs

of women and children ; and an enormous mausoleum beyond

that of the Sheikh , in the same direction, is the tomb of Islam

Khan, the grandson of the Sheikh, who was Governor of Bengal

during the reign of Jahangir.

T he entire structure has a most pleasing efi'

ect, and the

mausoleum stands unrivalled among similar bui ldings for the

elegance of its design, as well as the delicacy of its ex ecution. I t

is, indeed, one of the finest andmost perfect specimens of Indianarchi tecture. As originally built by Akbar, the tomb was of red

sandstone, and the marble trellis-work, the chief ornament oi'

the

tomb , was erected subsequentlyby the Emperor Jahangir. The

tomb, although above three hundredyears old, is in a state of

ex cellent preservation, which shows the ex treme care bestowed oni t by those who have held charge of i t.

Knots, or bits of string or ribbon, are bound by barrenH indu and Mohamadan women to the marble trellis surrounding the tomb of the Saint, as a vow to ofi

'

er money, sweetmeats

or bread i f blessed with a son, which it is supposed the media

tion of the Saint with God will procure for them. S imi lar

votive offerings are placedonAkbar’

s tomb in S ekandrah.

following inscri ption on the gateway of D argah

chronogram of the S heikh’

s death.

T heBek ud But the grandest object of attraction in the entire group,

indeed the marvel of the place, is the Boland D am aza, or

“ lofty gateway,”

which , according to one authori ty, is‘one

of the loftiest and most majestic in the world.

’

Fergusson

calls it ‘the finest in India.

’

I t is raised on a lofty flight

of steps, and towers 130 feet above the breast of the ridge

on the south of the Khangah. I t is an ex ceedingly im

posing and handsome edifice, surmounted with cones and

minarets ; and although gigantic in form. such is the sym

metry of i ts proportions and the sublimity and grace of its

general appearance that i t cannot fail to impress the observer

with its massive dignityand stately beauty. The borders of

the gateway are carved in granite ofa butt colour, and flewers

ofdiverse forms, cut out of stone, are arranged in it with great

elegance.

A flight of 120 steps leads to the summi t, which affords a

splendid viewof the adjacent country, with a distant glimpse of

the Taj , 2 5miles away, and the fort of Bharatpur. T he colossal

grandeur of this huge gateway dwarfs the buildings to which

it is at present attached, but it must be borne in mind that the

edifice formed no part of the original design. The Boland

D arwaza was intended to serve as a triumphant arch to com

memorate the victoryof the royal troopsunderAkbar in Khandes,andwas built several years after the Khangah and the mosque.

The following is the inscription in bold relief on a sandstone

wall to the right of the sacred quadrangle as you enter the mau

soleum.

I necripti on on the E astern wall.

sag glint; fi‘lm o

vgeJld 31: dJldi

'

: 350144 13 t lfi yf c. »

Jane .

M m N aww AM 4“g

e m ma w ww: d i er); i M :

Ja n

ix» l l s.s

0: line

w alts )e e, o; u

3 U m u 'm u (U U

elevaf eelalt

s ; I3 oleat“(a 64 W U

L GBA DW BI PT IV E .

Saidand wri tten byMohammed llasnm, poetically styled Nomi, son of

Syed Sal‘

s, of born at Bhahksr, descendant from Eyed She son of

Debt H esse Abdul of Subswar, resident of Kandahar.

E ccentric as Akbar was in religious matters, and unsettledas

was his belief as to the true religion, the pious tone of the

inscri ptions above written confirms the statement made in con

temporaryhistories, that, a fewyears before his death, he showed

adecided inclination to the faith of his ancestors, and that he

died a goodMussalman. H e died only fouryears after the above

inscriptions werewri tten.

Th‘ Gm d West of the D argah is Akbar’

s‘

grandest mosque,’

as Fer.Mosque.

gusset: calls it. I t has lofty square pillars richly carved, the

wings being of red sandstone and the inner court paved wi th

white marble. The walls and surroundings'

are painted with

rich and delicate tints, disposed in a variety of geometrical

designs, the centre being an immense vaulted chamber which

providess ccommodation for the congregation.

The following chronogram is inscribed on the main arch

M T ( 3 3 1) J o) 5] cffil l alt

s . a: g t» ) )a

MirMohamedMasum of Bhnkkar belonged to a family of the Syeds oi'

l‘

armus inBokhara. H is ancestors, two or three enerations before h im, came toKandahar, and h is tether, Mir Safe. settled in B akkar. T hrough the influenceof Mirza N izsmudm

.

Ahmad. author of the Tabhakat, he was introducedtoAkbar, who made h im a C ommander of 250. Akbar, recognising h is meri t ,became h is patron2 and, in 1012 (lm A . sent him as ambassador to T eheran,where hewas recei ved wi th distinction by S hah Abbas.

Mohamed.Mu nm enjoyed a great reputation as a pint and historian. H ecomposed under the poeti calname Narni andwas the author of the Tarik ho i -S tndhandmany other book s. H e was sk i lledas a com

goeer and tracer oi inscri p tions.

and was always accompanied on his travels sculptors. H is metrical insori ti ons adorn numerous mosques and pub i c bui ldings from I ndia

.

to

I sp n and Tabnz. Besides the cathedralm naat Fattehput , his inscri p ti onsare found over the [

rte of the fort of Agra, the art of hlandn and various o ther

p laces. H e embellis ed Sukkarwith manyedifices. and, in the midst of uO

branchof the I ndus whi ch flows roundBhakkar. he built adome (the date of wh i ch was

found in the words“ laq (water dome)giv ing 1007A. H . (1598 A. D .) H e

was ions and very li beral ‘ nd leftsoor4olm of rupees, which were inheri t“!byb s son.MirBum .

FATTE H PUR SIKBI .

learned men well versed in the several branches of lawand in the principles

of jurisprudence, andaccomplished in edicts which rest on reason and testi

mony, and who are known for their piety, honestyand sanctity, have, after

fullyconsidering the deep meanings, j irst of the verse of the Q uran (Sum

iv “Obey God and obey the P rophet and those among youwho may

he in authority,”and, secondly, of the genuine traditions, (1)

" Surely the

man who is dearest to God on the D ay of Judgment is Imami Adil (just

leader) (2)Whosoever obeys the Amir, obeys me ; and whosoever rebels

against him. rebels against me,”and, thi rdly, of several other proofs based on

reason and testimony, agreed that the rank of S ultan-z‘

-Adz'

l (just ruler) is,in the eyes of God, h igher than the rank of amuj tahid (head of the C hurch).

Wh erefore, the King of Islam,the asylum of the Nations, the Amir of the

Faithful, the Shadow of God over the people of the world, Abul Fath

JallalnddinMohammed AkbarBsdshah Ghazi , mayGod perpetuate his k ingdom,

being the most just, the most wise, the most learned and the most God

fearing , it is declared that, should, in future, a relig ious question come up,

regarding which the O p inions of the mui tah ids are at variance and H is

Majesty in his penetrating wisdom and right judgment is inclined to adapt,for the benefit of the nation and as a political ex pedient, any of the conflict

ing opinions which ex ist on that point, and issue adecree to the effect, we do

hereby agree that such adecree shall be binding on naall and on thewhole

nation.

Further, we declare that. should H isMajesty, inhis vast wisdom, be ia

clined to issue a new order, not contrary to the Q uran, which maybe condu

cive to the public benefit, obedience to it shall be binding on the whole nation,

and opposition to i t shall involve damnation in the world to come and loss

of relig ion and propertyin this life.

This document has been written with honest intentions, for the glory

of God and the propagation of I slam,and is signed byus the principal

learnedmen of Relig ion and the pious devotees of the Fai th in the month

of s ab 987 H ijri (1579 1 .

The draft of the above document was in the handwri ting of

S heikh Mobarak . The others signed it against theirwi ll but the

S heikb added at the bottom the following passage

uBlaz e )” lr’la l alt da; tel? ) a

“ w a g f t0 41)

This is a matter .wh ich 1 had desired from allmy heart andwhich for

several years I had been anx iously looking forward to.

From the moment H is Majesty obtained this legal instru

ment , the superiorityof intellect of the Imam, orKing, became

AGBA D E SCRI P H V I .

the sole law. H is Majesty, having heard that the Imamsof theage and the Khali/s of Islam had themselves read the Khutbas

(public litany) at Friday prayers, and that their ex ample

had, in later times, been followed by Amir Tymur the Sahib

Kiran, and Mirza Ulegh Beg of Gorgon, resolved to do the

Appears same, with the object, according to Abul Fazl, of ‘taking upon

{N

}; his own shoulders a pious duty for the benefit of the Moham“m ‘ madan community,

’

but, according to the malcontent Badaoui ,‘of

appearing in public as the Muj tahid of the age.

’

Accordingly, onFriday, the 1st Jamadiul awal, 987, mount

ing the pulpit of the grand mosque at Fattehpur S ikri , he read

the following Khutba, wh ich, at his instance, had been composed

byShei kh Abnl Fyz Fyzi

The L ord to me the kingdomgave,

H e made me prudent, strong and brave,

H e guidedme in fai th and truth,

H e fi lledmy heart with right and truth

No wit of man esn sum H is state,

Alla ho Akbar l God is great !

H e cited passages from the Koran and offered thanks to God

for his benevolence and mercies ; then,repeating the Fatiha, he

came down from the pulpi t and readhis prayers wi th the congre

gation, standing behind H afizMohammadAmin, the Imam oi'

the

mosque, who conducted the service.

About this time, H aj i Ibrahim, of S irhind, produced beforeBelieves theao-called the Emperor an oldworm-eaten manuscri pt m queer characters,

said to be in the handwriting of S heikh S her-i-Arabi , in wh ichIf?

"

3'

t it was predicted that the Sahib-i -Zaman (Lord of the period)pm“ would have manywives andhave his beard shaved. T he charac

teri stics mentioned in the book were found to agree with the

usages of Akbar. Other proofs were brought to show that in

990, aman would rise up who would remove all differences of

opinionamong the seventy- two sects of Islam. KhawajaMaulana

of Shiraz produced an old pamphlet quoting the tradition that

the promised appearance of Imam Mahdi would immediatelytake P laces

The Saint’

s

me kindwords and spoke of me in most flattering terms to the

people assembled, and gave particulars of myself which were

even unknown to me.

g l j u fl é i l p-

fi aha b ef

H e began to relate my circumstances to the people present

in the assembly in such a way that even I was not aware of

them.

’

The kindness and consideration paid me by H is Majestywon my heart. From that moment royal favours increased, and

from day to day I was raised in the estimation of my august

master and sovereign.

”

At about this time, a section of the nlema charged the

Emwrorwith apostacy. AbulFazl, in the Akbarnama (V ol. I IL),devotes a whole chapter to refuting the charge, and shows that

Akbar never laid claim to become God, or the apostle of God,

though he received H is Light from the S upreme Being above andwas directlyguided in all his afi

'

airs by H im.

At the back of the mosque is an enclosure, containing a small

tomb of an infant. This, the legendgoes, is the tomb of an infant

son of S heikh Salem, aged si x months,who, having talked to his

revered father in amarvellous fashion, sacrificed his own life for

that of a son to the Emperor, whose children were fated to die

in infancyunless some one gave a child of his own to die instead.

N ine months after the generous infant died, prince Salem came

into the world. I n the debris about herewi ll be found adoor

leading to a cave which was the original abode of the Saint before

the spot attracted the attention of royalty. The place is also

pointed out where he used to teach his pupils, as also the place

where the holyman persuaded the royal couple to take up their

abode, in the neighbourhood of his own but, and where the

prince who bore his name was born.

N orth of the D argah are the houses of Abul Fazl and hisbrother Eyzi , both almost united. The drawing-rooms and the

Zama'na of the Royal courtiers have been new utilizedas English

class rooms ; the other bui ldings were used by the erudi te

brothers as audience chambers and public rooms.

sot veit .

AGRA : D E SCRI P'H V E .

in the description of the Fort. From i ts being the central

gorps dc log is, Keene conjectures that i t was the palace occupied

byZan- i -Kalan, or Akbar

’

s chief wife, Boquina Sultana Begam,

the daughter of Mirza H indal, the E mperor’

s uncle. But,

from the H indu nature of the building, i t is most probable

that it was the dwelling of Akbar’

s H indu consort, the daughter

of Raja Bihari Mal, known as Mariam-uz-Zamani. There are on

the walls the carved images of H indu gods andgoddesses—Maha

deva the great grandfather of gods, Lakshmi the goddess of

fortune and prosperi ty, and elephant-headed Ganesh , who has

power over ci vi l matters. Some of the fragments found in this

palace seem to have belonged to a H indu temple. The quarters

are the most ex tensive and spacious of the bui ldings which stand

here, almost in a line from west to east, and were intended as

special apartments for the Emperor’

s chosen consort, or the

Emperor himself. E ntering from a lofty and ex quisitely carved

gateway, one comes on a platform, or open gallery, 177 feet by

57 feet, paved with sandstone flags and surrounded on all

sides bya colonnade wi th two-storeyed and three-storeyed rooms

on the north and south, the roofs being of sloping slabs, covered

with blue enamel. In another court close by, is an elegant

reservoir of water crossed by four raised passages wh ich meet in

the middle. This was, no doubt, a place of recreation for the

Emperor and the ladies of the royal household.

T he palace of the H indu princess, with those of I stamboli

Begum and the S onehri Manzil already described, are the

most superb of the whole series of bui ldings in this quarter.

Fergusson thus describes them The richest, the most beautiful, as well as the most characteristic of all his (Akbar

’

s)buildings here are three small pavilions said to have been

erected to please and accommodate h is three favourite Sul

tanas. They are small, but i t is impossible to conceive anythingso p icturesque in outline or any building carved and ornamented

to such an ex tent without the smallest approach to being overdoneor in bad taste.

”

S urrounding a quadrangular courtyard, north-west of the

H indu Princess’

s palace, are the stables for the accommodationof horses, elephants and camels. Like the other structures, theyare made of red sandstone andare ofmassive construction. The

Tho Sensin I n the vicini tyof the E lephant Gateway is a splendid bastion

called the Swngin Burj , the remnant of fortifications commenced

on a grand scale by Akbar, but discontinued subsequently,owing to the disapproval of the holyman, Salem Chishti , of thedesign to make Fattebpur a royal residence.

The 00mm“ Between the H athi P 01andSanginBurj isan ex tensiveCaravanSm'ae where resortedmerchants from distant parts of the E mpire

and from Afghanistan and the countries ofAsia, with their goals

for sale. H ere is aclosed gallerywith abeautiful pierced networkof stone, used by the ladies of the harem as a passage for com

munication with the difl'

erent apartments of the palaces. H ere

were displayed for sale to the fair residents mercantile stores con

sisting of embroidered silk fabrics, muslins, shawls and other

tex tures, and here are also pointed out jewellers’ shops, where

were ex hibitedpi les of goldand silverornaments andof the jewels

which embellished the royal dresses and robes. These, however,are all buried in their own debris, and only vestiges of them can

be seen here and there to showwhere they stood and wi th what

object theywere built.

Nothing is more depressing than the solitude of the dessrtsfl

dwellings and palaces once full of vi tality and the seat of a

literaryand lux urious court.

Under the higher parts of the rock to the westward, and

below the gateway of the great mosque is an elaborate system

Wm“.worn .ofwater works

, bywhich water was raised by means of a system

of P ersian wheels, and brought and collected in aseries of re

servoirs, and then distributed by means of conduit p ipes to

difierent parts of the residences on the hi lls.

Amongst these is a wide oblong masonry ham , or reservoir,from which coolwater was drawn up through a trap door in the

hot weather.

The H ans:

The height from the summit of the wall is about 100 feet,and

men and boysarealways foundreadyto amuse the visitorbyaleapfrom the t0p for a small gratuity, which is much valued by them.

Badaoni makes mention ofAnup Tatdo , or° Anup

’

s Tank in

Fattehpur S ikri , where the Emperor invited learned men and

the lawyers of the realm to hold meetings on religious questionl .mfih d

One night he invited Qazi Yalmb, Sheikh Abdul Fazl, H aji

I brahim and a fewothers, when a lively discussi on took place on

the legality, or otherwise, of a muta marriage (a temporary

agreement of matrimonial alliance I t was urged that, ac.

cording to the traditions of Imam Mali]: and the Shins, the

main marriage was legal, but that. according to the doctrines of

Imam Shafai and H anfiah , it was i llegal. Mulls Abdul KadirBadaoni gave it as his opinion that

,shoulda Q uazi of the Malki

sect decide that mute is legal, it is legal, according to the com

mon belief, even for Shias and H anfis. H is Majestywas much

pleasedwith this opinion.

I n the midst of a series of arcaded buildings, not far from

the D argah of Salem Ohisti , is aBaoli . a large pond, construe

ted ofmasonry. T he water of the pool is now stagnant, and

the cloisters or galleries all round Open towards i t. A. long

flight of steps leads to the cistern, and the place is so constructed

as to secure perfect privacy on the door leading to the steps

being properly closed. This was the bathing place for the ladia

of the royal household.

N orth of the hills there was, in the time of the Moghul Em The ancient

peters, a large lake closedbya huge embankment on one side, and

a range of bills on the other. This formed a large sheet of

water, six miles in length, by two in breadth, which, in Akbar’

s

time, supplied water to the inhabitants of the place and irrigated

the neighbouring fields and gardens.

Abul Fazl informs us, in the Akbarnama (V ol. I I I ), thatAbul M ’s

on the banks of this lake the princes and grandees of thedm ripm

Empire had their palaces and summer houses, which served as

retreats during the hot weather, where various sorts of pub

lic amusements were held. T he Emperor joined in these festive

entertainments, and the Amirs played chess and Ganjgia, agame

of cards. In the 2 7th year of the reign (1582 AD .)the embank

ment broke up , the water of the lake overflowed, the houses on

the bank were swept awayand great damage to property was

done, though no liveswere lost. The Emperor hadanarrowescape,

and offerings were made as a thanksgi ving to the Almighty. for

Tu t s i!

the safety of the King. The nobility followed the ex ample of

H is Majesty in this respect. The water was drained 03 duringthe administration of the H on

’ble James Thomason, Lieutenant}

Governor, N . W. P rovinces. The soi l has turned out most pro

ductive, and the culti vation of cereals is carried on very success

fully on i t. Chili is very ex tensi vely sown in the neighbourhood

of Fattebgur, the soil being particularly favourable for its growth.

The quarries of Fattebpur supply stone p illars, columns and

slabs for roofs of edifices in Agra and elsewhere in the N orth

Western P rovinces, while an ex tensi ve trade is carried on in

chakki s, orhandmills for grinding grain, which are articles of

household use and forwhich the demandis universal.

D uring the time ofAkbar there was an Imperial workshopin Fattehpur on the same scale as in Agra and Lahore, andaccording to the Ai n, carpets ofwonderful varieties and charm

ing tex tures were manufactured here . All k inds o f carpet.

weavers settled here and they produced masterp ieces. I n this

workshop skilfulmasters andworkmen were employed to teach

people an improvedsystem ofmanufacture, and not only were

hair-weaving andsilk-sp inning brought to perfection, but a taste

for fine materials became general.

S peaking of the trade in red sandstone, Abul Fazl writes in

chapter 86 of the Ain I t is obtainable in the hi lls of Fattah

pnr S ikri , H isMajesty’

s residence, and may be broken from the

rocks of anylength or breadth . Clever workmen chisel i t more

skilfully than any turner could do with wood ; and their works

vie with the picture book of Mani (the great painter of the

N ot far from the embankment of thedry lake previouslymen

tioned, andon the bank andin theneighbourhood of the Uta'ngm

Naddi , or rivulet, wild bogs in large numbers are found. The

Naddi produces large fish of fine flavour which are brought

into the streets of Agra for sale. P ea fowls, aquatic birds and

blue pigeons are also plentiful. They are entrapped by a race

of degenerated Indian gipsies called Kanja'rs, who subsist on

the flesh of the fox , jackal and beasts of prey, and eat lizards

mdother reptiles.

AGRA D ESCRI PTIV E .

reduced to ruins in fiftyyears. Akbar was the first to occupy i t

andthe last to build there, not asingle building hav ing been erected

after him. I ndeed, when Finch visi ted i t, in the early part

of thereign of Jahang ir, the son and successor of Akbar, he founr

i t hlmost deserted. H e thus describes the place

lying'

lik-

ea waste desert and very dangerous to pass thr'

ongl;~

in the night.” When Fnttehpur had reached the height of i ts

magnificence, the saint Salem C hishti found i t must inconvenient

to live there . H e had been attracted to the spot by i ts loneli

ness, and now, having attracted the attention of royalty, i t

hadbecome one of the most populous cities of India. T he bustle

of the busy ci ty, the gaieties and pageants of the court,interfered

with the saint’

s devotions. At last the Emperor, unaware of

the feelings of his spiritual guide commenced to surround the

hi lls wi th a chain of massive fortxfications. T he holyman could

then no longer restrain himself. H e told his royal disci ple that

he had travelled twenty times on p ilgrimages to Mecca. but his

peace had never been so much disturbed ; accordingly he ex press

cd h is wish that ei ther the E mperor or he should depart. I f i t

be yourMajesty’

s will, replied the E mperor, that one should go,

let it be your slave, I pray.

”Akbar removed to Agra, which city

he rebuilt. T he court and the townspeople‘

were transplanted to

the latter place, at that time a desolated spot ; and Fattehpur

S ikri, with its stupendous and p icturesque palaces, i ts elegant

mosques, described as the goodliest in the east, i ts unrivalledmau

soleum, i ts sumptuous residences and i ts deserted streets, remains

to this dayamonument of the splendour andwealth of i ts founder

and a testimony to the despotic power which a reputation for

sancti ty has in all ages conferred I n the eloquent words of the

practical Fergusson“Taking i t altogether, th is palace of P atteh

pur S ikri is a romance in stone such as few,very few

, are to be

found anywhere and i t is a reflex o i the mind of the great man

who built i t more distinct than can easily be obtained from any

other source.

S H E IKH SAL E M C H I S H T I .

T he circumstances under wh ich Sheikh Salem C hi shti settled

in Fattehpur S ikri , and the incidents which caused that

place, from being once an insignificant hamlet, to become one

SH E IKH SALEM C H ISH T I .

of the most flourishing cities of India and the cap ital of the

E mpire, have been already mentioned. A brief account of the

family of the saint who held so high a place for sanctity in India

during one of the best periods of i ts history will, no doubt, be

read with interest. Shaikh Salem. son of Sheikh Bahauddin,and

called C hi shti after the name of the vi llage in Persia whence

h is father came, was a lineal descendant of S heikh Farid-ud-din,

surnamed S hakargunj , son of Jamal-nd-din Salman. According

to the Alcbm'ne tm t of AbulFazl, Sheikh Farid traced his descent

from Farukh S hah , King of (‘

na I n the time of the great

Tartar conqueror, C hengez Khan, one of his ancestors, Q uazi

S hoeb, came to the D istrict of Lahore and settled in the

town of Kasur. H e was much respected by Sultan Balham and

subsequentlywent to Multan. S heikh Farid-ud din was born

i n Khotowal, in Multan. H aving heard of the religious sancti ty

o f Khawja Kntb-ud-din usi, the Khulifa,

or successor, of Khwaja

Moin-ud-din,he went to D elhi and became his disciple. O u his

death the Sheikhs of the time unanimouslyrobed him with the

as intly cloak of the deceased saint, and Farid-ud-din settled in

P ak P atten ,then known as Ajuddhn,

where he died, on 5th

hi ohurram 668 H (1 2 69 A. D .)

According to the ?abalcati Akbari , S heikh Saleni S ikriwal

was one of the most revered S heikhs of India and surpassed all

the devotees o f his time in sancti ty and austerity. H e possess

ed the power ofmiracles (se the author says)and had performed

p i lgrimage to Mecca twenty four times in his life . H e then

travelled to H lJaZ. Once he remained in Mecca for fifteen years.

H is Majesty the shadow of God (Akbar)made Fattehpur his

capital for his sake. H e died in 979 H . (I571 A.

Abul Fazl, in the Akbm'nama mentions Sheikh Ahmad, the

second (mi am'

) son of Sheikh Salem. E u was possessed of

h igh virtues, never spoke i ll of any body and was never seen in

anger. H e was of reserved habi tsand dignified demeanour.

’

H e

was created an Ami r (noble of the E mp ire) and was honoured

with the distinction of becoming the Atka to the heir-apparent.

H e caugh t cold in the campaign of Malwa, and, arriv ing at

Fatehpur S ikri , had an attack of paralysis. As the Royal campA Turki word meaning husband of wet nurse.

AGBA : D ESCRI PT IV E .

was about to move to Ajmere, he came to pay his last respects

to his Majesty, and, immediately on his return to his house,

breathed his last .

T he event occurred in the 2 2ndyear of Akbar’

s reign (985A. H .

or 1577 A. H e served in the court with Sheikh Ibrahim.

Sheikh Ibrahim was son of Sheikh Muss , elder brother of

S heikh Salem,who lived a retired life in S ikri . Ibrahim li ved

chieflyat court, in the service of the Princes, and in the 2 3 rd

year of the reign was appointed Governor of Fattehpur S ikri .

In the 2 8th year, he served with distinction under Khan- i-Az im

Mirza Aziz Kokah, in Behar and Bengal, and when, in the

3oth year, Akbar went to C abul, he wasmade Governor of Agra,which post he held until his death, in 999 (1590 A. D H e was

also son-in-lawof Sheikh Salem.

Sheikh Bayazid (Moazzam Khan)was grand son of Sheikh

Salem. Bayazid’

s mother nursed P rince Salem (Jahang ir) on

the day of his birth . I n Akbar’

s time he rose to the command

of but after Jahangir’

s accession, he recei ved the rank of

with the title ofMoazzam Khan. S oon after, he was made

Governor of D elhi , and in the 3 rdyearof Jahangir’

s reign he rose

to the command of and 200 horse. H e died at Fattehpur

where he was buried.

Islam Khan Sheikh (Alauddin) another grand son of S heikh

Salem,married the sister of Abul Fazl. H e was Governor of

Bengal, where he died°

in 102 2 (1613 A .

Mukarram Khan, son of Sheikh Bayazid, married the daughter

of Islam Khan, whom he served in Bengal. H e was made

Governor of Orissa, and in the 2 1st year of Jahangir’

s reign was

made Governor of Bengal, vice H asan Ali Turkoman .

I t wi ll be interesting to know what men renowned in the

political history of Akbar’

s time lie buried in the oncemetropoli

tan city of Fattehpur.

1 . Sultan Khwaja (Azam Khan), son of Khwaja Khawind

D ost , is described in the Tabakat as a saintly philosopher. H e

enjoyed in a high degree the confidence and friendshi p of the

166 1am : bmcmrrm t.

incidents known to E astern history. Jahangir, when a prince,

became enamoured of Mehr-ul-nissa, the beautiful daughter of

MirzaGhias Beg Tehrani , Lo rd H igh Treasurer of Akbar. S he

had been previously aflianced to Ali Knli Beg I stalju (S her

Afghan Khan). a a lcoman nobleman who was S q fctrchi or

table attendant of Shah Ismail II, King of Persia. After the

King’

s death , Ali Kuli came to India, and at Multan met Mirza

Abdul Rahim, Khan-i-Khanan, son of Behram Khan, the general

and tutor of Akbar. D uring the War at Thatta, he rendered

distinguishedservice underthe Khan- i -Khanan

, and,on his rocem

mendation, was created anoble of the E mpire. T he treasurer’

s

wife had access to the Queen Mariam Zamani , Akbar’

s wi fe, and

at her palace the eyes of Salim and Mehrnlnissa met. T he

passionwas mutual. Akbar, having heardof the amour, honour

ablyresolved that his son’

s passion should not interfere wi th the

completion of the union. S he was married to her betrothed and

sent wi th him to Burdwan, h is Jagir.

T he young nobleman accompanied the prince on his ex pedi

tion against the Rana of Mewar and for h is gallantry in the

fieldreceived from him the ti tle of Sher Afgan,or the lion ki ller.

Jahangir, on ascending the throne, sent Ali Kuli to h is Jag ir.

H is passion for Nnr Jahan rev ived, and he charged his foster

brother, Kutbuddin Khan,to rid him of his hated rival. Kutb

ordered Sher Afgan to C ourt, but the latter refused to go .

Kutb then sent Ghiasa,his sister

’

s son, to Burdwan, to persuade

S her Afgan that no lumn wouldbe done to him. H e himself

followedGhiasa to Burdwan. O u his ap proach , S her, ex pecting

no treachery, went to receive him, accompanied by two men.

Kutb, seeing him, lifted up his horse whip as a signal to his

followers to cut down S her. What is all this ex claimed S her.

Kuth ,advancing towards Sher, np

'

oraideJhim for h is disobedience.

T he royalists nowattacked S her, who killed si x men wi th his

own hand. Rushing then wi th his sword against Kntb, he

gave him a deep wound in the abdomen. Kntb, who was a

corpulent man, seizing his protruding bowels wi th his hands,

called on his men to despatch the scoundrel. Ambah Khan, a

Kashmerian noble of royal blood, thereupon advancing against

S her, inflicted a sword cut over the head, but S her cut h im

through with his sword at the same time. Seeing that he must

S IKAND RA.

fall a victim to the number of his assailants, be challenged

them to single combat ; but this was an invitation which they

were ill-prepared to accede to.

S her dismounted from h is horse, and turning his face to

wards Mecca and taking up earth, threw i t on his head byway

of ablation, for want of water, and stood his ground firmly.

H is bodywas p iercedbybullets discharged by the crowds of assai l

ants who surrounded him,and he fell like a lion, as his name was.

N ot a single man of his numerous assailants dared to approach

the corpse of the fallen hero, such was the terror inspired by his

bravery, unti l they had actually seen h im in his last agonies.

Kutbuddin was sti ll on horseback when he heard that Sher had

been killed. H e sent Ghiasa to bring the effects and family of

S her from Burdwan. H e was then removed in a palanquin, but

died on the way. H is corpse was taken to Fattehpur S ikri ,

where it was buried.

A handsome domedmausoleum sti ll stands in the neighbour

hood of Burdsan, and marks the last resting place of the hero,

S her Afgan.

3 . Quadri of S hiraz . H e was an ex cellent post and came Q uadri

from Mecca to India, where he was well recei ved by Akbar. H e

subsequently fell into disgrace and died at Fattehpnr S ikri .

S IKAN D RA.

At'

some little distance from the right bank of the Jumna is

the old military road used by the Mughals in travelling north

west to Lahore and Kashmir, now converted into an ex cellent

h ighway by Bri tish enterprise. I t has been aptly called the

App ian way’

of Agra, being traversed by culti vated fields,strewn for miles with the remains of oldmonuments which recall

to mind ancient ages. There is the old D elhi gate of the

i mperial walls, a massive structure of red sandstone, sti ll in a

g ood state of preservation, and some of the ancient mile-stones.

O n one side is the D istrict Jail and on the other the Lunatic

Asylum, both on sites of ancient buildings of which nobody

The designthemausoleum.

AGRA D ESC RI PT IV E .

knows anything now. Amidst thesemuti lated remains of ancientmight and greatness is the vi llage S ikandra,

‘ in the vicinityof

which, in the garden of Bahisht Abad, stands the singular andof solid tomb of Akbar, amonument of surpassing beauty. I t was

designedand commenced by the great Emperor himself and is

the most characteri stic of Akbar’s bui ldings. Though apparentlyafter a H indu, ormore correctly Buddhist, model, i t is quite

singular in shape, and, according to the best judges, unlike any

othermonument erected to the memory of man in the oriental

world. A recent German wri ter has justly observed, as Akbarwas unique amongst his contemporaries, so was his place ol

burial amongst other Indian tombs—indeed one may say, with

confidence, amongst the sepulchres of all Asia.’

Like the count

less memorials of his beneficent rule, like the numberless goodworks of h is long and happy reign, the stone symbol of his

creative genius which enshrines his mortal remains wi ll ever

stand the admiration of the whole world. Lofty as was Akbarin soul, great as was his might and magnificence. he has left a

monument to himself equally great, rich in variety of detai l,

copious in i ts amazing beauties, charming in the jux taposition

of its various parts. I t is due to the fertile imagination and

broad mind possessed by this great-souled man that, centuries

after his death, travellers from the remotest regions of earth are

moved to enthusiasm by the mere sight of h is mausoleum,

the monument of his own genius. What power of conquer

ing men’

s minds must not this great dead have possessed

in life

The tomb stands in the m1dst of an ex tensive square garden

(forming an area of about a mile or more in circuit), g irt bya battlemented wall, each side of which has in i ts centre a

lofty gateway of deep-toned red sandstone. T he red colour o f

these structures is delightfully broken by delicate minareta

of white marble at the angles, as wellas bydecorations of glazed

blue tiles and other inlaywork of ex quisite beauty. The state ly

height and magnificence of the gates is such that each in

itselfmight be mistaken for a palace.

According to common accounts, it is named after Sikandar Lodi , t h esecond Emperor of the Lodi dynasty.

BIKANDBL

LOng before the mausoleum is reached, its tall, slendermina

rets andwhite domes greet the traveller’s eye from afar. Reach

ing it, you pass thewestern or principal portal, upwards of

seventy feet high, w1th mutllated turrets and double arches, one

facing the entrance and the other one of the four grand cause

ways of hewn stone, that converge to the central platform on

which the monument stands.

Above the grandportal is the Nakkdr Khana, ormusic gallery, T he yak“,

a spacious arcaded chamber, with a balcony, fromwhich , at oneKm ‘

watch after sunrise and at dawn, kettle—drums were beaten inhonour of the dead, together with their accompaniments, the

Kmma, Nafi'

ri ,1' 8ad and other instruments. The room

whence once issued royal music is now occupied by a Bri tish

sergeant. There are also quarters for the custodians of the tomb,and the mtuas, who perpetuallyrepeatedthe Kordn at the grave.

T he interior spaces of the four wide sections are laid out as

gardens and filledwith frui t trees of all sorts (among which the

tamarindand some other trees are almost as old as themonument

i tself); but the gardens are entirely neglected now, and the

immense tanks andelegant fountain basins, in the centre of the

causeways, and th e water-courses which transect the beds of

fragrant flowers and odorous forest creepers that were once the

charms of this abode of paradise,’

are dry. T he platform of

whi te marble which terminates these magnificent approaches

forms a base of above 400 feet in length and breadth, and on it

rises the curious structure of red sandstone in fine terraces in

a pyramidal form. The lower storey, 3 0 feet in height, measures

3 2 0 feet on each side, ex clusive of angle towers, and is composed

entirelyof wide and Open arches, ten on each side surroundedby

rows of cupolas, the three to the east, west and north being large

and lofty, and the fourth to the south, facing the sarcophagus,

loftier still. A sloping passage leads from the main entrance to

the mortuaryhall, a vaulted chamber in the pavement, 3 8 feetTh M

square, and here, under a plain unpretending tombstone, almost mfg Hall.

sublime in its simplicity, repose the mortal remains of the great

Emparor.

A kind of C itrone.

1:A kind of pipe.

1m : nmomrrwn.

The ball is covered with dark blue plaster and gold. In

opposi tion to the prevai ling Mahomedan custom,which requires

the dead man’

s face to be turned in the direction of Mecca, thetomb of Akbar

’

is so situated that his head is to the west. C onse

quently his face is to the east and the rising sun, therebygivingindication of the Emperor

’s H indu proclivity. O u the tomb are

always lying wreaths of flewers, and L ord Northbrooke, the late

Governor-General, has given proof of his sense of admiration for

the great-souled dead by providing it wi th a gorgeous covering

at his own ex pense. Welldoes the memoryof Akbardeserve such

recognition byall lovers of true merit in the departed great.

T he fervour of a noble German mindwas ex cited as he laid his

roses on the grave of this bigh-minded king ; as the following

passage from the pen of P rince Fredrick Augustine of Schleswig

H olstein,C ount von Noer, will show Then there came vivid

ly to my mind some words of the amiable and open-minded

S leeman, considering all the circumstances of the time and

place, Akbar has always appeared to me among sovereigns as

Shakespearwasamong poets, and,feeling as a citizen of the world,

I revered the marble slate that covers his bones, more perhaps

than I should that one of any other sovereign wi th whose h is

toryI am acquainted.

’ I too could say that no other burial place

had so movedme as this of Akbar.

”

Bythe side of the tomb lay the books, raiments and armour

of the Emperor, ready to his hand if he were to rise ; but these

were, during the last century, carried awaybythe Jets ofBharat

pur, and i t is conjectured that some of these relics might still be

traced somewhere in that S tate i f a search for them were

made.

T he various Above the first terrace rises another, 14 feet 9 inches high ,

£ 21

3 23

“;sandmeasuring 186 feet on each side. The thirdis 15 feet 2 inches,the “hen

and the fourth 14 feet 6 inches high, all composed of turrets,

columns, arches and p illars of red stone, each terrace gradually

diminishing in size, but in open arched galleries, till they

terminate on the summit in an open enclosure 157 feet on

each side, which is just half the size of the lowest terrace.

T he whole mausoleum thus formed rises to the height of

100 feet.

AGRA 3 D ESC RIP TIVB.

At the head of the tombstone are inscribed in bold relief in the

P ersian characters the words

God is Great.”

and these two simple words are enough to tell who lies below.

At the foot of the tombstone appear the words

u se rs

Magnificent is H is Glory.

O n either sides of the sarcophagus are inscribed the ninety

nine attributes of the D eity, in raised Arabic characters of

elaborate scroll-work. At the four angles are turrets of white

marble, the domes of which are covered with g ilded and

enamelled Chinese tiles. The block at its base is surrounded by

a Mosai c pavement of white and black marble, while at its

head is a sort of half pillar, with a circular cavity of a few

inches in diameter at the tap, where formerly was kept a golden

001183 12

T he mm The two minarets on either side of the main entrance to there“

garden of Bah ishtabad had their tops blown away by the Janwhen theysackedAgra in 1764, andamark is thus left on these

elegant structures of their wantonness. T he minarets were

formerly coveredwi th domes and open pavilions which have longsince been destroyed. Fergusson thinks the highest storey was

never finished, and, from the traces of foundations on this

terrace, conjectures that it was intended to have a Splendid

ceiling and adome of considerable size over the present marble

enclosure. H owever that may be, there is nothing to detract

T he words serve the double purpose oi.praisin God as eat and pointing

to thegorsen (Akbar, meaning great) enshrmed in t e mauso cum. In an other

sense, yomitting the adjunct, theymean that God is Akbar,”namely Ak bar

is God’ wh1ch was the essence of the new D ivine fai th created by Ak bar.

This is, however, susce

gti ble of an ex p lanation that, according to the S ufi

doctrines followed byAir ar, God

’

s hght or sp irit is in every obyect . animateor inanimate, and t na Akbar

’s followers argued he was the s in t of God

,or

God himself, for, as k ing , he wasshadow ofGod and recei ved light from on h igh .

The ambiguity of'

the ex presaron. nevertheless,is qui te obvious, thoug h an

attemp t has Men in emously made to ex p lain 11; b the words inscri bed atthe foot which ra the magmficence of H is 3 ory, wh ich could on] bethe attribute of od. T he Emperor caused the same words (A11ah-o—Akbar

Ml “UI to be engraved on his seal and had them inserted on the heading of

all ublic correspondence. At one time he ordered them to be substi tuted fthe 3rdinary salutation Salam-alabum (peace be wi th you)to which answer 172:given JamJalalo 1m M a

,

» (magnificent is H is Glory).

from the intrinsic value of the reali tyas it now ex ists. P eculiar

in style of architecture, unique in plan and ex ecution, it is a

perfect work of art. As remarked by the German Prince

alreadyalluded to, it is only in the closest neighbourhood to thebui lding that one receives a just impression of it as a whole,with its magnificent height and wi th its amazing wealth and

gracious variety of detai l. Such is the enhancement of this

reali ty that one seems face to face with some fairy castle of

ancient legend.

’

The noble P rince thus concludes his eloquent

notice of thi smonument : To me i t was all like a dream, but

on myreturn to Agra, I formed the resolution to hold in remem

brance Akbar and the age of Akbar.”

Although the mausoleum was designed by Akbar himself,who had great part of it constructed in his own life-time, there is The bui ld

no doubt that it reached completion m the time of his son andmy

wmugm

successor, Jahangir, who modified the buildings. That emperor Bi l”

has given the following notice of the mausoleum in the M k,

his autobiography, in connection with the events of the 3rdyear

of the reign :

O uMonday, the 17th of Jamadi -ul-sani , I started on foot

(from Agra)to paymy homage and reSpects to the illuminated“hand"

resting-

place ofmy father, the dweller of the 9th heaven Arsh aceonntof the

ashywni )! H ad it been possible for me, I should have

traversed this distance walking bymy eye lids and bymy head.

Myrevered father, to fulfil a vow which he had made for mybirth , travelled on foot from Fattehpur to Ajmir, a distance of

1 2 0 kos, to pay his respects to the mausoleum of H is H oliness

Khawaja Moin-ud-din Sanjri Chishti . Were I to traverse the

distance on my head and on my eyes, what act wonderous should

I have performed ? H av ing acquired the honour of a visi t to the

i lluminated tomb, I ex amined carefully the buildings which had

been constructed on it. I t struck me that these were not such as

I should have wished, formydesire was that the edifice should

be such that travellers from the remotest corners of the world

should confess that the equal of it theyhad never seen anywhere

on the earth’

s surface. While the building was in progress, the

unfortunate Khusrow rebelled, and I was‘

under the necessityof

Thiswas the ti tle gi ven to Akbar after death.

AGBA 3 m m .

proceeding to Lahore. The architects, according to their own

understanding . progressed with the work in a fashion which

seemed to them best. They made certain innovations, until

the whole of the moneysanctioned for the building was spent in

a space of two or four years. By my orders other artisans,

well-versed in the art of architecture, in consultation with skilful

engineers, rebuilt certain parts, according to models that were

approved oi. Bydegrees amagnificent bui lding was constructed.

Aroundthe illuminated mausoleum ex tensi ve gardens were laid

out, anda lofty and stupendous gateway, comprisirig minarets

of white marble,was constructed.

I t was reported to me that, in all, fifteen lacs ofRupees

equal to fifty thousand Tomans of Iran, and forty-five lacs of

Khani , the current coin of Turan, had been spent on the building .

”

Thomas H erbert, who visited Agra during the reign of

Jahangir, has given the following notice of the S ikandraMauso

leum in his Travels.

At S ikandra, fivemiles from Agra as we go to L ahore, is the

mausoleum or burial-place of the great Mughal, the foundation

of which was begun byAkbar, the superstructure continued by

Jahangir, his son, andyet scarce finished, albeit theyhave already

consumed fourteen millions of rupees in that wonder of India.

O i this noble fabric I maysaysuch amonument

The sun through all the world sees none more great.

The following is the inscription on the grand southern portal

leading to the mausoleum

rb f 's“ 1"“U‘f“ !

w e t.“5! P fi gl ‘a‘ ufi lau r

(M calyé) “i n an ly ln l é é

“ yu lw a l fl i l “25”

w b l fi‘l av

:de n )!

V J? “ Je l‘l g d bfi (

b ej l néu ls

T his is a niche h igher in loftiness than the highest henn a,

I ts shade has given lust re to the sh ining stars.

T o the nine heavensand seven climes this niche has g iven their grace,

Fo r it belongs to the King Akbar'

s illuminated resting place.

12 th Jnmadi-ul-Ahhir.

1014 A.H . (1605

The following poems are inscribed on the arches of upper

most storey around the sarcophagus of the tomb. There are 3 6

archeddoors, nine on each side, one couplet being inscribed on

each arch

p a: 5! s)e Tyg w xsd

0 &5 ) w fl ) { l o fl

'

l

dyead e-t fl-l’u' fi cvlit dfi

v yi l J)! uati j r

l lt re

a: a ui i l m u

)K at&alJu j u f

v i fl é ’)

JKJ U JJ

J

Q M. ) afie y‘t

J“ N ) M: w? M y

!)

c eas afi -i ob .(I

dldj du j lw l ) l§ 3l 'u lve

IU J-(Jfi fi ugm i d lz j

a

J li h’ajiai c—AJ J "J?“

G10 “ l b w é i j

f

af fi lc yl t Lfi .

slid 4

Jr), 8K) M

Ou account of the faithlessaess of this world,

Be proceeded to the world of eternity.

fl ayGod ever keep his soul happy,

Andm yheaven’s domain ever flourish through him

Tomb of I n a room to the east of Akbar’

s tomb is the tomb of h is

daughter, Aram Bano Begam. T he marble sarcophagus is o f

ex quisite beauty and adorned with carved ornamentation of the

most chaste workmanshi p. At the head of the sarcophagus is

the inscription

0 God, forg ive my sins.

And at the foot the inscription

T his is the tomb of Arum Bsuo.

D a either side of the sarcophagus is inscribed in the P ersian

characters the passage from the Koran known as the Ayatul

The m l, of I n another room,to the west of Akbar

’

s tomb, is the tomb

S h imof Shakurulnissa Begam, another of Akbar

’

s daughters.

’ I n

elegance of style and ex cellence and puri ty of construction i t

resembles ex actly the tomb of Aram Bano. At the head of the

grave is inscribed the prayer

?o’séjfi lfrui

0 God, forgi ve my sins.

And at the foot is the inscri ption

This is the tomb of Shakurnlnissa Begam.

The tomb of Close to the tombs above mentioned is ‘the tomb of Mirza

mhsiku

fi.

Suleman S hikoh, son of the Emperor S hah Alam, and own

brother of Akbar Shah II, who died in Agra in 1 253 A. H .

Shewas married to Shah Rukh Mirza. son of Mirza I brah im, son ofMirzaSnleman, generallycalled Walt of Bsdakhshsn. See C hapter I I I .

SIKAND BL .

(1837 A. D .)andwas buried here. T he sarcophagus, which is of

marble, bears the following inscription :

yr “, wm a aas i gaae u n lw : 5 ,1 1 » ,s

laa w fl u fi sjl g g é u j d gll lé »! u s uj ps uhe

sh amhg l rf l 0 14 }.t Jul x él) d f j r

e c yl

-

g jts su alg r

i le

God, Mohamed, Ali, Fatima, H ussan and H ussuin.

WhenMirza Suleman Shikoh departed

From this transitoryworld to the world of eternity,I t was then the year twelve hundred and fi tty

-thrce,

And the date twenty-ninth of Zitaad.

At that time the inv isible voice was heard saying,

Say, God has hadmercy on the king .

’

The illuminated sepulchre of P rinceMirzaSuleman Shikoh ,Mohamed Shah Alam,

the k ing valiaat.

To the west of this tomb is another tomb, highly interesting Anotherfor the chasti ty of its design and the richness of i ts ornamen

tations. I t is not known to whom this tomb belongs. Mr.

Bea], in hisMifta- td-Tawar ikh, conjectures that it is the tomb of

Rukia S ultan Begum, the daughter of Mirza H andial, the senior

wi fe ofAkbar, who died at Agra in 1030 A. H . T he Arabic iacrip tion on the sarcophagus is as follows

firfl'w j '“l"r‘“e

.

fiu l yum wi l d l t -W l as s." dwarfism»

s! I ma , NWall ll “J! Art! Jig " amAll 3

£ 537 M u lwl é . bbo " J=~ awl )'

d‘

sw yl rs fl lg b fi a fl ”ai llwn w

182 mm : nnsemm vs.

la the name of God themerci ful and compassionate.

There is noGod but God, the L ord true andmanifest there is no God

but God. the C reatorand possessor of knowledge there is no God but God ,

the God Almighty and helper. H ereby I witness that there is no God but

H e : H e is the onewith no compeer : hereby 1 Witness that Mohammed is

the servant andmessenger of God; hereby l witness that the uni ty of God

is true that the death of the dead is true ; that the fire of hell is trurc that

the O ld and New Testaments are true that the P salms of David are tme

that the Alkoran is true that the scales of the D ay of Judgernent are true

and the bridge of the Day of Judgemeut is true. V erily the D ay of Jndgment

is to come there is no doubt regarding it. And verily God shall make to

rise those in the tombs . In T hymercy alone I rely, 0 H ost Merc iful

God !

T H E T OMB O F IT IMAD -UD -D AUL A.

Across the pontoon bridge, on the left bank of the ri ver, is

the garden tomb of I timad-ud-D aula. I t stands within a quad.

rangular enclosure, in the centre of a garden, upon a sandstone

terrace 149 feet square and 3 -4 feet high from the ground,

The garden is well kept and stocked with flowers, plants, shrubs,andtall cypress trees. T he lower, or central, hall standing on this

terrace is a parallelogram, measuring 2 2 feet 3 inches on each

side. T he floor consists ofmarble, richly decorated with mosaic

work. The real tombs of the Wazir and his wife are in this hall.Theyare of a yellow variety of porphyry, of high polish and

surpassing beauty and elegance. O u the walls are inscriptionsin the Toyhra characters from the Koran, Sums, I m mP atelma, Mozamblc and Taba

’

rakal L azi , boldly carved out

of beautiful stone. The hall is surrounded by small chambersin which are the tombs of other members of the same fami ly.

I n the centre of the structure, on the first floor, is an elegant

pavilion, reached by a sandstone staircase and coyered byoblong dome, topped with two pinnacles of gold. The

cenotaphs in this upper room are of plain marble, but containno inscriptions. At the four corners of the second storey are

four round towers, about 440 feet high surmounted by marble

TH I TO H B OF IT IH AD -UD -D AULA.

kiosques. The whole structure is ofwhi te marble, inlaid wi th

coloured stones and representing in arabesque beautiful patterns

of flowers, cypress trees, vases and other decorations formed

of gems, as in the Taj , but of lessdelicacy, though producing

a most agreeable general effect. These ornaments are dis

played to the best advantage by the light thrown from marble

lattice work on the walls, which are of ex quisi te beauty and

elegance, admitting free passage of air and light and, by their

delicacy ofdesign and combination of artistic meri ts, contributingmaterially to the beauty of the building .

The walls of I tirnsd-ud-D aula to the west are washed by

the waters of the river Jamna, and a fine viewof the river

front ofAgra C i ty is obtained from the summit of the miners

on the four corners.

I timad-ud-D aula, after whom the garden-tomb is known, H istory of

is the surname of Mirza Ghias Beg, a P ersian adventurer fromgifi’

ff'm'

Tehran, father of the celebrated N ur Jahan and of her brother

Asaf Khan,whose daughter, Mumtaz Mahal. the lady of the

Taj , was the Queen of the E mperor S hah Jahan. From the

post of Lord Treasurer to the empire, he was raised to the

digni ty of Wazir, which he held unti l his death, which occurred

at Kangra, on his way to Kashmir, in 162 1-2 2 . H is bodywas embalmed and brought to Agra by his imperial daughter,who raised over i t the present mausoleum. H is son was

,

on his death, appointed to the vacant ofi ce, under the

title of Asi f Khan. Jahangir, in his autobiography, has g i ven

an interesting account of his father-ia- law. H e was a poet,

and imitated the old classics. H e was genial and jovial, of a

lively and humorous temperament, punctual in his habits

and anx ious to do good to the people. H e was liked by every

bodyand had no enemies. H e was never idle, and his oflicial

accounts were always in the greatest order. The dutiful son- ia

lawalso places i t among the revered old man’

s merits that he

“ liked bribes and freely and without reserve asked for them.

”

When the oldministerwas on the point of death, the EmperorH is km

and his wife, N ur Mabal, happened to be byhis bedside. Themoments.

daughteraskedher father if he recognized H isMajesty. Instantly,

L GBA D ESC RII T IV I .

the dying Minister repeated the following verse from a P ersian

poet

E ven if aborn-blindman should happen to be present,

110 willat once recognize t'

1e chief by the splendour of h is brow.

A short time afterwards, the old man died. T he tomb was

completed by the Wazir’

s imperial daughter in 162 8. T he

Empress at first proposed to bui ld over his remainsamausoleum

of solid si lver ; but she was dissuaded by her archi tect from car

rying out her resolution, on the p lea that silver was like]y to

ex cite the cupidity of thieves and of beholders, and that marble

would be more beautiful and lasting, whi le less portable and

less costly.

O L D MO NUME NT S [N T H E C ITYAN D T H E

SUBURBS .

T ,“ JdmdOpposite the princi pal gateway of the Fort, on the north

west, stands the Jam Masj id, or the C athedral Mosque. I t was

built byJahan Ara. Begam,the elder daughter of S hah Jahan

,

called the Begam Saheb, whose modest epitaph in D elhi has

been often noticedby travellers. H er influence over her father,

whose captivityshe subsequently shared, was known and felt

to the ex tremi ties of the Empire. S he drew enormous allow

ances from the Imperial Treasury, and the nobles of the

empire gave her costly presents. T he mosque is bui lt of red

saud-stone and is situated on araised platform, surrounded by a

colonnade of the same material. I t is reachedby a broad fligh t

of steps, eleven feet high. T he main building, 130 feet long by

100 feet broad, is to the west. I t is divided into three compart

ments panelledwi th white marble, with red stone borders, and

supported byrows of arches, there being five archways in th e

front, and one large and two smaller ones on each side, all open

ing on a spacious courtyard. The central archway is over 4-0

TH E JAMA MASJI D .

feet in width. At each corner of the roof stands an octagonal

domedcupola, and the front is adorned wi th a row of smaller

square cupolas, of great beauty. From the four corners of the

roof of the central apartment rise four slender minarets, and

from its rear three large domes, inlaidwith wide bands alternately of sand-stone and white marble.

The mosque is a fine structure of bold design, ex cellent finish

andmagnificent proportions.

The cloisters on the east side,together with the eastern gate

way, which were very imposing, were destroyed during the

mutiny for strategical reasons.

As the inscription shows, the mosque was bui lt in 1058 A. H .

(1648 AD .)at a cost of five lacs of rupees, and i t took five

years to complete.

O n the top of the central arch is inscribed the following

passage in Arabic :

I “ , I 16 o 1 1 , a v g I o I

JW'J L

i” L"

fi ll L

1 u “1

I l'

p l f

l! I o l ' o’ 05

as !» u, ma n

,~ l

vab lel ‘1g l,

6 0 I 6 0 6 0 l l 9 0 fl I 0 1 00 1 0

I o’ l l l ' l g ’ I d o I f a w ’ 0 I I I I I I

a 0

C

. 0.a

Q

n “Lynn»

, fi llu b si lldf “) (7

, dis: traw l

l l g ’ l l " 9 o f ofu 'o 0" Av" , 1 0

In the name of God the merciful and compassionate.

By the sun, and i ts rising brig htness ; by the moon. when it f 1 llowethh im ; by the day, when it showeth h is splendour ; by the night, when it

cov ereth h imwith darkness by the heaven and H imwho built it ; by the

earth and H im who spread i t forth by the soul, and H im who comp letely

T his is the Sarah Sh mms (the sun of the Alkoran, C ha ter XC I , lat Mecca. According to Zamakhshari , t e Mohamedau who a all devo ti

e

tlye

aae‘

dth i l M shall be rewarded as if h M 1) to d

'

l 11themoon enlighten in theircourse.

we m m‘ a “m “Wm “ d

24

186 AGBA : nsscatm vn

formed i t and insp ired i t with its faculty of distinguising and power of

choosing between wickedness and p iety now is he who hath puuified the

same, happy but he who hath corrupted the same, is miserable.

'

l‘

hauuiel

accused their prophet Ssleh of imposture, through the ex c ess of their

wickedness : when the wretch among them was sent to slay the camel ;

and the apostle of God said unto them, L et alone the camel of God and

hinder not her drinking .

" But they charged him with imposture and they

slew her. Wherefore their L orddestroyed them for their crime,and made

their punishment equal unto them all and he feareth not the issue thereof.

I n the middle of the arch is inscribed the Ayat-ul-km'

si , a

passage from the Koran. The passage is as follows .

5 g: l ” g :o ’ OW O ao 0 ' C I p "Lo

’ t ‘:

’f °: g 5 0 0° 0 ’ p

’l nu t: 83

"galls w 3 o tynJ

Lo l u -Jl JLo U

9 9 a 1 l 0 o a (. a p o o " 0 '

a” o J, o ’ 9 , ’5 o; 0 I l l 0 6

“t 80 l” law} es , su b ) ’1 h i s

4 I 0 I'f 4

5 . 9 . r

y‘ a

God,there is no God but H e the ever-living and the self-subsisting ,

neither slumber nor sleep seizeth H im to him belongeth whatsoever is in

heaven and on earth. Who is he that can intercede with H im, but throug h

H is good pleasure ? IIe knoweth that which is past and that which is ( 0

come unto them, and they shall not comprehend anything of H is knew

ledge, but so far as H e pleaseth. H is throne is ex tended over heaven and

earth ; and the preservation of both is no burden unto H im. H e is the

h igh and mighty.

Around the arch is inscribed the following P ersian passage

w e. W ) l) g t”) 9

3 J ) c) “Stat. J afw eow 'o

g el

v135! w fi ej

li im l)a£'

jf w ale: u l~

JUU é aw d o

'

é r

M E; g li ) ts W 1 .) w h e y t ) ai i t u r

e a” )

u la zs l 4 &3 ) ’i u ua le d —I ) aea

« h e t fh u") lart tsu a fl u i j lj

irsmw s u e b

AGRA D E SC RI PTN E .

Bylalmamur and the palace of the firmament, and mayGod ever render

this holy place, founded for public worship, an object of blessing . C om

pleted in 1058 A. H . (1648 A. D .)

The mosque was closed to the Mohamedans after the mutinyof 1857, on the ground that it was too close to the fort and

might be used for the purposes of a popular rising.

Lord John L awrence, as Governor-General, acting in the

same honourable spirit of toleration which characterised his°

whole career, finding, in 1858, that i t was still shut up , gave

orders that it should at once be thrown Open and restored to its

rightful owners. Great credit is also due for this benevolent

and just measure to Mr. John Batten, who, as C ommissioner of

Agra, brought the facts to the notice of the V iceroy and for

many years afterwards, writes Bosworth Smith, the Biographer

of John Lawrence, the names of Jan Battan’

and Jan Larens’

might have been heard in the prayers of the faithful in the

mosque, and they thus afl'

ordedone proofmore that it is toleration

and not intolerance which strengthens our hold on the country.

”

From the Railway S tation, a few minutes'

dri ve along a

metalled road to the north-east of the ci ty wi ll lead the visitor

to another place of recreation, the Rani Bagh , called by

some the Aram Bagh (the garden of repose), but better known

as the Rem Bagh. This is one of the oldest garden

enclosures in Agra in which was the garden palace of Nut

Afshan, noticed in Baber’s memoirs. I t was the scene of

many imperial p ic-nics in the time of Baber and his successors,

and served, as i t does now, as an orchard and pleasure ground.

The jovial emperor, wi th his gay courtiers and jolly companions

of both sex es, spent his leisure hours in revels, si tting in the

moon-light and open air, on the banks of a fountain, filled with

grape wine, and giving a personal ex ample of merry-making in

the fash i on described in the well-known Persian couplet of h is

own composi tion

L ’s )“UJQ J) g

‘ J Jl‘t' i ’3, USN “

“ ? t fl u dfl le a‘ afi f u

tw fi I4

The BytazMamur. believed to be the temp le of angels, is.according to thebelief of the Mohamedans. above the seven heavens.

m m mien.

H ow delightful are the clouds,the new spring, the wine and the

company of a sweet-hsart l

T ry, 0 Baber ! to be merry, for we cannot again some to this world

when from it we once depart 1

I t was the temporary resting-

place of the body of the

Emperor Baber before i t was removed to Kabul. The name

Ram Bagh was given to i t by the Mahrattas.

T he gardens are ex tensive and comprise difierent terraces

wh ich rise one above another and are di vided into square beds,

with stonc and marble pavilions. T he garden is well stocked

with frui t trees and bordered with flowering shrubs and plants.

I t is well looked afterand serves as a pleasant p lace of retreat for

E uropean residents'

during the scorching heat of summer.

O i the old bui ldings, some subterranean vaulted chambers

looking out on the'

river, sti ll ex ist. Two well furnishedsuites of

apartments, with glazed doors and commodious furniture,

and hav ing two storeys, will be found at one ex tremity of the

garden as one enters i t to the left. These serve as a favorite

resort for holidaymakers, or thosewho v isit the place for tempo

rary change.

Though there is little attractive in the bui ldings, the placenevertheless possesses an antique interest, for, where many a

newlymarriedcouple now pass their honeymoon and where resort

many worn-out men, to gain renewed breath and vigour,

over the same spot walked, three centuries back, the tall thin

figure of the adventurous Baber, that knight errant of Asia

who, with his hosts of beautiful Tartar damsels and jolly com

panions, forgetting for a time the concerns of S tate, drowned in

the favourite cup all the anx ious cares of a vast and tur

bulent empire.

About half amile from the north-eastern end of the pontoon C hint h

bridge, on the left bank of the river, is the OMai -ka Rouse , hfimmfiso called from the beautiful porcelain or glazed ti les which

Km "

decorate the ex terior of the bui lding . T he mausoleum is sacred

Th is was the P ersian couplet inscribed b Baber on the banks of themarble fountain in his ace garden in Kabul. w

'

ch he was accustomed to fillwi th wine at times of estive entertainments.

AGM D ESC RIP TW E

to the memory of Afzal Khan. originally named Shukrulla, a

native of Shiraz, who came to India in the 17th century. As a

li terary adventurer coming byway of S urat, he entered the ser

vice of Jahangir about the year 16 17. H e won high favours

at the Imperial court and succeeded in obtaining the appointment

of D iwan, oraccountant, under S hah Jahan. H e died at Lahore

in 163 9 and was buried at Agra, in the tomb built by himself

during his own life-time . Thiswas the time when the E mperor

Shah Jahan was busy in founding new D elhi and the palace

there.

The building is quadrangular, nearly eighty feet square,

surmounted, bya bulbous dome, with a spacious central octago

nal domed chamber, having in the centre two brick cenotaphs,with four-side chambers one on each side. The dome is in the

old Pathan style. O u the top of the inner chambers are ia

scribed passages from the Koran, but these are now rapidly

peeling

O f the ancient buildings across the Jumna, the fo llowingalso deserve mention :

3335112111111. 1 . The garden of Buland Khan, a eunuch of the court o f

Jahangir. I t has an ex tensive tower, supported by thirty- two

p illars, and seven large wells are attached to the garden.

Zohragardea. 2 . The Zohragarden, betweeu the Ram Bagh and C hini-kar

Rouzé , thought to have been a garden of Baber’s daughter,with i ts dependent wells and pleasure houses. The building is

in transition style between the Pathan and the early Moghal

period.

Mott Bash . 3 . Moti Bagh , opposite the tomb of I ti znad-ud-dauhi , believed

to have been founded by S hah Jahan,but nowquite modernized.

Nawah Gani. 4. N swab Ganj , an enclosure with high walls and towers, said

to have been built by Nawab Salhbat Khhu, the paymaster of

Shah Jahan, nowused as a residence.

5. I n the small village ofKachpura, nearlyoppositethe garden

palace of Baber, on the south-east side of the Jumna, is a ruined

mosque, built by the Emperor H umayun. T he building is 93

monument, a counterpart of the Taj , on the Opposite bank , andto connect the two monuments bya marble bridge. The founds

tions of the western tower are still to be traced, while the eastern

tower, with its decorations, is almost perfect.

8. Achauak Bagh, one mile east of Kachpara, said to have

been founded in the time of Baber bya princess whose name i t

bears. Nothing is now left ofthis garden ex cept some chambers

Opening on the river.

C hatri of 9. Chatri Raja Jaswant S ingh . T he walls are beauti fullycarved and decoratedwith figures of vases and flowers. A good

v iewof this handsome building is obtained from RamBagh on

the opposite side of the Jumna.

O f the old interesting places near the Taj maybe mentioned

the H aveli of Nawab Khan-i -D auran Khan, the mausoleum ot‘

Shah Ahmad Bukhari , the bastion tower known as L at D iwar,

the small mosque near the south-east enclosure of the Taj , and

the remnants of some ancient palaces in the quarters known as

Tilyar-kaBaghicha.

Between the Taj and the cantonments, in a larg e walled en

filfif

‘ tclosure, is the garden ofMahabat Khan. Close to i t, in the v1l

mm Jl.lage of Basai , is the tomb known as Rouza D ewan Ji .

O n the Khair Garb road is the Idgah of the time of Shah

Jahan, said to have been built in fortydays. I t is built of red

sandstone and is 159 feet in length by40 feet in breadth. I t con

sists of six high arches, of which the central one is very lofty,

and is enclosed byawall of great height, surmounted bya cupola

at each of the four corners, the enclosure being 570 feet by

530 feet.

This mausoleum is situated close to a village called Khawfi aki -Serac between the Malpuraand Fattehpur S ikri road

,near

the Arti llery practice-

ground, Agra. I t was originallya square

building of 78 feet each side ; but a great portion of i t was

blown up by the Government, about 183 2 A. for the purpose

of building barracks in the cantonment. The gates, the walls and

the towers of the outer enclosure were all pulled down. T he

MAUSOLEUM OF JODH BAI .

mausoleum i tself, saysMr. Beglar, was too tough, too hard a

nut to crack , for that purpose, and i t was therefore left as i t is,

after being blown up ,—a huge shapeless heap of massive frag

ments of masonry, which neither the hammer of man nor of

time can dissolve or destroy!

Jodh Bai , or the princess of Jodhpur, was Akbar'

s RajputQueen, the mother of Jahangir and the daughter of RajaMaldeo Rae of Jodhpur. As Akbar’a mother had the title of

Maryam Makani , so was Jodh Bai called Maryam Uzzamani .

T he real marble tomb, or cenotaph , of Jodh Bai is below thefloor of the building , in a large vaulted underground chamber

,

descent to which is obtained byfour passages like the passagesi nto Egyptian pyramids. Three of these passages are closed with

debris the fourth maybe entered by crawling.

About a mile to the north of the S ikandraroad andAlam ommb,s ofGauj . and immediately behind the C andahari Bagh, there is

great walled enclosure, of red Fattebpur sandstone, each side iffbgi-l

i‘

ilfh

measuring 3 35 feet, with a grand and lofty gateway. T he walls

have crenelated battlements, and there are towers at the four

corners. T he old bui lding was completed in 1004 (1595 A. D .)T he enclosure contains a garden,

wi th a raised platform in the

m iddle. This is the tomb of L adli Begam, sister of Abul Fazl,

Akbar’

s famous friend and counci llor. She was the wife of Islam

K han, the grandson of S hekh Salem Chishti , of Fattebpur, who

was V iceroy of Bengal under Jahangir. S he died in 1017 A. H .

(1 608 A. or five years before the death of her hq and.

W here the platform nowstands in the middle, there was formerly

a grand mausoleum,built entirelyofmarble ; but i t was destroyed

by L akhmi Chand S eth , of Mathra, who purchased the ground

from Government, and, having dug up the marble stones, sold

th em. T he newowner has built, instead, an ornamental pavilion

on light arches.

The enclosure also contained the tombs of Sheikh Mubarak

and his eldest son, Fyzi , the brother of Abul Fazl, but these

haveb een destroyed by theMathraS eths.

Outside the grand gateway there is a large well, the grandest

anywhere in Agra or its neighbourhood. This has a splendid

25

AGBA D E SC RI P T IV E .

Baori , or underground room, round the shaft of the well, which

is reached by deep and broad galleries, affording a pleasant

retreat in the hot weather.

Over the entrance of the high walled enclosure, the followinginscription in the Tughra characters may still be seen

us es

)"k ill

(a s:

ilM l r. i j .mgit," 1 .h

Una

:

q

(MW L ian.“ 5 3 3) t)uL i

nd ; 3 1”Q ty. e

ta}. ”1!”l

ma. dawn u h Jsb g g

sw anw w lflni g

4m41; we tust flslMall than o‘" Jam sq .”

J ug s“ ; u -Kj g l“ aw ai ts r

an t i ngs. Jill?» J“I

In the name of God the Merciful and the C ompassionate, in Whom alone

I trust ! Th ismausoleum was constructed for the divine scholar. the holy

sage, the most learned Shekh Mubarak ; may his last resting -

place be

sanctified ! I t was founded by the ocean of knowledge, Shekh Abul Fazl

(mayGod the Most H igh preserve h im 1) under the Royal shadow of the

just k ing, whom honour, prosperityand graces follow, the splendour of the

world and relig ion, Akbar, the king valiant,may God the Most H igh ever

perpetuate his kingdom ! Built under the superintendence of Abul Baraki t

in 1004 A . 11. (1595 A. D .)

T he Kanzah was completed in the same year in which Fyzi

died.

According to theaccount furnished byAbul Fazl in the Ain, h is

father and elder brother were originally buried close to the man

soleum of Sbeikh Ala-uddin Majzab, in the Chair Bagh of Baber,

opposite Agra, on the left bank of the Jumna. T he bodies were

removed to this side of the river byAbul Fazl h imself, who bui lt

the Rouza. But when that occurred, does not appear.

To the south -west of Akbar’a tomb, between the road used

by the oldMoghals to go northward to Lahore and the river, and

after passing the old D elhi gate of the imperial walls, is the tomb

of Mariam Zamani , a P ortuguese lady, one of the Queens of

Akbar, who doubtless ex ercised great influence over that emperor

in inducing him to tolerate the Christians, as he is acknowledged

T omb of O n the right of the Gwalior road, at about the same distance

as the RousePahalwan, is another mausoleum of an early style,

andthe most beautiful in the neighbourhood. This is the tomb

of Firoz Khdn, the chief of eunuchs in the Court of Akbar.

I t is an octagonal edifice, of red sandstone, and is raised on a

high platform of the same shape. The entrance to the enclosure

of this elegant mausoleum is by a fine gateway on the east

side. The front of this portal is elaborately carved and orna

mented. The dome is decorated wi th abundance of glazed ti les

of various colours, andmany other parts of the bui ldings are simi

larly embellished. The walls are covered with sculptures of the

richest andmost elaborate style in relief. Firoz Khan, who lies

buried beneath the dome, is the noble who founded Firozabad,andwho gave his name also to Tel Firoz Khan

, an ex tensi ve

masonry tank which lies in the immediate vicinity of the tomb.

Four miles fromAgra, on the S ikandra road, is the S erai of

I tibar Khdn Khawja. I t was once an open summer house, but

the doors have nowbeen closedwi th masonry.

N ear the garden of Suraj Bhan on the way to S ikandra,

and about two miles from Agni , on the left hand side of the

road, is a full size statue of a horse, made of red stone. Opposi te

this is a tomb cl"

puccamasonry. N o authentic accounts of

this statue have been preserved. The story told by the people

is that a certain horse-rider was coming to Agrafrom D elhi .

When he reached this spot, he asked an old woman how far the

city of Agrawas. S he replied As far as you have travelled

from D elhi.”The horse-riderwas struck with dismayand forth

with died. A statue of a horse was constructed in memory of

this event by a certain sympathizing rich man, and the tomb

quite opposite is pointed out as the disappointedman’

s last rest

The following architectural monuments in the city deserve

mention.

I . The Akbari Masyrd, near the Kinari Bazar, originally

built byAkbar. I t has recentlybeen entirelyremodelled. T he

length of the building is 84 feet 6 inches and its breadth

25 feet.

onemosou‘

ss. 197

2 . The masj id of Mohtamid Khdu, Treasurer of Jahangir, Mfihfl ihdid

in the Kashmiri Bazar. I t is of red sandstone, with'

some ex Khan