A Handbook toAgra and the TajSikandra, Fatehpur-Sikri and the Neighbourhood

byE. B. Havell, ARCA. 

1904

Preface

This little book is not intended for a history or archęologicaltreatise, but to assist those who visit, or have visited, Agra, toan intelligent understanding of one of the greatest epochs of IndianArt. In the historical part of it, I have omitted unimportant names anddates, and only attempted to give such a sketch of the personality ofthe greatest of the Great Moguls, and of the times in which they lived, as is necessary for an appreciation of the wonderful monuments theyleft behind them. India is the only part of the British Empire whereart is still a living reality, a portion of the people's spiritualpossessions. We, in our ignorance and affectation of superiority, make efforts to improve it with Western ideas; but, so far, haveonly succeeded in doing it incalculable harm. It would be wiser ifwe would first attempt to understand it. 

Among many works to which I owe valuable information, I should nameespecially Erskine's translation of Babar's "Memoirs;" MuhammadLatifs "Agra, Historical and Descriptive;" and Edmund Smith's"Fatehpur-Sikri. " My acknowledgments are due to Babu AbanindroNath Tagore, Mr. A. Polwhele, Executive Engineer, Agra, and toMr. J. H. Marshall, Director-General of the Archęological Survey ofIndia, for kind assistance rendered. I am particularly indebted toMessrs. Johnston and Hoffman, of Calcutta, for allowing me to makeuse of their valuable collection of photographs for the illustrations. 

In quoting from "Bernier's Travels, " I have used Constable'stranslation, with Messrs. A. Constable & Co. 's kind permission. Tothe Editor of the _Nineteenth Century and After_ I owe permission tomake use of my article on "The Taj and its Designers, " published inthat Review, June, 1903. 

CALCUTTA, _January_, 1904. 

Contents

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

The Great Moguls--I. Babar--Babar's Connection withAgra--II. Humayun--Interregnum: Shere Shah--III. Akbar--Akbar'sConnection with Agra--IV. Jahangir--Jahangir's Connection withAgra--V. Shah Jahan--The Monuments of Shah Jahan's Reign atAgra--VI. Aurangzīb--Agra and the Later Mogul Emperors--Agra inthe Mutiny. 

THE FORT

The Mūti Masjid--The Dersane Darwaza--The Dīwan-i-ām--Jahangir'sCistern--The Tomb of Mr. Colvin--The Inner Mīna Bazar--The ChitoreGates--The Hindu Temple--The Machhi Bhawan--The Najina Masjid--TheDīwan-i-Khas--Jahangir's Throne--The Baths--The Samman Burj--The KhasMahal--The Underground Chambers--The Anguri Bagh--Shish Mahal--The"Somnath" Gates--The Jahangiri Mahal--The Sahmgarh. 

THE JĀMI MASJID

THE TAJ

The building of the Taj--The Intention of the Taj--Description. 

ITMĀD-UD-DAULAH'S TOMB

THE CHĪNĪ-KA-RAUZA

THE RAM BAGH

The Zuhara Bagh. 

SIKANDRA

Akbar's Tomb--The Kanch Mahal--Suraj-Bhan-ka Bagh--Mariam Zāmāni'sTomb. 

OTHER BUILDINGS AND TOMBS AT OR NEAR AGRA

The Kali Masjid--Alawal Bilawal--The Hamman--The Roman CatholicCemetery. 

FATEHPUR SIKRI

The Agra Gate--The Naubat Khana--The Mint--The Daftar Khana--ThePalace--The Kwābgāh--The Turkish Sultana's House--Hakim'sBaths--Pachisi Board--The Dīwan-i-Khās--The Ankh-Michauli--TheYogi's Seat--The Hospital--The Dīwan-i-ām--The Panch Mahal--Miriam'sKothi--Jodh Baķ's Palace--Rajah Birbal's House, or Birbal's Daughter'sHouse--The Hathi Pol and Adjoining Buildings--The Jāmi Masjid, orCathedral Mosque--The Baland Darwaza--The Stone-Cutters' Mosque--TheHouses of Abul Fazl and Faizi. 

Bharatpur and Other Places in the Vicinity ofAgra:--Bharatpur--Govardhan--Muttra--Bindrāban. 

INDEX

List of Illustrations

The Taj Mahal

Plate I. A State Document with Shah Jahan's "Royal Hand and Seal"

Plate II. Shah Jahan, From an Old Indian Miniature

Plate III. The Inner Delhi Gate, or Hathi Pol, Agra Fort

Plate IV. Marble Balcony, Overlooking the Inner Mīna Bazar, Agra Fort

Plate V. The Samman Burj, Agra Fort

Plate VI. Inner Courtyard of the Jahangiri Mahal, Agra Fort

Plate VII. Marble Screen Enclosing the Tombs of Mumtaz Mahal andShah Jahan

Plate VIII. Itmād-ud-daulah's Tomb, Agra

Plate IX. Interior of the Upper Pavilion, Itmād-ud-daulah's Tomb

Plate X. Marble Sarcophagus on the Upper Story of Akbar's Tomb, Sikandra

Plate XI. Interior of The Dīwan-i-Khās, Fatehpur Sikri

Plate XII. Rajah Birbal's Daughter's House, Fatehpur Sikri

Plate XIII. The Baland Darwaza, Fatehpur Sikri

Plans

Agra Fort. Plan of the Palaces

Fatehpur Sikri. Plan Showing the Position of the Buildings

Fatehpur Sikri. Plan Showing the Walls and Gates

Fatehpur Sikri. Plan of Jodh Bai's Palace

AGRA

Historical Introduction

Agra has two histories: one of the ancient city on the east, or left, bank of the river Jumna, going back so far as to be lost in the legendsof Krishna and of the heroes of the Māhabhārata; the other of themodern city, founded by Akbar in A. D. 1558, on the right bank of theriver, and among Muhammadans still retaining its name of Akbarabad, which is intimately associated with the romance of the Great Moguls, and known throughout the world as the city of the Taj. 

Of ancient Agra little now remains except a few traces of thefoundations. It was a place of importance under various Hindudynasties previous to the Muhammadan invasions of India, but itschequered fortunes down to the beginning of the sixteenth centuryare the usual tale of siege and capture by Hindu or Mussulman, andpossess little historical interest. 

In A. D. 1505 Sultan Sikandar Lodi, the last but one of theAfghan dynasty at Delhi, rebuilt Agra and made it the seat ofgovernment. Sikandra, the burial-place of Akbar, is named after him, and there he built a garden-house which subsequently became the tombof Mariam Zāmāni, one of Akbar's wives. The son of Sultan Sikandar, Ibrahim Lodi, was defeated and slain by Babar at Panipat, near Delhi, in 1526, and from that time Agra became one of the principal citiesof the Mogul Empire which Babar founded. 

The Great Moguls. --I. Babar. 

Though very few memorials of Babar's short but brilliant reign stillexist at Agra, the life of this remarkable man is so important apart of the Mogul dynasty that it must not be passed over by theintelligent tourist or student of Mogul art. It was Babar's sunnydisposition, and the love of nature characteristic of his race, thatbrought back into Indian art the note of joyousness which it had notknown since the days of Buddhism. Babar is one of the most strikingfigures in Eastern history. He was descended from Tamerlane, or Timur, on his father's side, and, on his mother's, from Chinghiz Khan. Inthe year 1494, at the age of twelve, he became king of Farghana, asmall kingdom of Central Asia, now known as Kokand. His sovereignty, however, was of a very precarious tenure, for he was surrounded onall sides by a horde of rapacious, intriguing relatives, scramblingfor the fragments of Timur's empire. With hardly a trustworthyally except a remarkably clever and courageous old grandmother, hestruggled for three years to retain his birthright. Then, acting on asudden inspiration, he made a dash for Samarkand, the ancient capitalof Timur, and won it. In his delightful memoirs Babar describes how, with boyish glee, he paced the ramparts himself, wandered from palaceto palace, and revelled in the fruit-gardens of what was then one ofthe finest cities of Asia. But in less than a hundred days, most ofhis shifty Mongol troops, disappointed in not finding as much bootyas they expected, deserted and joined a party of his enemies, whostraightway attacked Andijan, the capital of Farghana, where Babarhad left his mother and grandmother. Before he could come to theirrescue Andijan had fallen, and at the same time Samarkand, which hehad left, was occupied by another of his numerous rivals. This doublemisfortune caused still more of his followers to leave him, and hefound himself without a kingdom, except the little town of Khojend, and with only two hundred men. For almost the only time in his lifehe gave way utterly to despair. "I became a prey to melancholy andvexation; I was reduced to a sore distressed state and wept much. "

Before long, however, Babar, rejoined by his mother and grandmother, whom the captors of Andijan had spared, taking advantage of anotherturn in the wheel of fortune, recovered his kingdom of Farghana, but lost the greater part of it again through another desertion ofhis "Mongol rascals. " A second time, with only a handful of men, hesurprised and captured Samarkand (A. D. 1500). In the following yearhe rashly sallied out against Shaibani, the most formidable of hisadversaries, was defeated, and, after vainly trying to hold the cityagainst the victors, was forced to fly under cover of the night. Thistime he did not weep, but consoled himself next morning by riding aheadlong race with two of his companions. Reaching a village, wherethey found "nice fat flesh, bread of fine flour well baked, sweetmelons, and excellent grapes in great abundance, " Babar declared thatin all his life he never enjoyed himself so much or felt so keenlythe pleasures of peace and plenty. 

He now took refuge among the hills near Uratipa, finding amusementin observing the life of the villagers, and especially in conversingwith the mother of the headman, an old lady of a hundred and eleven, whose descendants, to the number of ninety-six, lived in the countryround about. One of her relatives had served in the army with whichTimur had invaded India, and she entertained the future Emperor ofHindustan by telling him stories of his ancestor's adventures. 

After several fruitless raids with the few troopers who remainedfaithful to him, he allied himself with his two uncles, Mahmud andAhmad Khan, in an attack against Tambal, one of the powerful nobleswho had revolted against him and set up Jahangir, his brother, onthe throne of Farghana. At a critical moment his uncles left Babar tothe mercy of his enemy, and he was again forced to fly for his life, hotly pursued by Tambal's horsemen. He was overtaken by two of them, who, not daring to pit themselves against Babar's prodigious strengthand courage, tried to inveigle him into a trap. Babar gives a movingdescription of this great crisis in his life. Thoroughly exhausted, and seeing no prospect of escape, he resigned himself to die:--

"There was a stream in the garden, and there I made my ablutionsand recited a prayer of two bowings. Then surrendering myselfto meditation, I was about to ask God for His compassion, whensleep closed my eyes. I saw (in my dream) Khwįja Yakub, the son ofKhwįja Yahya, and grandson of his Eminence the Khwįja 'Obaid-Allah(a famous saint of Samarkand), with a numerous escort, mounted ondappled grey horses, come before me and say, '_Do not be anxious, the Khwįja has sent me to tell you that he will support you and seatyou on the throne of sovereignty; whenever a difficulty occurs to you, remember to beg his help, and he will at once respond to your appeal, and victory and triumph shall straightway lean to your side_. ' Iawoke with easy heart, at the very moment when Yusuf the constableand his companions (Tambal's soldiers) were plotting some trick toseize and throttle me. Hearing them discussing it, I said to them, 'All you say is very well, but I shall be curious to see which of youdares to approach me, ' As I spoke the tramp of a number of horseswas heard outside the garden wall. Yusuf the constable exclaimed, 'If we had taken you and brought you to Tambal, our affairs would haveprospered much thereby; as it is, he has sent a large troop to seizeyou; and the noise you hear is the tramp of horses on your track, 'At this assertion my face fell, and I knew not what to devise. 

"At this very moment the horsemen, who had not at first found the gateof the garden, made a breach in its crumbling wall, through which theyentered. I saw they were Kutluk Muhammad Barlas and Babai Pargįri, twoof my most devoted followers, with ten or twenty other persons. Whenthey came near to my person they threw themselves off their horses, and, bending the knee at a respectful distance, fell at my feet, and overwhelmed me with marks of their affection. 

"Amazed at this apparition, I felt that God had just restored me tolife. I called to them at once, 'Seize Yusuf the constable, and thewretched traitors who are with him, and bring them to me bound handand foot, ' Then, turning to my rescuers, I said, 'Whence come you? Whotold you what was happening?' Kutluk Muhammad Barlįs answered, 'AfterI found myself separated from you in the sudden flight from Akhsi, I reached Andijan at the very moment when the Khans themselves weremaking their entry. There I saw, in a dream, Khwįja 'Obaid-Allah, who said, "_Pįdishah Babar is at this instant in a village calledKarmįn; fly thither and bring him back with you, for the throne ishis of right_. " Rejoicing at this dream, I related it to the big Khanand little Khan. .. . Three days have we been marching, and thanks beto God for bringing about this meeting. '" [1]

After this exciting adventure Babar rejoined his time-serving uncles, but was forced into exile again in 1503, when, at the battle of Akshi, the Khans were completely defeated by Shaibani. Then he resolvedto depart out of Farghana and to give up the attempt to recoverhis kingdom. Characteristically, when foiled in one enterprise heentered upon another yet more ambitious. Joined by his two brothers, Jahangir and Nasir, and by a motley array of various wandering tribes, he swooped down upon Kabul and captured it. 

The description of the new kingdom thus easily won, which fills manypages of the Memoirs, reveals another side of Babar's character--hisintense love of nature. He gives minute accounts of the climate, physical characteristics, the fruits, flowers, birds, and beasts, as well as of the human inhabitants. In the intervals between hisbattles, or between his rollicking drinking parties, which for someyears of his life degenerated into drunken orgies, we often find Babarlost in admiration of some beautiful landscape, or collecting flowersand planting fruit trees. Wherever he came, Babar's first care wasto dig wells and plant fruit and flower gardens. India owes much tothe Great Moguls' love of horticulture. 

When Babar had drilled his unruly Afghan subjects into somethinglike order, he made, in 1506, one more unsuccessful attempt to crushShaibani. However, in 1510, when that doughty warrior was defeated andslain by Ismail, Shah of Persia, Samarkand fell once more into Babar'shands, as a vassal of the Shah. Eight months afterwards he was drivenout again. From that time Babar gave up all hopes of re-establishingthe empire of his ancestor Timur, and turned his face towards India. In1519 he gathered an army for his first expedition, which was, however, more of a reconnaissance than a conquest. Four more attempts he made, until at last, in 1526, with only 10, 000 men, he defeated the hostsof Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Afghan kings of Delhi, who, with15, 000 of his troops, were left dead on the field of Panipat. 

Thus, after many struggles, Babar became "master and conqueror of themighty empire of Hindustan, " but he had to fight two more great battlesbefore his sovereignty was undisputed--one in 1527 near FatehpurSikri, with the great chief of the Rajputs, Raja Sanga of Chitore, and another in 1529 near Buxar, with the Afghans who had settled inBengal. The next year Babar died in his garden palace at Agra Thenobility of his character was conspicuous in his death as it wasin his life. He was devotedly attached to his eldest son, Humayun, who was seized with malarial fever while staying at his countryestate at Sambhal. Babar had him removed by boat to Agra, but hisphysicians declared that the case was hopeless. Babar's own health hadsuffered much during his life in India, and he was terribly agitatedby the news. When some one suggested that in such circumstances theAlmighty sometimes deigned to accept the thing most valued by onefriend in exchange for the life of another, Babar exclaimed thatof all things his life was dearest to Humayun, as Humayun's was tohim. He would sacrifice his own life to save his son. His courtiersentreated him to give up instead the great diamond taken at Agra, said to be the most valuable on earth. Babar declared that no stonecould compare in value with his own life, and after solemnly walkinground Humayun's couch, as in a religious sacrifice, he retired todevote himself to prayer. Soon afterwards he was heard to exclaim, "Ihave borne it away! I have borne it away!" Humayun began to recover, and, as he improved, Babar gradually sank. Commending his son tothe protection of his friends, and imploring Humayun to be kind andforgiving to his brothers, the first of the "Great Moguls" of Indiapassed away. He was buried at Kabul, in one of his beloved gardens, which, according to Tartar custom, he had chosen for his tomb, in"the sweetest spot of the neighbourhood. " [2]

Babar's connection with Agra. 

Babar's connection with Agra began immediately after the battleof Panipat. He sent forward Humayun, who occupied the town withoutopposition. The story of the great diamond referred to above is hererecorded in the Memoirs. The Raja of Gwalior, slain at Panipat, hadleft his family and the heads of his clan at Agra. In gratitude toHumayun, who treated them magnanimously, and protected them fromplunder, they presented to him a _peskesh_, or token of homage, consisting of a quantity of jewels and precious stones. Among these wasone famous diamond which had been acquired by Sultan Alaeddin. "It isso valuable that a judge of diamonds valued it at about half the dailyexpense of the whole world. It is about eight _mikkals_" (or about280 carats). This is generally supposed to be the celebrated Koh-i-nur. 

Babar determined to establish the seat of his government at Agra, butwas almost dissuaded by the desolate appearance of the country. "Italways appears to me, " he says, "that one of the chief defects ofHindustan is the want of artificial watercourses. I had intended, wherever I might fix my residence, to construct water-wheels, toproduce an artificial stream, and to lay out an elegant and regularlyplanned pleasure ground. Shortly after coming to Agra I passed theJumna with this object in view, and examined the country to pitch upona fit spot for a garden. The whole was so ugly and detestable thatI repassed the river quite repulsed and disgusted. In consequence ofthe want of beauty and of the disagreeable aspect of the country, Igave up my intention of making a _charbagh_ (garden house); but as nobetter situation presented itself near Agra, I was finally compelled tomake the best of this same spot. .. . In every corner I planted suitablegardens, in every garden I sowed roses and narcissus regularly, and inbeds corresponding to each other. We were annoyed by three things inHindustan; one was its heat, another the strong winds, and the thirdits dust. Baths were the means of removing all three inconveniences. "

As I have mentioned above, there are very few vestiges remaining ofBabar's city, of his fruit and flower gardens, palaces, baths, tanks, wells and watercourses. The Ram Bagh (p. 92) is one of the gardenslaid out either by himself or by one of his nobles, and the Zohra, or Zuhara Bagh, near it, contains the remains of a garden-house, whichis said to have belonged to one of Babar's daughters. Opposite to theTaj there are traces of the foundations of the city he built. Babarplanned, and his successors completed, the great road leading from Agrato Kabul through Lahore, parts of which still remain. Some of the oldmilestones can be seen on the road to Sikandra. Babar's account of thecommencement of it is very characteristic: "On Thursday, the 4th ofthe latter Rebia, I directed Chikmak Bey, by a writing under the royalhand and seal, [3] to measure the distance from Agra to Kabul; that atevery nine _kos_ he should raise a _minar_, or turret, twelve _gez_in height, on the top of which he was to construct a pavilion; thatevery ten _kos_ he should erect a _yam_, or post-house, which they calla _dak-choki, _ for six horses; that he should fix a certain allowanceas a provision for the post-house keepers, couriers, and grooms, and for feeding the horses; and orders were given that whenever apost-house for horses was built near a _khalseh_, or imperial demesne, they should be furnished from thence with the stated allowances;that if it were situated in a _pergunna_, the nobleman in chargeshould attend to the supply. The same day Chikmāk Padshahi left Agra. "

The promptness of Babar's administrative methods is a striking contrastto the circumlocution of present-day departmentalism. There stillexist remains of many splendid _sarais_, or halting-places, builtalong this road by different Mogul Emperors for their convenience, from the time of Babar down to Aurangzīb. One of the finest is theNurmahal Sarai, near Jalandhar, built by Jahangir and named afterhis favourite wife. Edward Terry, who accompanied Sir Thomas Roe, James the First's ambassador at Jahangir's Court, describes "the longwalk of four hundred miles, shaded by great trees on both sides, "and adds, "this is looked upon by the travellers who have found thecomfort of that cool shade as one of the rarest and most beneficialworks in the whole world. "

II. Humayun. 

Humayun, who succeeded Babar, had many of his father's amiablequalities, but none of his genius as a leader of men. He utterlyfailed in the attempt to consolidate the great empire which Babar hadleft him, and in 1539, or nine and a half years after his accession, he was completely defeated at Kanauj by Shere Khan Sur, an Afghannobleman, who had submitted to Babar, but revolted against hisson. Humayun found himself a fugitive with only a handful of men, and was eventually driven not only out of Hindustan, but even from thekingdom of Kabul. He then took refuge with the Shah of Persia. ShereKhan Sur, under the title of Shere Shah, ruled at Agra until he died, five years afterwards. His son, Salīm Shah, or Sultan Islam, succeededhim, and reigned between seven and eight years, but on his death theusual quarrels between his relatives and generals gave Humayun, whoin the mean time had got back Kabul with the aid of a Persian army, the opportunity to recover his position in Hindustan. This occurredin 1555, but Humayun's unfortunate reign terminated the same yearthrough a fatal fall from a staircase in his palace at Delhi. 

Humayun left no memorial of himself at Agra, but he is to be rememberedfor two circumstances; the first, that he was the father of the greatAkbar, who succeeded him; and the second, that the plan of his tombat Delhi, built by Akbar, was the model on which the plan of the Tajwas based. 

Interregnum: Shere Shah. 

Shere Shah was a great builder, and a most capable ruler. In his shortreign of five years he initiated many of the great administrativereforms which Akbar afterwards perfected. Fergusson, in his"History of Indian Architecture, " mentions that in his time therewas a fragment of a palace built by Shere Shah in the Fort at Agra, "which was as exquisite a piece of decorative art as any of its classin India. " This palace has since been destroyed to make room for abarrack, but probably the two-storied pavilion known as the Salīmgarhis the fragment to which Fergusson refers. The only other buildingof Shere Shah's time now remaining in Agra is the half-buried mosqueof Alawal Bilawal, or Shah Wilayat, in the _Nai-ki Mandi_ quarter(see p. 102). 

Shere Shah's tomb at Sasseram, in Bihar, is one of the noblestmonuments of the Pathan style, or the style of the earliest Muhammadanarchitects in India. 

III. Akbar. 

Akbar, "the Great, " was born at Amarkot, on the edge of the deserts ofMarwar, about three years after the battle of Kanauj, when his fatherHumayun was a fugitive, driven from place to place by the adherentsof Shere Shah. At this time the treasury of the royal house was soreduced that, when Humayun indented on it for the customary presentsto his faithful followers, the only thing procurable was a single podof musk. With the cheerfulness which was the saving grace of Humayun, he broke up the pod, and distributed it, adding the pious wish, whichseemed like prophetic insight, that his son's fame might fill theworld like the fragrance of that perfume. Trained in the hard schoolof adversity, and inheriting the best qualities of his grandfather, Akbar was not long in restoring the faded fortunes of the Moguldynasty. Like Babar, he succeeded to the throne at a very earlyage, and found himself surrounded by difficulties which would haveoverwhelmed a weaker character. Humayun had, indeed, fought his wayback to Delhi and Agra, but he had by no means settled with all thenumerous disputants for the sovereignty of Hindustan, which SultanIslam's death had left in the field; and his departure from Kabulhad been the signal for revolt in that quarter. Akbar, accompaniedby Bairam Khan, the ablest of Humayun's generals, was in Sind whenhe received at the same time the news of his father's death and ofthe revolt of the Viceroy at Kabul He was then little more thanthirteen years old, but, like Babar under similar circumstances, he was prompt in decision and in action. Adopting Bairam's advice, which was contrary to that of all his other counsellors, he left Kabulout of account, and pushed on to Delhi against the forces of Himu, aHindu general, and the most powerful of his foes, who had assumed thetitle of Raja Bikramajit, with the hopes of restoring the old Hindudynasty. On the historic plains of Panipat Akbar completely defeatedHimu's army, and thus regained the empire which his grandfather hadwon on the same field thirty years before. This great battle was themost critical point in his career, and though Akbar had to undertakemany other hard campaigns before he was absolute master of the empire, his position from that time was never seriously endangered. 

Until his eighteenth year Akbar remained under the tutelage of Bairam, an able general, but unscrupulous and cruel. The high-minded, generousdisposition of Akbar revolted against some of his guardian's methods, but he recognized that, for some years at least, Bairam's experiencewas necessary for him. In 1560, however, he took the administrationentirely into his own hands. Bairam, in disgust, took up arms againsthis young master, but was soon defeated and taken prisoner. With hisusual magnanimity, Akbar pardoned him, and sent him off to Mecca witha munificent present; but the revengeful knife of an Afghan put anend to the turbulent nobleman's life before he could leave India. 

Akbar spent the rest of his long reign in elaborating theadministrative reforms which have made him famous as the greatestruler India has ever had. With the aid of able ministers, both Hinduand Muhammadan, he purified the administration of justice, keepingthe supreme control in his own hands; enjoined absolute tolerancein religious matters; abolished oppressive taxes, and reorganizedand improved the system of land revenue introduced by Shere Shah. Aminute account of Akbar's reign, of his policy, habits, and character, is given in the "Akbar-nama, " the history written by his devotedfriend and Prime Minister, Abul Fazl. No detail of state affairswas too small for Akbar's personal attention. Ability and integritywere the only passports to his favour, while bigotry and injusticewere anathemas to him. Like Babar, he was fond of horticulture, andimported many kinds of fruit trees and flowers into India. Thoughhe could neither read nor write, he had a great library of Hindi, Persian, Arabic, Greek, and other books, and Abul Fazl relates thatevery book was read through to him from beginning to end. 

The most remarkable of all this remarkable man's intellectualactivities were his attempts to bring about a reconciliation of allthe discordant religious elements of his empire. Badāyuni, one ofhis contemporary historians, but, unlike him, a bigoted Musalman, comments thus on Akbar's religious views: "From his earliest childhoodto his manhood, and from his manhood to old age, his Majesty has passedthrough the most various phases, and through all sorts of religiouspractices and sectarian beliefs, and has collected everything whichpeople can find in books, with a talent of selection peculiar to himand a spirit of inquiry opposed to every (Islamite) principle. Thus afaith based on some elementary principles traced itself on the mirrorof his heart, and, as the result of all the influences which werebrought to bear on his Majesty, there grew gradually, as the outlineon a stone, the conviction on his heart that there were sensiblemen in all religions, and abstemious thinkers and men endowed withmiraculous powers among all nations. If some true knowledge were thuseverywhere to be found, why should truth be confined to one religion, or to a creed like Islam, which was comparatively new, and scarcely athousand years old; why should one sect assert what another denies, and why should one claim a preference without having superiorityconferred upon itself?"

Near to his palace at Fatehpur Sikri he built an Ibādat Khana, orHall of Worship, for the discussion of philosophy and religion. Therehe received representatives of all religious sects, Muhammadans, Brahmans, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, Jews, and Christians, and listenedattentively to their arguments. He studied deeply religious books, and had the New Testament translated into Persian. He also invitedJesuit priests from Goa, and not only allowed them to build a churchat Agra, but even attended a marriage service and interpreted thewords of the sermon to the bride. Badayuni says that "his Majestyfirmly believed in the truth of the Christian religion, and wishingto spread the doctrines of Jesus, ordered Prince Murad (his son)to take a few lessons in Christianity by way of auspiciousness. " TheJesuits, however, did not succeed in making Akbar a convert, for whenhis religious convictions were at last settled, he proclaimed as thestate religion a kind of eclectic pantheism called Din-i-ilāhi, or"Divine Faith, " with himself as the chief interpreter. Dispensingwith all forms of priesthood, he simply recognized One God, theMaker of the Universe, and himself as God's vicegerent on earth. Herejected the doctrine of the Resurrection, and accepted that of thetransmigration of souls. The Islamite prayers were abolished, andothers of a more general character were substituted for them. Theceremonial was largely borrowed from the Hindus. 

The "Divine Faith" had no hold on the people, and its influenceceased with the death of its founder. It is even said that Akbar, on his death-bed, acknowledged the orthodox Muhammadan creed, but theevidence on this point is unreliable. Akbar's religious system had animportant political bearing, for the keynote of his whole policy wasthe endeavour to unite with a bond of common interest all the diversesocial, religious, and racial elements of his empire. He overlookednothing which might further the object he had in view. He chose hisministers and generals indiscriminately from all his subjects, withoutdistinction of race or religion. He allied himself in marriage withthe royal Hindu families of Rajputana. He sat daily on the judgmentseat to dispense justice to all who chose to appeal to him, and, like the famous Harun-al-Rashid, he would at times put on disguisesand wander unattended among the people, to keep himself informed oftheir real condition and to check the malpractices of his officials. 

Though Akbar unavoidably had bitter enemies among the more bigoted ofhis Muhammadan subjects, his wise tolerance of all beliefs and thegenerosity of his policy for the most part disarmed hostility fromall sides. Certainly no ruler of India before or since succeeded sofar in carrying out his object. He is still one of the great popularheroes of Hindustan; his mighty deeds in war and in the chase, hiswise and witty sayings, the splendour of his court, his magnanimityand his justice, still live in song and in story. 

Akbar died in the Fort at Agra on October 13, 1605, in the fifty-firstyear of his reign, aged 63. He was buried at Sikandra, in the mausoleumcommenced by himself, and finished by his son and successor, Jahangir. 

Akbar's connection with Agra. 

The modern city of Agra, as stated previously, was founded by Akbarin 1558, opposite to the old city on the left bank of the river. Hebuilt the Fort, on the site of an old Pathan castle, and part of thepalace within it. Agra was the seat of government during the greaterpart of his reign. He also built the great mosque and the magnificentpalaces and public buildings of Fatehpur Sikri, which are among themost famous of the antiquities of India. 

IV. Jahangir. 

The eldest surviving son of Akbar, Prince Salīm, on his accession tothe throne in 1605, assumed the title of Nśr-ud-din Jahangir (Lightof the Faith, Conqueror of the World). 

He was passionate, cruel, and a drunkard, but not without abilityand force of character. As Prince Salīm he had instigated theassassination of the Prime Minister, Abul Fazl, and probably hastenedhis own father's death by his violent conduct. There was, however, a reconciliation at the end, and Jahangir endeavoured to atone forhis behaviour by lavish expenditure on Akbar's tomb at Sikandra. Hehas also left many pious tributes to his father's memory in hisautobiography. Jahangir's favourite wife was the celebrated Nur Mahal, who for twenty years was almost the supreme power in the imperialcourt. Her beauty attracted his attention while he was still PrinceSalīm, but Akbar, disapproving of her as a daughter-in-law, gave her inmarriage to Sher Afsan, "the lion killer, " a nobleman of Burdwan. Afterhis accession, having treacherously procured the death of her husband, Jahangir had Nur Mahal removed to Agra and placed under the care ofhis mother. For many years she repulsed all Jahangir's overtures, but when at last she consented to be his queen she became his mostdevoted wife. She accompanied him on all his travels, and Jahangirconsulted her in all important affairs of state. Sir Thomas Roe, Jamesthe First's ambassador, describes Jahangir at Agra taking his wifefor an evening drive in a bullock cart, "the King himself being hercarter. " He affectionately changed her name from Nur Mahal, "Light ofthe Palace, " to Nur Jahan, "Light of the World. " The imperial coinagebore her name and an inscription, "Gold has acquired a new value sinceit bore the name of Nur Jahan. " She even succeeded to some extentin controlling Jahangir's drunken habits. She was a great patronessof the arts, and it is said that the Samman Burj, her apartments inthe Agra palace, was decorated after her own designs. Her charitywas boundless; she was the especial protectress of orphan girls, andprovided marriage portions for no less than 500 from her private purse. 

Nur Mahal's father, Itmād-ud-daulah, became Lord High Treasurer, and afterwards Wazir, or Prime Minister. On his death his daughterbuilt for him the magnificent tomb at Agra known by his name. 

During Jahangir's reign many Europeans, travellers, adventurers andothers, flocked to the Mogul court. They were allowed free accessto the palace, and Jahangir frequently admitted them to join in hismidnight carouses. He showed great favour to the Jesuit priests, and even allowed two of his nephews to be instructed in the Christianreligion. 

The violent temper of Jahangir was inherited by his son, PrinceKhurram, afterwards Shah Jahan, and the peace of his reign wasfrequently disturbed by open rebellion on the part of the Prince. In1623 Shah Jahan actually sacked Agra, and his soldiers committedfearful atrocities on the inhabitants. He failed, however, to capturethe fort, which contained the imperial treasury, and Jahangir, no doubt remembering his own father's leniency towards himself, forgave his unruly son. 

Jahangir died in 1627, and was buried at Shahdara, near Lahore, in a magnificent tomb prepared by Nur Mahal. She herself retired toLahore, and, though she lived till 1648, ceased to take any part instate affairs after his death. She was buried by her husband's sideat Shahdara. 

Jahangir's connection with Agra. 

Jahangir for a great part of his reign held his court at Lahore, or at Kabul. The chief monuments of his reign at, or near, Agraare Akbar's tomb at Sikandra (p. 97), and Itmād-ud-daulah's tomb(p. 85), already mentioned. Part of the Agra Palace, the JahangiriMahal (p. 63), is named after him, though it is most probable thatit was really built in Akbar's reign. 

There are a few minor buildings of Jahangir's time in Agra, such asthe baths of Ali Verdi Khan in Chipitollah Street, the mosque ofMotamid Khan in the Kashmiri Bazar, and the tower known after thename of Boland Khan, the chief eunuch of Jahangir's palace. Theseare of purely archęological interest. 

V. Shah Jahan. 

Shah Jahan, on his father's death, though only fourth in right ofsuccession to the throne, speedily disposed of his brothers by meansvery commonly adopted in Oriental royal families, and was enthroned atAgra in 1648. Immediately afterwards he wreaked his vengeance on thePortuguese, who had taken part against him in his rebellion againstJahangir, by destroying their settlement at Hughli. The next year, while on an expedition to suppress disorder in the Deccan, he losthis favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, the lady of the Taj. For a longtime the Emperor abandoned himself entirely to grief, and he remainedfaithful to her memory until his death. 

The actual building of the Taj commenced in 1632. From this date until1658, when Aurangzīb usurped the throne, was the most magnificentperiod of the Mogul dynasty. The whole empire enjoyed comparative peaceand prosperity. Shah Jahan's just and liberal government continued hisfather's and grandfather's policy of tolerance towards the Hindus, andhis administration, though conducted with great pomp and splendour, did not press hardly upon the people. It was one of the greatestepochs of Indian architecture; besides the Taj Mahal, the buildingserected during these years include four of the masterpieces of theMogul period--the Jāmi Masjid, or Cathedral Mosque, of Delhi; theMūti Masjid, or Pearl Mosque, of Agra; part of the Agra Palace, andthe great palace at Delhi, of which only a small portion now exists. 

It is said that as Shah Jahan advanced towards old age he abandonedhimself more and more to a life of pleasure and self-indulgence, but his last years were darkened by the same kind of family intriguesthrough which he himself had gained the throne. In 1657 the seriousillness of the Emperor brought these intrigues to a head. His eldestson by Mumtaz Mahal, called Dara Shikoh, a gracious and generousPrince, but headstrong and intolerant of advice, was appointedRegent. On receiving this intelligence, his younger brothers, Shuja, Viceroy of Bengal, and Murad, Viceroy of Gujarat, declared theirindependence, and marched upon Agra. Aurangzīb, the third son, a religious bigot, but the ablest and most virile of the brothers, hastened to join them, and being placed in chief command, attackedDara's army close to Agra and completely defeated him. Three daysafterwards he entered the city. Shah Jahan sent his chamberlain toorder him to leave the city at once and return to his post in theDeccan, but Aurangzīb, affecting to believe that his father was dead, disregarded the order. He succeeded by bribes and promises in bringingover some of the principal nobles to his side, and being well informedby Rushanara, his younger sister, who was his equal in cunning andartifice, of all that went on in the palace, he baffled Shah Jahan'sattempts to lay hands on him. At last, under pretence of arrangingan amicable meeting with his son Mahmud, Aurangzīb beguiled ShahJahan into withdrawing his troops from the Fort. Mahmud immediatelyforced his way in with a picked body of men and seized the person ofthe Emperor. The plan succeeded so well that no attempt at a rescuewas made. 

The French traveller Tavernier, who has left a complete record ofthe time, writes of this event: "It is most surprising that not oneof the servants of the grand King offered to assist him; that all hissubjects abandoned him, and that they turned their eyes to the risingsun, recognizing no one as king but Aurangzīb. Shah Jahan, thoughstill living, passed from their memories. If, perchance, there wereany who felt touched by his misfortunes, fear made them silent, andmade them basely abandon a king who had governed them like a father, and with a mildness which is not common with sovereigns. For althoughhe was severe enough to the nobles when they failed to perform theirduties, he arranged all things for the comfort of the people, by whomhe was much beloved, but who gave no signs of it at this crisis. "

Shah Jahan remained confined in a set of apartments of the AgraPalace for seven years. He died in 1666, and was buried by the sideof Mumtaz Mahal in the Taj. His captivity was shared by his favouritedaughter, Jahanara, who since the death of her mother had ruled theimperial household and taken a prominent part in state affairs. Shehad actively supported the cause of Dara, and thus incurred theresentment of Aurangzīb. On her father's death she retired to Delhi, and she lived there until 1681. Her simple grave, covered with grass, is in a quiet corner of the courtyard of Nizamudin's tomb, near Delhi, where the memory of her filial piety adds to the poetic charm of allthe surroundings. 

The Monuments of Shah Jahan's Reign at Agra. 

The Taj Mahal (p. 72); the Jāmi Masjid (p. 69); and the followingbuildings in the Fort: The Mūti Masjid (p. 43); the Dīwan-i-ām (p. 46);the Dīwan-i-khas (p. 55); the Khas Mahal (p. 59). 

VI. Aurangzīb. 

Agra is only concerned with the first seven years of Aurangzīb's reign, for, after the death of Shah Jahan, the court was removed to Delhi, and Agra was left with only a provincial governor to maintain itsformer magnificence. The unhappy Dara, after his defeat by Aurangzīb, made fruitless attempts to retrieve his fortunes, but was at lastbetrayed into the hands of his brother, who immediately put him todeath. Aurangzīb lost no time in disposing of his other two brothers, and thus placed his succession to the throne beyond dispute. 

The Princess Rushanara, as a reward for her treachery, was raisedto the position formerly enjoyed by her sister Jahanara. The Frenchphysician Bernier, who resided twelve years at the Mogul court in thetime of Aurangzīb, has left many minute and graphic records of thetimes. Here is a picture of Rushanara when she accompanied Aurangzībon the march from Delhi to Kashmir:--

"Stretch imagination to its utmost limits, and you can conceiveno exhibition more grand and imposing than when Rauchenara-Begum, mounted on a stupendous Pegu elephant and seated in a _mikdember_, blazing with gold and azure, is followed by five or six other elephantswith _mikdembers_ nearly as resplendent as her own, and filled withladies attached to her household. Close to the Princess are the chiefeunuchs, richly adorned and finely mounted, each with a wand of officein his hand; and surrounding her elephant a troop of female servants, _Tartars_ and _Kachmerys_, fantastically attired and riding handsomepad-horses. Besides these attendants are several eunuchs on horseback, accompanied by a multitude of _pagys_, or lackeys, on foot, withlarge canes, who advance a great way before the Princess, both tothe right and left, for the purpose of clearing the road and drivingbefore them every intruder. Immediately behind Rauchenara-Begum'sretinue appears a principal lady of the court, mounted and attendedin much the same manner as the Princess. This lady is followed by athird, she by a fourth, and so on, until fifteen or sixteen femalesof quality pass with a grandeur of appearance, equipage, and retinuemore or less proportionate to their rank, pay, and office. There issomething very impressive of state and royalty in the march of thesesixty or more elephants; in their solemn and, as it were, measuredsteps, in the splendour of the _mikdembers_, and the brilliant andinnumerable followers in attendance; and, if I had not regarded thisdisplay of magnificence with a sort of philosophical indifference, Ishould have been apt to be carried away by such flights of imaginationas inspire most of the Indian poets when they represent the elephantsas conveying so many goddesses concealed from the vulgar gaze. " [4]

Dramatic justice overtook the scheming Princess at last. In 1664Aurangzīb fell dangerously ill, and, while he was unconscious, Rushanara, believing him to be dying, abstracted the signet ringfrom his finger and issued letters, as under the royal seal, to thevarious Viceroys and Governors, setting aside the succession of theEmperor's eldest son by a Rajput Princess in favour of another son, a boy of six, by a Muhammadan sultana. She hoped by this means to keepthe supreme power in her own hands during the long minority of the newEmperor. Aurangzīb unexpectedly recovered, and became suspicious ofhis dangerous sister. The host of enemies she had created at courtwere not slow in taking advantage of the situation, and Rushanarasoon afterwards disappeared--removed, it is said, by poison. 

Aurangzīb ruled with a firm hand, and in strict justice accordingto the law of Islam, but though a man of great intellectual powers, of marvellous energy and indomitable courage, he was wanting inimagination, sympathy, and foresight, the highest qualities of areally great ruler. He checked the dissolute conduct of the nobles, and set an example of industry and devotion to duty; but his narrow, bigoted disposition inclined him to distrust even his own ministers, so that, unlike his three predecessors, he was badly served bythe lieutenants in whose hands the administration of the provincesrested. He surrounded himself with religious bigots of the Sunnisect of Muhammadans, who aided him in bitter persecution of theHindus. Hardly anything of artistic or architectural interest wascreated under his patronage. Most of the great artists who attendedShah Jahan's court were dismissed as unorthodox or heretics, and manynoble monuments were mutilated by the Emperor's fanatical followerson the ground that they contravened the precept of the Koran whichforbids the representation of animate nature in art. 

He died in 1707, eighty-nine years of age. The Mogul empire, surroundedby hordes of the enemies his bigotry and intolerance had created, was already tottering to its fall, and the star of the British rajwas rising. Seventeen years before his death he had granted to JobCharnock a piece of land at Sutanati, the site of the future capitalof our Indian empire. 

Agra and the Later Mogul Emperors

Agra played a very small part in the history of the weak-minded anddissolute successors of Aurangzīb. Firokhshiyar, who reigned from 1713to 1719, resided occasionally there. After his death disputes betweenvarious claimants to the throne led to Agra Fort being besieged andcaptured by Husein Ali Khan, a partisan of one of them, who lootedthe treasury of all the valuables deposited there during threecenturies. "There were the effects of Nur Jahan Begum and MumtazMahal, amounting in value, according to various reports, to two orthree crores of rupees. There was in particular the sheet of pearlswhich Shah Jahan had caused to be made for the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal, of the value of several lakhs of rupees, which was spread over iton the anniversary and on Friday nights. There was the ewer of NurJahan and her cushion of woven gold and rich pearls, with a borderof valuable garnets and emeralds. " (Elliott. )

In 1739 Nadir, Shah of Persia, sacked Delhi, carried off Shah Jahan'sfamous peacock throne, and laid Agra also under contribution. TheMahrattas next appeared on the scene. In 1764 the Jāts of Bharatpur, under Suraj Mal, captured Agra, looted the Taj, and played havocwith the palaces in the Fort. They were joined by Walter Reinhardt, an adventurer, half French and half German, who sold his servicesfor any work of infamy, and had only recently assisted in the murderof the British Resident and other Europeans at Patna. He afterwardsentered the Mogul service, and was rewarded by a grant of a tract ofcountry near Meerut, which remained in the possession of his familyuntil recent times. He died at Agra in 1778, and was buried in theCatholic cemetery. 

For the next thirty-nine years Agra was occupied by Mahrattas andby Mogul imperialists in turn. John Hessing, a Dutch officer in theemploy of the Mahrattas, was Governor of Agra in 1794, and died therein 1802. The next year it was captured by the British under General, afterwards Lord, Lake, and from that time until 1857 its historywas uneventful. 

Agra in the Mutiny. 

Agra did not take any prominent part in the events of the Mutiny. Amob plundered the city, burnt the public offices, and killed a numberof Europeans; but the rioters left soon to join their comrades atDelhi. There was a small engagement outside the city. The Britishtroops and the whole of the European population were afterwards shutup in the Fort until the capture of Delhi. The Lieutenant-Governor, Mr. John Russell Colvin, died there, and was buried in front ofthe Dīwan-i-ām. 

The Fort

The present Fort was commenced by Akbar in 1566, on the siteof an older one constructed by Salīm Shah Sur, the son of ShereShah. Its vast walls (seventy feet in height, and a mile and a halfin circuit), its turrets, and noble gateways present from the outsidea most imposing appearance. It contains within its walls that mostexquisite of mosques, the Mūti Masjid, and the palaces of Akbar andShah Jahan. The principal or north entrance is the Delhi Gate, nearlyopposite to the railway station and the Jāmi Masjid. Formerly therewas a walled enclosure in front of this gate, called the Tripulia, or Three Gates, which was used as a market. This was cleared away bythe military authorities in 1875. Crossing the drawbridge over themoat which surrounds the Fort, the visitor passes the outer gate, and by a paved incline reaches the Hathi Pol, or Elephant Gate(Plate III. ), so called from the two stone elephants, with riders, which formerly stood outside the gate, on the highest of the platformson either side of it. The statues and elephants were thrown down byorder of Aurangzīb. There are four hollow places in each platform, where the legs of the elephants were morticed into it. [5]

The gate is a fine example of the early Mogul style; it contains the_Naubat khana_, or music gallery, where the royal kettledrums announcedthe Emperor's arrival or departure, and all state functions. It wasalso a guard-house, and probably the quarters of a high militaryofficer, but it is certainly not, as the guides have it, the "DarshanDarwaza, " or "Gate of Sights, " described by William Finch, wherethe Emperor Jahangir showed himself at sunrise to his nobles and tothe multitude assembled in the plain below. The Darshan Darwaza wasundoubtedly near the old disused water-gate, which was joined to theroyal apartments of the palace by a private passage, and answers toFinch's description of "leading into a fair court extending alongthe river. " The Elephant Gate is at a considerable distance from thepalace, and was never connected with it, except by the public road. 

It is worth while to climb the top of the gate by the staircase onthe right, inside the Fort. There is a fine view of the Fort, andbeyond the walls the ever-beautiful white domes of the Taj appear inthe distance. The Itmād-ud-daulah is visible on the left. Towardsthe town you look down into the quadrangle of the Jāmi Masjid. Thepavilions on the summit of the great octagonal towers flanking thegate are finely carved, and bear traces of painting and enamelledtile-work. Descending the staircase to the floors beneath, one canwander through the curious small chambers and look out from thebalconies on the front of the gate. 

The Mūti Masjid. 

The road to the left after passing the Elephant Gate leads up to theentrance of the Mūti Masjid, or "Pearl Mosque, " placed on the highestpoint of the Fort enclosure. [6] You pass on the left a buildingknown as Dansa Jāt's house, said to have been occupied by the Rajahsof Bharatpur when the Jāts held the Fort. It has been made hideousby modern additions which have converted it into officers' quarters. 

The entrance to the Mūti Masjid is very plain and unpretending, sothat one is hardly prepared for the beauty, purity, and the unaffectedexpression of an exalted religious feeling which characterize theinterior. It is rare to find an Indian building in which the effectis produced with hardly any ornament, but solely by the perfectionof proportions, beauty of material, and harmony of constructivedesign. The courtyard, in front of the mosque, with its arcadesand gateways, is a noble setting to the Pearl, as the mosque isappropriately called. There is a subtle rhythm in the placing of thethree domes over the seven arches of the mosque, which saves the wholedesign from monotony, while the marvellous grace of the contours, which is so characteristic of the finest of Shah Jahan's buildings, makes each dome grow up from the roof like a flower-bud on the point ofunfolding. The octagonal pavilions at the four corners of the mosque, and the dainty little kiosques placed as decoration over the archesand over the gateways of the courtyard, echo the harmonies of thelarger constructive details, and give completeness to the composition. 

The interior of the mosque owes its dignity to the same greatness ofstyle and perfection of the proportions. The three aisles are formedby massive piers of single blocks of marble. With all its simplicity, there is consummate art both in the placing of the ornament and inthe beautiful springing of the arches from the supporting piers. Thefine workmanship is worthy of the art. 

On either side of the mosque there is a small chamber for the ladiesof the zanana, with a window filled with a carved marble _grille_looking on to the interior. They could thus attend to the services ofthe mosque without being seen. The staircases on the right and leftof the courtyard give private access to the apartments of the palace. 

The Persian inscription inlaid in black marble under the wide, projecting cornice of the mosque is a poetic tribute to the beauty ofthe building and a panegyric of its founder. From it we learn thatit was built by Shah Jahan, it took seven years to build, and costthree lakhs of rupees. 

The dimensions of the courtyard, given by Fergusson, are 154 feetby 158 feet; and of the Mosque: length, 159 feet; depth, 56 feet, internally. 

The Dersane Darwaza. 

Nearly opposite to the Mūti Masjid, you pass on the left aninclined passage which leads to an old gateway, a part of Akbar'sbuildings. Very little remains of the original buildings whichconnected it with the palace in the time of Jahangir, but there cannotbe much doubt that this was the locality described by William Finchas the "Dersane Darwaza, leading into a fair court, extending alongthe river, in which the King looks forth every morning at sun-rising, which he salutes, and then his nobles resort to their _Tesillam_(obeisance). Right under the place where he looks out, is a kindof scaffold, whereon his nobles stand, but the _Addis_ with othersawait below in the court. Here also every noone he looketh forthto behold _Tamāshāh_, or fighting of Elephants, Lyons, Buffles, killing of Deare with Leopards, which is a custom on every day ofthe weeke, Sunday excepted, on which is no fighting; but Tuesday, on the contrary, is a day of blood, both of fighting beasts, andjusticed men, the King judging and seeing executions. "

The Dīwan-i-ām. 

The road now turns towards the right, through the Mīna Bazar, theold market-place, where merchants displayed jewellery, brocades, and similar stuffs for the nobles and others attending the court. Agateway leads into the great courtyard of the Dīwan-i-ām, or Hall ofPublic Audience, which, with its surrounding arcades, was for a longtime used as an armoury for the British garrison. The hall itself wasrestored in 1876 by Sir John Strachey, then Lieutenant-Governor ofthe North-West Provinces. The courtyard has recently been put back, as far as possible, into its original condition by Lord Curzon'sorders. A further great improvement has been made by the removal ofthe hideous modern additions which entirely concealed all the arcades. 

The present hall, which is an open pavilion formed by a triple rowof colonnades, was commenced by Shah Jahan, but, if we may believetradition, was not completed until the 27th year of the reign ofAurangzīb. The arcades surrounding the quadrangle are probably ofAkbar's time. The interior dimensions of the hall are 192 feet by 64feet. It is constructed of red sandstone, plastered over with a finewhite polished stucco, which served both as a protection to the stoneand as a ground for coloured decoration and gilding. This plaster-workwas carried to the perfection of a fine art by the old Mogul builders, but the restoration of it in 1876 was very indifferently carried out. 

The throne of the Emperor was in an alcove of inlaid marble at theback of the hall, and connected with the royal apartments behind. Herehe sat daily to give audience to his court, to receive ambassadors, and to administer justice. At the foot of the alcove is a squareslab of marble, about 3 feet in height, on which, it is said, his ministers stood to receive petitions to the Emperor, and toconvey his commands thereon. On the right and left of the throne arechambers with perforated marble windows, through which the ladies ofthe zanana could view the proceedings. Bernier's lively description, though it properly belongs to the Dīwan-i-ām at Delhi, will enableus to picture the scene in the days of the Great Mogul:--

"The monarch every day, about noon, sits upon his throne, with someof his sons at his right and left, while eunuchs standing about theroyal person flap away the flies with peacocks' tails, agitate the airwith large fans, or wait with undivided attention and profound humilityto perform the different services allotted to each. Immediately underthe throne is an enclosure, surrounded by silver rails, in which areassembled the whole body of _omrahs_ (nobles), the Rajas, and theambassadors, all standing, their eyes bent downwards and their handscrossed. At a greater distance from the throne are the _mansebdhars_, or inferior _omrahs_, also standing in the same posture of profoundreverence. The remainder of the spacious room, and, indeed, the wholecourtyard, is filled with persons of all ranks, high and low, richand poor; because it is in this extensive hall that the King givesaudience indiscriminately to all his subjects; hence it is called_Am Khas_, or audience chamber of high and low. 

"During the hour and a half, or two hours, that this ceremonycontinues, a certain number of the royal horses pass before the throne, that the King may see whether they are well used and Usbec, of everykind, and each dog with a small red covering; lastly, every speciesof the birds of prey used in field sports for catching partridges, cranes, hares, and even, it is said, for hunting antelopes, on whichthey pounce with violence, beating their heads and blinding them withtheir wings and claws. "

After this parade, the more serious business of the day was attendedto. The Emperor reviewed his cavalry with peculiar attention, for hewas personally acquainted with every trooper. Then all the petitionsheld up in the assembled crowd were read and disposed of before theaudience closed. 

On festivals or other special occasions the pillars of the hall werehung with gold brocades, and flowered satin canopies fastened withred silken cords were raised over the whole apartment. The floor wascovered entirely with the most magnificent silk carpets. A gorgeoustent, larger than the hall, to which it was fastened, and supportedby poles overlaid with silver, was pitched outside. Every compartmentof the arcades round the courtyard was decorated by one of the greatnobles, at his own expense, with gold brocades and costly carpets, each one vying with the other to attract the attention of the Emperor, to whom, on such occasions, an offering of gold or jewels, more or lessvaluable according to the pay and rank of the giver, must be presented. 

JAHANGIR'S CISTERN. --Just in front of the Dīwan-i-ām is a great stonecistern, cut out of a single block, with steps inside and out, knownas Jahangir's _Hauz_, a bowl or bath-tub. There is a long Persianinscription round the outer rim; the only part now decipherable showsthat it was made for Jahangir in 1019 A. H. (A. D. 1611). It is nearly 5feet in height and 8 feet in diameter at the top. Its original placeis said to have been one of the courts of the Jahangiri Mahal. 

THE TOMB OF MR. COLVIN. --Close by Jahangiri's _Hauz_ is the grave ofMr. John Russell Colvin, the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-WestProvinces, who died in the Fort during the disturbances of 1857. 

The Inner Mīna Bazar. 

Before entering the private apartments of the palace, which are atthe back of the Dīwan-i-ām, we may pass through the gateway on theleft of the courtyard, and enter a smaller one, which was the privatebazar where merchants sold jewellery, silks, and costly brocadesto the ladies of the zanana, who were seated in the marble balconywhich overlooks it (Plate IV. ). A narrow staircase gave access tothe balcony from the courtyard. 

We may well believe that a considerable part of the ladies' timewas spent in this quarter of the palace. Sometimes the Great Moguland his court would amuse themselves by holding a mock fair, inwhich the prettiest of the nobles' wives and daughters would actas traders, and the Emperors and the Begums would bargain withthem in the most approved bazar fashion. The Emperor would hagglefor the value of an anna, and the ladies would feign indignation, scold his Majesty roundly, and tell him to go where he could suithimself better. "The Begums betray, if possible, a still greateranxiety to be served cheaply; high words are heard on every side, and the loud and scurrilous quarrels of the buyers and sellers createa complete farce. But, when at last the bargains are struck, theBegums, as well as the Emperor, pay liberally for their purchases, and often, as if by accident, let slip out of their hands a few goldinstead of silver roupies, as a compliment to the fair merchant andher pretty daughter. Thus the scene ends with merry jests and goodhumour. " (Bernier. )

THE CHITORE GATES. --The further corner of this courtyard, on the left, leads to the Chitore gates, the trophies which Akbar placed there asa memorial of his capture of that great Rajput stronghold in 1657, after a desperate resistance by its gallant defenders. They form theprincipal entrance to the _Machhi Bhawan_, the great courtyard behindthe Dīwan-i-ām, but are generally kept closed. 

THE HINDU TEMPLE. --Beyond the Chitore gates you enter into anotherquadrangle surrounded by arcades, which recalls a different chapterin the chequered history of the palace. Here is a Hindu temple, builtby one of the Bharatpur Rajahs, who sacked Agra about the middle ofthe 18th century, and occupied it for ten years. 

The Machhi Bhawan. 

Returning now to the Dīwan-i-ām, we can ascend by one of the smallstaircases to the throne-room, and enter the upper arcades whichsurround the Machhi Bhawan, or "Fish Square. " The courtyard hassuffered so much from ruthless vandalism that it is difficult torealize its former magnificence. It was formerly laid out in marblewith flower-beds, water-channels, fountains, and fish-tanks. Thesewere carried off by the Jāts to the palace of Suraj Mai, at Dīg. Alarge quantity of mosaic and exquisite marble fretwork, from thisand other parts of the palace, was put up to auction by Lord WilliamBentinck, when Governor-General of India. The Taj only escaped thesame fate because the proceeds of this sale were unsatisfactory. 

On the side opposite to the throne-room is an open terrace, originallyroofed over and connected with the Dīwan-i-khas. This also wasdismantled by the Jāts. 

THE NAJINA MASJID. --On the left of the throne-room, at the end ofthe corridor, is a door leading into a small mosque of white marble, built by Aurangzīb for the ladies of the zenana. It is something likethe Mūti Masjid, but far inferior in design. 

The further corner of it opens into a small chamber, overlooking thecourtyard of the Dīwan-i-ām, which is pointed out by the guides as theprison where Shah Jahan was confined. This may be accepted or not, according to the choice of the visitor. When distinct historicalauthority is wanting, it is very difficult to distinguish realtradition and pure fable in the tales of these garrulous folk. Thehistorical evidence seems to show that Shah Jahan was not kept a closeprisoner, but simply confined to certain apartments in the palace. 

We will now pass over to the river side of the Machhi Bhawan, andapproach that part of the palace which contains the Dīwan-i-khas, or Hall of Private Audience, the Zanana and Mahal-i-khas, all builtby Shah Jahan and occupied by him in the days of his royal stateand sovereignty. They rank with the Dīwan-i-khas at Delhi as themost exquisite of Shah Jahan's buildings. From this classificationI purposely omit the Taj, gleaming on the banks of the river lowerdown. The Taj stands by itself. 

The Dīwan-i-Khas. 

The Dīwan-i-khas was built in 1637. Though much smaller than theDīwan-i-khas at Delhi, it is certainly not inferior in the beautyof its proportions and decoration. Most of the decorative workof these marble pavilions is directly derived from Persian art, and inspired by the Persian love of flowers which almost amountedto flower-worship. All the details are charming, but the dados, especially, edged with inlaid work and carved with floral types in themost delicate relief, show to perfection that wonderful decorativeinstinct which seems to be born in the Oriental handicraftsman. Thedesigner has naļvely translated into marble the conventional Indianflower-beds, just as they were in every palace garden, but thereis perfect art in the seeming absence of all artifice. The dadosoutside the Taj are similar in design to these, though larger andcorrespondingly bolder in style. The roof of the Dīwan-i-khas, withits fine covered ceiling, is interesting for its construction. 

JAHANGIR'S THRONE. --On the terrace in front of the Dīwan-i-khasare placed two thrones, one of white marble on the side facing theMachhi-Bhawan, and the other of black slate on the river side. Fromthe Persian inscription which runs round the four sides of the blackthrone we learn that it was made in 1603 for Jahangir. This was twoyears before the death of his father, Akbar, and he was then onlyPrince Salīm. The throne was, therefore, probably made to commemoratethe recognition by Akbar of his son's title to the succession. 

On this terrace Jahangir sat to enjoy the sight of his brigantines onthe river, or to watch the elephant fights on the level place beneaththe walls. From side to side of his throne there is a long fissure, which opened, so says tradition, when the Jāt Rajah, Jawahar Singh ofBharatpur, in 1765, set his usurping feet on the throne of the GreatMogul. The tradition holds that blood spurted out of the throne intwo places, and red marks in the stone are pointed out as evidenceof the truth of the story. The impious chief was shortly afterwardsassassinated in the palace. 

THE BATHS. --On the side of the terrace directly opposite to theDīwan-i-khas are the baths, or the Hammam. The water was brought upfrom a well, outside the walls, 70 feet below. These baths, in theirpresent state, are by no means so fine as those at Fatehpur Sikri, to be described hereafter. 

The Marquis of Hastings, when Governor-General of India, broke upone of the most beautiful of the baths of the palace, and sent ithome as a present to the Prince Regent, afterwards George the Fourth. 

The Samman Burj. 

A doorway at the back of the Dīwan-i-khas leads to the beautifultwo-storied pavilion, surmounting one of the most projecting of thecircular bastions on the river face, and known as the Samman Burj, "the Jasmine Tower" (Plate V. ). The style of the inlaid work shows itto be earlier in date than the Dīwan-i-khas, and supports Fergusson'sconjecture that it was built by Jahangir. In that case it must havebeen the apartment of his Empress, the beautiful and accomplished NurMahal. It was afterwards occupied by Mumtaz Mahal, the lady of theTaj. Here, also, in full view of the famous monument he had raisedto her memory, died her husband, Shah Jahan--sensualist, perhaps, but true to his last hours to one great master-passion. The faithfulJahanara, who shared his captivity for seven years, attended him onhis death-bed, and, as the shades of night closed in and hid the Tajfrom view--praying Divine forgiveness for his sins, and with a fewconsoling words to his daughter--he went to join his beloved!

After the rites prescribed by the Muhammadan law, the body was placedin a coffin of sandalwood and conveyed by the passage which leads fromthe Samman Burj to the low gate beneath it, which was specially openedfor the occasion. Thence, followed by a procession of mourners, it wascarried out of the Fort through the Sher Hāji gate, nearly opposite(now closed), and conveyed across the arm of the river to its lastresting-place in the Taj. 

The death of Shah Jahan and his funeral are minutely described byMulla Muhammad Kāzim in his "Alamgir Nama. " The guides wrongly pointout a pavilion in the Jahangiri Mahal as the place where he died. 

In front of the Samman Burj is a beautiful little fountain hollowedin the floor; on one side of the courtyard is a raised platform laidout in squares of black marble for the game of _pachisi_, an Easternbackgammon. [7]

The Khas Mahal. 

From the Samman Burj we step into the next set of apartments ofthe zanana, connecting with the Khas Mahal and a similar set on theother side. This part of the zanana forms the east, or river side, of the Anguri Bagh, or Grape Garden. There is an indescribable graceand charm about all this quarter of the palace, to which the beautyof the material, the perfect taste of the ornament and elegance ofthe proportions, the delightful background of the landscape, and thehistorical associations all contribute. It should be seen towardsevening, not in the full glare of the morning sun. 

When the afterglow fills the sky, burnishes the gilded roofs, andturns the marble to rose-colour, imagination may re-people theselovely pavilions with fair Indian women--revel in the feast ofcolour in _saris_, brocades, and carpets; in the gold, azure, andcrimson of the painted ceilings; and listen to the water splashingin the fountains and gurgling over the carved water-shoots--a sceneof voluptuous beauty such as the world has rarely known since thewealth and elegance of Rome filled the palaces and villas of Pompei. 

In the walls of the Khas Mahal are a number of niches which formerlycontained portraits of the Mogul Emperors, beginning with Timur, which, like so many other things, were looted by the Rajah of Bharatpur. Anumber of similar portraits and other fine paintings of the Mogulperiod are preserved in the Government Art Gallery, Calcutta. 

A Persian poem inscribed on the walls of the Khas Mahal gives thedate of its construction, 1636. 

THE UNDERGROUND CHAMBERS. --A staircase to the south of the Khas Mahalleads to a labyrinth of underground chambers, in which the Emperorand his zanana found refuge from the fierce summer heat of Agra. Inthe south-east corner there is a well-house, called a _bāoli_; thisis a set of chambers surrounding a well--a favourite retreat in thehot weather. There were formerly many of the kind round about Agra, constructed by the Mogul Emperors or their nobles. Besides theseresorts of ease and pleasure, there are gloomy dungeons which tellof misbehaving slaves and indiscreet sultanas, who were hurried downto meet their fate at the hands of the executioner, the silent Jumnareceiving their lifeless bodies. 

The Anguri Bagh. 

The great quadrangle in front of the Khas Mahal is the Anguri Bagh, surrounded on three sides by arcades, probably built by Akbar andintended for his zenana. They were occupied in the Mutiny days bythe British officers and their families who were shut up in the Fort. 

The Anguri Bagh is a very typical specimen of the old Mogul gardens, laid out in geometrical flower-beds, with four terraced walksradiating from the central platform and fountain. A stone trellisformerly enclosed the flower-beds, and probably supported the vineswhich gave the garden its name. 

Among the many improvements lately made by Lord Curzon in the Fort isthe clearance of the wire-netting fernhouses and bedraggled shrubswhich formerly disfigured the quadrangle. If it cannot be kept upin the old Mogul style, it is certainly better to leave the gardenuncultivated. 

SHISH MAHAL. --On the north side of the Anguri Bagh, close tothe zanana, a passage leads to the _Shish Mahal_, or "palace ofglass. " This was the bath of the zanana. The marble slabs of thefloor have been torn up, and the decoration with a kind of glassmosaic seems to have suffered from clumsy attempts at renovation. Apassage from the Shish Mahal leads to the old water gate. 

THE "SOMNATH" GATES. --Before entering the Jahangiri Mahal, on theopposite side of the Anguri Bagh, we will pause at a corner of thezanana courtyard, where a small apartment contains an interestingrelic of the Afghan expedition of 1842--the so-called "Somnath"gates, taken from the tomb of Mahmud of Ghazni in the capture of thatcity by the British. They were the subject of a most extraordinaryarchęological blunder by the Governor-General, Lord Ellenborough, who, in a grandiloquent proclamation, identifying them with thegates of carved sandalwood which Mahmud according to tradition, had taken from the celebrated Hindu temple of Somnath in 1025, announced to the people of India that "the insult of eight hundredyears had been avenged. " The gates were conveyed on a triumphal carthrough the towns of northern India to the Agra Fort, and depositedthere with great ceremony. As a matter of fact, the wood is deodar, and not sandalwood, and from the style of the ornament there can behardly a doubt that the gates were made at or near Ghazni. One glancewould convince any expert in Oriental archęology that they could notby any possibility have been the gates of a Hindu temple. 

It has been supposed that the original gates were destroyed by fire, and that these were made to replace them, but there seems to beconsiderable doubt whether Mahmud really took away any gates from theSomnath temple. It certainly would have been unusual for the greatMuhammadan plunderer to have burdened himself with an archęologicalrelic which, in those days, was not easily convertible into cash. 

A horse-shoe which is nailed to the gate is not, as is generallysupposed, a propitiation of the Goddess of Fortune, but a token fromthe owner of some sick animal that he would bring an offering tothe shrine in the event of a cure resulting from his visit. This wasan old custom among the Tartars and other nomad tribes, who valuedhorses and cattle as their most precious possessions. 

The Jahangiri Mahal. 

The palace called after Jahangir, the Jahangiri Mahal, is in manyrespects the most remarkable building of its class in India. Nothingcould be more striking than the contrast between the extreme elegance, bordering on effeminacy, of the marble pavilions of Shah Jahan'spalaces, and the robust, virile, yet highly imaginative architectureof this palace of Akbar; for though it bears Jahangir's name therecannot be much doubt that it was planned, and partially, if notcompletely, carried out by Akbar with the same architects who builtFatehpur Sikri. It is the perfected type of the style which we seein process of evolution at Fatehpur, and were it not for the Taj, we might regret the new element which came into Mogul architecturewith Itmād-ud-daulah's tomb. Both of these styles, which appear sideby side in the Agra Fort, are intensely typical of the men and thetimes which produced them. The one is stamped throughout with thepersonality of Akbar, the empire-builder, and distinguished by thestately solidity of Jain and Hindu architecture. In the other thenative vigour of the earlier Indian styles has been softened by thecultured eclecticism of Persia and Arabia, for the manly dignity ofAkbar's court had given place to the sensual luxury of Shah Jahan's. 

On the river side of the palace there is an octagonal pavilion placedsimilarly to the Samman Burj, which is very charming in its frescodecoration, though the colour has faded very much. It is possibly thispavilion to which Badāyunī, one of Akbar's biographers, refers whenhe describes a Brahmin, named Dźbi, being pulled up the walls of thecastle, sitting on a _charpāī_ (a native bed), till he arrived nearthe balcony where the Emperor used to sleep. "Whilst thus suspendedhe instructed his Majesty in the secrets and legends of Hinduism, in the manner of worshipping idols, the fire, the sun, and stars, and of revering the chief gods of these unbelievers. " The priests ofother religions were similarly carried up to converse with Akbar. 

Adjoining this is a set of small rooms, known as Akbar's apartments, which, even in their present dilapidated state, show that theymust have possessed a richness and beauty of decoration inferior tonothing else in the whole Fort. The dados were decorated with _gesso_work on a gold ground. The borders are still almost intact, but therest of the relief ornament seems to have been wantonly hacked offout of pure mischief. I believe this is the only example of _gesso_work in any of Akbar's buildings. The treatment of the upper partof the walls with the characteristic cuspings of Arabian and Moorisharchitects is admirable. 

Passing through these, we enter a long room known as the library, inwhich a not very successful attempt was made some years ago to restorethe painted decoration. It is to be devoutly hoped that this and otherdangerous experiments of the kind will not be continued, except underskilled artistic supervision. The restoration of the structural partsof the palace and of the stone carving is a more easy matter, forthe descendants of the very men who built and carved the palace stillpractise their art in Agra and round about. This has been admirablycarried out by the Public Works Department under Lord Curzon's orders. 

The outer courtyard, on the riverside, is very interesting, especiallyfor a very elegant and original porch, in which Saracenic feelingpredominates; but on entering the inner courtyard (Plate VI. ) it ismore easy to realize that this Palace is one of the great masterpiecesof Mogul architecture. The beauty of this inner quadrangle is derivednot so much from its fine proportions and rich ornamentation as fromthe wonderful rhythmic play of light and shadow, produced by thebracket form of construction and the admirable disposition of theopenings for doors, windows, and colonnades. The north side of thequadrangle is formed by a pillared hall, of distinctly Hindu design, full of the feeling of mystery characteristic of indigenous Indianstyles. The subdued light of the interior adds to the impressivenessof its great piers stretching their giant brackets up to the rooflike the gnarled and twisted branches of primeval forest trees. A veryinteresting point of view can be obtained from the gallery which runsround the upper part of the hall. 

One of Jahangir's wives, a Hindu princess of Jodhpur, hence knownas Jodh Bai, lived in this part of the palace, and the room on thewest side of the quadrangle, surrounded by a number of oblong niches, is said to have been her temple, in which the images of Hanuman andother Hindu deities were kept. 

On the roof of the Jahangiri Mahal there are two fine pavilions;also a number of cisterns, which supplied the palace with water. Inthe side of one of them there are a number of pipe-holes, lined withcopper, over each of which is a circular stone label inscribed withthe part of the palace to which it gave a supply. 

The Salīmgarh. 

On the rising ground behind the courtyard of the Dīwan-i-ām thereformerly existed a palace called the Salīmgarh. Before Jahangir'saccession he was known as Prince Salīm, and tradition associatesthis palace with him. Fergusson, however, states that in his time anexquisite fragment of a palace built by Shere Shah, or his son Salīm, existed here. The Salīmgarh at Delhi is named after the son of ShereShah, Salīm Shah Sur, who built it, and there is some doubt as to whichof the two Salīms gave his name to the Salīmgarh at Agra. Akbar'sFort is known to have been built to replace an older one (known asthe Badalgarh) by Salīm Shah Sur, but it is quite possible that a partof the palace may have been left, and retained the name of its founder. 

The only part of the Salīmgarh which now remains is a large two-storiedpavilion in front of the barracks. The upper half of the exterioris carved with extraordinary richness. The style of design certainlyindicates the period of the Jahangiri Mahal and Akbar's buildings atFatehpur Sikri, rather than Shere Shah's work. 

The Jāmi Masjid. 

Nearly opposite to the Delhi Gate of the Fort is the Jāmi Masjid, orCathedral Mosque, built by Jahanara, Shah Jahan's eldest daughter. Itis in the same style as the splendid mosque built by Shah Jahanat Delhi, but far inferior in merit. There is a tameness about thewhole design very unusual in the buildings of this epoch. The zig-zagstriping of the domes is decidedly unpleasant. 

An inscription over the main archway states that it was completed inthe year 1644 A. D. A cost of five lakhs of rupees. 

The Taj

Arjumand Banu Begam the favourite wife of Shah Jahan, is better knownby her other name, Mumtaz Mahal ("the Crown of the Palace"). Herfather was Asaf Khan, who was brother of the Empress Nur Mahal, Jahangir's wife. She was thus the granddaughter of Itmād-ud-daulah, Jahangir's Prime Minister, whose tomb, on the opposite bank of theriver, will be described hereafter. 

In 1612, at the age of nineteen years she was married to ShahJahan--then Prince Khurram--who, though hardly twenty-one, had alreadyanother wife. This second marriage, however, was a real love-match, and Mumtaz was her husband's inseparable companion on all his journeysand military expeditions. Shah Jahan, like his father, allowed hiswife a large share in the responsibilities of government. Like NurMahal, she was famed as much for her charity as for her beauty. Herinfluence was especially exercised in obtaining clemency for criminalscondemned to death. She bore him fourteen children, and died inchildbed in 1630, or the second year after Shah Jahan's accession tothe throne, at Burhanpur, whither she had accompanied her husbandon a campaign against Khan Jahan Lodi. The Emperor was overpoweredwith grief. For a week he refused to see any of his ministers, orto transact any business of state. He even contemplated resigningthe throne and dividing the empire among his sons. For two years thecourt observed strict mourning. No music or festivities were allowed;the wearing of jewels, the use of perfumes and luxuries of all kindswere forbidden. The month of Zikad, in which she died, was observedas a month of mourning for many years afterwards. The body of Mumtazwas removed to Agra, and remained temporarily in the garden of theTaj while the foundations of the building were being laid. It wasthen placed in the vault where it now lies. A temporary dome coveredthe tomb while the great monument grew up over it. 

The building of the Taj. 

It was one of those intervals in history when the whole genius of apeople is concentrated on great architectural works, and art becomesan epitome of the age. For the Taj was not a creation of a singlemaster-mind, but the consummation of a great art epoch. Since thetime of Akbar the best architects, artists, and art workmen of India, Persia, Arabia, and Central Asia had been attracted to the Mogulcourt. All the resources of a great empire were at their disposal, for Shah Jahan desired that this monument of his grief should be oneof the wonders of the world. The sad circumstances which attendedthe early death of the devoted wife who had endeared herself to thepeople might well inspire all his subjects to join in the Emperor'spious intentions. 

According to the old Tartar custom, a garden was chosen as a sitefor the tomb--a garden planted with flowers and flowering shrubs, the emblems of life, and solemn cypress, the emblem of deathand eternity. Such a garden, in the Mogul days, was kept up as apleasure-ground during the owner's lifetime, and used as his lastresting-place after his death. The old tradition laid down that itmust be acquired by fair means, and not by force or fraud. So RajahJey Singh, to whom the garden belonged, was compensated by the giftof another property from the Emperor's private estate. Shah Jahannext appointed a council of the best architects of his empire forpreparing the design for the building. Drawings of many of the mostcelebrated buildings of the world were shown and discussed. It is evenbelieved that one Geronimo Verroneo, an Italian who was then in theMogul service, submitted designs for Shah Jahan's inspection, a factwhich has led many writers into the error of supposing that the Taj, as completed, was actually designed by him. [8] The design eventuallyaccepted was by Ustad Isa, who is stated in one account to have beena Byzantine Turk, and in another a native of Shiraz, in Persia. 

The master-builders came from many different parts; the chiefmasons from Baghdad, Delhi, and Multan; the dome builders fromAsiatic Turkey and from Samarkand; the mosaic workers from Kanaujand from Baghdad; the principal calligraphist for the inscriptionsfrom Shiraz. Every part of India and Central Asia contributed thematerials; Jaipur, the marble; Fatehpur Sikri, the red sandstone;the Panjab, jasper; China, the jade and crystal; Tibet, turquoises;Ceylon, lapis lazuli and sapphires; Arabia, coral and cornelian;Panna in Bundelkund, diamonds; Persia, onyx and amethyst. Twentythousand men were employed in the construction, which took seventeenyears to complete. [9] The sarcophagus was originally enclosed bya fence or screen of gold studded with gems. This was removed in1642, and replaced by the present exquisite screen of pierced marble(Plate VII. ). The Taj also possessed formerly two wonderful silverdoors. Austin de Bordeaux, a French goldsmith, who was employed byShah Jahan in making the celebrated Peacock throne, may possiblyhave executed some of this metal-work in the Taj; but there is noevidence worthy of consideration to support the common Anglo-Indianbelief that he designed or superintended the _pietra dura_, or inlaidmarble decoration of the building, which is entirely of the Persianschool. These silver doors were looted and melted down by the Jātsin 1764. 

Besides the lavish expenditure on the building, lakhs of rupees werespent in providing the richest of Persian silk carpets, golden lamps, and magnificent candlesticks. A sheet of pearls, valued at severallakhs, was made to cover the sarcophagus. This was carried off by theAmir Husein Ali Khan, in 1720, as part of his share of the spoil ofAgra. The total expenditure, according to native accounts, amountedto nearly 185 lakhs of rupees. 

It is said that Shah Jahan had intended to construct a mausoleum forhimself opposite to the Taj, on the other side of the Jumna and toconnect the two by a great bridge. The project was interrupted andnever completed, owing to the usurpation of Aurangzīb, shortly afterthe foundations were laid. 

The Intention of the Taj. 

The Taj has been the subject of numberless critical essays, butmany of them have missed the mark entirely, because the writershave not been sufficiently conversant with the spirit of Easternartistic thought. All comparisons with the Parthenon or otherclassic buildings are useless. One cannot compare Homer with theMāhabhāratā, or Kalīdās with Euripides. The Parthenon was a templefor Pallas Athene, an exquisite casket to contain the jewel. TheTaj is the jewel--the ideal itself. Indian architecture is in muchcloser affinity to the great conceptions of the Gothic buildersthan it is to anything of classic or Renaissance construction. TheGothic cathedral, with its sculptured arches and its spires pointingheavenwards, is a symbol, as most Eastern buildings are symbols. TheMogul artists, being prevented by the precepts of the Muhammadanreligion from attempting sculpture, as understood in Europe, succeededin investing their great architectural monuments with an extraordinarypersonal character. There is a wonderful personality in the dignity andgreatness of Akbar's tomb; we see the scholar and the polished courtierin Itmād-ud-daulah's. But the Taj carries this idea of personalityfurther than had been attempted in any of the Mogul monuments; itrepresents in art the highest development towards individualism, the struggle against the restraints of ritualism and dogma, whichAkbar initiated in religion. 

Every one who has seen the Taj must have felt that there is somethingin it, difficult to define or analyze, which differentiates it fromall other buildings in the world. Sir Edwin Arnold has struck thetrue note of criticism in the following lines:--

 "Not Architecture! as all others are, But the proud passion of an Emperor's love Wrought into living stone, which gleams and soars With body of beauty shrining soul and thought; . .. As when some face Divinely fair unveils before our eyes-- Some woman beautiful unspeakably-- And the blood quickens, and the spirit leaps, And will to worship bends the half-yielded knees, While breath forgets to breathe. So is the Taj!"

This is not a mere flight of poetic fancy, but a deep and trueinterpretation of the meaning of the Taj. What were the thoughtsof the designers, and of Shah Jahan himself, when they resolved toraise a monument of eternal love to the Crown of the Palace--TajMahal? Surely not only of a mausoleum--a sepulchre fashioned afterordinary architectural canons, but of an architectonic ideal, symbolical of her womanly grace and beauty. Those critics who haveobjected to the effeminacy of the architecture unconsciously pay thehighest tribute to the genius of the builders. The Taj was meant tobe feminine. The whole conception, and every line and detail of it, express the intention of the designers. It is Mumtaz Mahal herself, radiant in her youthful beauty, who still lingers on the banks ofthe shining Jumna, at early morn, in the glowing midday sun, or inthe silver moonlight. Or rather, we should say, it conveys a moreabstract thought; it is India's noble tribute to the grace of Indianwomanhood--the Venus de Milo of the East. 

Bearing this in mind, we can understand how foolish it is to formulatecriticisms of the Taj based on ordinary architectural principlesas practised in Europe. Many of these criticisms, which might beappropriate enough if applied to a modern provincial town hall, areonly silly and impertinent in reference to the Taj. Some are borntone-deaf, others colour-blind, and there are many who can find beautyin one particular form or expression of art and in no others. So theTaj will always find detractors. But whoever tries to understandthe imaginative side of Eastern thought will leave the critics tothemselves, and take unrestrained delight in the exquisitely subtlerhythm of this marvellous creation of Mogul art. 

 * * * * *

The gateway of the Taj faces a spacious quadrangle surroundedby arcades. This is a _caravan serai_, or place where travellershalted. Here, also, the poor were provided with food and shelter, and on the anniversary day vast sums were distributed in charityfrom the funds with which the Taj was endowed. It is well to pausebefore entering, and admire the proportions and perfect taste ofthe decoration of this gateway; for afterwards one has no eyes foranything but the Taj itself. It is much finer in design than thesimilar gateway of Akbar's tomb at Sikandra. An Arabic inscription inblack marble, of passages taken from the Koran, frames the principalarch, and invites the pure of heart to enter the Gardens of Paradise. 

The first view of the Taj is from within this noble portal, framed bythe sombre shadow of the great arch which opens on to the garden. Atthe end of a long terrace, its gracious outline partly mirrored in thestill water of a wide canal, a fairy vision of silver-white--like thespirit of purity--seems to rest so lightly, so tenderly, on the earth, as if in a moment it would soar into the sky. The beauty of the Taj, as in all great art, lies in its simplicity. One wonders that so muchbeauty can come from so little effort. Yet nothing is wanting, nothingin excess; one cannot alter this and that and say that it is better. 

The garden, as originally planned, was an integral part of one greatdesign. The solemn rows of cypresses were planted so as to help outthe lines of the architecture; the flowering trees and flower-bedscompleted the harmony with a splendid glow of colour. [10] Beautifulas the first view of the Taj is even now, one can hardly realize howglorious it must have been when the whole intention of the designwas fulfilled. At present there is not a single spot in the gardenitself which gives a view of the composition as a whole. 

Advancing down the main terrace, paved with stone and laid out withgeometric flower-beds, we reach a marble platform with its fountain(see frontispiece), [11] where a nearer view of the Taj may beenjoyed. Such a platform was the central feature in all Mogulgardens. The terraces to the right and left of it end in two finepavilions of red sandstone, intended for the accommodation of thecustodians of the mausoleum and for storehouses. 

From this point we can admire the effect of the exquisite inlaiddecoration, fine and precious as the embroidery on the raiment ofMumtaz herself. At the end of the main terrace we reach the stepsleading up to the great platform on which the Taj and its minarets, "four tall court ladies tending their Princess, " are raised. 

Let us reverently enter the central chamber, where Mumtaz Mahal andShah Jahan, her lord and lover, lie. Fergusson has truly said, nowords can express its chastened beauty seen in the soft gloom of thesubdued light coming from the distant and half-closed openings. Thescreen of marble tracery which surrounds the tombs is in itself amasterpiece. Even with all the artistic resources which Shah Jahan hadat his command, it was a work of ten years. Mumtaz Mahal lies in thecentre. The white marble of her tomb blossoms with a never-fadinggarden of Persian flowers, which the magic of the Mogul artistshas created. 

The inscription on it is as follows: "The illustrious sepulchre ofArjumand Banu Begam, called Mumtaz Mahal. Died in 1040 A. H. " (1630A. D. ). 

At the head of the tomb is the line: "He is the everlasting: He issufficient;" and the following passage from the Koran: "God is He, besides whom there is no God. He knoweth what is concealed and whatis manifest. He is merciful and compassionate. "

On one side of it: "Nearer unto God are those who say 'Our Lordis God. '"

The inscription in the tomb of Shah Jahan is as follows: "Theillustrious sepulchre and sacred resting-place of His Most ExaltedMajesty dignified as Razwan (the guardian of Paradise), having hisabode in Paradise, and his dwelling in the starry heaven, inhabitantof the regions of bliss, the second lord of the Qirįn, [12] ShahJahan, the king valiant. May his tomb ever flourish; and may hisabode be in the heavens. He travelled from this transitory world tothe world of eternity on the night of the 28th of the month of Rajab, 1076 A. H. " (1666 A. D. ). 

The real cenotaphs containing the remains of Shah Jahan and hiswife are immediately under these tombs, in the vault below. Not theleast of the wonders of this wonderful building is in its acousticqualities. It does not respond to vulgar noises, but if a few notes beslowly and softly sung in this vault, and especially if the chord ofthe seventh be sounded; they are caught up by the echoes of the roofand repeated in endless harmonies, which seem to those listening aboveas if a celestial choir were chanting angelic hymns. "It haunts theair above and around; it distils in showers upon the polished marble;it rises, it falls. .. . It is the very element with which sweet dreamsare builded. It is the spirit of the Taj, the voice of inspired love!"

Surrounding the central chamber are eight smaller ones for the mullahswho chanted the Koran and for musicians who played soft Indian andPersian melodies. The vault below was only opened once a year, onthe anniversary day, when the Emperor and all his court attended asolemn festival. Even on ordinary occasions none but Muhammadans wereadmitted into the interior. Bernier tells us that he had not seen it, on that account, but he understood that nothing could be conceivedmore rich and magnificent. 

The two mosques of red sandstone on either side of the Taj are in thesame style as the entrance gateway, the interiors being decoratedwith fresco and fine cut plaster-work. The one towards the westwas intended for prayers only; the floor is panelled into separatespaces for each worshipper. The opposite mosque was known, as the_Jamaat Khana_, or meeting-place for the congregation before prayers, and on the occasion of the great anniversary service. Standing on theplatform in front of this mosque, one has a splendid view of the Taj, the river, and the distant Fort. 

As the garden is now arranged; a full view of the magnificent platform, with its two mosques, and the Taj itself, can only be obtained fromthe opposite side of the river, which is not very accessible except byboat. When the traveller leaves Agra by rail, going east, the Taj inall its glory can be seen in the distance, floating like the mirage ofsome wondrous fairy palace over the waving tufts of the pampas grass, until at last it sinks into the pale horizon. 

 * * * * *

NOTE. --A small museum has been established lately by the ArchęologicalDepartment, in the western half of the Taj main gateway. Itcontains an interesting collection of photographs and drawings ofthe Taj at different periods, and specimens of the stones used in the_pietra dura_, or inlay work of the building. There are also samplesillustrating the technique of _pietra dura_, and the tools used bynative workmen. 

Itmād-ud-daulah's Tomb

The tomb of Itmād-ud-daulah, "the Lord High Treasurer, " is on the eastor left bank of the river, and is reached by crossing the pontoonbridge. It was built by Nur Mahal, the favourite wife of Jahangir, as a mausoleum for her father, Mirza Ghīas Beg, who, according toone account, was a Persian from Teheran, and by another a native ofWestern Tartary. 

A story is told of the Mirza's early life, of which it can only besaid, _Se non é vero é ben trovato_. He left his home, accompaniedby his wife and children, to seek his fortune in India, where hehad some relatives at Akbar's court. His slender provision for thejourney was exhausted in crossing the Great Desert, and they wereall in danger of perishing from hunger. In this extremity his wifegave birth to a daughter. The unhappy parents, distracted by hungerand fatigue, left the infant under a solitary shrub. With the fathersupporting his wife and children on the one bullock which remainedto them, they pushed on in the hope of finding relief; but as thetiny landmark where the infant lay disappeared in the distance, themother, in a paroxysm of grief, threw herself to the ground, crying, "My child! my child!" The piteous appeal forced the father to returnto restore the babe to her mother, and soon afterwards a caravanappeared in sight and rescued the whole party. 

The child born under these romantic circumstances became the EmpressNur Mahal, who built this mausoleum. Her father reached Lahore, whereAkbar then held his court, and through the influence of his friendsattracted the Emperor's attention. His talents won for him speedypromotion, and under Jahangir he became first Lord High Treasurer, andafterwards Wazir, or Prime Minister. Jahangir, in his memoirs, candidlydiscusses the character of his father-in-law. He was a good scholar, with a pretty taste for poetry, possessed many social qualities anda genial disposition. His accounts were always in perfect order, but"he liked bribes, and showed much boldness in demanding them. " On hisdeath his son, Asaf Khan, the father of Mumtaz Mahal, was appointedto succeed him. 

Itmād-ad-daulah and his wife are buried in the central chamber;his brother and sister and other members of his family occupythe four corners. The pavilion on the roof, enclosed by beautifulmarble tracery (Plate IX. ), contains only replicas of the real tombsbeneath. The mausoleum was commenced in 1622 and completed in 1628. Asa composition it may lack inspiration, but it is exceedingly elegant, and scholarly like the Lord High Treasurer himself. In construction itmarks the transition from the style of Akbar to that of Shah Jahan;from the Jahangiri Mahal to the Dīwan-i-khas, the Mūti Masjid, andthe Taj. The towers at the four corners might be the first suggestionof the detached minarets of the Taj. The Hindu feeling which is socharacteristic of most of Akbar's buildings is here only shown inthe roof of the central chamber over the tomb; in pure Saracenicarchitecture a tomb is always covered by a dome. 

This change in style greatly influenced the architecture of thewhole of the north of India, Hindu and Jain as well as Muhammadan. Itmust be remembered that comparatively few of the master-builders whoactually constructed the most famous examples of Mogul architecturewere Muhammadans. The remarkable decline of the Mogul style whichset in under Aurangzīb was largely due to his bigotry in refusing toemploy any but true believers. 

The family ties of Itmād-ud-daulah and his daughter, the Empress, were closely connected with Persia and Central Asia; and no doubtthe fashion set by Jahangir's court led to the Saracenic elementbecoming predominant in the Mogul style, both in construction and indecoration. Many authorities have connected the marked differencebetween Itmād-ud-daulah's tomb and Akbar's buildings to Italianinfluence, only on the ground that Jahangir is known to have beenpartial to Europeans, and allowed them free access to his palace. Thereis not, however, a trace of Italian art in any detail of the building;there is not a form or decorative idea which had not been used inIndia or in Central Asia for centuries. The use of marble inlaid workon so extensive a scale was a novelty, but it was only an imitation, or adaptation, of the splendid tile-mosaic and painted tile-workwhich were the commonest kinds of decoration employed in Persia:Wazir Khan's mosque at Lahore, built in Jahangir's time, is a fineIndian example of the latter. 

The art of inlaying stone had been practised in India for manyyears before this building; but here, for the first time, do we findthe inlayers making attempts at direct imitation of Persian potterydecoration. All the familiar _motifs_ of Persian art, the tree of lifeand other floral types, the cypress tree, the flower-vases, fruits, wine-cups, and rose-water vessels are here reproduced exactly as theyare found in Persian mosaic tiles. In Shah Jahan's palace and in theTaj they went a step further, and imitated the more naturalistictreatment of Persian fresco painting and other pictorial art; butthere is never the slightest suggestion of European design in thedecoration of these buildings. 

It is quite possible that some Italians may have shown the nativeinlayers specimens of Florentine _pietra dura_, and suggested tothem this naturalistic treatment, but if Italians or other Europeanshad been engaged to instruct or supervise in the decoration ofthese buildings they would certainly have left some traces of theirhandiwork. In the technical part of the process the Indian workmenhad nothing to learn, and in the design they made no attempt tofollow European forms, except in the one solitary instance of thedecoration of the throne-chamber of the Delhi Palace, which is muchlater in date than Itmād-ud-daulah's tomb. [13]

The whole scheme of the exterior decoration is so finely carried out, both in arrangement and colour, that its extreme elaboration producesno effect of unquietness. At a distance it only gives a suggestion ofa soft bloom or iridescence on the surface of the marble. The soffitsof the doorways are carved with extraordinary delicacy. Inside thebuilding there are remains of fresco and other painted decoration. 

Beautifully placed on the river bank, there is a fine little mosque, which at sunset makes a charming picture. The boldness and greatersimplicity of the decoration contrast well with the richness of thatof the mausoleum. 

The Chīnī-ka-Rauza

Beyond Itmād-ud-daulah's tomb, on the same side of the river, is abeautiful ruin, once entirely covered with the same Persian mosaictile-work, which suggested the more costly style of decoration ininlaid marble. It is called Chīnī-ka-Rauza, or the China Tomb, andis supposed to be the mausoleum of Afzal Khan, a Persian poet, whoentered the service of Jahangir, and afterwards became Prime Ministerto Shah Jahan. He died in Lahore in 1639. The weather and ill-treatmentof various kinds have removed a great deal of the exquisite enamelcolours from the tiles, but enough remains to indicate how rich andmagnificent the effect must have been originally. A part of the southfaēade which has fallen in shows how the builders employed earthenpots to lessen the weight of the concrete filling, a practice followedin the ancient dome construction of Egypt and Rome. 

The Ram Bagh

Among a number of more or less ruined garden-houses on this bankof the river, there is one, a little beyond the Chīnī-ka-Rauza, ofespecial interest, on account of the tradition which associates itwith the Emperor Babar. It is called the Ram Bagh, and is believed tohave been one of the "elegant and regularly planned pleasure-grounds"which Babar laid out and planted with fruit trees and flowers, as hehas described in his memoirs. 

No doubt this was the scene of many imperial picnics; not the drunkenrevels of Babar's Kabul days--for just before the great battle withthe Rajputs in 1527 he smashed all his gold and silver drinking-cupsand took a vow of total abstinence, which he kept faithfully--butthe more sane and temperate pleasures which music, poetry, and hisintense delight in the beauties of nature could furnish. Here is acharming picture he has given of another garden he laid out in theIstalif district of Kabul:--

"On the outside of the garden are large and beautiful spreadingplane-trees, under the shade of which there are agreeable spots, finely sheltered. A perennial stream, large enough to turn a mill, runs through the garden, and on its banks are planted plane and othertrees. Formerly this stream flowed in a winding and crooked course, but I ordered its course to be altered according to a plan whichadded greatly to the beauty of the place. Lower down . .. On the lowerskirts of the hills is a fountain, named Kwājeh-seh-yārān (Kwājeh threefriends), around which are three species of trees; above the fountainare many beautiful plane trees, which yield a pleasant shade. On thetwo sides of the fountain, on small eminences at the bottom of thehills, there are a number of oak trees. Except on these two spots, where there are groves of oak, there is not an oak to be met with onthe hills of the west of Kabul. In front of this fountain, towards theplain, there are many spots covered with the flowering arghwān tree, and, besides these arghwān plots, there are none else in the wholecountry. It is said that these three kinds of trees were bestowedon it by the power of these three holy men, beloved of God; and thatis the origin of the name Sej-Yārān. I directed this fountain to bebuilt round with stone, and formed a cistern of lime and mortar tenyez by ten. On the four sides of the fountain a fine level platformfor resting was constructed on a very neat plan. At the time whenthe arghwān flowers begin to blow, I do not know of any place in theworld to be compared with it. The yellow arghwān is here very abundant, and the yellow arghwān blossom mingles with the red. "

The Ram Bagh was the temporary resting-place of the body ofBabar before it was taken to Kabul for interment in another of thegardens he loved so much. The old Mogul style of gardening is a lostart, and one misses in the Ram Bagh the stately rows of cypress, interspersed with flowering trees, the formal flower-beds glowingwith colour like a living carpet, which were planted by Babar; butthe terraces, the fountain, the water-channels, and the little stonewater-shoots--cunningly carved so that the water breaks over themwith a pleasant gurgling sound--which may have recalled to him themurmurings of his native mountain-streams--the old well from whichthe water of the Jumna is lifted into the channels, can still be seen, as well as the pavilions on the river-bank, now modernized with modernbad taste. 

In later times the Ram Bagh was the garden-house of the Empress NurMahal. It was kept up by all succeeding Governments, and it is saidto have obtained its name of Ram Bagh from the Mahrattas in theeighteenth century. 

THE ZUHARA BAGH. --Between the Chīnī-ka-Rauza and the Ram Bagh there isanother great walled enclosure, which contained the garden-house ofZuhara, one of Babar's daughters, and is named after her the Zuhara, or Zohra Bagh. This formerly contained the largest garden-palaceat Agra, and is said to have possessed no less than sixty wells. Agreat well, just outside the enclosure, 220 feet in circumference, and of enormous depth, was filled up some years ago. 

Sikandra

Sikandra, a village about five miles from Agra, and the burial-place ofAkbar, is reached by two roads. The older one follows, to some extent, the alignment of the great military road to Lahore and Kashmir, plannedby Babar and completed by his successors. A few of the _kos-minars_, pillars which marked off the _kos_--a distance of about two and a halfmiles--can still be seen along the road, or in the adjoining fields. 

Numerous remains of archęological interest are passed on the way ofthe old road. First the Delhi gate of the old city walls. About amile further on the right-hand side, is a great walled enclosure, named after Ladli Begam, the sister of Abul Fazl, Akbar's famousPrime Minister and biographer. It formerly contained her tomb, aswell as that of Sheikh Mubarak, her father, and of Faizi, her eldestbrother. Many years ago the whole enclosure was sold by Government. Thepurchasers, some wealthy Hindu merchants of Muttra, promptly pulleddown the mausoleum, realized the materials, and built a pavilionon the site. In front of the great gateway was a splendid _baoli_, or well-house, the largest in the neighbourhood of Agra. This wasfilled up about five years ago. 

Not far from Ladli Begam's garden is the Kandahāri Bagh, where thefirst wife of Shah Jahan, a daughter of Mozaffar Husein, who was thegreat-grandson of Shah Ismail Safvi, King of Persia, is buried. 

About a mile further along the road, on the left-hand side, is acurious statue of a horse in red sandstone, which, tradition says, was put up by a nobleman whose favourite horse was killed at this spot;the syce who was killed at the same time has his tomb close by. 

Nearly opposite to this is a large dried-up tank, called theGuru-ka-Tal, which, with the adjacent ruined buildings, are attributedto Sikandar Lodi, one of the Afghan predecessors of the Mogul Emperors, who has given his name to Sikandra. 

Akbar's Tomb. 

Akbar's tomb stands in the midst of a vast garden, enclosed by fourhigh battlemented walls. In the centre of each wall is an imposinggateway seventy feet high. The principal one, on the west side, has an inscription in Persian, which states that the mausoleum wascompleted by the Emperor Jahangir, in the seventh year of his reign, or 1613 A. D. It is elaborately ornamented with bold but ratherdisjointed inlaid patterns, which seem to show that the designerswere unaccustomed to this method of decoration. Neither are thefour minarets at the corners of the roof, which are said to havebeen broken by the Jāts, contrived with the usual skill of the Mogularchitects. Above the gateway is the Nakkįr Khana, an arcaded chamberwith a balcony, where at dawn and one watch after sunrise the drumsand pipes sounded in honour of the dead. 

The mausoleum was commenced by Akbar himself. It is different in planfrom any other Mogul monument, and, contrary to the usual Muhammadancustom, the head of the tomb of Akbar is turned towards the risingsun, and not towards Mecca. The whole structure gives the impressionof a noble but incompleted idea; both in its greatness and in itsincompleteness, it is typical of Akbar and his work. 

The original design was somewhat modified by Jahangir. He hasstated in his memoirs that on his first visit to the tomb after hisaccession he was dissatisfied with the work which had been done, and ordered certain parts of it to be rebuilt. Fergusson supposesthat the original intention was to cover the tombstone and raisedplatform of the uppermost story with a domed canopy, and in thishe is supported by a statement of William Finch, who visited themausoleum when it was being built, that it was to be "inarched overwith the most curious white and speckled marble, to be ceiled allwithin with pure sheet gold richly inwrought. " Such a canopy is justwhat is required by ęsthetic considerations to complete the curiouslytruncated appearance of the top story, and there is nothing in thestructural design to make it impossible or improbable. 

The approach to the interior of the mausoleum is through the centralarchway of the lower story, which opens into a vestibule richlyornamented with raised stucco work, and coloured in blue and gold, somewhat in the style of the Alhambra. A part of this decoration hasbeen lately restored. An inclined passage, like the entrance to anEgyptian pyramid, leads down into a high vaulted chamber, dimly lightedfrom above, where a simple sarcophagus of white marble contains themortal remains of the great Akbar. Whatever decoration there may havebeen on the walls is now covered with whitewash. The Emperor's armour, clothes, and books, which were placed beside the tomb, are said to havebeen carried off by those insatiable marauders, the Jāts of Bharatpur. 

Smaller chambers surrounding the central one, on the level of theplatform, contain the tombs of two of Akbar's daughters and a son ofthe Emperor Shah Alam. These also have suffered much from neglect andwhitewash, The whole of the faēade of the lower story was originallyfaced with red sandstone, or perhaps with fine stucco decorated infresco. The present coat of common plaster is modern work, which, except as a protection for the brickwork, would have been betterleft undone. 

The lower story is 320 feet square. Above this are three others, diminishing in size up to the highest, which is just half thesedimensions. The roof of the topmost is surrounded by cloisters, the outer arches of which are filled with very fine marble tracery(Plate X. ). In the centre, on a raised platform, is a solid block ofpure white marble, delicately carved with flowers and sacred texts, representing the real tomb in the vault beneath. At the head isthe inscription, "Allah-o-Akbar" (God is Great), and at the foot, "Jalli Jalalohu" (Magnificent is His Glory). These sentences werethe formula of Akbar's new religion, which he called "The DivineFaith. " On the sides the ninety-nine attributes of God are carved inthe Arabic character. The carved marble pedestal at the end of thetomb was a stand for a golden censer. 

THE KANCH MAHAL. --Outside the enclosure of Akbar's tomb, a littleto the east of the principal entrance, is a rare and remarkably fineexample of Mogul domestic architecture. This is a two-storied building, known as the Kanch Mahal, and supposed to have been built by Jahangiras a country seat. In its extremely elaborate ornamentation, inlaidstone and enamelled tiles have been most effectively combined with thecarving. The repairs lately carried out under Lord Curzon's orders havebeen very carefully done, though it is easy to see the inferiority ofthe new work where the old carving had to be reproduced. Our fatuouspolicy of adopting European styles in all public buildings in Indiais bound to cause a deterioration in the native art handicrafts, forit closes the principal source from which they have sprung. Unlessthis policy is reversed, nothing will prevent the ultimate extinctionof Indian art. 

SURAJ-BHAN-KA BAGH. --This is another two-storied building of aboutthe same period, but not quite so fine in style, facing the Agra road, at a little distance from the Kanch Mahal. 

MARIAM ZĀMĀNI'S TOMB. --A short distance further on, in the directionof Muttra, is the building supposed to have been originally the gardenhouse of Sikandar Lodi, in which Mariam Zāmāni, one of Akbar's wives, is said to have been buried. It has been used for many years as aprinting establishment for a Mission Orphanage. 

Other Buildings and Tombs at or near Agra

The tomb of Feroz Khan, opposite to the third milestone on the Gwaliorroad, is an interesting building of Akbar's time, richly carved anddecorated with tile-work. Close by is the tomb of the Pahalwari, where a celebrated wrestler of Shah Jahan's time is buried. Thereare a considerable number of buildings and numerous ruins in Agra, and round about, which possess only historical or archęologicalinterest. In the town are the following:--

The KALI MASJID, or Black Mosque, otherwise called the Kalan Masjid, or Grand Mosque, is of the early Akbar style. It was built by thefather of Shah Jahan's first wife, the Kandahāri Begum. This is nearto the Government dispensary. 

In the Nai-ki-Mundi quarter is the mosque of Shah Ala-ud-din Majzub, commonly known as ALAWAL BILAWAL, a saint who lived at the time ofShere Shah. He established a school of Muhammadan law, and founded amonastery besides the mosque. The accumulations round the mosque havereached up to the springing of the arches, and tradition accounts forthis by the following story: A camel-driver in Shere Shah's servicestabled his beasts in the mosque, in spite of the protests of the saintThereupon the building began to sink into the ground, and did not ceasedescending until the camels and their driver were crushed to death. 

The HAMMAN, or Baths of Ali Verdi Khan, in Chipitolla Street, builtin the time of Jahangir. An inscription over the gateway gives thedate, 1620 A. D. They cannot be compared in interest with the splendid"Hakim's Baths, " at Fatehpur Sikri. 

The ROMAN CATHOLIC CEMETERY, in the quarter known as Padritollah, near the Law Courts, is one of the most ancient Christian cemeteriesin India. The ground was granted to the mission by the EmperorAkbar. There are a number of Portuguese and Armenian tombs dating fromearly in the seventeenth century. It also contains the tomb of thenotorious Walter Reinhardt, or Samru, as he was called, the founderof the principality of Sirdhana, whose history is given at p. 38. TheDutch General Messing, who held Agra Fort for the Mahrattas in 1794, has a very florid mausoleum of red sandstone, more curious thanbeautiful; the design of which is in imitation of the Taj. 

Fatehpur Sikri

Fatehpur Sikri is the famous deserted city, about twenty-three milesfrom Agra, built by Akbar. It was formerly merely a village, calledSikri, celebrated as the abode of Sheikh Salīm Chishti, a Muhammadan_pīr_, or saint. In 1564, Akbar, returning from a campaign, haltednear the cave in which the saint lived. The twin children of hisRajput wife, Mariam Zāmāni, had recently died, and he was anxiousfor an heir. He consulted the holy man, who advised him to come andlive at Sikri. The Emperor did so, and nine months afterwards Mariam, who was taken to Chishti's cell for her confinement, gave birth to ason, afterwards the Emperor Jahangir. He was called Sultan Salīm inhonour of the saint. Jahangir, who describes all these circumstancesin his memoirs, adds: "My revered father, regarding the village ofSikri, my birthplace, as fortunate to himself, made it his capital, and in the course of fourteen or fifteen years the hills and deserts, which abounded in beasts of prey, became converted into a magnificentcity, comprising numerous gardens, elegant edifices and pavilions, and other places of great attraction and beauty. After the conquestof Gujarat, the village was named Fatehpur (the town of victory). "

The glory of Fatehpur Sikri was short-lived. Akbar held his courtthere for seventeen years, and then removed it to Agra; some say onaccount of the badness of the water supply, others that the saint, disturbed in his devotions by the bustle and gaieties of the greatcity, declared that either he or Akbar must go. "Then, " replied theEmperor, "let it be your servant, I pray. " The entire city was givenup to the beasts of the surrounding jungle. Finch, who visited it inthe early part of the next reign, describes it: "Ruin all; lying like awaste desert, and very dangerous to pass through in the night. " This, however, was an exaggeration, for the principal buildings are stillin a good state of preservation, probably owing to the remoteness ofthe place from any great highway or large town. 

The city, which was some six miles in circuit, was surrounded on threesides by high battlemented walls, which had nine gateways. The fourthside was formed by a great artificial lake, now dry. The principalbuildings are on the summit of the high ridge which runs throughoutthe length of the city. 

THE AGRA GATE. --The visitor usually enters by the Agra Gate, concerning which an amusing story is told. One night Akbar, attendedby some of his ministers, was inspecting the ramparts near thisgate, when he observed a highway robbery being committed close bythe walls. Turning severely to those responsible for the peace ofthe city, he demanded why such an outrage was permitted in the verypresence of the Emperor. "It is always darkest directly under theshadow of the lamp, " was the courtly reply. 

THE NAUBAT KHANA. --Inside the gate the road passes, by the right, alarge quadrangle surrounded by a ruined cloister, which was probablyused for barracks. Beyond this the road was formerly lined on bothsides by the houses of the bazar. It next passes through the innergateway, called the _Naubat Khana_, or Music House, where, as in allMogul fortresses, the court musicians played to announce the Emperor'sarrival or departure, and various state ceremonials. 

THE MINT. --Some distance beyond the Naubat Khana, on the right, is alarge building believed to have been the Imperial Mint. Rare specimensof gold, silver, and copper coins from the Fatehpur Mint are in theBritish Museum. The brick domes of this building are interesting, as they are probably the earliest examples in India of the use ofradiating courses instead of horizontal layers in dome construction. 

Opposite to the Mint is a smaller building known as the Treasury. 

THE DAFTAR KHANA. --Passing through the great quadrangle of theDīwan-i-ām, the visitor arrives at the Daftar Khana, or Record Chamber, now adapted for a travellers' rest-house. This was Akbar's office, and is immediately opposite to his own sanctum, the Kwābgāh, andthe principal buildings of the Imperial Palace. A staircase in thesouth-east room leads to the roof, from which a fine view of the cityand surrounding country can be obtained. The principal buildings canbe easily identified by help of the plan. 

THE PALACE. --A door in the side of the quadrangle, opposite tothe Daftar Khana, leads into Akbar's palace, the Mahal-i-Khas. Thetwo-storied building on the left on entering contains Akbar's privateapartments. The first room on the ground floor is panelled intonumerous recesses for keeping books, documents, or valuables. Thereare some remains of painted decoration representing flowers, such asthe tulip, poppy, and almond flower, executed with much vigour andtechnical skill. Behind this is a chamber which, according to EdmundSmith, was used by a Hindu priest attached to Akbar's court. Itcontains a stone platform raised on pillars, upon which he is saidto have performed his devotions. It was more probably intended forAkbar's own gaddi, or throne. A door in the west wall leads into thecloisters, which formerly connected Akbar's apartments with the DaftarKhana and with Jodh Bai's palace. 

THE KWĀBGĀH, or sleeping apartment, is a small pavilion on theroof. Originally the walls were entirely covered by fresco paintings, but only a few fragments now remain. Unfortunately, these have beenprotected by a coat of varnish, which reduces them all to a dullmonochrome. It is to be regretted that a more scientific method ofpreserving them was not adopted. They are all in the Persian style, and, except for the Chinese element which is often present in Persianart, there is no ground for Edmund Smith's supposition that Chineseartists were employed here. 

On the side window over the eastern doorway is a painting of awinged figure, in front of a rock cave, supporting a new-born babein its arms. In all probability it refers to the birth of Jahangirin the cell of the Saint Salīm Chishti, which Akbar, no doubt, thought miraculous. Many archęologists make the great mistake ofattributing every winged figure in these decorations to some Biblicalstory. Heavenly beings with wings, the inhabitants of Paradise, spirits of the air, or "angels, " are very common in Persian and Indianpainting, and are by no means a monopoly of European artists. 

It is known that Akbar took a great interest in painting. Abul Fazl, in the "Ain-i-Akbari, " states that "His Majesty from the earliestyouth has shown a great predilection for the art, and gives itevery encouragement, as he looks upon it as a means both of studyand amusement. Hence the art flourishes, and many painters haveobtained great reputations. The works of all painters are weeklylaid before his Majesty by the Daroghas and the clerks; he confersrewards according to the excellence of workmanship, or increasestheir monthly salaries. Much progress was made in the commoditiesrequired by painters, and the correct prices of such articles werecarefully ascertained. "

Akbar himself remarked, "Bigoted followers of the law are hostileto the art of painting, but their eyes now see the truth. There aremany that hate painting, but such men I dislike. It appears to me asif a painter had a peculiar means of recognizing God; for a painter, in sketching anything that has life and in drawing its limbs, mustfeel that he cannot bestow personality upon his work, and is thusforced to think of God, the giver of life, and will thus increase hisknowledge. " The enlightened court of Akbar was evidently a paradisefor artists. 

Opposite to Akbar's apartments is a large square tank with a platformin the centre, approached by four narrow stone paths. The tank wasfilled from the waterworks near the Elephant Gate, and the water waskept constantly fresh by an overflow channel connecting with the tankat the back of the Dīwan-i-Khās. 

THE TURKISH SULTANA'S HOUSE. --In the north-east angle of theMahal-i-Khas quadrangle is a small, picturesque building, one of thegems of Fatehpur, called the Turkish Sultana's House. It contains onlya single apartment, surrounded by a verandah, but in the carving ofevery surface within and without there is a wealth of invention anddecorative skill rarely achieved even by the Mogul artists. The dadopanels are especially remarkable for the charming conventionalizedrendering of trees, flowers, birds, and animals. They have sufferedmuch from the hands of some of Aurangzīb's fanatical followers, andall the representations of animate nature have been mutilated. Thecarving was intended as a groundwork for painting and gilding whichwere never added, for the Fatehpur Palace was abandoned even beforeit was finished. Nothing is known with certainty of the lady whoinhabited this delightful bower, but she must have been one of Akbar'sfavourites. A covered passage connected the house with the Kwābgāh, and also with another block of buildings of no special interest, known as the Girls' School. 

A staircase from the south verandah leads down to some interestingbaths outside the south-west corner of the Dīwan-i-ām quadrangle, which were probably for the use of the Turkish Sultana. They areworth seeing, though not so fine as the so-called HAKIM'S BATHS. Thelatter, which are situated just opposite to these baths, on thesteep slope of the ridge, are the finest of their kind existing inIndia. They form an extensive hydropathic establishment, decoratedin the most excellent taste with polished plaster and _sgraffito_, or cut-plaster work. Undoubtedly they were used by Akbar himself, and they derive their present name from their close proximity to thequarters occupied by the Hakims, or doctors. 

PACHISI BOARD. --In the northern half of the great palace quadrangleis a _pachisi_ board, cut on the pavement, similar to the one in theSamman Burj in the Agra Fort. Here Akbar and the ladies of the Courtwould amuse themselves by playing the game with slave girls as livingpieces. The dice were thrown on the small platform in the centre ofthe board. 

THE DĪWAN-I-KHĀS. --Further towards the north, immediately oppositeto the Kwābgāh, is a square detached building, a fine example of thedignified style of the period, for it owes none of its effects toimposing dimensions, but only to the skill with which the architecthas treated a difficult subject. This is the Dīwan-i-Khās, or Hall ofPrivate Audience. On the outside it would appear to be a two-storiedbuilding, but on entering it is seen to contain only a single vaultedchamber, surrounded halfway up by a gallery. A magnificent carvedcolumn, with a gigantic bracket capital (Plate XI. ), standing alone inthe centre of the chamber, supports four branches or railed passages, which meet this gallery at the four corners. This most originalconstruction carried Akbar's throne, which was placed immediately overthe great column. The ministers attended at the four corners of thegallery; the great nobles and others admitted to the audience throngedthe floor beneath. The gallery is approached by two staircases, in the thickness of the walls, which also lead up to the roof. [14]

THE ANKH-MICHAULI. --Close by the Dīwan-i-Khās, on the west side, is a building which the native guides, always ready to amuse theinnocent tourist, describe as the Ankh-Michauli, or "Blind-man'sBuff House. " There is a legend that Akbar here played hide-and-seekwith the ladies of the zanana. The same story is told about a setof apartments in the Jahangiri Mahal in the Agra Fort, but the onlyground for it seems to be that the arrangement of the rooms might lenditself to such diversions. It most probably contained strong-roomsfor the safe custody of valuables, either state archives or jewels. 

THE YOGI'S SEAT. --At the corner of the Ankh-Michauli is a squareplatform covered by a domed canopy. The great carved bracketswhich support the architraves are very characteristic of Jainaconstruction. This was the seat of one of the Yogis, or Hindu fakirs, who enjoyed the Emperor's favour. Akbar devoted much attention tothe occult powers claimed by these men. He even practised alchemyand showed in public some of the gold made by him. 

THE HOSPITAL. --Adjoining the Ankh-Michauli are the remains of a long, low building, which was the hospital; a few of the wards stillremain. Possibly this was arranged on the model of the hospitalwhich Akbar allowed the Jesuit Fathers to build in the city. Healso permitted them to construct a small chapel. The records of themissionaries tell us that Akbar once came there alone, removed histurban and offered prayers, first kneeling in the Christian manner, then prostrating himself according to the Muhammadan custom, and, finally, after the ritual of the Hindus. One of the Christiancongregation having died about this time, he granted permission forthe funeral procession to pass through the streets of Fatehpur withall the ceremonies of the Catholic faith. Many of the inhabitants, both Hindus and Muhammadans, attended the funeral. Akbar was neverpersuaded to become a convert to Christianity, nor does there appearto be any ground for the belief that one of his wives was a Christian. 

THE DĪWAN-I-ĀM. --The west side of the Dīwan-i-ām (Hall of PublicAudience) and its cloisters coincide for the whole length with theeast of the palace quadrangle. The description already given of theDīwan-i-ām at Agra will explain the functions for which this buildingwas intended. The throne, or judgment seat, of Akbar was placedbetween two pierced stone screens in the verandah in front of the hall. 

THE PANCH MAHAL. --This curious five-storied pavilion is nearlyopposite to the Dīwan-i-ām. It is approached by a staircase from theMahal-i-khas. Each story was originally enclosed by pierced stonescreens; this, and the fact that the whole building overlooked thepalace zanana, make it tolerably certain that it could only havebeen used as a promenade by Akbar and the ladies of the court. Theground-floor, which was divided into cubicles by screens between thecolumns, may; as Keene suggests, have been intended for the royalchildren and their attendants. The building is chiefly remarkable forthe invention and taste shown in the varied designs of the columns, in which the three principal styles of Northern India, the Hindu, Jain, and Saracenic, are indiscriminately combined. 

MIRIAM'S KOTHI. --Another doorway in the west side of the palacequadrangle leads to Miriam's House, a very elegant two-storied buildingshowing marked Hindu feeling in the design. The Rāma incarnationof Vishnu appears on one of the carved brackets of the verandah. Itseems to have derived its name from Akbar's Hindu wife, Mariam Zāmāni, the mother of Jahangir. Her name literally means "Mary of the age, "a common designation used by Muhammadan women in honour of the Motherof Jesus. This has led to the fable that the house was occupied by aChristian wife of Akbar. The whole building was originally covered withfresco paintings and gilding, and was hence called the Sonahra Makān, or "Golden House. " The frescoes are supposed to illustrate Firdousi'sgreat epic, the Shahnama, or history of the Kings of Persia. As in theKwābgāh, the fragments which remain have been covered with varnish asa preservative, which has had the effect of destroying all the charmof colour they once possessed; and will eventually, when the varnishturns brown with age, obliterate them altogether. The paintings areall in the style of the Persian artists who were employed by Akbar toillustrate his books and to paint the portraits of his Court. Overthe doorway in the north-west angle of the building is a paintingwhich the guides, perhaps misled by the suggestion of some uninformedtraveller, point out as "the Annunciation. "

There would be nothing _primā facie_ improbable that Akbar should havecaused some events of Biblical history to be painted on the wallsof his palaces; but on the other hand, there is nothing whatever toconnect this fresco with the Annunciation. The winged figures hererepresented are of the type commonly found in paintings of storiesfrom Persian mythology. 

Perhaps the most interesting of all the paintings is a portrait ina panel in one of the rooms. One would like to know whether this wasthe lady of the house; but there seems to be no tradition connectedwith it. 

Judging from the style of the frescoes, it would seem probable thatthis was not the residence of Mariam Zāmāni, but of one of Akbar'sfirst two wives, whose connections were mostly with Persia. 

Jodh Bai's Palace. 

Though "Miriam's House" is generally regarded as the abode of MariamZāmāni, there is a great deal to support the view that the spaciouspalace known as Jodh Bai's Mahal, or Jahangiri Mahal, was really herresidence. It is undoubtedly one of the oldest buildings in Fatehpur. 

We know that Akbar went there on Mariam's account; and, afterJahangir's birth, Akbar's first care would be to build a palacefor the mother and her child, his long-wished-for heir. Mariam wasa Hindu, and this palace in all its construction and nearly all itsornamentation belongs to the Hindu and Jaina styles of Mariam's nativecountry, Rajputana. It even contains a Hindu temple. [15] It is alsothe most important of all the palaces, and Mariam, as mother of theheir-apparent, would take precedence of all the other wives. 

On the left of the entrance is a small guard-house. A simple butfinely proportioned gateway leads through a vestibule into the innerquadrangle. The style of the whole palace is much less ornate than theother zanana buildings, but it is always dignified and in excellenttaste. It must be remembered that the severity of the architecturaldesign was relieved by bright colouring and rich purdahs, which wereused to secure privacy for the ladies of the zanana and to diminishthe glare of the sunlight. 

Archęologically its construction and ornamentation are veryinteresting. Many of the details are of Jain origin, and of the sametype as the mixed Jain and Saracenic style, which was being developedabout the same period in Gujarat. The arrangements of the palace areshown in the annexed plan. One of the most interesting features isthe Hawa Mahal, a pavilion projecting from the north side, enclosedby pierced stone screens. Here the ladies could enjoy the cool breezesand the view of the lake with the distant hills beyond, without beingexposed to the vulgar gaze. The palace was formerly connected withAkbar's private apartments by a covered way, supported on pillars, near the entrance. This was removed some years ago. Another privatepassage led from the Hawa Mahal to the zanana garden opposite, and, probably, from thence right down to the tower known as the Hiran Minār. 

Rajah Birbal's House, or Birbal's Daughter's House. 

Rajah Birbal was a Brahman minstrel, who came to Akbar's court inthe beginning of his reign, and by his wit and abilities gained theEmperor's favour. He was first created Hindu Poet Laureate; fromthat dignity he was raised to the rank of Rajah, and became one ofAkbar's most intimate friends and advisers. Birbal was one of thosewho subscribed to Akbar's new religion, "The Divine Faith. " Whenhe perished in an unfortunate expedition against some unruly Afghantribes, Akbar's grief was for a long time inconsolable. 

The house which is named after him was originally enclosed within theprecincts of the imperial zanana, and a covered way connected it withJodh Bai's palace. It is one of the most richly decorated of all theadjacent buildings, and next to Jodh Bai's palace, the largest ofthe imperial residences. As in so many other instances, the vaguelocal tradition which assigns this palace to Rajah Birbal seems tobe at fault. Abul Fazl, that most careful and precise biographer, records that Akbar ordered a palace to be built for the Rajah, and thatwhen it was finished in the twenty-seventh year of his reign (1582)the Emperor honoured it with his presence. An inscription discoveredby Edmund Smith upon the capital of a pilaster in the west faēade ofthe building, states that it was erected in Samvat 1629 (A. D. 1572), ten years before this date, and three years after the commencementof the city. 

Though the Rajah was one of Akbar's most trusted friends, his palacewould hardly be placed within the enclosure of the Emperor's ownzanana and connected with it; nor is it likely that Akbar wouldprovide Birbal with a residence so incomparably more magnificent thanthose he gave to his other two intimate friends, Abul Fazl and Faizi, by the side of the great mosque. 

All the probabilities are that this was one of the imperial palacesoccupied by Akbar's wives, which were the first buildings erected atFatehpur. Fergusson's assumption that Birbal's daughter was one ofAkbar's wives would explain everything; but the fact that Abul Fazlmakes no mention of such a daughter, is very good evidence that Akbarwas not connected with Birbal by marriage. 

The house is a two-storied building, splendidly ornamented withcarving, both inside and out. From the construction, it would appearthat Hindus were the architects; but the decoration, from which it iseasy to discover the taste of the occupants, is nearly all Arabian orPersian in style, and conveys no suggestion that the palace was builtfor a Hindu rajah or his daughter. Though on a much smaller scale, it is of the same type as Akbar's splendid palace in the Agra Fort, and was evidently intended for one of the highest rank in the imperialzanana. [16]

The Hathi Pol and Adjoining Buildings. 

Close under Birbal's house is the main road leading down to the greatlake--now drained, the embankment of which formed the north-westboundary of the city. It passes through the gateway called the HathiPol, or Elephant Gate, from the two great stone elephants, mutilated byAurangzīb, standing on either side of the outer archway. On the left ofthe gateway are two buildings, the so-called Pigeon's House, probablyintended for a magazine; and the Sangin Burj, a great bastion supposedto be part of the fortifications begun by Akbar and left unfinished, owing to the objections of Shaikh Salīm Chishti. A little beyond this, on the right, are the remains of the waterworks which supplied thewhole city. Opposite to these, is the great traveller's rest-house, or Karwān-serai, in a very ruined state. 

The, furthest of this block of buildings is a curious tower calledthe Hiran Minār, or Deer Tower, 72 feet in height, ornamented withstone imitations of elephant tusks. According to tradition, it wasbuilt by Akbar in memory of a favourite elephant, and used by himas a shooting tower; the plain on the margin of the lake being thehaunt of antelope and other game. 

The splendid stretch of water, six miles long and two in breadth, induced many of the princes and nobles to build pavilions andgarden houses on this side of the city. This was the place for greattournaments and festivities, and in the palmy days of Fatehpur allthe chivalry of the Mogul Court must have made a brave show here. TheHiran Minār was connected with the zanana by a covered way, so thatthe ladies might assist at these spectacles and enjoy the cool breezesfrom the lake. 

The Jāmi Masjid, or Cathedral Mosque. 

The great mosque of Fatehpur is worthy of its founder's lofty idealsand nobility of soul. It is one of the most magnificent of all Akbar'sbuildings; the historic associations connected with it combine withits architectural splendour to make it one of the most impressive ofits kind in the world. It is said to be copied from one at Mecca;but this cannot be altogether true, because, though the plan andgeneral design follow Muhammadan precedent, many of the details showAkbar's Hindu proclivities. 

Within the great mosque, Akbar frequently held religious discussionswith the learned doctors of Islam; and here, also, after the chiefMullahs had signed the famous document which declared Akbar to be Headof the Church, the Emperor mounted the pulpit, and stood before thecongregation as the expounder of "the Divine Faith. " He commencedto read a _Khutbah_, or litany, which Faizi, Abul Fazl's brother, had composed for the occasion--

 "The Lord, who gave to us dominion, Wisdom, and heart and strength, Who guided us in truth and right, And cleansed our mind from all but right, None can describe His power or state, Allahś Akbar--God is Great. "

But before he could finish three lines of it, the sense of thetremendous responsibility he had undertaken overpowered him. Hedescended the pulpit trembling with emotion, and left the Imam ofthe mosque to continue the service. 

There are two entrances, approached by broad flights of steps. The oneon the east side is the Emperor's Gate, by which Akbar entered themosque from the palace, and the other, the majestic Baland Darwaza, or High Gate, which towers above everything on the south side, andeven dwarfs the mosque itself with its giant proportions. The lattergate, however, was not a part of the original design, but was addedmany years after the completion of the mosque, to celebrate Akbar'svictorious campaign in the Deccan. 

The mosque itself was built in honour of the Saint of Fatehpur, SheikhSalīm Chishti, whose tomb, enclosed in a shrine of white marble, carvedwith the delicacy of ivory-work, glitters like silver on the right ofthe quadrangle. Barren women, both Hindu and Muhammadan, tie bits ofstring or shreds of cloth to the marble trellis-work as tokens that ifblessed with a son they will present an offering to the shrine. Closeby is a plainer, but much larger mausoleum, for his grandson, NawabIslam Khan, who was made Governor of Bengal by Jahangir. This alsocontains the remains of many other of the Sheikh's male descendants. Aseparate vault, called the Zanana Rauza, for the women of his familyis formed by enclosing a portion of the adjoining cloisters. 

The mosque proper contains three chapels, crowned by domes. Theprincipal one, in the centre, is screened by the faēade ofthe entrance, the doorway being recessed, in the usual style ofSaracenic buildings, in a great porch or semi-dome. An inscriptionover the main archway gives the date of the completion of the mosqueas A. D. 1571. The chapels are connected with each other by noblecolonnades of a decidedly Hindu or Jain character. The Saracenicarches combine most happily with the Hindu construction, and theview down the "long-drawn aisles" is singularly impressive. Much ofthe charm of the interior is due to the quiet reserve and dignity ofthe decoration, which is nearly all in the style of Arabian mosques, and may account for the statement on the central arch, that "thismosque is a duplicate of the Holy Place" (at Mecca). 

At each end of the mosque there is a set of five rooms for themullahs who conducted the service; above them are galleries for theladies of the zanana. Spacious cloisters surround three sides of thequadrangle; these are divided into numerous cells for the _maulvis_and their pupils. 

The triumphal gateway, called the BALAND DARWAZA (Plate XIII. ), isreally a building in itself. It must be seen from the outside of thequadrangle, for, magnificent as it is there, it certainly does notharmonize with the mosque viewed from the quadrangle. This mightyportal, 176 feet in height from the roadway, is a landmark for milesaround. From the top of it the Taj, twenty-five miles away, and thedistant Fort of Bharatpur are visible. 

There are three doors recessed in the immense alcove on the frontof the gate. One is the horseshoe door, so called from the numerousvotive offerings of owners of sick horses, donkeys, and bullocks, which were nailed on in the hope of obtaining the favour of thesaint. The doorway on the right of this has the following inscriptioncarved over it in Arabic:--

"His Majesty, King of kings, Heaven of the Court, Shadow of God, Jalāl-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, Emperor. He conquered the kingdom ofthe South and Dandes, which was formerly called Khandes, in the 46thDivine year [_i. E. _ of his reign] corresponding to the Hijira year, 1010 [A. D. 1602]. Having reached Fatehpur, he proceeded to Agra. SaidJesus, on whom be peace! The world is a bridge, pass over it, but buildno house there. He who hopeth for an hour, may hope for eternity; theworld is but an hour, spend it in devotion; the rest is worth nothing, "

Over the left doorway is the following:--

"He that standeth up in prayer, and his heart is not in it, does notdraw nigh to God, but remaineth far from Him. Thy best possession iswhat thou givest in the name of God; thy best traffic is selling thisworld for the next. "

Akbar himself died four years after this great sermon in stone waswritten. 

The Stone-Cutters' Mosque. 

At the back of the great mosque is a graveyard containing the tomb ofan infant son of Sheikh Salīm. The legend concerning him is, that atthe age of six months he addressed his father, telling him that allof Akbar's children must die in infancy, unless some child died forthem. He therefore had resolved to sacrifice himself for the Emperor'ssake, and immediately after this miraculous speech he died. Jahangirwas born nine months afterwards. Sceptics have suggested that he wasreally a son of the Sheikh, substituted for a still-born child ofMariam Zāmāni. 

Some distance beyond this tomb there is a small mosque, built in honourof the saint by the quarrymen of Fatehpur, before he had attractedthe notice of the great Emperor. It is called the Stone-Cutters'Mosque, and is supposed to have been erected on the site of thecave where he lived the life of a hermit It is an unpretendinglittle building; the brackets which support the cornice are the onlynoticeable architectural features. They are direct imitations of woodenconstruction, and are copied, with greater elaboration of carving, in the marble shrine inside the Jāmi Masjid. The cell where the saintis said to have lived is on the right-hand corner of the mosque. 

The birthplace of Jahangir is pointed out in a dilapidated palacenot far from this mosque. It is occupied by a lineal descendant ofSalīm Chishti, and is only rarely shown to visitors. 

The Houses of Abul Fazl and Faizi. 

The houses where these two famous brothers, the friends of Akbar, lived, are close under the north wall of the great mosque. Theirfather, Sheikh Mubarak, was one of the most learned men of the age, and the sons were as distinguished as the father. Faizi was the PersianPoet Laureate, and tutor to the Royal Princes. He was also employed onmany diplomatic missions. Abul Fazl was the author of the celebrated"Akbarnāma, " a history of the Mogul Emperors down to the forty-seventhyear of Akbar's reign. He was for a long time Akbar's Prime Minister;he took a prominent part in the religious discussions inaugurated bythe Emperor, and often discomfited the orthodox followers of Islam withhis arguments. Sheikh Mubarak drew up the famous document declaringAkbar to be the Head of the Church, and both his sons subscribed toit. Abul Fazl declares that the document "was productive of excellentresults: (1) The Court became the resort of the learned men andsages of all creeds and nationalities; (2) Peace was given to all, and perfect tolerance prevailed; (3) the disinterested motives ofthe Emperor, whose labours were directed to a search after truth, were rendered clear, and the pretenders to learning and scholarshipwere put to shame. "

Notwithstanding his high character and generous disposition, AbulFazl had many enemies at Court. He was at last assassinated at theinstigation of Jahangir, who believed him to be responsible for amisunderstanding between himself and his father. 

There is nothing architecturally interesting about the two houses, which have been for some time used as a Zillah school. 

 * * * * *

Bharatpur and Other Places In the Vicinity of Agra. 

There are some other places of considerable interest easily accessiblefrom Agra, but it would be beyond the scope of this book to describethem in detail. 

BHARATPUR. --This place, which has been often alluded to, is the capitalof a native state of that name, founded by the Jāts under Suraj Malabout 1750. The origin of the Jāt race is obscure, but probably theyare of Scythian descent. Some authorities have put forward a theorythat the gypsies of Europe and the Jāts are of the same race. They forma large proportion of the population of North-Western India. Theirreligion varies with the locality, but the Jāts who occupied Agraunder Suraj Mal were Hindus. 

In 1809, the fort at Bharatpur resisted for six weeks a siege byGeneral, afterwards Lord Lake, who withdrew, after four desperateassaults. 

The Palace of Suraj Mal is at Dig, twenty-one miles by road fromBharatpur. It was commenced about 1725, and is the finest and mostoriginal of the Indian palaces of that period. The Jāt chief carriedoff to it a great deal of the loot from the Agra Fort. 

GOVARDHAN. --The tombs of Suraj Mal and his two Ranis are at Govardhan, a very picturesque place about eight miles from Dig. There are also anumber of very interesting tombs and buildings of later date. Fergusson[17] says of one of these, which was in course of construction whenhe was there in 1839, that he acquired from its native architectmore knowledge of the secrets of art as practised in the Middle Agesthan he had learnt from all the books he had read. The same livingarchitectural art is practised all over Rajputana at the presentday. The preference we show for the incomparably inferior art ofthe mongrel eclectic styles we have imported into India, is only aproof that there is something wanting in the superior civilizationand culture which we believe ourselves to possess. 

There is also at Govardhan a very fine Hindu temple, dating from thetime of Akbar. 

A great fair is held here every year about the end of October, or beginning of November, on the occasion of the Hindu Diwāli, orFeast of Lamps, one of the most beautiful and impressive of all theHindu festivals. 

Muttra, the Mathora of the Greeks, about fourteen miles from Govardhan, and within easy reach of Agra by rail, is one of the most sacred placesof the Hindus, from being the reputed birthplace of Krishna. It isa great centre for the worship of Vishnu. 

Brindāban, or Bindarāban, which is a very short distance furtherby rail, possesses an old Hindu temple, dedicated to Govind Deva, or Vishnu, of the same period as the other at Govardhan, and builtby the same person, Rajah Man Singh of Amber, an ancestor of thepresent Maharajah of Jaipur. Fergusson describes it as one of themost interesting and elegant temples in India. 

There is also a great Vishnu temple of the last century, in theDravidian style of Southern India, built by a Hindu millionairemerchant. Krishna's childhood and early youth were passed in thevicinity of Brindāban, and on that account it is held especiallysacred by the followers of the Vaishnavite sect of Hinduism, whoflock there in thousands on the anniversary of Krishna's birth, in the month of Bhadon (August--September). 

NOTES

[1] Babar's "Memoirs, " translated by Erskine. 

[2] For further particulars of Babar's history the reader is referredto the "Memoirs, " or to Stanley Lane-Poolers admirable "Life of Babar, "in the "Rulers of India Series" (Macmillan & Co. ). 

[3] The State documents of the Mogul Emperors, "given under theroyal hand and seal, " were sometimes actually impressed by the royalhand. Plate I. Reproduces part of a letter, addressed by Shah Jahanto an ancestor of the present Maharajah of Gidhour. In this letterthe Raja Dalan Singh is informed that "the auspicious impress of theroyal hand" is sent as a mark of royal favour, and he is commanded toproceed to Court to participate in the festivities and to pay homageto the Emperor. 

[4] Bernier's "Travels"--Constable's translation. 

[5] These elephant statues have been a vexed point witharchęologists. Bernier, in his description of Delhi, refers totwo great elephants of stone, with their riders, outside of theFort Gates. The riders, he says, were portraits of the famousRajput chiefs Jaymal and Patta, slain by Akbar at the siege ofChitore. "Their enemies, in admiration of the devotion of the twoheroes, put up these statues to their memory. " Now, Bernier does notsay that the statues were put up by Akbar, but General Cunningham, inferring that Bernier meant this, propounded a theory that they wereoriginally in front of the Agra Fort, which Akbar built, and removedto Delhi by Shah Jahan, when he built his new palace there. Keene, who discusses the question at length in his "Handbook to Delhi, "accepts this suggestion. Neither of these authorities seem to havebeen aware of the existence of the marks of the feet on the platformin front of the Agra Hathi Pol. I have compared the measurements ofthese marks with the dimensions of the elephant which still existsat Delhi, and find that they do not correspond in any way. The Delhielephant is a much larger animal, and would not fit into the platformat the Agra gate. General Cunningham's theory, therefore, falls to theground. It is just possible that the Delhi elephants were intended tobe copies of those placed by Akbar at Agra. Shah Jahan is not likelyto have intentionally perpetuated the memory of the Rajput chiefs, but popular tradition or imagination may have fastened the story toldby Bernier on to the Delhi statues. Elephants were so commonly placedin front of Indian palaces and fortresses that, except for this story, there would be no need to suppose any connection between those atAgra and those at Delhi. 

Purchas, quoting William Finch who visited Agra in Jahangir's time, describes the elephants at the Hathi Pol, but gives a different originto the statues. "Beyond these two gates you pass a second gate, overwhich are two Rajaws in stone. It is said that they were two brotherRajputs, tutors to a prince, their nephew, whom the King demandedof them. They refused, and were committed; but drew on the officers, slew twelve, and at last, by multitudes oppressing, were themselvesslain, and here have elephants of stone and themselves figured. " Theexpression "over" (the gate) has the meaning of "high up, " and not, as Keene supposes, its more modern sense of "on the top of. "

[6] The old Mogul road led directly from the Elephant Gate to theentrance of the Dīwan-i-ām. I understand that this road will berestored shortly by the Archęological Department. 

[7] An ugly modern marble rail, in imitation of wood, probably areminiscence of the time when the palace was occupied by the Britishgarrison, still disfigures and stunts the proportions of the upperstorey of the Samman Burj. 

[8] This question is discussed at length in an article by the author, entitled "The Taj and its Designers, " published in the June numberof the _Nineteenth Century and After_, 1903. 

[9] Tavernier says twenty-two years probably including all theaccessory buildings. 

[10] The present garden is a jungle, planted by a European overseerwithout any understanding or feeling for the ideas of the Mogulartists. The overgrown trees entirely block out the view of the mosqueson either side, which are an essential part of the whole composition, serving as supporters to the slender, detached minarets. I understand, however, that it is intended to remove some of the more obstructive ofthe larger trees; but the avenue of cypress trees, which perished fromdrought some years ago, has been replanted on lines which eventuallywill clash seriously with the architectural composition. 

[11] This represents the condition of the garden twenty or thirtyyears ago. 

[12] The conjunction of Jupiter and Venus; referring to thecircumstance that Timur and himself were born at the conjunction ofthese planets. (KEENE. )

[13] It is very probable that the black slate or marble panels in theDelhi Palace, which are purely Florentine in design, were importedcomplete from Italy, and fixed in the wall by Indian workmen, whoonly designed the ornamental scrolls surrounding the panels. 

[14] It is known that in 1575 Akbar completed a great building atFatehpur, called the Ibadat Khana, or hall in which the learned men ofall religions assembled for discussion. It was described as containingfour halls, the western for the Sayyids, or descendants of the Prophet;the southern for learned men who had studied or acquired knowledge;the northern for those famed for inspired wisdom: the eastern hall wasreserved for the nobles and state officers. Thousands of people fromall quarters of the world assembled in the courtyard. The Emperorattended every Friday night and on holy festivals, moving from oneto the other of the guests and conversing with them. Keene, in his"Handbook to Agra, " suggests that possibly the Dīwan-i-khās maybe the building thus described (taking the word _aiwan_, or hall, to mean a side gallery), as no other building at all answering tothe description now remains at Fatehpur. This supposition is highlyimprobable, if only for the reason given by Edmund Smith, namely, thatan assembly of this kind would not take place within the precincts ofthe palace. The description given by Abul Fazl and Badāyūni clearlyindicates a building like the Dīwan-i-ām, enclosing a great quadrangle. 

[15] Keene suggests that Akbar's first wife and cousin, Sultana RaqiaBegam, lived here, but she was a Muhammadan. It is quite possible thatthe name of Jodh Bai (Princess of Jodhpur) really refers to Mariam, andnot to Jahangir's Rajput wife (the daughter of the Raja of Jodhpur), as is commonly supposed. Miriam's family resided in the province ofAjmir, which adjoins Jodhpur. She might have been known as the Princessof Jodhpur. In any case, it is easy to see how a confusion might havearisen between Jahangir's mother and his wife, both Hindus and Rajputs. 

[16] Birbal's house is now used as a travellers' rest-house forhigh officials and "distinguished" visitors; which is not only veryinconvenient for the undistinguished who may wish to see it, butinvolves alterations which should never be permitted in buildings ofsuch unique artistic and archęological interest. Neither the DaftarKhana nor this building should be devoted to such purposes, merelyto avoid the paltry expense of providing proper dak bungalows. 

[17] "History of Indian and Eastern Architecture. "