Agra Fort - Uttar Pradesh State

Event date: 4th July 2009

I've been advised that the best time to visit Taj Mahal was in early morning when the marble floor was not yet hot from the burning sun. Thus, after I managed to complete a tour in Fatehpur Sikri a day before I checked in to Park Plaza Hotel, I covered both Taj Mahal and Agra Fort on my own, first half of the day of  day 2 in Agra. As soon as I finished touring the Agra Fort, I quickly went back to the hotel, freshen-up and checked out heading back to Delhi. Let's read the facts of Agra Fort obtained from the website and enjoy the photos of them.

The main gate, Amar Singh Gate

Near the gardens of the Taj Mahal stands the important 16th-century Mughal monument known as the Red Fort of Agra. I took a trishaw rides from Taj Mahal to Agra Fort and asked the same trishaw guy to wait for me to take me back to the same spot he picked me up. It was so near and faster by trishaw from Taj Mahal to Agra Fort. This powerful fortress of red sandstone encompasses, within its 2.5-km-long enclosure walls, the imperial city of the Mughal rulers. It comprises many fairy-tale palaces, such as the Jahangir Palace and the Khas Mahal, built by Shah Jahan; audience halls, such as the Diwan-i-Khas; and 2 very beautiful mosques.

Administration building near the entrance gate

Diwan-i-Khas in white marble

The Red Fort and the Taj Mahal bear an exceptional and complementary testimony to a civilization which has disappeared, that of the Mogul Emperors. Agra's history goes back more than 2,500 years, but it was not until the reign of the Mughals that Agra became more than a provincial city. Humayun, son of the founder of the Mogul Empire, was offered jewellery and precious stones by the family of the Raja of Gwalior, one of them the famous Koh-i-Noor. The heyday of Agra came with the reign of Humayun's son, Akbar the Great. During his reign, the main part of the Agra Fort was built.

Persian pillars at hall of audience (Diwan-i-Khas)

Emperor's Chamber at Diwan-i-Khas

The Red Fort of Agra is a powerful fortress founded in 1565 by the Emperor Akbar (1556-1605) on the right bank of the Yamuna river; it is placed today on the north-west extremity of the Shah Jahan Gardens which surround the Taj Mahal and clearly form, with them, a monumental unity.

Balcony of Jahangir Palace

Persian arts

This bastion fortress, with walls of red sandstone rising above a moat and interrupted by graceful curves and lofty bastions, encompasses within its enclosure walls of 2.5 km, the imperial city of the Moghul rulers. Like the Delhi Fort, that of Agra is one of the most obvious symbols of the Mogul grandeur which asserted itself under Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan.

The wall has two gates, the Delhi Gate and the Amar Singh Gate. The original and grandest entrance was through the Delhi Gate, which leads to the inner portal called the Hathi Pol or Elephant Gate. But now the entrance to the fort is only through the Amar Singh Gate.

Palace Hall

The citadel comprises a large number of fairy-like palaces: the Khas Mahal, the Shish Mahal, the octagonal tower of Muhammam Burj, as well as reception rooms: Diwan-i-Khas, built in 1637 and the many pillared Diwan-i-Am (Hall of Public Audience), constructed in 1628, under the reign of the luxury-loving Shah Jahan (1630-55). Within the palatial complex, there are two very beautiful mosques of white marble, the Moti Masjid or the Pearl Mosque, constructed in 1646-53 by Shah Jahan and the Nagina Masjid built under the reign of Aurangzeb (1658-1707).

Several of the buildings are made from pure marble with beautiful carvings; all of these monuments mark the apogee of an Indo-Muslim art strongly marked by influences from Persia which already manifested itself in Timurid art.

Emperor Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal, was imprisoned by his son Aurangzeb in Agra Fort, from which he had a view of the building erected for his deceased wife. Shah Jahan is said to have died in the Musamman Burj, a tower with a beautiful marble balcony.

Me at Mussaman Burj with Taj Mahal as background features

The last accommodation of Emperor Shah Jahan

Notes: The trishaw guy had a memorable face. Though I did not take any picture of him but I shall remember his face for lifetime. He did not speak much but was a cheerful man in his late 30's. I kept on analyzing him and visualizing how difficult his life would be (maybe I should stop watching Hindi movie to have such idea about a stranger's life) but his attitude (cheering and singing to all) despite his sweat pedaling me in his trishaw was priceless. I still remembered how he shouted my name when he saw me out from the Fort gate with his cheerful face. When I get down from his trishaw, I doubled his fare, gave away my food and drink to him. He was surprised but I was happy.

Agra, Taj Mahal - Uttar Pradesh State

Event date: 4th July 2009

Taj Mahal is regarded by many as the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements from Islamic, Persian, Ottoman Turkish and Indian architectural styles. In 1983, the Taj Mahal became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. While the white domed marble mausoleum is the most familiar component of the Taj Mahal, it is actually an integrated complex of structures. The construction began around 1632 and was completed around 1653, employing thousands of artisans and craftsmen. The construction of the Taj Mahal was entrusted to a board of architects under imperial supervision, including Abd ul-Karim Ma'mur Khan, Makramat Khan, and Ustad Ahmad Lahauri (Afghan Persian from Badakhshan), generally considered to be the principal designer.

In this special entry (especially to me) I want to forget all about the facts of the world famous Taj Mahal as everyone knew of it's existence and the story behind the construction. What I wish to share in this blog is a plot of 2005 film "Taj Mahal, An Eternal Love Story". The story beings with Shah Jahan, known as Prince Khurram (played by Zulfikar Sayed) when he is about 19 years old. Khurram was Emperor Jahangir's (payed by Arbaaz Ali) favourite son, whom Jahangir wanted to be the future Emperor of India, along with his wife Noor Jahan (played by Pooja Batra), who was well aware of this fact. Noor Jahan was married once previously, but when her first husband died, Jahangir married her. Ladli Begum (played by Kim Sharma) is Noor Jahan’s daughter from her first marriage. Noor Jahan is a shrewd lady, who wants the best for herself and her daughter and she aspires for Ladli Begum to marry Prince Khurram so she that she will become the Empress of the Mughal Dynasty.

Khurram's passion for hunting leads him into a jungle, and one day while hunting he met Arjumand Bano. Their meeting was love at first sight, with Khurram attracted to Arjumand Bano’s innocence and beauty while Arjumand was impressed by Khurram’s great personality. Arjumand Bano is Asaf Khan’s (played by Aly Khan) daughter, Empress Noor Jahan’s brother. Khurram and Bano again meet at the Meena Bazaar, where finally both of them declare their love for each other. Ladli Begum comes to know about their love, but she keeps on wooing Prince Khurram. Noor Jahan sees this love as a hindrance to her plans of making her daughter the future Empress of India and she succeeds in turning Emperor Jahangir against his own son, Khurram.

Noor Jahan sends her secret lover and the warrior Mahabat Khan (played by Milind Gunaji) to fight Khurram and to kill Arjumand Bano. As a result, a war takes place in which forces are also sent by Emperor Jahangir against Khurram. When Khurram meets Jahangir, he declares that Arjumand Bano was more superior to him than the Mughal Dynasty. As a result, relations become even more bitter between the father and the son. However Arjumand Bano, who was a peace-loving person, agreed to forget Khurram and asked him to marry Kandahari Begum (played by Negar Khan), an Iranian Princess, who was chosen by Emperor Jahangir for Khurram. Khurram, due to Arjumand’s insistence, marries Kandahari Begum while on the other hand, Ladli Begum marries to Khurram’s brother. After Emperor Jahangir dies, Khurram becomes Prince Shah Jahan and ruler of the Mughal dynasty. He finally marries the love of his life, Arjumand Bano, who becomes Mumtaz Mahal. The couple live happily for a while until misfortune occurs.

Khurram must leave for war, but a pregnant Aarjumand chooses to also go with him, as she used to accompany Shah Jahan in all his battles. Khurram tries to return back to the camp from the battle, but takes a long time to return as he forgets his way. While he is lost, Mumtaz Mahal dies while giving birth to her nineteenth child. During her last breath, Mumtaz Mahal asks Shah Jahan to construct her tomb in a beautiful mausoleum, describing one which would be so beautiful it would express their love for each other to all who visit the mausoleum. Mumtaz’s death is the greatest tragedy for Shah Jahan, and as a result he becomes a completely reformed person. Shah Jahan then starts off to fulfill his wife’s last wish, to build Taj Mahal, a beautiful mausoleum to honor the also beautiful Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj Mahal goes on to become the 7th Wonder Of The World.

Time passes, and in future Shah Jahan's sons and daughter grow up. The sons are greedy and eager to inherit their father powers, and as a result they imprison him in a room from where he can easily see Taj Mahal. He watches his sons fighting against each other to become the Emperor of India and the Mughal Dynasty. Everywhere around him there is violence and warfare, with the beheading of slaves and even brothers is no longer uncommon. In the end, Khurram dies while looking at Taj Mahal, the Taj Mahal that took an astonishing 22 years to be made, a tribute showing Shah Jahan as the greatest lover of all time. At his death, his body is laid down next to his love, hence resulting in the culmination of their love after death.

Long before my arrival at the greatest mausoleum  Taj Mahal, I read a book by Diana Preston of a touching story of Taj Mahal "A teardrop on the cheek of time", her research were based from the Mughal court, especially an extensive Mughal journals. I hereby recommended for those who wishes to visit, may consider reading the book first so that, you would be able to appreciate a story behind the construction of the wonders of the world. I shared my tears with both Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal when reading towards the end.

Looking back after nearly four years, I cant help myself to admire again and again whenever I open my Taj Mahal photo album which according to me was my best photography shots. I chose a right time, hour, second to take each and every photo. I was lucky.

Agra - Fatehpur Sikri, Uttar Pradesh State

Event date: 3rd July 2009

The royal city of Fatehpur Sikri is situated 26 miles west of Agra. I was on my way from Jaipur to Agra city when I discovered the city from the highway, alerted by my companion cum driver. It was a personal trip to India in June 2009 where my wish list was vacationing at a triangle of Delhi-Rajastan-Uttar Pradesh from Pakistan, where I worked at that time. I had spent 2 nights in Chokidani resort, Jaipur after landed in Delhi, Indira Gandhi international airport on 1st July 2009 for the first time.

Fatehpur Sikri is a city and a municipal board in Agra district of Uttar Pradesh state, India. The city was founded in 1569 by the the great Mughal emperor Akbar, and served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1571 to 1585. After his military victories was over in Chittor and Ranthambore, Akbar decided to shift his capital from Agra to a new location 23 miles on the Sikri ridge, to honor the Sufi saint Salim Christi. He commenced the construction of a planned walled city which took nearly 15 years in planning and construction of a series royal palaces, harem, courts, a mosque, private quarters and other utility buildings. He named the city, Fatehabad, with "Fateh", a word of Arabic origin in Persian, carry a meaning "victory." it was later called Fatehpur Sikri. Fatehpur Sikri is one of the best preserved collection of Mughal architecture in India.

Akbar took a great interest in the building of Fatehpur Sikri and probably also dictated its architectural style. Seeking to revive the splendours of Persian court ceremonial made famous by his ancestor Timur, Akbar planned the complex on Persian principles. But the influences of his adopted land came through in the typically Indian embellishments. The easy availability of sandstone in the neighboring areas of Fatehpur Sikri, also meant that all the buildings here were made of the red stone. The imperial Palace complex consists of a number of independent pavilions arranged in formal geometry on a piece of level ground, a pattern derived from Arab and central Asian tent encampments.

The Imperial complex was abandoned in 1585, shortly after its completion, due to paucity of water and its proximity with the Rajputana areas in the North-West, which were increasingly in turmoil. Thus the capital was shifted to Lahore so that Akbar could have a base in the less stable part of the empire, before moving back Agra in 1598, where he had begun his reign as he shifted his focus to Deccan (southern continent of India). In fact, he never returned to the city except for a brief period in 1601. In later Mughal history it was occupied for a short while by Mughal emperor, Muhammad Shah. Today much of the imperial complex which spread over nearly two mile long and one mile wide area is largely intact and resembles a ghost town though properly maintain for tourist. 

Fatehpur Sikri sits on rocky ridge, 3 km in length and 1 km wide, and palace city is surrounded by a 6 km wall on 3 side with the 4th being a lake at the time. Its architect was Tuhir Das and was constructed using Indian principles. The buildings of Fatehpur Sikri show a synthesis of various regional schools of architectural craftsmanship such as Gujarat and Bengal. This was because indigenous craftsmen from various regions were used for the construction of the buildings. Influences from Hindu and Jain architecture are seen hand in hand with Islamic elements. The building material used in all the buildings at Fatehpur Sikri, palace-city complex, is the locally quarried red sandstone, known as 'Sikri sandstone'. It is accessed through gates along the five-mile long fort wall, namely, Delhi Gate, the Lal Gate, the Agra Gate, Birbal's Gate, Chandanpal Gate, The Gwalior Gate, the Tehra Gate, the Chor Gate and the Ajmere Gate.

Some of the important buildings in this city, both religious and secular are:

Buland Darwaza: Set into the south wall of congregational mosque, the Jama Masjid at Fatehpur Sikri, this stupendous piece of architecture is 54 metre high, from the outside, gradually making a transition to a human scale in the inside. The gate was added some 5 years later after the completion of the mosque in 1576-1577 as an 'victory arch', to commemorate the Akbar's successful Gujarat campaign. It carries 2 inscriptions in the archway, 1 of which reads: "Isa (Jesus) Son of Mary said: The world is a bridge, pass over it, but build no houses on it. He who hopes for an hour may hope for eternity. The world endures but an hour. Spend it in prayer, for the rest is unseen". The central portico comprises 3 arched entrances, with the largest one, in the centre, is known locally as the Horseshoe Gate, after the custom of nailing horseshoes to its large wooden doors for luck. Outside the giant steps of the Buland Darwaza to left is deep well.

Jama Masjid: It is a Jami Mosque meaning the Friday Mosque congregational mosque, and was perhaps one of the first buildings to come up in the complex, as its epigraph gives AH 979 (A.D. 1571-72) as the date of its completion, with a massive entrance to the courtyard, the Buland-Darwaza added some five years later. It was built in the manner of Indian mosques, with diwans around a central courtyard. A distinguishing feature is the row of chhatri over the sanctuary. There are 3 mihrabs in each of the 7 bays, while the large central mihrab is covered by a dome, it is decorated with white marble inlay, in geometric patterns. I opined that the Jama Masjid in Fatehpur Sikri is a lot more nicer than Jama Masjid in Delhi. You may click here, my previous entry "Delhi-Jama' Masjid" to see whether what I state is true, in your opinion.

Tomb of Salim Chrishti: A white marble encased tomb of the Sufi saint, Salim Chrishti (1478–1572), is located within the Jama Masjid's courtyard. The single-storey structure is built around a central square chamber, with has the grave of the saint, under an ornate wooden canopy, encrusted with mother of pearl mosaic mosaic. Surrounding it is covered passageway for circumambulation, with carved Jalis, stone pierced screens all around with intricate geometric design, and an entrance to the south. The tomb is influenced by earlier mausolea of the early 15th century Gujarat Sultanate period. Other striking features of the tomb are white marble serpentine brackets, which support sloping eaves around the parapet.

On the left of the tomb, to the east, stands a red sandstone tomb of Islam Khan 1, son of Shaikh Badruddin Christi and grandson of Shaikh Salim Chishti, who became a general in the Mughal army during the reign of Emperor Jahangir. The tomb is topped by a dome and thirty-six small domed chhatris, and contains a number of graves, some unnamed, all male descendants of Shaikh Salim Christi.

Diwan-i-Aam: It is a Hall of Public Audience, is a building typology found in many cities where the ruler meets the general public. In this case, it is a pavilion-like multi-bayed rectangular structure fronting a large open space. South west of the Diwan-i-Am and next to the Turkic Sultana's House stand Turkic Baths.

Diwan-i-Khas: the Diwan-i-Khas, or Hall of Private Audience, is a plain square building with four chhatris on the roof. However it is famous for its central pillar, which has a square base and an octagonal shaft, both carved with bands of geometric and floral designs, further its thirty-six serpentine brackets support a circular platform for Akbar, which is connected to each corner of the building on the first floor, by four stone walkways. It is here that Akbar had representatives of different religions discuss their faiths and gave private audience.

Anup Talao: Is an ornamental pool with a central platform and four bridges leading up to it. Some of the important buildings of the royal enclave are surround by it including, Khwabgah (House of Dreams) Akbar's residence, Panch Mahal, a five-storey palace, Diwan-i-Khas (Hall of Private Audience) and the Astrologer's Seat, in the south-west corner of the Pachisi Court.

The Empress Palaces (Harem): It is a residence of Akbar's wife's (Muslim, Christian, Hindu etc) placed at a separate royal entrance. One of the building of Akbar's wife, Mariam-uz-Zamani, a Gujarathi shows Gujarati influence and is built around a courtyard, with special care being taken to ensure privacy. Jodha Bhai was said to be Akbar's favorite wife and he put her in a special palace within the same courtyard of his other wife's.

A palace with earing design crafted on the wall

Panch Mahal: A five-storied palatial structure, with the tiers gradually diminishing in size, till the final one, which is a single large-domed chhatris. Originally pierced stone screens faced the facade, and probably sub-divided the interior as well, suggesting it was built for the ladies of the court. The floors are supported by intricately carved columns on each level, totaling to 176 columns in all.

What I like most about the whole areas is the richness of it's sandstone colors of the city. It brings out a beauty of it's landscape, being a ghost town. It would be more meaningful if the source of water could be overcome and a resort cum golf course can be introduced in neighboring area to bring more lights and attractions to such a lovely Mughal creation.