Mughal Magic - Exploring Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri

After spending a couple of days enjoying the sights of India's capital we crossed over the border to Agra in the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh. The journey is four hours by road from Delhi and for £20, hiring a chauffeur for the day sounded extravagant but was a cheaper option than a return train journey with an overnight hotel stay, although we did have to get up at silly o'clock to to reach the Taj Mahal for sunrise.

Akbar the Great (1542 - 1605)

After swooning over the Taj Mahal we headed a mile northwest of Agra, where the enormous red sandstone ramparts of Agra Fort dominate a bend in the Yamuna River. Akbar the Great laid the foundations of Agra Fort, which was built between 1565 & 1573 and served as the seat of the Mughul Empire for successive generations. 

Foreign tourists! We were surprised at how few of us there were.

The curved sandstone bastions reach a height of over 65 feet and stretch for around 1.5 miles, punctuated by a sequence of massive gates, although only the Amar Singh Pol (pictured above) is open to visitors. 

 Monkeys! They're everywhere.

As you can see from the photo below, the Amar Singh Pol is actually three separate gates placed close together and at right angles to one another to disorientate any potential attackers and to deprive them of the space to use battering weapons against the fortifications. 

From here the ramp slopes gently upwards flanked by high walls, through another gate to a spacious courtyard with a lawn, which surrounds the Diwan-i-Am (Hall of Public Attendance) which was commissioned by Shah Jahan in 1628. Originally this pillared hall, open on three sides, would have been adorned with brocade, carpets and satin canopies for audiences with the emperor.

Jon's admiring the emperor's massive bath tub.

 The tiny Mina Masjid (above) was built for Shah Jahan and used during his imprisonment here. In a passageway, just beyond, is where he was said to have caught his last glimpse of the Taj Mahal before he died. 

 Made entirely from marble, the Nagina Masjid (Gem Mosque) was commissioned for the ladies of the zenana (harem). At the rear is a carved lattice screen which offered a discreet viewpoint from where the members of the harem were able to inspect luxury goods - brocade, silk and jewellery - laid out for sale by merchants in the courtyard below.

Akbar had around 300 women in his harem, 35 wives, secondary wives and concubines. I'm amazed he had any energy left to run an empire.

Just like the Taj Mahal, the marble pillars at Agra Fort are inlaid with precious gemstones.

The two storey Macchi Bhavan (Fish Palace) overlooks the courtyard, once strewn with fountains and flowerbeds interspersed with tanks stocked with fish on which the emperor and his courtiers would perfect their angling skills. 

27 miles southwest from Agra lies the ghost city of Fatehpur Sikri, the former imperial capital of the great Mughal Emperor, Akbar. The city was built between 1569 and 1585 to honour a local Sufi saint who had successfully prophesied the birth of a son to the previously childless emperor. However, due to the remote location and lack of good quality water, Fatehpur Sikri's eminence was brief and after 1585 it was abandoned.

The elephant tower was built by Akbar, in memory of his favourite elephant, Hassan, who was used as a executioner, crushing the heads of those his master found guilty. It measures around round eighty feet high with stone projections fashioned to resemble tusks. 

To the left of the above photo, marked out on the floor, is a giant board used to play pachisi (a game similar to ludo).

 Akbar is said to have been a fanatical pachisi player, he'd sit on this very bench and use slave girls dressed in colourful costume as live pieces. Abu'l Fazl, the court chronicler, related At times more than two hundred persons participated, and no one was allowed to go home until he had played sixteen rounds. This could take up to three months. If one of the players lost his patience and became restless, he'd be made to drink a cupful of wine. Seen superficially, this appears to be just a game. But His Majesty pursues higher objectives. He weighs up the talents of his people and teaches them to be affable.

The platform in the middle of this ornamental pool (Anup Talao) is where the Emperor would have sat, surrounded by water scented with rosewater. Singers and musicians would also perform on the platform while Akbar watched from the pavilion in his private quarters. 

This is the Daulat Khana (Abode of Fortune), the emperor’s private quarters. The ground floor housed his library. Although unable to read or write himself, Akbar enjoyed having books read to him and wherever he went, his library of 50,000 manuscripts accompanied him. 

On the first floor you'll find the Khwabgah (Palace of Dreams), Akbar's private sleeping quarters with a huge stone bunk bed taking centre stage. This room would have once been lavishly decorated with rich carpets, hangings and cushions. The walls are decorated with gold and ultramarine frescoes, although now barely visible. 

The Treasury in the northwest corner of the courtyard houses secret stone safes in some corners (one has been left with its stone lid open for visitors to see). 

And when you travel the tourist trail you have to pose for the obligatory daft tourist photo, too. Don't blame us, this pose was the suggestion of the kind Indian tourist who offered to take our picture.

After seeing the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri all in one day we were absolutely knackered. Who knew that being surrounded by so much beauty would be so exhausting?

See you soon!

Linking to Patti & the gang for Visible Monday.

See the full set of photos HERE.

A Teardrop On The Face Of Eternity - The Magnificent Taj Mahal

Namaste! Where on earth did the last five weeks go? 

With over a thousand photos to trawl through it's hard to know where to start with our travel tales but on the eve of St. Valentine's Day, I thought I'd kick off with our trip to the Taj Mahal in Agra in the Northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, the world's most beautiful building and an enduring monument to everlasting love built by a heartbroken Shah Jahan following the death of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal, in 1631. 

If you're wondering, a teardrop on the face of eternity is how the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore described the Taj Mahal.

Mumtaz Mahal (1592 - 1631)

Prince Khurram, who in 1628 became Shah Jahan (meaning King of the World), was the eldest son of Jehangir, the fourth Mughal emperor of India and grandson of Akbar the Great. As a young prince Khurram was a regular visitor to the royal bazaar where, accompanied by a group of fawning courtiers, he'd flirt with the girls from high-ranking families who staffed the stalls there. In 1607 and aged just 16 years old he caught a glimpse of a girl hawking silk and glass beads. The girl was 15 year-old Arjumand Banu Baygam, a Persian princess and the daughter of the soon-to-be prime minister. It was love at first sight. After speaking with her,  Shah Jahan went back to his father and declared that he wanted to marry her. 

 

Shah Jahan (1591 - 1666)

On March 27, 1612, after a five year wait, Prince Khurram and his beloved, to whom he gave the name Mumtaz Mahal "Chosen One of the Palace", were married. Mumtaz Mahal was not only beautiful, she was also intelligent and kind-hearted. The public was enamoured with her, in part because Mumtaz Mahal cared for the people, diligently making lists of widows and orphans to make sure they received food and money. 

In 1631, three years into Shah Jahan’s reign, a rebellion led by Khan Jahan Lodi was underway. Shah Jahan had taken his military out to the Deccan, about 400 miles from Agra, in order to crush the usurper. As usual, Mumtaz Mahal, who was always by Shah Jahan’s side, accompanied him, despite being heavily pregnant with their 14th child. On June 16, 1631, Mumtaz Mahal, in an elaborately decorated tent, gave birth to a healthy baby girl in the middle of the encampment. At first, all seemed to be well, but it was soon discovered that Mumtaz Mahal was dying. As soon as Shah Jahan received news of his wife’s condition, he rushed to her side. In the early morning hours of June 17, 1631, Mumtaz Mahal died in his arms. Legend has it that she bound him with a deathbed promise to build her the most beautiful tomb ever known. Reports say that in Shah Jahan’s anguish, he went to his own tent and cried for eight days. Upon emerging it was said that his hair had turned completely white from his grief.

 In 1632 Shah Jahan undertook the task of erecting the world's most beautiful monument in the memory of his beloved. It took twenty-two years and the labour of 22,000 workers to construct Mumtaz Mahal's tomb. Marble was brought from Rajasthan and semi-precious stones for decoration - onyx, amethyst, lapis lazuli, turquoise, jade, crystal, coral and mother-of-pearl - were carried to Agra from Persia, Russia, Afghanistan, Tibet, China and the Indian Ocean.

 Eventually Shah Jahan's pious and intolerant son Aurangzeb seized power and the former emperor was interned in Agra Fort (more of that in later post) where, as legend would have it, he lived out his final years gazing wistfully at the Taj Mahal from his prison cell. When he died in 1666, his body was carried across the Yumuna River to lie alongside his beloved wife in his peerless tomb.

There are no words to do the Taj Mahal justice and it's impossible not to be overwhelmed by its beauty. The magic of the monument remains undiminished despite the crowds of tourists who visit (around 3 million a year), as small and insignificant as ants in the face of this immense mausoleum. 

 Taking the advice of the guide books we visited in the early morning, shortly after sunrise (hence the jackets and scarves we're wrapped up in) the mist had just started to clear and the marble was bathed in a soft red glow. As the surfaces fell into shadow and reflected the winter sunshine, the colours changed from a delicate dove grey and pale yellow to pearly cream and dazzling white. This play of light is said to be an important decorative device, implying the presence of Allah, never represented in physical form.

 For most visitors to India the Taj Mahal is the first port of call but it took us twenty years to get round to seeing it. It was worth the wait.

See you soon!

Linking to Patti and the gang for Visible Monday.

For the full album see HERE.