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 Mina 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 and
Shah Jahan

Plate VIII.  Itmad-ud-daulah’s Tomb, Agra

Plate IX.  Interior of the Upper Pavilion, Itmad-ud-daulah’s Tomb

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

Plate XI.  Interior of The Diwan-i-Khas, 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 legends of Krishna and of the heroes of the Mahabharata; the other of the modern city, founded by Akbar in A.D. 1558, on the right bank of the river, 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 the foundations.  It was a place of importance under various Hindu dynasties previous to the Muhammadan invasions of India, but its chequered fortunes down to the beginning of the sixteenth century are the usual tale of siege and capture by Hindu or Mussulman, and possess little historical interest.

In A.D. 1505 Sultan Sikandar Lodi, the last but one of the Afghan dynasty at Delhi, rebuilt Agra and made it the seat of government.  Sikandra, the burial-place of Akbar, is named after him, and there he built a garden-house which subsequently became the tomb of Mariam Zamani, 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 cities of the Mogul Empire which Babar founded.

The Great Moguls.—­I.  Babar.