HISTORY
It is generally accepted that Sultan Sikandar Lodi, the ruler of the Delhi Sultanate founded Agra in the year 1504. After the Sultan’s death the city passed on to his son Sultan Ibrahim Lodi. He ruled his sultanate until he fell fighting to Babar in the first battle Panipat fought in 1526.
In the year 1556, the great Hindu warrior Hemu Vikramaditya, also known as Samrat Hem Chander Vikramaditya, as the Prime minister cum chief of army of Adil Shah of Afghan Suri dynasty. The commander of Humayun/Akbar’s forces in Agra, Tardi Beg Khan, was so scared of Hemu that he retreated from the city without a fight. This was Hemu’s 21st continuous win since 1554, and he later went on to conquer Delhi, having his coronation at Purana Quila in Delhi on 7th October 1556 and re-established the Hindu kingdom and the Vikramaditya dynasty in North India.
The golden age of the city began with the Mughals. It was known then as Akbarabad and remained the capital of the Mughal Empire under the emperors, Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan. Shah Jahan later shifted his capital to Shahjahanabad in 1649.
Since Akbarabad was one of the most important cities in India under the Mughals, it witnessed a lot of building activity. Babar, the founder of the Mughal dynasty, laid out the first formal Persian garden on the banks of the river Yamuna. The garden is called the Aram bagh or the garden of relaxation. His grandson Akbar raised the towering ramparts of the great red fort, besides making Agra a center for learning arts, commerce and religion. Akbar also built in the form of the Mughal military camp in stone.
His son, Jahangir had a love for gardens and flora and fauna and laid many gardens inside the Red Fort. Shah Jahan, known for his keen interest in architecture, gave Akbarabad its most prize monument, the Taj Mahal. Built in loving memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, the mausoleum was completed in 1653.
Shah Jahan later shifted the capital to Delhi during his reign, but his son Aurangzeb moved the capital back to Akbarabad, imprisoning his father there in the fort. Akbarabad remained the capital of India during the rule of Aurangzeb until he shifted it to Aurangabad in the Deccan in 1653. After the decline of the Mughal Empire, the city came under the influence Marathas and Jats and was called Agra, before falling into the hands of the British Raj in 1803.
In 1835 when the presidency of Agra was established by the British, the city became the seat of government, and just two years later it was the witness to the Agra famine of 1837-38. During the Indian rebellion of 1857. British rule across India was threatened, news of the rebellion had reached Agra on May 11 and on 30th May two companies of Native infantry, the 44th and 67th regiments, rebelled and reached to Delhi. The next morning native Indian troops in Agra where forced disarm, on 15th June Gwalior (which lies south of Agra) rebelled. By 3 July British were forced to withdraw into the fort. Two days later a small British force at sutecha were defeated and forced to withdraw, this led to a mob sacking the city. However, the rebels moved onto Delhi which allowed the British to restore order by 8 July. Delhi fell to British in September; following month rebels who had fled Delhi along with rebels from central India marched on Agra but was defeated. After this, the British rule was again secured till the Independence of India in 1947.
Agra is the birth place of the religion known as Din-i-llah, which flourished during the reign of Akbar and also the Radhaswami faith, which has around two million followers worldwide.
TAJ MAHAL
Agra’s Taj Mahal is one of the most famous buildings in the world, the mausoleum of Shah Jahan’s favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It is one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, and one of the world’s three heritage sites in Agra.
Completed in 1653, the Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal king Shah Jahan as the final resting place for his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Finished in marble, it is perhaps India’s most fascinating beautiful monument. This perfectly symmetrical monument took 22 years (1630-1652) of hard labour and 20,000 workers, masons and jewelers to build and is set amidst landscape gardens. Built by the Persian architect, Ustad-Isa, the Taj Mahal is on the bank of river Yamuna. It can be observed from Agra fort from where emperor Shah Jahan gazed at it, for the last eight years of his life, a prisoner of his son Aurangzeb. It is and acknowledged masterpiece of symmetry. Verses of Quran are inscribed on it and at the top of the gate are 22 small domes, signifying the number of years the monument took to build. The Taj Mahal was built on a marble platform that stands above a sandstone one. The most elegant dome of the Taj Mahal has a diameter of 60 feet (18 meters), and rises to a height of 80 feet (24 meters); directly under this dome is the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal. Shah Jahan’s tomb was erected next to hers by his son Aurangzeb. The interiors are decorated by fine inlay work, incorporating semi-precious stones.
BUY-
Agra has many shops selling various stone products, from jewellery to small boxes and plaque’s with inlay work resembling that on the Taj. The best of these are wonderful, and even the run of the mill ones are rather pretty. Agra is also famous for its leather goods. Consider spending time in Sardar Bazaar for some shopping and enjoying cheap food.
Beware of being novercharged. Do not let anyone lead you to a shop, lest the price go up to cover their commission, typically 50%. Be very vary of the promises these people make. Bargain hard. Be prepared to walk away, you can nearly always get the same items in another shop. Also remember that in these globalized times, you can always order stuff you liked in your visit over the internet after you return.
Be careful with the Jewells, lots of stones are faulses and the price is very high!
EAT-
Agra specialties are petha, a type of very sweet candy, and Dal Moth, a spicy lentil mix. Both are also popular souvenirs.
CHAAT- Agra is a heaven for any Chaat lover. Chaat can be of various types but there is one thing common among them all is that they are spicy and you will find crowd outside virtually every Chaat shop, especially popular places like double phatak (near Sikandra) for mangores. You will find quality Bhallas and panipuri at sardar and belangunj. Samosa and kachori are found at every sweet shop that flood the city. Some typical Chaat items are aloo tikki, paneer tikka, panipuri, mangores, samosas, chachori etc. If you want to savour the typical Agra breakfast do remember to have a bite of one of those berahi and round it off with sweet Jalebies.
SWEETS. There are quite a few good sweet shops all around the city. The best stores for buying the famous petha of Agra are at Hari Parwat a short ride from Agra fort. Amongst the well-known stores are panchi’s, bhimasain baidyanath and the pracheen Petha store. There are many types of petha available but, for the authentic experience, try either the plain one or angoori flavor. Other stores in Agra include: Bikanervala, Deviram, munnalal petha, gopaldas, and Ajanta sweets, kamala nagar. Do remember to round off your meal with a Joda of Pan, unique to the city.
There are several restaurants in the Taj ganj area, catering for many tourists staying around the Taj Mahal.
AGRA FORT
Agra Fort (sometimes called the Red Fort), was commissioned by the great Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1565, and is another of Agra's World Heritage Sites. A stone tablet at the gate of the Fort states that it had been built before 1000 but was later renovated by Akbar. The red sandstone fort was converted into a palace during Shāh Jahān's time, and reworked extensively with marble and pietra dura inlay. Notable buildings in the fort include the Pearl Mosque, the Dīwān-e-'Ām and Dīwān-e-Khās (halls of public and private audience), Jahāngīr's Palace, Khās Mahal, Shīsh Mahal (mirrored palace), and the Musamman Burj. Reference required.The great Mughal Emperor Akbar commissioned the construction of the Agra Fort in 1565 CE., although it was converted into a place by his grandson Shāh Jahān, being reworked extensively with marble and pietra dura inlay. Notable buildings in the fort include the Pearl Mosque or Motī Masjid, the Dīwān-e-'Ām and Dīwān-e-Khās (halls of public and private audience), Jahāngīr's Palace, Khās Mahal, Shīsh Mahal (mirrored palace), and the Musamman Burj. The forbidding exteriors of this fort conceal an inner paradise. The fort is crescent shaped, flattened on the east with a long, nearly straight wall facing the river. It has a total perimeter of 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi), and is ringed by double castellated ramparts of red sandstone punctuated at regular intervals by bastions. A 9 metres (30 ft) wide and 10 metres (33 ft) deep moat surrounds the outer wall.
Chhatrapati Shīvajī visited the Agra Fort, as a result of the conditions of the Treaty of Purandar entered into with Mirzā Rājā Jaisingh to meet Aurangzeb in the Dīwān-i-Khās (Special Audience Chamber). In the audience he was deliberately placed behind men of lower rank. An insulted Shīvajī stormed out of the imperial audience and was confined to Jai Sing's quarters on 12 May 1666. Fearing the dungeons and execution he escaped on 17 August 1666. A heroic equestrian statue of Shīvajī has been erected outside the fort.
The fort is a typical example of Mughal architecture, effectively showing how the North Indian style of fort construction differentiated from that of the South. In the South, the majority forts were built on the seabed like the one at Bekal in Kerala.
