Everything about Agra totally explained
Agra () is a city on the banks of the
Yamuna River in the northern
state of
Uttar Pradesh,
India. It finds mention in the epic Mahabharata when it was called Agrabana, or Paradise.
Ptolemy, the famous
2nd century geographer, marked it on his map of the world as Agra. Tradition and legend ascribe the present city of Raja Badal Singh (around 1475) whose Fort, Badalgarh, Stood on or near the site of the present Fort. However, the
12th century Persian poet Salman writes of a desperate assault on the fortress of Agra, then held by one King Jaipal, by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni. It was ruled by Sultan
Sikandar Lodi in the year
1506. It achieved fame as the capital of the
Mughal emperors from
1526 to
1658 and remains a major tourist destination because of its many splendid Mughal-era buildings, most notably the
Taj Mahal,
Agra Fort and
Fatehpur Sikri, all three of which are
UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Geography
Agra is situated., on the bank of
Yamuna river. It has an average elevation of 171
metres (561
feet). On the north it's bounded by Mathura, on the south by Dhaulpur, on the east by
Firozabad, on the south-east by
Fatehabad and on the west by Bharatpur. Agra is the third biggest city in
Uttar Pradesh.
Climate
Agra, located on the Indo-Gangetic plain has a sub-tropical climate, with long, hot summers from April to September. The monsoon months from July to September see about 67 cm of rainfall annually. Winters last from November to February, with day time temperatures averaging about 24 degrees, while night temperatures around 6 degrees. Temperatures below freezing are not uncommon during the winter. The best months to visit Agra are March, October and November.
Demographics
As of the
2000 Indian
census, Agra had a population of 1,800,000. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Agra has an average literacy rate of 65%, higher than the national average of 63.5%; with 76% males literate. 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.
History
Agra is a medieval city situated on the banks of the river
Yamuna. It is generally accepted that Sultan
Sikandar Lodi, the Ruler of
Delhi Sultanate founded it in the year
1504. After the sultan's death the city passed on to his son Sultan
Ibrahim Lodi. He ruled his Sultanate from Agra until he fell fighting to
Babur in the
First battle of Panipat fought in
1526.
In the year 1556, the great Hindu warrior,
Hemu Vikramaditya also known as Hem Chander Vikramaditya won Agra as Prime Minister cum Chief of Army of
Adil Shah of Afgan
Sur Dynasty. The commander of
Humayun /
Akbar's forces in Agra was so scared of Hemu that he ran away from Agra without the fight. This was
Hemu's 21st continuous win, who later on won
Delhi also and had his
coronation at
Purana Qila in Delhi and re-established his 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 Emperor
Akbar,
Jahangir and
Shah Jahan.
Shah Jahan later shifted his capital to
Shahjahanabad in the year
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 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 a new city on the outskirts of Akbarabad called
Fatehpur Sikri. This city was built in the form of a Mughal military camp in stone.
His son
Jahangir had a love of gardens and flora and fauna and laid many gardens inside the Red Fort or Laal Kila.
Shah Jahan known for his keen interest in architecture gave Akbarabad its most prized 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 this son
Aurangzeb shifted the capital back to Akbarabad and had his father imprisoned in the Fort there. Akbarabad remained 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 of
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. During the
Indian rebellion of 1857 British rule across India was threatened, news of the rebellion had reached Agra on
11 May and on the 30th of May two companies of native infantry, the 44th and 67th regiments, rebelled and marched to
Delhi. The next morning native Indian troops in Agra were forced to disarm, on
15 June Gwalior (which lies south of Agra) rebelled. By
3 July the British were forced to withdraw into the fort. Two days later a small British force at Sucheta were defeated and force to withdraw, this lead to a mob sacking the city. However the rebels moved onto Delhi which allowed the British to restore order by the 8th of July. Delhi fell to the British in September, the following month rebels who had fled Delhi along with rebels from Central India marched on Agra - but were defeated. After this British rule was again secured over the city until the independence of India in 1947.
Places of Interest
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 7 Wonders of the world, and one of three
World Heritage Sites in Agra, the others being Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri.
Completed in 1653 CE., the Taj Mahal is believed to have been built by the Mughal Badshah (king) Shah Jahan as the final resting place for his beloved wife, Mumtaz. Finished in marble, it's perhaps India's most fascinating and beautiful monument. This perfectly symmetrical monument took 22 years (1630-1652) of hard labour and 20,000 workers, masons and jewellers to build and is set amidst landscaped gardens. Built by the Persian architect, Ustad Isa, the Taj Mahal is on the bank of the Yamuna River. It can be observed like a mirage from the Agra Fort from where Emperor Shah Jahan stared at it, for the last eight years his life as a prisoner of his son Aurangzeb. It is a masterpiece of symmetry, seeming to be floating in the air from a distance, and each revealed as an illusion experienced as one enters through the main gate. Verses of the Holy
Koran are inscribed on it and at the top of gate 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, with a diameter of 60 feet, rises 80 feet over the building and directly under the dome is the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal. Shah Jahan's tomb was erected next to hers by his son Aurangzeb. Fantastic inlay works using semi-precious stones decorate the interiors.
Opening Times: 6 A.M. to 7.30 P.M. (closed Fridays)
Another world heritage site in Agra. Agra's dominant structure, the
Agra Fort (sometimes called the
Red Fort), was built by Akbar in
1565. Be Noted that a Stone Plate located at the Gate of Fort describes it to be built before 1000 and later renovated by Akbar. The red sandstone fort was renovated and converted into a palace during Shah Jahan's time, and reworked extensively with
marble and
pietra dura inlay. Notable buildings in the fort include the
Pearl Mosque, the Diwan-e-Am and Diwan-e-Khas (halls of public and private audience), Jehangir's Palace, Khaas Mahal, Sheesh Mahal (mirrored palace), and Musamman Burj.
The great Mughal Emperor Akbar commissioned the construction of the Agra Fort in 1565 CE., although additions were made till the time of his grandson Shah Jahan. The forbidding exteriors of this fort hide 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 k.m., and is ringed by double castellated ramparts of red sandstone punctuated at regular intervals by bastions. A 9 mt. wide and 10 mt. deep moat surround the outer wall.
Shivaji visited Agra fort as per the "Purandar Treaty" entered into with Mirza Raja Jaisingh to met Aurangzeb in the Diwan-i-khas. In the audience he was deliberately placed behind men of lower rank. Insulted Shivaji stormed out of the imperial audience and was confined to Jai Sing's quarters on 12th May 1666. Fearing the dungeons and execution, in a famously sweet legend, he escaped on the 17th of August 1666. A heroic equestrian statue of Shivaji has been erected outside the fort.
The fort standing as a typical example of the Mughal architecture.It shows how the North Indian style of fort construction differentiated from that of the South.In South majority of the beautiful forts were built on the sea beds like the one at Bekal in Kerala [formore details refer 'History of Bekal Fort' by Nandakumar Koroth]
Fatehpur Sikri
The Mughal Emperor
Akbar built Fatehpur Sikri about 35 km from Agra, and moved his capital there. Later abandoned, the site displays a number of buildings of significant historical importance. A
World Heritage Site, it's often visited by tourists to Agra. The name of the place came after Mughal Emperor Babur defeated Rana Sanga in a battle at a place called Sikri (about 40 km from Agra). Then Mughal Emperor Akbar wanted to make Fatehpur Sikri his head quarters. So he built this majestic fort. But due to shortage of water he'd to ultimately move his headquarters to Agra Fort.
Buland Darwaza or the loft gateway was built by the great Mughal emperor, Akbar in 1601 CE. at Fatehpur Sikri. Akbar built the Buland Darwaza to commemorate his victory over Gujarat. The Buland Darwaza is approached by 42 steps. The Buland Darwaza is 53.63m high and 35 meters wide. Buland Darwaza is the highest gateway in the world and an astounding example of the Mughal architecture. The Buland Darwaza or the magnificence gateway is made of red and buff sandstone, decorated by carving and inlaying of white and black marble. An inscription on the central face of the Buland Darwaza throws light on Akbar's religious broad mindedness, here's an inscription one on the monument which is a message from Jesus advising his followers not to consider this world as their permanent home.
Itmad-Ud-Daulah's Tomb
Empress
Nur Jehan built
Itmad-Ud-Daulah's Tomb, sometimes called the
Baby Taj, for her father, Ghias-ud-Din Beg, the Chief Minister of Emperor Jahangir. Located on the left bank of the Yamuna river, the mausoleum is set in a large cruciform garden criss-crossed by water courses and walkways. The mausoleum itself is set on a base about 50 meters square and about 1 meter high. The mausoleum is about 23 meters square. On each corner are hexagonal towers, about 13 meters tall. Small in comparison to many other Mughal-era tombs, it's sometimes described as a jewel box. Its garden layout and use of white marble, pietra dura, inlay designs and
latticework presage many elements of the Taj Mahal.
The walls are white marble from Rajasthan encrusted with semi-precious stone decorations - cornelian, jasper, lapis lazuli, onyx, and topaz in images of cypress trees and wine bottles, or more elaborate decorations like cut fruit or vases containing bouquets. Light to the interior passes through delicate jali screens of intricately carved white marble.
Many of Nur Jahan's relatives are interred in the mausoleum. The only asymmetrical element of the entire complex is that the cenotaphs of her father and mother have been set side-by-side, a formation replicated in the Taj Mahal
MankaMeswar Temple
MankaMeswar Temple is one of the four ancient temples dedicated to Lord
Shiva that are located on the four corners of Agra City. It is located in the near the Jama Masjid and is about 2.5 kilometers from
Taj Mahal and about less than 1 km from
Agra Fort. Being located in the old city, the temple is surrounded by Mughal-era markets, some of which date back to the early days of Mughal rule in India.
Jama Masjid
The
Jama Masjid is a large mosque attributed to Shah Jahan's daughter, Princess
Jahanara Begum, built in 1648, notable for its unusual dome and absence of minarets.
Chini Ka Rauza
Notable for its
Persian influenced dome of blue glazed tiles, the
Chini Ka Rauza is dedicated to the Prime Minister of Shah Jahan, Allama Afzel Khal Mullah Shukrullah of Shiraz.
Aram Bagh
The oldest
Mughal garden in India, the
Aram Bagh was built by the Emperor
Babur in
1528 on Yamuna's bank. It lies about 2.34 km north of Taj Mahal. The pavilions in this garden are designed in such a manner that the wind from the Yamuna, combined with the greenery, keeps these pavilions cool even during the peak of summer. Aram Bagh is also incorrectly called Ram Bagh by the locals.
Swami Bagh Samadhi
The Swami Bagh Samadhi is the mausoleum of Huzur
Swamiji Maharaj (Shri Shiv Dayal Singh Seth) in the
Swami Bagh section, on Bhagwan Talkies to Dayal bagh road, in the outskirts of the city. He was the founder of the
Radhaswami Faith and the Samadhi is sacred to its followers. Construction began in 1908 and still continues. It is believed that the construction will never end at Swami Bagh. It is often seen as the "next Taj Mahal". The carvings in stone, using a combination or coloured marble, is life-like and not seen anywhere else in India. The picture shown is taken from the backside and shows only two floors. When completed, the samadhi will have a carved dome and a gateway.
Sikandra (Akbar's tomb)
Sikandra, the last resting place of the
Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great,is on Delhi-Agra Highway, is only 13 kilometres from the
Agra Fort.
Akbar's tomb reflects the completeness of his personality. The vast, beautifully carved, red-ochre sandstone tomb with deers, rabbits and langoor monkeys is set amidst a lush garden. Akbar himself planned his own tomb and selected a suitable site for it. To construct a tomb in one's lifetime was a
Tartary custom which the
Mughals followed religiously. Akbar's son
Jahangir completed the construction of this pyramidal tomb in 1613.
Mariam's Tomb
Mariams Tomb, enroute to Sikandra, is the last resting place of Akbar's Christian wife.
Mehtab Bagh
Mehtab Bagh, is on the opposite bank of River Yamuna on which the Taj is present.
Image:Akbar-tomb.jpg|Mughal Emperor Akbar's Tomb, near Agra, India.
Image:Dayal-bagh-12.JPG|Soami Bagh Samadh, in Dayalbagh.
Image:The Panch Mahal in Fatehpur Sikri.jpg|Panch Mahal in Fatehpur Sikri.
Education
Agra has always been a centre for eduacation and learning. It was during the advent of Mughal era that Agra grew as a centre of Islamic education. In the coming decades Agra saw great literary figures adorning the city. Abul Fazl and others were among the pioneers. The Urdu literature grew by leaps and bounds in the city. Mir Taqi "Mir" and Mirza Asadullah Beg "Ghalib" were the icons produced by the city. Britishers introduced the westrn concept of education in Agra. In the year 1823, Agra College, one of the oldest college of India was formed out of a Sanskrit school eatablished by the Scindia rulers. Agra University was established in the year 1927 and catered to colleges spread across the United Provinces, the Rajputana, the Central Provinces and almost to entire North India. Later it was rechristianed as Dr.Bhim Rao Ambedkar University by the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Ms. Mayawati. Britishers also introduced english medium schools to the city known as convent schools as they were attached to a church.St. Peter's College, built in 1846, is infact, one of the oldest of its kind in the country. Medical education was also on high with the establishment of Agra Medical School which was rechristianed as S.N.Medical College.
Further Information
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