Travelogues  
India Revisited – 7

The following day was the dreariest day of all with fog and poor visibility. We scrapped the idea of going to Fatepur Sikri - Akbar’s abandoned capital, and proceeded to the Agra Fort. Built within the confines of walls large enough to enclose a small town, the fort is impressive. Vast expanses of open spaces with gardens, palaces, Diwan-i-Am where the emperor held court (ensconced on the gorgeous peacock throne) and the living quarters, kindled our imaginations about the opulence and the grandeur of the great Mughal dynasty. One could almost hear the two daughters of Shah Jahan, Jahanara and Roshanara fussing about in their rooms with dozens of maids attending to them. Their rooms though small had a spectacular view from the open windows. They were also located in the highest part of the palace with a deep precipice outside the windows. No intruder dare pay a visit here. The architects had even made provisions for inclement weather that the plains of North India was bound to endure. The walls have receptacles were either cold or hot water could be filled depending on the season. (As our guide said, “During the cold weather they fulfilled the wall with hot water and during the summer they fulfilled them with cold water!”) The Diwan-i-Am, where the Emperor meted out justice to common folks reverberated with imaginary voices of people pleading their cases (“unjustified peoples came here to get justice”, according to our guide) in front of the Emperor seated on his throne.

In 1558, at the age of 16, Akbar shifted his government from Delhi to Agra, where he made improvements to the city, giving it water supply and drainage systems. In 1565, he began to build the Agra Fort on the site of an earlier walled fort. The new Agra Fort Complex contained a palatial-city complex, and served as the seat of imperial power for Akbar, his son and successor Jahangir, and his grandson Shah Jahan. Even after Shah Jahan shifted the capital back to Delhi in 1648, Agra continued to be an important administrative and palatial center.

In the confines of his palace Emperor Shah Jahan spent his final years, under house arrest, staring at Taj Mahal, the mausoleum of his beloved Arjuman Banu (later known as Mumtaz), at a distance on the banks of the River Yamuna. The place where Shah Jahan was imprisoned (by son Aurangzeb) is now off limits to visitors, but the loneliness of the Emperor, sitting in his room, staring at the distant Taj Mahal that he had built, is vividly imaginable A narrow stairwell leads to a small roofless terrace where the Emperor went to pray everyday. When his eyesight failed him, mirrors showing the reflection of Taj Mahal were installed in his bedroom, so the Emperor could still see the image of Taj at a closer range. 

– Continued

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