Agra: The Architectural Heritage

Lucy Peck

Description

Few people know just how much more there is to Agra than the Taj Mahal. A recent listing by INTACH has identified many beautiful ruined Mughal gardens, tombs and mosques, colonial buildings, and havelis along the winding lanes of the old city. For those who want to range wider than the normal tourist route, Lucy Peck's new book takes the visitor through historic Agra and Fatehpur Sikri, revealing the lesser-known buildings to be found in both places. It is illustrated with photos, line drawings and numerous maps, many of which feature walks through the historic areas.

Sujets

• architectural history
• Moghul
• Sha Jahan
• Mughal Empire
• Fatehpur Sikri
• Heritage
• Mughal
• Shah Jahan
• Design
• History
• Monument
• Indian
• Agra
• Taj Mahal
• Architecture

Informations

• Publié par: Roli Books
• Date de parution: 06 avril 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9788174369420
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

AGRA
The architectural heritage
Lucy Peck
Photos
Lucy Peck
Roli Collection: 97 (bottom), 101, 158,
Shruti Kodasi: 141 (left top), 142 (bottom right)
Richa Aggarwal: 132 (middle)
By permission of The British Library, photo p120 (bottom left),
Agra/Street Scene (photo 35/83)
Illustrations
Lucy Peck
Design
Supriya Saran
Production
Naresh Nigam Rajiv Kumar
We are grateful to Naveen and Pushpa Kapur and INTACH USA
for their kind support to this book.
Lotus Collection
Text: Lucy Peck, 2008
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the publisher.
This edition first published in 2008
Second impression, 2009
The Lotus Collection
An imprint of Roli Books Pvt. Ltd.
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ISBN: 978-81-7436-611-5
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Typeset in Garamond by Roli Books Pvt. Ltd. and printed at Ana Print O Grafix Pvt. Ltd., Delhi.
Contents
How to use this book
Acknowledgments
Maps
Key to Maps
Chronology
Foreword
Introduction
1 History of Agra
2 Architecture of Agra
3 The Red Fort
4 Mughal Gardens (Itimad-ud-Daula s Tomb)
5 Sikandra (Akbar s Tomb)
6 Taj Mahal
7 The Old City
8 Colonial Agra
9 Fatehpur Sikri
Bibliography
Index and Glossary
How to use this book
T his book is designed for people who will be spending more than a few hours in Agra. Although descriptions are obviously given for the main sites, I have also described the lesser-known buildings around them and elsewhere. I regret to say that locating many of these buildings is difficult and I have concentrated on producing maps, based on Google Earth satellite images and my own notes, which I hope will assist visitors. I have described several walks and others are indicated on maps.
There are five maps covering the whole of the city on which the main motorable roads are indicated - all other roads will be more easily navigated by rickshaw or on foot. The most interesting buildings are highlighted on these maps. In each chapter there are more detailed maps which show all the buildings mentioned in the text.
Acknowledgments
M y first thanks go to INTACH, to Shruti Kodasi and Richa Aggarwal who made the original listing on which some of my exploration was based, and to Shobita Punja, who suggested that I follow up the Delhi book with an equivalent one on Agra. She also raised the funding to make publication possible.
I am grateful to Ebba Koch for advice on the Mughal Gardens. I was also very lucky to be able to take advantage of her recently published book, The Complete Taj Mahal and the Riverfront Gardens of Agra.
I must also thank the good folk at Google Earth for (coincidentally) putting a high resolution image of Agra on-line just in time for me to use it in preparation of the maps and, in a few cases, to find buildings.
I am also very grateful to my mother, Vickie Macnair, for the first vital proofread.
Finally, many thanks to Shoma Chaudhury for diligent editing, to Priya Kapoor for supervising the last stages of preparation, and for Supriya Saran for the excellent layout and for putting up with my far too frequent and belated requests for changes.
Maps
General maps of the city
Historical maps of the city
Palace area of Red Fort
Red Fort
Mughal riverside gardens north of the road/rail bridge
River frontage south of the road/rail bridge showing Mehtab Bagh
Area around Akbar s Tomb at Sikandra
Area around the Taj Mahal
Old city area - key map
Maithan
Kashmiri Bazaar
Belanganj
Hing ki Mandi
Peepal Mandi
Chhattaganj
Civil Lines
Wazirpur
West of Old City
Lohamandi
Nai ki Mandi
The Cantonment
Firoz Khan s Tomb
Fatehpur Sikri walled area
Fatehpur Sikri palace area
Fatehpur Sikri mosque area
Sikri village
Key to Maps
Open space
Colonial, cantonment area - large gardens and good roads predominate
Modern housing
Traditional urban area (old city, villages and informal housing areas)
Industrial area
Water
Motorable road
Non-motorable (or difficult) road
Track
Mughal building
Colonial building
Modern free-standing building
Chronology
11 th c.
Fort at Agra besieged by Mahmud Shah, governor of Hind under the Ghaznavid rulers of Afghanistan
1192
Invasion by Muhammad of Ghor. Qutbuddin Aibak becomes Sultan of Delhi
Mid - 15 th c.
Agra mentioned as a dependency of Bayana
1475
Badal Singh builds Badalgarh Fort

LODI DYNASTY
1451 - 89
Bahlol Lodi
1489 - 1517
Sikander Lodi
1504
Sikander Lodi shifts court to Agra to be closer to Gwalior Garden built at Sikandra
1505
Earthquake destroys many buildings
1517
Sikander Lodi dies at Agra
1517 - 26
Ibrahim Lodi Construction of palace and mosque within Badalgarh Fort

MUGHAL DYNASTY
1526
Babur invades India and defeats Ibrahim Lodi. Foundation of Mughal Empire, ruled mainly from Agra or Lahore Gardens constructed on banks of river at Agra and at Sikri
1530 - 40
Humayun crowned at Jami Masjid in Agra Humayun builds mosque at Kachhpura, across the river from the Fort
1540
Sher Shah Suri seizes power Sher Shah repairs Badalgarh
1545 - 55
Salim Shah
1555
Humayun regains power but does not reign long before dying, following a fall
1556 - 1605
Akbar Akbar makes Agra his capital and names it Akbarabad
1565
Badalgarh demolished and contruction of Red Fort begins
1569
Akbar founds Fatehpur Sikri after birth of Salim (later to be called Jahangir)
1572 - 85
Period of Akbar s residence at Fatehpur Sikri
1585 - 98
Period of Akbar s residence in Lahore
1598 - 1605
Period of Akbar s residence in Agra
1599
Christian residential complex founded at Padri Tola
1605 - 12
Akbar s Tomb constructed
1605 - 28
Jahangir
1611
Jahangir marries Nur Jahan
1612
Khurram (Shah Jahan) marries Mumtaz Mahal
1617
Jahangir names Khurram Shah Jahan
1622 - 28
Nur Jahan constructs Itimad-ud-Daula s Tomb
1628 - 58
Shah Jahan
1631
Mumtaz Mahal dies
1632 - 43
Taj Mahal built
1658
Aurangzeb kills his brothers and deposes Shah Jahan, who lives another eight years as his son s captive at Agra
1681
Aurangzeb goes south to wage war in the Deccan, never to return to the north
1707
Aurangzeb dies, leading to civil war between his sons
1707 - 12
Bahadur Shah 1 (Aurangzeb s son, after defeating brother)
1712 - 13
Jahandar Shah (Bahadur Shah 1 s son, after defeating brother)
1713 - 19
Faruksiyar (son of Jahandar Shah s defeated brother). First firman (licence to trade) given to the East India Company
1719
Faruksiyar murdered; civil war ensues
1719 - 48
Muhammad Shah Rangila (nephew of Jahandar)
1748
Ahmad Shah (son of Muhammad Shah) comes to throne
1755
Ahmad Shah imprisoned and blinded by his prime minister, Ghaziuddin
1755
Alamgir ll (Jahandar s son) proclaimed emperor
1757
Agra besieged by Ahmad Shah Durrani s forces but they withdraw under the summer heat
1758
Maratha forces seize power in Delhi, Maratha governor appointed in Agra
1759
Alamgir ll murdered by Ghaziuddin. Shah Alam ll (son of Alamgir ll) proclaimed emperor but rules in exile under protection of the Nawabs of Awadh
1764
Raja Surajmal of Bharatpur takes Agra
1770
Agra retaken by Marathas
1773
Agra taken by Najaf Khan, imperial minister in Delhi
1774
Jats briefly occupy Agra again but are expelled again by Najaf Khan. Agra governed by Muhammad Beg of Hamadan
1782
Najaf Khan dies, followed by quarrelling between his relatives and ministers, culminating in Muhammad Beg shooting dead Najaf Khan s nephew
1784
Madhoji Scindia, acting on behalf of the Mughal emperor, marches on Agra
1785
Muhammad Beg surrenders and the Fort is occupied by Scindia
1787
Agra besieged by Rohillas but holds out successfully till the following year, the siege interrupted only by a Rohilla victory over the Maratha forces near Fatehpur Sikri
1788
Shah Alam deposed as emperor by Rohillas and blinded
1799
Scindia s governor rebels but Agra retaken by General Perron, a European Maratha mercenary. John Hessing, another mercenary, appointed governor of Agra Fort

COLONIAL POWER
1803
General Lake defeats Scindia outside Delhi.
1836 - 68
Agra becomes headquarters of lieutenant-governor of North-western Provinces
1857
Great Uprising in Meerut, Delhi, Awadh and other parts of north India
1858
The British government takes over administration from the East India Company

INDEPENDENCE
1947
Independence. Partition causes a massive exchange of populations
Foreword
A gra, one of the great historical cities of India, has become so much the city of the Taj Mahal that travellers visit it merely to see the famous mausoleum. Foreign visitors typically come down from Delhi by train, bus or car and, after having seen the Taj, taken a meal in one of the hotel restaurants and having bought some souvenirs, leave the city again on the evening of the same day. Only few spend as much as a night there, and hardly anyone is aware of the wealth of historical monuments that testify to the days of the city s past glory when it was the major capital of the Mughal empire, and, after that, a regional headquarter of the British colonial administration.
In the seventeenth century, foreign travellers described Mughal Agra as a wonder of the age - as much a centre of the arteries of trade both by land and water as a meeting-place of saints, sages and scholars from all Asia, and full of fine buildings, palaces, gardens, and mausoleums. The German traveller Johann Albrecht Mandelslo judged it in 1638 at least twice as big as Isfahan, others felt that it was one of the largest cities in the world. The nucleus of Agra was formed of gardens of the ruling elite lining the river Yamun