is God.'"
The inscription in the tomb of Shah Jahan is as follows: "The
illustrious sepulchre and sacred resting-place of His Most Exalted
Majesty dignified as Razwan (the guardian of Paradise), having his
abode in Paradise, and his dwelling in the starry heaven, inhabitant
of the regions of bliss, the second lord of the Qirán, [12] Shah
Jahan, the king valiant. May his tomb ever flourish; and may his
abode be in the heavens. He travelled from this transitory world to
the world of eternity on the night of the 28th of the month of Rajab,
1076 A.H." (1666 A.D.).
The real cenotaphs containing the remains of Shah Jahan and his
wife are immediately under these tombs, in the vault below. Not the
least of the wonders of this wonderful building is in its acoustic
qualities. It does not respond to vulgar noises, but if a few notes be
slowly and softly sung in this vault, and especially if the chord of
the seventh be sounded; they are caught up by the echoes of the roof
and repeated in endless harmonies, which seem to those listening above
as if a celestial choir were chanting angelic hymns. "It haunts the
air above and around; it distils in showers upon the polished marble;
it rises, it falls.... It is the very element with which sweet dreams
are builded. It is the spirit of the Taj, the voice of inspired love!"
Surrounding the central chamber are eight smaller ones for the mullahs
who chanted the Koran and for musicians who played soft Indian and
Persian melodies. The vault below was only opened once a year, on
the anniversary day, when the Emperor and all his court attended a
solemn festival. Even on ordinary occasions none but Muhammadans were
admitted into the interior. Bernier tells us that he had not seen it,
on that account, but he understood that nothing could be conceived
more rich and magnificent.
The two mosques of red sandstone on either side of the Taj are in the
same style as the entrance gateway, the interiors being decorated
with fresco and fine cut plaster-work. The one towards the west
was intended for prayers only; the floor is panelled into separate
spaces for each worshipper. The opposite mosque was known, as the
_Jamaat Khana_, or meeting-place for the congregation before prayers,
and on the occasion of the great anniversary service. Standing on the
platform in front of this mosque, one has a splendid view of the Taj,
the river, and the distant Fort.
As the garden is now arranged; a full view of the magnificent platform,
with its two mosques, and the Taj itself, can only be obtained from
the opposite side of the river, which is not very accessible except by
boat. When the traveller leaves Agra by rail, going east, the Taj in
all its glory can be seen in the distance, floating like the mirage of
some wondrous fairy palace over the waving tufts of the pampas grass,
until at last it sinks into the pale horizon.
* * * * *
NOTE.--A small museum has been established lately by the Archæological
Department, in the western half of the Taj main gateway. It
contains an interesting collection of photographs and drawings of
the Taj at different periods, and specimens of the stones used in the
_pietra dura_, or inlay work of the building. There are also samples
illustrating the technique of _pietra dura_, and the tools used by
native workmen.
Itmâd-ud-daulah's Tomb
The tomb of Itmâd-ud-daulah, "the Lord High Treasurer," is on the east
or left bank of the river, and is reached by crossing the pontoon
bridge. It was built by Nur Mahal, the favourite wife of Jahangir,
as a mausoleum for her father, Mirza Ghîas Beg, who, according to
one account, was a Persian from Teheran, and by another a native of
Western Tartary.
A story is told of the Mirza's early life, of which it can only be
said, _Se non é vero é ben trovato_. He left his home, accompanied
by his wife and children, to seek his fortune in India, where he
had some relatives at Akbar's court. His slender provision for the
journey was exhausted in crossing the Great Desert, and they were
all in danger of perishing from hunger. In this extremity his wife
gave birth to a daughter. The unhappy parents, distracted by hunger
and fatigue, left the infant under a solitary shrub. With the father
supporting his wife and children on the one bullock which remained
to them, they pushed on in the hope of finding relief; but as the
tiny landmark where the infant lay disappeared in the distance, the
mother, in a paroxysm of grief, threw herself to the ground, crying,
"My child! my child!" The piteous appeal forced the father to return
to restore the babe to her mother, and soon afterwards a caravan
appeared in sight and rescued the whole party.
The child born under these romantic circumstances became the Empress
Nur Mahal, who built this mausoleum. Her father reached Lahore, where
Akbar then held his court, and through the influence of his friends
attracted the Emperor's attention. His talents won for him speedy
promotion, and under Jahangir he became first Lord High Treasurer, and
afterwards Wazir, or Prime Minister. Jahangir, in his memoirs, candidly
discusses the character of his father-in-law. He was a good scholar,
with a pretty taste for poetry, possessed many social qualities and
a genial disposition. His accounts were always in perfect order, but
"he liked bribes, and showed much boldness in demanding them." On his
death his son, Asaf Khan, the father of Mumtaz Mahal, was appointed
to succeed him.
Itmâd-ad-daulah and his wife are buried in the central chamber;
his brother and sister and other members of his family occupy
the four corners. The pavilion on the roof, enclosed by beautiful
marble tracery (Plate IX.), contains only replicas of the real tombs
beneath. The mausoleum was commenced in 1622 and completed in 1628. As
a composition it may lack inspiration, but it is exceedingly elegant,
and scholarly like the Lord High Treasurer himself. In construction it
marks the transition from the style of Akbar to that of Shah Jahan;
from the Jahangiri Mahal to the Dîwan-i-khas, the Mûti Masjid, and
the Taj. The towers at the four corners might be the first suggestion
of the detached minarets of the Taj. The Hindu feeling which is so
characteristic of most of Akbar's buildings is here only shown in
the roof of the central chamber over the tomb; in pure Saracenic
architecture a tomb is always covered by a dome.
This change in style greatly influenced the architecture of the
whole of the north of India, Hindu and Jain as well as Muhammadan. It
must be remembered that comparatively few of the master-builders who
actually constructed the most famous examples of Mogul architecture
were Muhammadans. The remarkable decline of the Mogul style which
set in under Aurangzîb was largely due to his bigotry in refusing to
employ any but true believers.
The family ties of Itmâd-ud-daulah and his daughter, the Empress,
were closely connected with Persia and Central Asia; and no doubt
the fashion set by Jahangir's court led to the Saracenic element
becoming predominant in the Mogul style, both in construction and in
decoration. Many authorities have connected the marked difference
between Itmâd-ud-daulah's tomb and Akbar's buildings to Italian
influence, only on the ground that Jahangir is known to have been
partial to Europeans, and allowed them free access to his palace. There
is not, however, a trace of Italian art in any detail of the building;
there is not a form or decorative idea which had not been used in
India or in Central Asia for centuries. The use of marble inlaid work
on so extensive a scale was a novelty, but it was only an imitation,
or adaptation, of the splendid tile-mosaic and painted tile-work
which were the commonest kinds of decoration employed in Persia:
Wazir Khan's mosque at Lahore, built in Jahangir's time, is a fine
Indian example of the latter.
The art of inlaying stone had been practised in India for many
years before this building; but here, for the first time, do we find
the inlayers making attempts at direct imitation of Persian pottery
decoration. All the familiar _motifs_ of Persian art, the tree of life
and other floral types, the cypress tree, the flower-vases, fruits,
wine-cups, and rose-water vessels are here reproduced exactly as they
are found in Persian mosaic tiles. In Shah Jahan's palace and in the
Taj they went a step further, and imitated the more naturalistic
treatment of Persian fresco painting and other pictorial art; but
there is never the slightest suggestion of European design in the
decoration of these buildings.
It is quite possible that some Italians may have shown the native
inlayers specimens of Florentine _pietra dura_, and suggested to
them this naturalistic treatment, but if Italians or other Europeans
had been engaged to instruct or supervise in the decoration of
these buildings they would certainly have left some traces of their
handiwork. In the technical part of the process the Indian workmen
had nothing to learn, and in the design they made no attempt to
follow European forms, except in the one solitary instance of the
decoration of the throne-chamber of the Delhi Palace, which is much
later in date than Itmâd-ud-daulah's tomb. [13]
The whole scheme of the exterior decoration is so finely carried out,
both in arrangement and colour, that its extreme elaboration produces
no effect of unquietness. At a distance it only gives a suggestion of
a soft bloom or iridescence on the surface of the marble. The soffits
of the doorways are carved with extraordinary delicacy. Inside the
building there are remains of fresco and other painted decoration.
Beautifully placed on the river bank, there is a fine little mosque,
which at sunset makes a charming picture. The boldness and greater
simplicity of the decoration contrast well with the richness of that
of the mausoleum.
The Chînî-ka-Rauza
Beyond Itmâd-ud-daulah's tomb, on the same side of the river, is a
beautiful ruin, once entirely covered with the same Persian mosaic
tile-work, which suggested the more costly style of decoration in
inlaid marble. It is called Chînî-ka-Rauza, or the China Tomb, and
is supposed to be the mausoleum of Afzal Khan, a Persian poet, who
entered the service of Jahangir, and afterwards became Prime Minister
to Shah Jahan. He died in Lahore in 1639. The weather and ill-treatment
of various kinds have removed a great deal of the exquisite enamel
colours from the tiles, but enough remains to indicate how rich and
magnificent the effect must have been originally. A part of the south
façade which has fallen in shows how the builders employed earthen
pots to lessen the weight of the concrete filling, a practice followed
in the ancient dome construction of Egypt and Rome.
The Ram Bagh
Among a number of more or less ruined garden-houses on this bank
of the river, there is one, a little beyond the Chînî-ka-Rauza, of
especial interest, on account of the tradition which associates it
with the Emperor Babar. It is called the Ram Bagh, and is believed to
have been one of the "elegant and regularly planned pleasure-grounds"
which Babar laid out and planted with fruit trees and flowers, as he
has described in his memoirs.
No doubt this was the scene of many imperial picnics; not the drunken
revels of Babar's Kabul days--for just before the great battle with
the Rajputs in 1527 he smashed all his gold and silver drinking-cups
and took a vow of total abstinence, which he kept faithfully--but
the more sane and temperate pleasures which music, poetry, and his
intense delight in the beauties of nature could furnish. Here is a
charming picture he has given of another garden he laid out in the
Istalif district of Kabul:--
"On the outside of the garden are large and beautiful spreading
plane-trees, under the shade of which there are agreeable spots,
finely sheltered. A perennial stream, large enough to turn a mill,
runs through the garden, and on its banks are planted plane and other
trees. Formerly this stream flowed in a winding and crooked course,
but I ordered its course to be altered according to a plan which
added greatly to the beauty of the place. Lower down ... on the lower
skirts of the hills is a fountain, named Kwâjeh-seh-yârân (Kwâjeh three
friends), around which are three species of trees; above the fountain
are many beautiful plane trees, which yield a pleasant shade. On the
two sides of the fountain, on small eminences at the bottom of the
hills, there are a number of oak trees. Except on these two spots,
where there are groves of oak, there is not an oak to be met with on
the hills of the west of Kabul. In front of this fountain, towards the
plain, there are many spots covered with the flowering arghwân tree,
and, besides these arghwân plots, there are none else in the whole
country. It is said that these three kinds of trees were bestowed
on it by the power of these three holy men, beloved of God; and that
is the origin of the name Sej-Yârân. I directed this fountain to be
built round with stone, and formed a cistern of lime and mortar ten
yez by ten. On the four sides of the fountain a fine level platform
for resting was constructed on a very neat plan. At the time when
the arghwân flowers begin to blow, I do not know of any place in the
world to be compared with it. The yellow arghwân is here very abundant,
and the yellow arghwân blossom mingles with the red."
The Ram Bagh was the temporary resting-place of the body of
Babar before it was taken to Kabul for interment in another of the
gardens he loved so much. The old Mogul style of gardening is a lost
art, and one misses in the Ram Bagh the stately rows of cypress,
interspersed with flowering trees, the formal flower-beds glowing
with colour like a living carpet, which were planted by Babar; but
the terraces, the fountain, the water-channels, and the little stone
water-shoots--cunningly carved so that the water breaks over them
with a pleasant gurgling sound--which may have recalled to him the
murmurings of his native mountain-streams--the old well from which
the water of the Jumna is lifted into the channels, can still be seen,
as well as the pavilions on the river-bank, now modernized with modern
bad taste.
In later times the Ram Bagh was the garden-house of the Empress Nur
Mahal. It was kept up by all succeeding Governments, and it is said
to have obtained its name of Ram Bagh from the Mahrattas in the
eighteenth century.
THE ZUHARA BAGH.--Between the Chînî-ka-Rauza and the Ram Bagh there is
another great walled enclosure, which contained the garden-house of
Zuhara, one of Babar's daughters, and is named after her the Zuhara,
or Zohra Bagh. This formerly contained the largest garden-palace
at Agra, and is said to have possessed no less than sixty wells. A
great well, just outside the enclosure, 220 feet in circumference,
and of enormous depth, was filled up some years ago.
Sikandra
Sikandra, a village about five miles from Agra, and the burial-place of
Akbar, is reached by two roads. The older one follows, to some extent,
the alignment of the great military road to Lahore and Kashmir, planned
by Babar and completed by his successors. A few of the _kos-minars_,
pillars which marked off the _kos_--a distance of about two and a half
miles--can still be seen along the road, or in the adjoining fields.
Numerous remains of archæological interest are passed on the way of
the old road. First the Delhi gate of the old city walls. About a
mile further on the right-hand side, is a great walled enclosure,
named after Ladli Begam, the sister of Abul Fazl, Akbar's famous
Prime Minister and biographer. It formerly contained her tomb, as
well as that of Sheikh Mubarak, her father, and of Faizi, her eldest
brother. Many years ago the whole enclosure was sold by Government. The
purchasers, some wealthy Hindu merchants of Muttra, promptly pulled
down the mausoleum, realized the materials, and built a pavilion
on the site. In front of the great gateway was a splendid _baoli_,
or well-house, the largest in the neighbourhood of Agra. This was
filled up about five years ago.
Not far from Ladli Begam's garden is the Kandahâri Bagh, where the
first wife of Shah Jahan, a daughter of Mozaffar Husein, who was the
great-grandson of Shah Ismail Safvi, King of Persia, is buried.
About a mile further along the road, on the left-hand side, is a
curious statue of a horse in red sandstone, which, tradition says,
was put up by a nobleman whose favourite horse was killed at this spot;
the syce who was killed at the same time has his tomb close by.
Nearly opposite to this is a large dried-up tank, called the
Guru-ka-Tal, which, with the adjacent ruined buildings, are attributed
to Sikandar Lodi, one of the Afghan predecessors of the Mogul Emperors,
who has given his name to Sikandra.
Akbar's Tomb.
Akbar's tomb stands in the midst of a vast garden, enclosed by four
high battlemented walls. In the centre of each wall is an imposing
gateway seventy feet high. The principal one, on the west side,
has an inscription in Persian, which states that the mausoleum was
completed by the Emperor Jahangir, in the seventh year of his reign,
or 1613 A.D. It is elaborately ornamented with bold but rather
disjointed inlaid patterns, which seem to show that the designers
were unaccustomed to this method of decoration. Neither are the
four minarets at the corners of the roof, which are said to have
been broken by the Jâts, contrived with the usual skill of the Mogul
architects. Above the gateway is the Nakkár Khana, an arcaded chamber
with a balcony, where at dawn and one watch after sunrise the drums
and pipes sounded in honour of the dead.
The mausoleum was commenced by Akbar himself. It is different in plan
from any other Mogul monument, and, contrary to the usual Muhammadan
custom, the head of the tomb of Akbar is turned towards the rising
sun, and not towards Mecca. The whole structure gives the impression
of a noble but incompleted idea; both in its greatness and in its
incompleteness, it is typical of Akbar and his work.
The original design was somewhat modified by Jahangir. He has
stated in his memoirs that on his first visit to the tomb after his
accession he was dissatisfied with the work which had been done,
and ordered certain parts of it to be rebuilt. Fergusson supposes
that the original intention was to cover the tombstone and raised
platform of the uppermost story with a domed canopy, and in this
he is supported by a statement of William Finch, who visited the
mausoleum when it was being built, that it was to be "inarched over
with the most curious white and speckled marble, to be ceiled all
within with pure sheet gold richly inwrought." Such a canopy is just
what is required by æsthetic considerations to complete the curiously
truncated appearance of the top story, and there is nothing in the
structural design to make it impossible or improbable.
The approach to the interior of the mausoleum is through the central
archway of the lower story, which opens into a vestibule richly
ornamented with raised stucco work, and coloured in blue and gold,
somewhat in the style of the Alhambra. A part of this decoration has
been lately restored. An inclined passage, like the entrance to an
Egyptian pyramid, leads down into a high vaulted chamber, dimly lighted
from above, where a simple sarcophagus of white marble contains the
mortal remains of the great Akbar. Whatever decoration there may have
been on the walls is now covered with whitewash. The Emperor's armour,
clothes, and books, which were placed beside the tomb, are said to have
been carried off by those insatiable marauders, the Jâts of Bharatpur.
Smaller chambers surrounding the central one, on the level of the
platform, contain the tombs of two of Akbar's daughters and a son of
the Emperor Shah Alam. These also have suffered much from neglect and
whitewash, The whole of the façade of the lower story was originally
faced with red sandstone, or perhaps with fine stucco decorated in
fresco. The present coat of common plaster is modern work, which,
except as a protection for the brickwork, would have been better
left undone.
The lower story is 320 feet square. Above this are three others,
diminishing in size up to the highest, which is just half these
dimensions. The roof of the topmost is surrounded by cloisters,
the outer arches of which are filled with very fine marble tracery
(Plate X.). In the centre, on a raised platform, is a solid block of
pure white marble, delicately carved with flowers and sacred texts,
representing the real tomb in the vault beneath. At the head is
the inscription, "Allah-o-Akbar" (God is Great), and at the foot,
"Jalli Jalalohu" (Magnificent is His Glory). These sentences were
the formula of Akbar's new religion, which he called "The Divine
Faith." On the sides the ninety-nine attributes of God are carved in
the Arabic character. The carved marble pedestal at the end of the
tomb was a stand for a golden censer.
THE KANCH MAHAL.--Outside the enclosure of Akbar's tomb, a little
to the east of the principal entrance, is a rare and remarkably fine
example of Mogul domestic architecture. This is a two-storied building,
known as the Kanch Mahal, and supposed to have been built by Jahangir
as a country seat. In its extremely elaborate ornamentation, inlaid
stone and enamelled tiles have been most effectively combined with the
carving. The repairs lately carried out under Lord Curzon's orders have
been very carefully done, though it is easy to see the inferiority of
the new work where the old carving had to be reproduced. Our fatuous
policy of adopting European styles in all public buildings in India
is bound to cause a deterioration in the native art handicrafts, for
it closes the principal source from which they have sprung. Unless
this policy is reversed, nothing will prevent the ultimate extinction
of Indian art.
SURAJ-BHAN-KA BAGH.--This is another two-storied building of about
the same period, but not quite so fine in style, facing the Agra road,
at a little distance from the Kanch Mahal.
MARIAM ZÂMÂNI'S TOMB.--A short distance further on, in the direction
of Muttra, is the building supposed to have been originally the garden
house of Sikandar Lodi, in which Mariam Zâmâni, one of Akbar's wives,
is said to have been buried. It has been used for many years as a
printing establishment for a Mission Orphanage.
Other Buildings and Tombs at or near Agra
The tomb of Feroz Khan, opposite to the third milestone on the Gwalior
road, is an interesting building of Akbar's time, richly carved and
decorated with tile-work. Close by is the tomb of the Pahalwari,
where a celebrated wrestler of Shah Jahan's time is buried. There
are a considerable number of buildings and numerous ruins in Agra,
and round about, which possess only historical or archæological
interest. In the town are the following:--
The KALI MASJID, or Black Mosque, otherwise called the Kalan Masjid,
or Grand Mosque, is of the early Akbar style. It was built by the
father of Shah Jahan's first wife, the Kandahâri Begum. This is near
to the Government dispensary.
In the Nai-ki-Mundi quarter is the mosque of Shah Ala-ud-din Majzub,
commonly known as ALAWAL BILAWAL, a saint who lived at the time of
Shere Shah. He established a school of Muhammadan law, and founded a
monastery besides the mosque. The accumulations round the mosque have
reached up to the springing of the arches, and tradition accounts for
this by the following story: A camel-driver in Shere Shah's service
stabled his beasts in the mosque, in spite of the protests of the saint
Thereupon the building began to sink into the ground, and did not cease
descending until the camels and their driver were crushed to death.
The HAMMAN, or Baths of Ali Verdi Khan, in Chipitolla Street, built
in the time of Jahangir. An inscription over the gateway gives the
date, 1620 A.D. They cannot be compared in interest with the splendid
"Hakim's Baths," at Fatehpur Sikri.