Page 24 - 6th NamamiGange NewsLetter
P. 24

24

FORT SERIES                                                                            Agra Fort

Agra Fort , situated in Agra of Uttar Pradesh, India is one                                                 Sheesh Mahal
          of the iconic and strongly built edifices of the Mughal
          rulers, with opulent adorned buildings incorporating     through with the consolidation of his power after accession to
the daunting Mughal style of art and construction.The fort is      tower in 1654, worked both as a military strategic point as well
popular among tourists as Red Fort, Fort Rouge and Laal Quila      as the royal residence. Ever since Babur defeated and killed
of Agra. It is positioned on the rightward bank of the Yamuna      Ibrahin Lodi at Panipat in 1526, Agra played an important
River and was built by the third Mughal king Akbar on the          center of Mughal Empire. It was Akbar who decided to make it
leftovers of a pre historic place well known as Badalgarh. The     his capital and arrived in Agra in 1558 and rebuilt it with red
fort has been owned by many emperors and rulers in the past,       sandstone. Architects laid the foundation and it was built with
undergoing many changes in its appearance. It all began in the     bricks in the inner core with sandstone on external surfaces.
year 1526 when the first battle of Panipat was fought between      Some 1,444,000 builders worked on it for eight years,
Babur and Ibrahim Lodi of the Lodi dynasty. When Babur             completing it in 1573. Towards the end of Mughal Lineage,
defeated Ibrahim Lodi, he made the fort and the palace of          Aurangzeb imprisoned Shah Jahan in the fort, a punishment
Ibrahim Lodi as his home. He then modified the fort by building    that might not seem so harsh, considering the luxury of the
                                                                   fort. It is rumored that Shah Jahan died in Muasamman Burj, a
   Beautiful architecture of interior of Agra Fort                 tower with a marble balcony with an excellent view of the Taj
                                                                   Mahal. The fort contains splendid palaces both in red
a huge step well (baoli) inside. The fort soon became an           sandstone and white marble built by two generations of
important monument to the Mughals. In fact, Babur’s                prolific builders, Akbar and later Jehangir and Shahjahan. Of
successor, Humayun’s coronation took place at the fort in the      the nearly 500 Akbari buildings built in the Bengal and Gujarati
year 1530.                                                         traditions, only a few have survived, arrayed in a band on the
Agra Fort built by Akbar in Red Sandstone when he was              riverfront.

    Jahagir's Bath Tub placed at entrance of                       Angoori Bagh
    interior of Agra Fort
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