Agra City – Place For World Wonder
Agra City – Place for Historical Monuments
Agra is a wonderful city with world wonder Tajmahal. If anyone thinks about India, those also think about Tajmahal, which located in Agra city. The word Agra is a Sanskrit word and the historians think that the city existence from pre-historic times. During the Mahabharata period, the city known as Vanaprastha and a part of Indraprastha, the capital of Pandavas. Up to the Mughal rule, the place did not get its significance.
Agra History
Agra is one of the rich traditional and historical cities of India and situated on the banks of river Yamuna. At first in 1475 A.D. Badal Singh founded the city and ruled his territory from there. Later in 1504 the Delhi Sultan Sikandar Lodhi decided to migrate to Agra and made Agra his capital city. In 1526 the Persian king Babur defeated Ibraheem Lodi in ‘First Panipat War’ and captured the city and founded Mughal Empire in India. From then the Agra City continued its long association with the Mughal rulers. During the rule of Mughal Emperors Agra became the place for magnificent monuments like the world wonder Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Buland Darwaza, Chini ka Rauza and Fatehpur Sikri. Another interesting thing here is the city Agra presence mentioned as Agraban forest in Hindu Epic Mahabharatha.
Mughal’s Contribution to developing Agra City
During the Mughal period, the city thrived with glorious all over the world. The place has a rich historical background and surrounded by numerous historical monuments. The Agra city development and history linked with Mughal dynasty. First Sikandar Lodhi founded the city later the Delhi Sultanate developed in the 16th century. Babur introduced the concept of square Persian-styled gardens here. Emperor Akbar built Agra Fort and Jahangir built beautiful palaces and gardens. Shahjahan the patron of Mughal architecture, built the magnificent monument Tajmahal and other palaces, forts and beautiful parks. These monuments made the city magnified to everyone. Later the Mughal dynasty, Agra falls into the hands of Marathas and finally, the British occupied the city.
The beauty of Agra City:
In the words of Abu’l Fazal ; “Agra is a large city and possesses healthy climate. The river Jamuna flows through it for approx 16 km; on either side are delightful villas and stretches of meadows. It is filled with people from all countries and is the emporium of the traffic of the world. It contains more than 500 buildings of masonry, based on the beautiful design form of Bengal and Gujarat which sculptors and artists have fashioned as architectural models……”
Brief Note on Agra City
In 1580 A.D the Jesuit priest Monserrate wrote a book Commentaries and mentioned in that book about the place. According to the book, the city was very famous for its climate and fertile soil. The great river Jamuna flows in every season and the banks covered with many beautiful gardens. He also started a college in Agra city for orphanages and established a church also.
The mass of the people in the city was so great and the bazaars were crowded with these people. It was as largest cities to compare other cities in Iraq, Khurasan and Mawar-un-Nahar.