Agra is the city of the Taj Mahal, in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, some 200 km from Delhi.
Agra has three UNESCO World Heritage sites, the Taj Mahal and theAgra Fort in the city and Fatehpur Sikri nearby. There are also many other buildings and tombs from Agra's days of glory as the capital of the Mughal Empire.
The city has little else to recommend it. Pollution, especially smog and litter, is rampant and travellers are pestered by swarms of touts and hawkers at every monument, mosque, temple or palace. That said, the sites are some of the wonders of the world and no trip to India is complete without at least one visit to the Taj.
While Agra's heyday was as the capital of the Mughal empire between 1526 and 1658, the city was founded much earlier. The earliest reference to Agra is in the ancient epic, the Mahabharata, while Ptolemy was the first person to call it by its modern name. The recorded history of Agra begins around the 11th century, and over the next 500 years, the city changed hands between various kings, both Hindu and Muslim.
In 1506, Sultan Sikandar Lodi, the ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, moved his capital from Delhi to Agra. His son Ibrahim Lodi was the last ruler of the Lodi dynasty, as he was defeated in 1526 by Babur, the first Mughal ruler, in the battle of Panipat. Agra fell too, and became the capital of the Mughals, whose rule over Agra was uninterrupted except for a brief period between 1540 and 1556. In 1540, Sher Shah Shuri overthrew Humayun became the ruler of much of North India, including Agra. After Sher Shah Suri's death his descendants proved unequal to the task of ruling the kingdom, and Hemu, a Hindu general of Suri became the effective ruler who would later crown himself King Hemachandra Vikramaditya just as the kingdom was facing an assault from the reinvigorated Mughals. In 1556, Hemu would be defeated and killed in the second battle of Panipat, and the Mughals regained Agra.
Mughals were great builders. Babur built the Aram Bagh (garden of relaxation) modeled after the garden of paradise, where he was eventually buried after his death. His grandson Akbar refurbished the Agra fort and built the Fatehpur Sikri, an entire city just on the outskirts of Agra. He also renamed Agra after himself, and the city was known as Akbarabad while it was in Mughal hands. Akbar's grandson Shah Jehan would give Agra its most famous monument, the Taj Mahal, which is the mausoleum of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj is constructed in white marble. It took 20 years to construct, and is now universally known as a monument to love. Legend has it that Shah Jehan wanted a replica of the Taj constructed in black marble that would be his final resting place. There is no actual support for this theory, but even if it were true, it would have been unlikely to be eventuated. His son Aurangzeb was austere and pious, and had no time or inclination for the ostentation of his forefathers, preferring to spend his money on wars in South India. In any case, even during Shah Jehan's reign, which was the period when the Mughal empire was at its height, the construction of the Taj put a strain on the resources of the empire and caused a min-famine around Agra. Shah Jehan was eventually buried in the white Taj, next to his beloved Begum.
Shah Jehan, in addition to giving Agra its greatest claim to fame, was also responsible for beginning its decline, as decided to shift his capital to Shahjehanabad, which we now know as Old Delhi, in 1658. Though Aurangzeb ordered a move back, this too was short lived, as he moved his headquarters down south to Aurangabad to be focus on his wars. Agra declined, and so did the Mughal Empire. The city was eventually captured by the Marathas, who renamed it back to Agra. In 1803, it came under the British, who situated the Agra Presidency there, and when India gained independence, the city was incorporated into the state of Uttar Pradesh, and did not gain even the limited honour of being the state's capital, that distinction going to Lucknow, further east. It is now a tourist town, known for the Taj and a couple of other monuments.
Anyone interested in reading a novel based on the remarkable story behind the Taj Mahal's creation should consider Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors. Beneath a Marble Sky is an international bestseller, has won multiple awards, and is being made into a movie by Hollywood. Other book (historical fiction) is The Taj by Colin De Silva.
Agra is 200 km southeast from Delhi and is one of the points of the tourist's Golden Triangle of Agra-Delhi-Jaipur. Agra is also very well connected via rail and road with other nearby cities and tourist destinations.
Tongas, electric buses and electric tempos are readily available, and the best way to get to the Taj where no cars are allowed. Auto-rickshaws and cycle-rickshaws are available every where, remember to agree on fares clearly in advance. In case you are a foreigner, please ensure that you bargain everywhere and bargain hard! Generally things are available at 40% of the initially quoted fares.
As a guide, an auto rickshaw from Agra Cantonement station to the Taj Mahal is about Rs 80 (at least in off season); and a cycle rickshaw from the Taj Mahal to Agra Fort is Rs 40.
Delhi's bird lovers got a New Year's surprise !
NEW DELHI (TNN) : Delhi's bird lovers got a New Year's surprise. A pair of red-headed vultures, last documented in the capital over two decades ago and listed as critically endangered, has been spotted at Bhatti Mines.
The birds were seen by Col Pradeep Sandhir, commanding officer of the Eco Task Force that is reviving the degraded eco-system. He had been sighting the birds for almost a week before he was finally able to photograph one and have it identified. "It is a great find for Delhi. The bird had been abundant at one time but there has been no documentation for about 20 years. Meanwhile, some people had reported sighting the bird on a few occasions but there was never a positive identification," said Dr Surya Prakash, a prominent Delhi birder.
Sources said the birds that had been seen near a water body at Bhatti Mines were likely to breed there. When last seen, it had been feasting on the carcass of a jackal. The bird, earlier found in abundance in the Indian sub-continent, spreading from India to Singapore, witnessed a rapid decline in the past two to three decades due to essentially diclofenac poisoning. In 1994 it was moved from the list of 'least concern' to 'near threatened'. In a little over a decade from then, its dwindling numbers forced its inclusion in the 'critically endangered list' in 2007. Prakash said that the red-headed vulture had been the most severely affected by diclofenac poisoning among the seven species of Indian vultures.
Sources say the bird, found primarily in north India now in cultivated, semi-desert areas and foothills, cannot number more than 10,000 mature individuals.
Bhatti Mines, with over a million saplings planted in the last 10 years, has become one of Delhi's richest eco-systems. Looked after by a battalion of retired army staff commanded by serving officials, the Bhatti Mines area boasts of 36 water bodies, 46 varieties of indigenous plants and over a 100 varieties of birds, butterflies, reptiles and mammals that are difficult to find elsewhere in the city.
"Birds that can be found here include green sandpiper, common sandpiper, crested pied cuckoos, eurasian golden oriole, sirkeer malkoha and painted sandgrouses. Butterflies like blue, plain and striped tigers and pansies, reptiles like monitor lizards, sand and garden lizards, cobras, kraits and saw scaled vipers are a fantastic indication of the eco-system.
Among mammals that can be found here are three species of mongoose, Indian crested porcupines, golden jackal, bluebulls, nlack napped hare and a pack of striped hyenas," said sources.