BASED ON ABOUT TEN YEARS INTENSIVE RESEARCH ON THE SUBJECT, OF the Doctoral and post-Doctoral level, the present work is a small, light and simple dissertation without footnotes or cumbersome details. It is primarily meant for reading by visitors and students who want to understand and appreciate the wonderful monuments of Agra. Of course, some visitors have little time at their disposal: they dash to Agra, rush up to the Taj, make a rapid visual image 'Oh beautiful! and hastily retreat. They do not much concern themselves with the history or the aesthetics of these monuments. They come to Agra not because they have an interest in its architectural wonders, but because they can afford it. A large number of them, however, want to see them intelligently. But they hear the curious guide-stories and, more than often, return confused rather than enlightened. More than often, they are drowned in a myriad of misnomers "saracenic" tomb, a "byzantine" mosque and a "seljuk" palace. The inspirations which have brought about the evolution of this art, that has in its array of beautiful productions some of the greatest architectural wonders of the world, are not explained to them. The stock of guide-books at present available to them, too, proves to be miserably poor. Neither do they contain the necessary historical data," nor have they the slightest capacity to adequately introduce the visitor or the student to India's cultural heritage. There are no interpretations or even appraisals of the trends and currents of the medieval age. Need of an authentic history of the monuments of Agra was strongly felt for a long time and I received suggestions from many quarters. This book has consequently come to be written. It gives a brief history of Agra and the Grand Mughals and also discusses the characteristic features of their architecture. Principal monuments follow. The text is adequately illustrated. A few Appendices, a Glossary and a short Bibliography for detailed reading also have been given. I believe visitors and students of medieval Indian history and art will find it interesting and of practical value.
I am deeply indebted to my teacher Professor G. L. Mukerji (Professor-Emeritus of History, St. John's College Agra) for the inspiration and guidance I always receive from him. My sincere thanks are also due to my friends Pandit M. K. Saraswat (Advocate), the late Prof. R. P. Shukla (Reader and Head of the Department of Drawing & Painting. Agra College, Agra), Dr. N. S. Chauhan (Reader and Head of the Department of Psychology, Agra College, Agra). Sri T. R. Suyal and Sri G. A. Qamar (Archaeological Survey of India), and Sri Ayaz Ahmed for their valuable advice and assistance. 1 also thank Sri S. M. Tripathi (Librarian, Central Library, Agra College), Sri P. D. Jhamb (Assistant Librarian, Central Library, A.S.I., New Delhi) and Sri Satya Prakash and Sri Ved Prakash of the Nice Studio.
IT IS UNFORTUNATE THAT THE CHRONICLERS OF THE MUKHAL AGE GENERALLY ignored the monuments. They reserved their ink for eulogical descriptions of the Royal marches, ceremonies and functions, wars and conquests, promotions, and sometimes religious discourses, Reference to the monuments is regrettably casual or too meagre to be of any help to form a history. The foreign travellers too who came to Agra during the 16th and the 17th centuries, do not prove to be of much assistance in supplying the requisite historical data of these medieval structures. Naturally, when the British took up the work of listing these monuments and bringing their accounts out in Gazetteers and publications of the ASI. in the 19th century, they mostly depended on the legendary versions which were handy. The monuments were consequently named and described in an absolutely haphazard manner, sometimes even without any reference to their original colour and complexion. It was this way that the Akbar Gate of the Agra Fort was named the Amar Singh Gate, and the princi pal palace of Akbar inside it as the Jehangiri Mahal. "Samman Burj" (Jasmine Tower) is a similar misnomer of the "Musamman Burj." Other monuments of Agra too were similarly catalogued and thus came to be known as the "Chini-ka-Rauza", the "Rambagh", the "Battis-Khambha", the "Chausatha Khambha", the "Barah-Khambha" the Kali Masjid, the "Chhatri" of Raja Jaswantsingh and scores of other grand structures of the medieval age. Curiously the "Rauzaye-Mumtaz Mahal" of the 17th century was also reduced to the Taj Mahal in the 19th century!
This unhistorical popular nomenclature of the monuments owes a lot to the over-zealous and ill-informed guides who coin the unhistorical associations and spread the romantic stories which work wonders on the sense of curiosity and romance of the visitors. Their fascinating tales, which belong more to the art of fiction than to the science of history, gradually settle down and become established and ultimately obscure the real meaning of a building. It is this way that a considerable part of the history of most of the seventy-six Mughal monuments of Agra has been formed.
Of greater importance is the study of the evolutionary process as a whole which led this art to such a high degree of perfection. Only an evaluation of the inspirations, both indigenous and extraneous, which proved to be decisive in the formation of this particular style, can help us to understand these monuments. It is only due to the utter neglect of this study that the Mughal inlay has been identified with the Italian pietradura on the one hand and the Taj Mahal has been designated as a converted Rajput palace, on the other.
Either because it is an extremely technical subject or we are prone to ethnological aversions, Mughal architecture has been very inadequately understood. Fergusson classed it as Indo-Saracenic and his example was followed by the European scholars in general, Sir Banister went a step further and placed it in the non-historical class, remarking that "these non-historical styles can scarcely be as interesting as those of Europe, which have progressed by successive solution of constructive problems resolutely met and overcome, for in the East decorative schemes seem generally to have outweighed all other considerations and in this would appear to lie the main essential differences between Historical and non-Historical architecture." The famous scholar does not seem to have had an opportunity to study how marvellously the Indian builder handled both the arcuate and the trabeate systems simultaneously under Mughal patronage. He evolved the arch by a variety of methods with scores of forms. He devised various types of flat ceilings at the Fort of Agra. It is unfortunate that the great ingenuity and lucid skill of the Indian builder with which he devised scores of structural expedients have not been appreciated fully.
As Banister defined it, architecture is "a lithic history of social conditions, progress, and religion and events which are landmarks in the history of mankind, for as architecture is in all periods intimately connected with national life, the genius of a nation is unmistakably stamped on its architectural monuments... throughout the history of the human race architecture, the mother of all arts, Has supplied shrines for religion, homes for the living and monuments for the dead." This is as true of Mughal architecture as of any other style. The fact that these monuments are not only the silent record of the aesthetic expression of a people but also a key to their habits, thoughts and aspirations, however, has yet to be realised, They are the chronicles written in stone. The spirit of the Mughal age is most faithfully reflected in these monuments and their study would give insight into the tastes and temperaments of their builders. A free use of the typically Hindu architectural features in the buildings of Akbar, for example, is representative of his liberal outlook and his generous patronage of the indigenous artisans. His inscriptions make no mention of Prophet Muhammad or the Day of Resurrection and demonstrate the emancipation of the State from the theocratic conception. Jehangir's love of nature and an extremely artistic temperament is reflected in his terraced gardens and garden-pavilions. Shah Jehan's monuments, full of exhuberance and splendour, are re-presentative of his golden age.
The best building art of the medieval period is inscribed in the monuments of Agra, eg., the palaces and mosques in the Fort, the tombs of Akbar and Itmad-ud-Daulah and, of course, the Taj Mahal. Agra was the capital of the Mughals for nearly a century and saw the best days of prosperity and grandeur of Muslim India.
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