Agra
is a medieval city situated on the banks of the river
Yamuna. It is generally accepted that Sultan Sikandar
Lodi, the Ruler of Delhi Sultanate founded it in the
year 1506. After the sultans death the city passed on
to his son Sultan Ibrahim Lodi. He ruled his Sultanate
from Agra till he fell fighting to Babur in the First
battle of Panipat fought in 1526.
With the Mughals started the golden age of Agra.
It remained the capital of the Mughal Empire under
Emperor Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan. Shah Jahan
later shifted his capital to Shahjahanabad in the
year 1649.
Since Agra was one of the most important cities under
the Mughals, it witnessed a lot of building activity.
Babar, the founder of the Mughal dynasty laid out
the first formal Persian garden on the banks of river
Yamuna. The garden is called the Aram Bagh or the
Garden of Relaxation. His grandson Akbar raised the
towering ramparts of the Great Red Fort besides making
Agra a center for learning arts, commerce and religion.
Akbar also built a new city on the outskirts of Agra
called Fatehpur Sikri. This city was built in the
form of a Mughal military camp in stone.
His son Jahangir had a love of gardens
and flora and fauna and laid many gardens inside the
Red Fort or Laal Kila. Shah Jahan known for his keen
interest in architecture gave Agra its most prized
monument, The Taj Mahal. Built in loving memory of
his wife Mumtaz Mahal, the mausoleum was completed
in 1643.
Shah Jahan later shifted the capital
to Delhi during his reign, but this son Aurangzeb
shifted the capital back to Agra and had his father
imprisoned in the Agra Fort. Agra remained capital
of India during the rule of Aurangzeb till he shifted
it to Aurangabad in the Deccan in 1653. After the
decline of the Mughal Empire, the city came under
the influence of Marathas and Jats before falling
into the hands of The British Raj in 1803.
