Agra: Difference between revisions
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*[http://www.big927fm.com/index.asp?selcity=26/ Big FM] - 92.7 |
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*Radio Mantra - 91.9 |
*Radio Mantra - 91.9 |
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== Education == |
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Agra has always been a centre for eduacation and learning. It was during the advent of Mughal era that Agra grew as a centre of Islamic education. In the coming decades Agra saw great literary figures adorning the city. Abul Fazl and others were among the pioneers. The Urdu literature grew by leaps and bounds in the city. Mir Taqi "Mir" and Mirza Asadullah Beg "Ghalib" were the icons produced by the city. Britishers introduced the westrn concept of education in Agra. In the year 1823, Agra College, one of the oldest college of India was formed out of a Sanskrit school eatablished by the Scindia rulers. |
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== References == |
== References == |
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Revision as of 07:07, 6 April 2008
Agra
Agra | |
|---|---|
Metro | |
| Population (2001) | |
| • Total | 1,400,000 |
Agra (pronounced ) (Hindi: आगरा, Urdu: آگرا) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna River in Uttar Pradesh, India. It finds mention in the epic Mahabharata when it was called Agrabana, or Paradise. Ptolemy, the famous 2nd century geographer, marked it on his map of the world as Agra. Tradition and legend ascribe the present city of Raja Badal Singh (around 1475) whose Fort, Badalgarh, Stood on or near the site of the present Fort. However, the 12th century Persian poet Salman writes of a desperate assault on the fortress of Agra, then held by one King Jaipal, by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni.[1] It was ruled by Sultan Sikandar Lodi in the year 1506. It achieved fame as the capital of the Mughal emperors from 1526 to 1658 and remains a major tourist destination because of its many splendid Mughal-era buildings, most notably the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri, all three of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Geography
Agra is situated.27°11′N 78°01′E / 27.18°N 78.02°E,[2] on the bank of Yamuna river. It has an average elevation of 171 metres (561 feet). On the north it is bounded by Mathura, on the south by Dhaulpur, on the east by Firozabad, on the south-east by Fatehabad and on the west by Bharatpur. Agra is the third biggest city in Uttar Pradesh.
Demographics
As of the 2000 Indian census,[3] Agra had a population of 1,400,000. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Agra has an average literacy rate of 65%, higher than the national average of 63.5%; with 76% males literate. 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.
History
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 1504. After the sultan's death the city passed on to his son Sultan Ibrahim Lodi. He ruled his Sultanate from Agra until he fell fighting to Babur in the First battle of Panipat fought in 1526.
In the year 1556, the great Hindu warrior, Hemu Vikramaditya also known as Hem Chander Vikramaditya won Agra as Prime Minister cum Chief of Army of Adil Shah of Afgan Sur Dynasty. The commander of Humayun / Akbar's forces in Agra was so scared of Hemu that he ran away from Agra without the fight. This was Hemu's 21st continuous win, who later on won Delhi also and had his coronation at Purana Qila in Delhi and re-established his Kingdom and the Vikramaditya Dynasty in North India.
The golden age of the city began with the Mughals. It was known then as Akbarabad and 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 Akbarabad was one of the most important cities in India 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 Akbarabad 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 Akbarabad its most prized monument, The Taj Mahal. Built in loving memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, the mausoleum was completed in 1648.
Shah Jahan later shifted the capital to Delhi during his reign, but this son Aurangzeb shifted the capital back to Akbarabad and had his father imprisoned in the Fort there. Akbarabad remained capital of India during the rule of Aurangzeb until 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 and was called Agra, before falling into the hands of the British Raj in 1803.
Places of Interest
Agra's Taj Mahal is one of the most famous buildings in the world, the mausoleum of Shah Jahan's favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It is one of the New 7 Wonders of the world, and one of three World Heritage Sites in Agra, the others being Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri.
Completed in 1653 A.D., the Taj Mahal is believed to have been built by the Mughal Badshah (king) Shah Jahan as the final resting place for his beloved wife, Mumtaz. Finished in marble, it is perhaps India's most fascinating and beautiful monument. This perfectly symmetrical monument took 22 years (1630-1652) of hard labour and 20,000 workers, masons and jewellers to build and is set amidst landscaped gardens. Built by the Persian architect, Ustad Isa, the Taj Mahal is on the bank of the Yamuna River. It can be observed like a mirage from the Agra Fort from where Emperor Shah Jahan stared at it, for the last eight years his life as a prisoner of his son Aurangzeb. It is a masterpiece of symmetry, seeming to be floating in the air from a distance, and each revealed as an illusion experienced as one enters through the main gate. Verses of the Holy Koran are inscribed on it and at the top of gate 22 small domes, signifying the number of years the monument took to build. The Taj Mahal was built on a marble platform that stands above a sandstone one. The most elegant dome of the Taj, with a diameter of 60 feet, rises 80 feet over the building and directly under the dome is the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal. Shah Jahan's tomb was erected next to hers by his son Aurangzeb. Fantastic inlay works using semi-precious stones decorate the interiors.
Opening Times: 6 A.M. to 7.30 P.M. (closed Fridays)
one of two entrances into Agra's Red Fort
Another world heritage site in Agra. Agra's dominant structure, the Agra Fort (sometimes called the Red Fort), was built by Akbar in 1565. The red sandstone fort was renovated and converted into a palace during Shah Jahan's time, and reworked extensively with marble and pietra dura inlay. Notable buildings in the fort include the Pearl Mosque, the Diwan-e-Am and Diwan-e-Khas (halls of public and private audience), Jehangir's Palace, Khaas Mahal, Sheesh Mahal (mirrored palace), and Musamman Burj.
The great Mughal Emperor Akbar commissioned the construction of the Agra Fort in 1565 A.D., although additions were made till the time of his grandson Shah Jahan. The forbidding exteriors of this fort hide an inner paradise. The fort is crescent shaped, flattened on the east with a long, nearly straight wall facing the river. It has a total perimeter of 2.4 k.m., and is ringed by double castellated ramparts of red sandstone punctuated at regular intervals by bastions. A 9 mt. wide and 10 mt. deep moat surround the outer wall.
Shivaji visited Agra fort as per the "Purandar Treaty" entered into with Mirza Raja Jaisingh to met Aurangzeb in the Diwan-i-khas. In the audience he was deliberately placed behind men of lower rank. Insulted Shivaji stormed out of the imperial audience and was confined to Jai Sing's quarters on 12th May 1666. Fearing the dungeons and execution, in a famously sweet legend, he escaped on the 17th of August 1666. A heroic equestrian statue of Shivaji has been erected outside the fort.
The fort standing as a typical example of the Mughal architecture.It shows how the North Indian style of fort construction differetiated from that of the South.In South majority of the beautiful forts were built on the sea beds like the one at Bekal in Kerala [for more details refer 'History of Bekal Fort' by Nandakumar Koroth]
The Mughal Emperor Akbar built Fatehpur Sikri about 35 km from Agra, and moved his capital there. Later abandoned, the site displays a number of buildings of significant historical importance. A World Heritage Site, it is often visited by tourists to Agra.
The name of the place came after Mughal Emperor Babur defeated Rana Sanga in a battle at a place called Sikri (about 40 KM from Agra). Then Mughal Emperor Akbar wanted to make Fatehpur Sikri his head quarters. So he built this majestic fort. But due to shortage of water he had to ultimately move his headquarters to Agra Fort.
Buland Darwaza or the loft gateway was built by the great Mughal emperor, Akbar in 1601 A.D. at Fatehpur Sikri. Akbar built the Buland Darwaza to commemorate his victory over Gujarat. The Buland Darwaza is approached by 42 steps. The Buland Darwaza is 53.63m high and 35 meters wide. Buland Darwaza is the highest gateway in the world and an astounding example of the Mughal architecture. The Buland Darwaza or the magnificence gateway is made of red and buff sandstone, decorated by carving and inlaying of white and black marble. An inscription on the central face of the Buland Darwaza throws light on Akbar's religious broad mindedness, here is an inscription one on the monument which is a message from Jesus advising his followers not to consider this world as their permanent home.
Itmad-Ud-Daulah's Tomb
Empress Nur Jehan built Itmad-Ud-Daulah's Tomb, sometimes called the Baby Taj, for her father, Ghias-ud-Din Beg, the Chief Minister of Emperor Jahangir. Located on the left bank of the Yamuna river, the mausoleum is set in a large cruciform garden criss-crossed by water courses and walkways. The mausoleum itself is set on a base about 50 meters square and about 1 meter high. The mausoleum is about 23 meters square. On each corner are hexagonal towers, about 13 meters tall. Small in comparison to many other Mughal-era tombs, it is sometimes described as a jewel box. Its garden layout and use of white marble, pietra dura, inlay designs and latticework presage many elements of the Taj Mahal.
The walls are white marble from Rajasthan encrusted with semi-precious stone decorations - cornelian, jasper, lapis lazuli, onyx, and topaz in images of cypress trees and wine bottles, or more elaborate decorations like cut fruit or vases containing bouquets. Light to the interior passes through delicate jali screens of intricately carved white marble.
Many of Nur Jahan's relatives are interred in the mausoleum. The only asymmetrical element of the entire complex is that the cenotaphs of her father and mother have been set side-by-side, a formation replicated in the Taj Mahal
Jama Masjid
The Jama Masjid is a large mosque attributed to Shah Jahan's daughter, Princess Jahanara Begum, built in 1648, notable for its unusual dome and absence of minarets.
Chini Ka Rauza
Notable for its Persian influenced dome of blue glazed tiles, the Chini Ka Rauza is dedicated to the Prime Minister of Shah Jahan, Allama Afzel Khal Mullah Shukrullah of Shiraz.
Aram Bagh
The oldest Mughal garden in India, the Aram Bagh was built by the Emperor Babur in 1528. It lies about 2.34 km north of Taj Mahal.
Swami Bagh Samadh
The Swami Bagh Samadh is the mausoleum of Huzur Swamiji Maharaj (Shri Shiv Dayal Singh Seth) in the Swami Bagh section in the outskirts of the city. He was the founder of the Radhaswami Faith and the Samadh is sacred to its followers. Construction began in 1908, and it is believed that construction will never end. It is often seen as the "next Taj Mahal". The carvings in stone, using a combination or coloured marble, is life-like and not seen anywhere else in India. The picture shown is taken from the backside and shows only two floors. When completed, the samadh will have a carved dome and a gateway.
Sikandra (Akbar's tomb)
Sikandra, the last resting place of the Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great, is only 13 kilometres from the Agra Fort. Akbar's tomb reflects the completeness of his personality. The vast, beautifully carved, red-ochre sandstone tomb is set amidst a lush garden. Akbar himself planned his own tomb and selected a suitable site for it. To construct a tomb in one's lifetime was a Tartary custom which the Mughals followed religiously. Akbar's son Jahangir completed the construction of this pyramidal tomb in 1613.
Mariam's Tomb
Mariams Tomb, enroute to Sikandra, is the last resting place of Akbar's Christian wife.
Mehtab Bagh
Mehtab Bagh, is on the opposite bank of River Yamuna on which the Taj is present.
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Mughal Emperor Akbar's Tomb, near Agra, India. -
Soami Bagh Samadh, in Dayalbagh. -
Panch Mahal in Fatehpur Sikri.
Climate
Agra's climate is sub-tropical and prone to extremes, reaching as high as 45°C (113°F) during the summer and as low as 2°C (35.6°F) in the winter. The rainy season is between June and September and the city receives annual rainfall of 660 millimeters (26 inches).
Media
Newspapers
FM Radio
- Big FM - 92.7
- Radio Mantra - 91.9
Education
Agra has always been a centre for eduacation and learning. It was during the advent of Mughal era that Agra grew as a centre of Islamic education. In the coming decades Agra saw great literary figures adorning the city. Abul Fazl and others were among the pioneers. The Urdu literature grew by leaps and bounds in the city. Mir Taqi "Mir" and Mirza Asadullah Beg "Ghalib" were the icons produced by the city. Britishers introduced the westrn concept of education in Agra. In the year 1823, Agra College, one of the oldest college of India was formed out of a Sanskrit school eatablished by the Scindia rulers.
References
External links
