A brief history of Agra
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The earliest reference to Agra is in the epic,
The Mahabharata, where it is
mentioned as Agravana. Earlier sources called it Arya
Griha, the abode of the Aryans. Ptolemy, Alexander's geographer made
the first known reference to it as Agra.
Yet, the history of Agra flourished in the medieval period. Agra is probably the only city comparable to Delhi in terms of its contemporary history. The historical fame attached to Agra is greatly attributed to the Mughals rule. It was the capital of Sikandar Lodi in 1501 from the North Western Frontiers. Yet, it soon passed into the hands of the mighty Mughals who virtually held the sway for ages thence. Both Babur and Humayun, the first two Mughal emperors, built a few structures here, but none of particular historical significance. Then Akbar, the son of Humayun took Agra to great heights under his rule. Fatehpur Sikri near Agra was the capital city of Akbar for fifteen years between 1570 and 1585. For the next fourteen years, he ruled from Lahore but shifted back to his beloved Agra where he stayed until his death in 1605. His successor, Jahangir, had a great passion for Kashmir and resultantly spent very little time at Agra. Then came Shah Jahan, the man associated most with Agra. He constructed virtually every monument of significance here in Agra and it was under his rule that the Jami Masjid, the Agra fort and the Taj Mahal were built.
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The architect of the Taj Mahal was blinded after he made it so that he could never again conceive anything so beautiful and many of the people who built it had their hands cut off in Shah Jahan's paranoia that the Taj would be replicated. |
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He had built the Taj as a tomb for Mumtaz Mahal, his beloved wife, who he could never really forget. He was deposed and imprisoned by his son Aurangzeb who did away with a number of relatives ahead of him in the line to the throne to take it over in 1658. Aurangzeb then shifted the capital of the Mughal empire to Agra and ruled from there till his death which marked the decline and death of Mughal rule in India. Although in his lifetime the Mughal empire was at its peak, immediately after Aurangzeb died, all the smaller rulers got their own back at the Mughals. Agra was briefly taken by the Jats who pillaged it royally and went so far as to damage the Taj Mahal too. The Marathas soon wrested power out of their hands and the English did not let the Maratha party last too long. Although towards the end a variety of rulers took and lost Agra, the glory of Mughal Agra was never to be recreated.
Source:http://www.indiaxs.com/travel/ |