RED FORT, AGRA
The fort at Agra was built by Akbar, Moghul Emperor from 1556, aged 13, when his father Humayun fell down the steps of his octagonal library in Delhi and died. Akbar made Agra his capital and began rebuilding the fort in his favoured red sandstone in 1564. Apart from the fortified walls, only one of his palace buildings, the Jahangiri Mahal, remains, all the rest replaced in white marble by his luxurious grandson Shah Jahan, building from 1630 until he was usurped by his son Aurangzeb and imprisoned in his own palace here. Above: a sandstone screen of Akbar's time, topped by Shah Jahan's floral finials. Below, left: Akbar's riverfront courtyard, with deep, generous alcoves in each wall and a fountain filled from the narrow stream emerging from the hall beyond; right: the façade from one of its corner towers, with a pierced stone grille or jali.
Above, inside Shah Jahan's Musaman Burj (octagonal tower,) exquisitely decorated rooms of white marble inlaid with semi-precious stones and a fountain, above left, carved in voluptuous ripples that must have been extraordinary with water playing in it. This was supposedly the home of Mumtaz Mahal ('jewel of the palace',) Shah Jahan's favourite wife who died bearing her 14th child and for whom he built the Taj Mahal. The floral motifs, carved in marble or inlaid in stones, are endlessly varied. Below, a column and brackets at the apogee of sophistication and wealth, keeping the form of early wooden buildings and Akbar's stone counterparts.
Above: details of the terrace around the riverfront Khas Mahal or private palace, on the right in the picture below, with the Taj Mahal just visible through the columns of one of the two bangaldar (Bengali hut) pavilions with their gilded copper roofs. I love the simplicity, top left, of the little marble steps placed outside a finely carved pavilion. Everywhere are water features like the chadar water-chute, top right: these appear also inside many rooms, like fireplaces in reverse, with cooling water in place of flames. Above, an inlaid marble watercourse, where water once fell in a perfect sheet in front of the chini khanas feature of little niches, filled at night with oil lamps that sparkled and shimmered. Visiting these places now, dry, dusty and hot, is almost more magical for what they lack, which only your imagination can supply: not just the all-important, cooling, refreshing water but the fabric screens and curtains, tent-like awnings, flower-patterned carpets, velvet cushions and, of course, the clothes, paintings (all in books,) jewels and music.
