Visiting Agra always means a trip to witness the remembrance of love, Tajmahal. What if Tajmahal was in Bharatpur, my home town, Will Agra be featured in Indian tourist places? I asked one DU guy and he answered "Bhai kya foren wale pagla gaye hain jo bina tajmahal ke agra Ghumenge? (Why would foreigner visit Agra if there was no Tajmahal)". Agra has another noteworthy monument called Agra Fort. It has seen start and end of Mughal dynasty and now exhibits vastness, cruelty, luxury, architecture and many others things related to Mughals.
Agra Fort was in our list of sites to visit. But thanks to delay in starting the trip, time lost due to traffic, time spent at classy Tajmahal and extended lunch break, we were left with time, which was enough to admire walls around the Agra Fort. We reached 15 minutes before closing the ticket window and as there were not lot many people so in no time we got tickets .
According to Wikipedia.com, Agra fort was captured by Mughals and later Agra was converted to capital of Akbar's Empire's so this castle became center of Mughal activities. Shanjahan renovated the fort and experimented with white marble. After succeeding in the experiment, he started constructing Tajmahal.
After buying entry passes(Indian Tickets was costing Rs 10, but Videshi's were paying Rs 150 for the same entry), we entered the palace. To make the castle secure, it was surrounded by a moat and walls near to entry gate were too high to climb and too thick enough to break.
Taken from Wiki. Main entry@palace. Look at walls there.
We followed the ramp, especially made for horse and elephant riders, that ended at one point which was leading to two different routes. Using our basic instinct, correction using pretty woman's instinct, we started from rear of the castle i.e. Jahangir Palace. (PS: Do not follow a woman, notably pretty one, as they always choose the wrong paths.) According to the historian this was built by Akbar for his son Jahangir. As we neither had guide nor chosen right track to start, so we ended solving a Maze. In Jahangir Palace there was a dance Court where dancers used to demonstrate their talent to Alampanah. What a life? Can I live this life anytime soon? Wah Wah... Throwing green notes of Dancers.. Wah Wah.
Family Pic@Agra Fort Ramp
Dance Room - As nobody is dancing so none of you will feel the heat of Dance Court.
Spectacular Taj View
To solve the maze we followed different guides time to time. Next to Jahangir Mahal, it was time to peek into Akbar's private mosque, Mina Masjid. Only Sultans (Urdu for Emperor) used to offer their prayers from this mosque. After mosque next was Musamman Burj, place where Shahjahan spent last seven years of his life as a prisoner. Next to it was Diwan-E-Khas, which used to host kings and dignitary. Jahangir had put up a black thrown in its premise. There were another mosque called Moti Masjid where king's female counterpart and her assists used to offer their prayers.
Nice and Bright taken by Stephen, Sunlight made it look gorgeous
Musamman Burj
Takht-i-Jahangir, placed at Diwan-E-Khas
Picture Perfect
Moti Masjid.
Mughal used to hold Zenana-Mina-Bazaar(Female Market) Diwan-E-Khas's premise. Females were the vendors and customers in the market. No males were allowed in this market and lot of folks from other Arab countries to sell their products.
Zanana Meena Market - Vendor used to display here to Empress and other females
There were a garden which had herb plants imported from Arab countries.
Anguri Bagh
Just Me
Kunal enjoying the fort
We exit the Diwane-E-Khas and reached to starting point, called Diwan-E-Aam. At this place Janta used to visit king with their problems and requests.
Taken from Wiki: Diwan-E-Aam
Due to time restrictions and forts size, we were not able to capture every minute details. But fort doubled our satisfaction. Just in single day we witnessed two great monument of India. It was nice trip and would love more trips in future.
Agra Fort was in our list of sites to visit. But thanks to delay in starting the trip, time lost due to traffic, time spent at classy Tajmahal and extended lunch break, we were left with time, which was enough to admire walls around the Agra Fort. We reached 15 minutes before closing the ticket window and as there were not lot many people so in no time we got tickets .
According to Wikipedia.com, Agra fort was captured by Mughals and later Agra was converted to capital of Akbar's Empire's so this castle became center of Mughal activities. Shanjahan renovated the fort and experimented with white marble. After succeeding in the experiment, he started constructing Tajmahal.
After buying entry passes(Indian Tickets was costing Rs 10, but Videshi's were paying Rs 150 for the same entry), we entered the palace. To make the castle secure, it was surrounded by a moat and walls near to entry gate were too high to climb and too thick enough to break.
We followed the ramp, especially made for horse and elephant riders, that ended at one point which was leading to two different routes. Using our basic instinct, correction using pretty woman's instinct, we started from rear of the castle i.e. Jahangir Palace. (PS: Do not follow a woman, notably pretty one, as they always choose the wrong paths.) According to the historian this was built by Akbar for his son Jahangir. As we neither had guide nor chosen right track to start, so we ended solving a Maze. In Jahangir Palace there was a dance Court where dancers used to demonstrate their talent to Alampanah. What a life? Can I live this life anytime soon? Wah Wah... Throwing green notes of Dancers.. Wah Wah.
Dance Room - As nobody is dancing so none of you will feel the heat of Dance Court.
To solve the maze we followed different guides time to time. Next to Jahangir Mahal, it was time to peek into Akbar's private mosque, Mina Masjid. Only Sultans (Urdu for Emperor) used to offer their prayers from this mosque. After mosque next was Musamman Burj, place where Shahjahan spent last seven years of his life as a prisoner. Next to it was Diwan-E-Khas, which used to host kings and dignitary. Jahangir had put up a black thrown in its premise. There were another mosque called Moti Masjid where king's female counterpart and her assists used to offer their prayers.
Mughal used to hold Zenana-Mina-Bazaar(Female Market) Diwan-E-Khas's premise. Females were the vendors and customers in the market. No males were allowed in this market and lot of folks from other Arab countries to sell their products.
There were a garden which had herb plants imported from Arab countries.
We exit the Diwane-E-Khas and reached to starting point, called Diwan-E-Aam. At this place Janta used to visit king with their problems and requests.
Due to time restrictions and forts size, we were not able to capture every minute details. But fort doubled our satisfaction. Just in single day we witnessed two great monument of India. It was nice trip and would love more trips in future.
Sahi hero .. achi masti kar rahe ho tum log yaar .. i m missing it ..
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