The Taj Mahal seen from across the Yamuna

City guide · आगरा Agra

Agra

The capital of the Mughal Empire: the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort

Foto: Manish Jhawar · CC BY-SA 4.0

Agra, on the Yamuna River, was the capital of the Mughal Empire at its height. The Taj Mahal and Agra Fort are both World Heritage Sites, and from the windows of Agra Fort you can see the Taj Mahal — where Shah Jahan was imprisoned in his last years.

History

Los orígenes de la ciudad

In 1504–1505 Sultan Sikandar Lodi of the Lodi dynasty rebuilt Agra. After him, Mughal emperors Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan all made Agra their capital; Shah Jahan called it 'Akbarabad' in honour of his grandfather Akbar. In 1632 Shah Jahan began building the Taj Mahal for his late wife Mumtaz Mahal. In 1658 his son Aurangzeb seized the throne and imprisoned him in Agra Fort until his death in 1666.

1504–1505Sikandar Lodi rebuilt Agra
16th–17th centuryCapital of the Mughal Empire
1632Work began on the Taj Mahal
1658Shah Jahan was imprisoned in Agra Fort
1983The Taj Mahal and Agra Fort became World Heritage Sites

Stories

Historias de la ciudad

Leyenda · Agra petha

A sweet eaten by the Taj Mahal's builders?

A story told in Agra says petha originated in Shah Jahan's Mughal palace kitchens and was made for the workers building the Taj Mahal. But it's hardly credible: the cookbook of Shah Jahan's time, the 'Nuskha-e-Shahjahani', makes no mention of petha; similar sweets existed in India before the Mughals arrived; and petha is nothing like the milk- and curd-rich sweets of the Mughal court.

Historia · Taj Mahal

The fourteenth child

In 1631 Shah Jahan's empress Mumtaz Mahal accompanied the army to Burhanpur in the Deccan, where, after giving birth to her 14th child, a daughter named Gauhar Ara, she died of postpartum haemorrhage aged just 38. Her body was first buried temporarily in a garden on the banks of the Tapti River at Burhanpur. The grief-stricken Shah Jahan began building the Taj Mahal for her in 1632.

Historia · Taj Mahal

The prisoner who gazed at the Taj Mahal from his window

In 1658 Shah Jahan fell seriously ill, and a war of succession broke out among his sons; his third son Aurangzeb won, executing his brothers, including the crown prince Dara Shikoh. When Shah Jahan recovered, Aurangzeb kept him under house arrest in Agra Fort until his death in 1666. He was buried in the Taj Mahal beside Mumtaz Mahal.

People