Incredible India - Agra Fort

As part of Incredible India series, this post is for Agra Fort located in historical Agra city of Uttar Pradesh, most populous state in India.

Agra Fort is like a walled city surrounded by a 21.4 m high fortification wall and is situated on the river bank of Yamuna river. Fort has been built by thick and strong walls of red sand stone. Agra Fort is an amalgamation of buildings and palaces, which were built by Mughal dynasty from Emperors Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan to Aurangzeb.  


The present day structure was built by the Mughals, though a fort had stood there since at least the 11th century. Agra Fort was originally a brick fort known as Badalgarh Fort, which was a strong foothold of the Rajput rulers. 


Fort is also the place where Aurangzeb imprisoned Shah Jahan, his own father for 8 years until Shah Jahan died in 1666 in the lap of his dear daughter Jahan Ara gazing towards the Taj, the tomb of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal and was later buried in the Taj Mahal. 

Agra Fort is also famous for the fact that Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was kept under house arrest by Aurangzeb from 12th May to 17th August 1666 AD and with his brave skills & planning, Shivaji successfully managed to escape from this heavily guarded fort to reach Raigard. 


Previously Agra Fort had 4 main gates but presently only Amar Singh Gate and Delhi Gate are in use. The monumental Delhi Gate, which faces the city on the western side of the fort, is considered the grandest of the four gates and a masterpiece of Emperor Akbar's time. Amar Singh Gate was built by Emperor Shah Jahan and named after the great Rajput hero, Amar Singh Rathore, Maharaja of Jodhpur. Legend has it that in 1644 AD in the court of Emperor Shah Jahan, Salabat Khan, imperial treasurer insulted Amar Singh, who then slewed Salabat Khan. This act turned Mughal army against Amar Singh, who then riding on the back of his horse jumped the high walls of the fort near the spot where Amar Singh Gate was built. 



Though this fort has lost the glamour and grandeur of the Mughal rule, yet it still is a magnificent monument that deserves a visit and go down the lanes of history. Diwan-I-Khas, the 'hall for private and distinguished audiences' was built by Shah Jahan with white marbles in the year 1637 AD. The pillars and arches of this dignified building are inlaid with semi precious stones and colored flowers. Its ceiling was decorated with golden colors and the floors with shining marble slabs, which were taken away by the Jats during their invasion of Agra. The famous peacock throne of Shah Jahan was placed here and was later taken to Delhi by Aurangzeb, which was then taken away by invaders to now present Teheran. 



As part of Incredible India series, I had earlier shared blog posts on Karnataka Road Trip, Qutub Minar, Golconda Fort, Humayun's Tomb, Temples in Delhi, Bird Watching, Gwalior Fort, Gwalior Palace Museum & Temples in Gwalior.

Incredible India - Gwalior Palace Museum

As part of Incredible India series, this post is for Gwalior Palace Museum located in historical Gwalior city of Madhya Pradesh, a central state in India.

Gwalior Palace is also known as Jai Vilas Mahal or Jai Vilas Palace, established in 1874 by Jayajirao Scindia, the Maharaja of Gwalior and is still the residence of his descendants the former royal Maratha Scindia dynasty. The European architecture of the palace was designed and built by Sir Michael Filose under the guidance of Jayajirao to welcome Edward VII.
Only 40 rooms and halls of the 400-room palace have been converted into the museum while the Scindia royal family retains the rest of the palace and still uses that portion. 




In the Durbar hall adorning the roof, hangs two crystal chandeliers ordered from Vienna, which have a combined weight of seven tonnes (7,000 kg) and are said to be one of the biggest ones in the world. To test whether the roof would withstand the weight of chandeliers, ten elephants were made to climb on the roof by making a special ramp for them to climb up. Larger chandelier holds up to 248 lamps and when lit, seems to look spectacular with all the reflections coming from the wall paintings. 

In the dining hall a toy train runs over a track laid on the long table, including seven crystal bowls spelling 'SCINDIA'. The mechanical, silver train has been in operation since the early 20th century and whenever someone lifts any of the crystal bowl, train stops and then starts running again once bowl is put back in . Durbar hall is still being used to host top dignitaries and the dining hall are used by the royal family even now. A host of VVIPs, including presidents and prime ministers have been hosted here in recent years. 


Spread across a sprawling area, the museum is divided into different sections, each with its unique heritage touch and collection. For instance, there are Drawing Rooms, Reading Rooms, Royal Bed Rooms, Bath Rooms, Breakfast Room, which offers interesting insights about lifestyle of the royals.  




My favourite was the Persian carpet spread with pictures of world's greatest rulers, kings, spiritual & religious figures including Jesus Christ, Prithviraj Chauhan, Razia Sultan, Maharana Pratap and others. Considered to be Asia's largest single carpet and is supposed to be made by the convicts taking them 12 years. 


Museum houses several antiques and on display including a crystal jhoola (swing), rare painting of Ravi Verma in which Lord Shiva is shown with moustache. There is a dragon antique piece, which is used as room freshener and also on display is a plate, which changes its colour to red from green in case of presence of poison in food. Also on display is a vintage 3 wheeled BMW mini car.




As part of Incredible India series, I had earlier shared blog posts on Karnataka Road Trip, Qutub Minar, Golconda Fort, Humayun's Tomb, Temples in Delhi, Bird Watching & Gwalior Fort. 

Incredible India - Gwalior Fort

As part of Incredible India series, this post is for Gwalior Fort located in historical Gwalior city of Madhya Pradesh, a central state in India.

The majestic Gwalior Fort rests on top of a hillock, overlooking entire Gwalior city, spread out over an area of 3 kms and consists of a defensive structure, enclosing six palaces,numerous water tanks and three temples. Main two palaces being Gurjari Mahal and Man Mandir, built by Man Singh Tomar. Fort has been conquered many times and has seen many rulers from Tomars to the Mughals, then the Marathas to later British and finally ruled by Scindias. It was in this fort that Laxmibai, the famous Rani of Jhansi, who played a stellar role in the 1857 India's first War of Independence, was killed on 17th June 1858 at the age of just 29, after information regarding her whereabouts was leaked to the British by the local rulers.


Man Singh Palace also known as Man Mandir Palace or Chitra (Translates to Painting) Mandir, was built during the reign of Tomar King Raja Man Singh Tomar in 1506 AD and the king ruled for 30 years.


This magnificent palace is one of the finest examples of Hindu architecture. There are total 4 storeys of the palace of which two are underground. The plan on the third storey consists of two open courtyards and various rooms supported by different decorated pillars and brackets. The palace is decorated with beautiful paintings, glazed tiles of varied colors, different figures including human forms, elephants, ducks, peacocks, lions, etc. The fort is built raised over the cliff 300 feet above the ground level. In sixteenth century when the fort was captured by Mughals, was used as state prison. 


Gurjari Mahal is a monument of love by Raja Man Singh Tomar for his Gurjari queen, Mrignayani. After he had wooed and won her, Mrignayani demanded for a separate palace with a constant water supply from the River Rai. In below picture (2nd row, 1st picture) you can see beautiful sculpture, which has the head of an elephant, body of a lion and legs of a horse. Adjacent picture shows Gwalior city's birds eye view from the fort. 


Guru HarGobind Sahib, the sixth of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism, was house arrested in Gwalior Fort by the order of Emperor Jahangir. Gurdwara Data Bandi Chorh Sahib, situated close by, is associated with the imprisonment of Guru HarGobind Sahib in Gwalior Fort and his celebrated release in which he managed to win the freedom of 52 Rajas (Kings) who had long suffered imprisonment in the Fort.

As part of Incredible India series, I had earlier shared blog posts on Karnataka Road Trip, Qutub Minar, Golconda Fort, Humayun's Tomb, Temples in Delhi & Bird Watching.