Agra is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about 210 kilometres (south of the national capital New Delhi and 335 km west of the state capital Lucknow.
Agra is the city of the Taj Mahal famed across the globe for it’s large legacy of monuments, old heritage, colourful bazars and tourist friendly behaviour of the localities. Agra has three UNESCO World Heritage sites, the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort in the city and Fatehpur Sikri nearby. There are also many other buildings and tombs from Agra’s days of glory as the capital of the Mughal Empire.
While Agra’s golden age was as the capital of the Mughal empire between 1526 and 1658, the city was founded much earlier. The earliest reference to Agra is in the ancient epic, the Mahabharata, while Ptolemy was the first person to call it by its modern name. The recorded history of Agra begins around the 11th century, and over the next 500 years, the city changed hands between various kings, both Hindu and Muslim.
In 1506, Sultan Sikandar Lodi, the ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, moved his capital from Delhi to Agra. His son Ibrahim Lodi was the last ruler of the Lodi dynasty, as he was defeated in 1526 by Babur, the first Mughal ruler, in the battle of Panipat. Agra fell too, and became the capital of the Mughals, whose rule over Agra was uninterrupted except for a brief period between 1540 and 1556. In 1540, Sher Shah Shuri overthrew Humayun and became the ruler of much of Northern India, including Agra. After Sher Shah Suri’s death, his descendants proved unequal to the task of ruling the kingdom. Hemu, a Hindu who served as one of Suri’s generals, became the effective ruler. Hemu would later crown himself King Hemachandra Vikramaditya just as the kingdom was facing an assault from the reinvigorated Mughals. In 1556, Hemu was defeated and killed in the second battle of Panipat, and the Mughals took back the city of Agra.
Mughals were great builders. Babur built the Aram Bagh (Garden of Relaxation) which was modeled after the garden of paradise and was where he was buried after his death. His grandson Akbar refurbished the Agra fort and built Fatehpur Sikri, an entire city just on the outskirts of Agra. He also renamed Agra after himself, and the city was known as Akbarabad while it was in Mughal hands. Akbar’s grandson Shah Jehan would give Agra its most famous monument, the Taj Mahal, which he ordered constructed as a mausoleum for his most beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj is constructed in white marble. It took 20 years to construct, and is now universally known as a monument of love. Legend has it that Shah Jehan wanted a replica of the Taj constructed in black marble that would be his final resting place. There is no actual support for this theory, but even if it were true, it would have unlikely been built. His son Aurangzeb was austere and pious, and had no time or inclination for the ostentation of his forefathers, preferring to spend his money on wars in South India. In any case, even during Shah Jehan’s reign, which was the period when the Mughal empire was at its height, the construction of the Taj put a strain on the resources of the empire and caused a famine around Agra. Shah Jehan was eventually buried in the white Taj, next to his beloved wife.
In 1803, it came under British rule, who established the Agra Presidency there. When India regained its independence, the city was incorporated into the state of Uttar Pradesh, and was not even made the state capital, which went to Lucknow, further east. Agra is now a tourist town and showcases some of the wonders of the world and no trip to India is complete without at least one visit to the Taj, the iconic Taj mahal should be viewed either at sunrise or at the sunset to get the best views.
Top 10 Tourist attractions to see in Agra
- Taj Mahal
- Agra Fort
- Fatehpur Sikri
- Itmad – ud – Daulah’s Tomb
- Akbar’s Tomb
- Moti Masjid
- Sikandra Fort
- Jodha Bai ka Rauza
- Mehtab Bagh
- Walking Tours