AGRA - Historical Introduction

Agra has two histories: one of the ancient city on the east, or left,bank of the river Jumna, going back so far as to be lost in the legendsof Krishna and of the heroes of the Mahabharata; the other of themodern city, founded by Akbar in A.D. 1558, on the right bank of theriver, and among Muhammadans still retaining its name of Akbarabad,which is intimately associated with the romance of the Great Moguls,and known throughout the world as the city of the Taj.

Of ancient Agra little now remains except a few traces of thefoundations. It was a place of importance under various Hindudynasties previous to the Muhammadan invasions of India, but itschequered fortunes down to the beginning of the sixteenth centuryare the usual tale of siege and capture by Hindu or Mussulman, andpossess little historical interest.

In A.D. 1505 Sultan Sikandar Lodi, the last but one of theAfghan dynasty at Delhi, rebuilt Agra and made it the seat ofgovernment. Sikandra, the burial-place of Akbar, is named after him,and there he built a garden-house which subsequently became the tombof Mariam Zamani, one of Akbar's wives. The son of Sultan Sikandar,Ibrahim Lodi, was defeated and slain by Babar at Panipat, near Delhi,in 1526, and from that time Agra became one of the principal citiesof the Mogul Empire which Babar founded.