Uttar Pradesh, Agra Tourism

Agra

Agra:- ( आगरा ) is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India.It is 378 kilometres (235 mi) west of the state capital, Lucknow, 206 kilometres (128 mi) south of the national capital New Delhi and 125 kilometres (78 mi) north of Gwalior. Agra is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh, and the 24th most populous in India.

Agra is a major tourist destination because of its many Mughal-era buildings, most notably the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri, all three of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.Agra is included on the Golden Triangle tourist circuit, along with Delhi and Jaipur; and the Uttar Pradesh Heritage Arc, tourist circuit of UP state, along Lucknow the capital of the state and Varanasi. Agra falls within the Braj cultural region.

The city was first mentioned in the epic Mahabharata, where it was called Agrevaṇa (derived from Sanskrit meaning "the border of the forest".Legend ascribes the founding of the city to Agra Jat clan, Agra is named after Agra or Agr Jat.

However, the 11th century Persian poet Masud Sad Salman writes of a desperate assault on the fortress of Agra, then held by the Shahi King Jayapala, by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni.It was mentioned for the first time in 1080 AD when a Ghaznavid force captured it. Sultan Sikandar Lodi (1488–1517) was the first to move his capital from Delhi to Agra in 1506. He governed the country from here and Agra assumed the importance of the second capital. He died in 1517 and his son, Ibrahim Lodi, remained in power there for nine more years and several palaces, wells and a mosque were built by him in the fort during his period. Finally being defeated at the Battle of Panipat in 1526.Between 1540 and 1556, Afghans, beginning with Sher Shah Soori ruled the area. It was the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1556 to 1658.

Taj Mahal,Agra

History:-

It is generally accepted that Sultan Sikandar Lodi, the Muslim ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, founded Agra in the year 1504. After the Sultan's death, the city passed on to his son, Sultan Ibrahim Lodi. He ruled his Sultanate from Agra until he fell fighting to Mughal padshah (emperor) Babar in the First battle of Panipat fought in 1526.

The golden age of the city began with the Mughals. It was known then as Akbarabad and remained the capital of the Mughal Empire under the padishah (emperors) Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan. Akbar made it the eponymous seat of one of his original twelve subhas (imperial top-level provinces), bordering (Old) Delhi, Awadh (Oudh), Allahabad, Malwa and Ajmer subhas. Shah Jahan later shifted his capital to Shahjahanabad in the year 1649.

Since Akbarabad was one of the most important cities in India under the Mughals, it witnessed a lot of building activity. Babar, the founder of the Mughal dynasty, laid out the first formal Persian garden on the banks of river Yamuna. The garden is called the Aram Bagh or the Garden of Relaxation. His grandson Akbar the Great raised the towering ramparts of the Great Red Fort, besides making Agra a centre for learning, arts, commerce and religion. Akbar also built a new city on the outskirts of Akbarabad called Fatehpur Sikri. This city was built in the form of a Mughal military camp in stone.His son Jahangir had a love of flora and fauna and laid many gardens inside the Red Fort or Lal Qila. Shah Jahan, known for his keen interest in architecture, gave Akbarabād its most prized monument, the Taj Mahal. Built in loving memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, the mausoleum was completed in 1653.

Shah Jahan later shifted the capital to Delhi during his reign, but his son Aurangzeb moved the capital back to Akbarabad, usurping his father and imprisoning him in the Fort there. Akbarabad remained the capital of India during the rule of Aurangzeb until he shifted it to Aurangabad in the Deccan in 1653.

Economy:-

Due to the presence of the Taj Mahal and other historic monuments, Agra has a booming tourism industry as well as royal crafts like Pietra Dura, marble inlay and carpets.

Today 40% of the population depends largely on agriculture, and others on the leather and footwear business and iron foundries. Agra is the second most self-employed in India in 2007, behind Varanasi, followed by Bhopal, Indore and Patna. According to the National Sample Survey Organization, in 1999–2000, 431 of every 1,000 employed males were self-employed in the city, which grew to 603 per 1,000 in 2004–05.Tourism contributes to the economy of Agra. Agra is home to Asia’s largest spa called Kaya Kalp – The Royal Spa, at the Hotel Mughal in Agra.

Agra has many industries. Uttar Pradesh's first plant biotech company Harihar Biotech is located near the Taj. There are about 7,000 small scale industrial units. Agra city is also known for its leather goods, the oldest and famous leather firm Taj Leather World is in Sadar bazar. The carpets, handicrafts, azari and zardozi (embroidery work), marble and stone carving and inlay work. Agra is known for its sweets (Petha and Gajak) and snacks (Dalmoth), garment manufacturers and exporters and an automobile industry. Carpet making was introduced to the city by Moghul Emperor Babur and since then this art has flourished.

The city centre place at Agra has jewellery and garments shops. The silver and gold jewellery hub is at Chobe Ji Ka Fatak. The Shah Market area is an electronics market while Sanjay Place is the trade centre of Agra.

Tourism:-

Taj Mahal:-

The Taj Mahal is one of the most famous buildings in the world, the mausoleum of Shah Jahan's favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It is one of the New Seven Wonders of the world, and one of the three World Heritage Sites in Agra. Agra is commonly identified as the "City of Taj".

Completed in 1653, the Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal king Shah Jahan as the final resting place for his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Finished in marble, it is perhaps India's most beautiful monument and is set amidst landscaped gardens. Built by the Persian architect, Ustad lsa, the Taj Mahal is on the south bank of the Yamuna River. It can be observed from Agra Fort from where Emperor Shah Jahan gazed at it for the last eight years of his life, a prisoner of his son Aurangzeb. Verses of the Quran are inscribed on it and at the top of the gate are twenty-two small domes, signifying the number of years the monument took to build. The Taj Mahal was built on a marble platform that stands above a sandstone one. The most elegant dome of the Taj Mahal has a diameter of 60 feet (18 m), and rises to a height of 80 feet (24 m); directly under this dome is the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal. Shah Jahan's tomb was erected next to hers by his son Aurangzeb. The interiors are decorated with fine inlay work, incorporating semi-precious stones.

Taj Mahal

Agra Fort:-

Agra Fort was commissioned by the conquering Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great in 1565, and is another of Agra's World Heritage Sites. A stone tablet at the gate of the Fort states that it had been built before 1000 but was later renovated by Akbar. The red sandstone fort was converted into a palace during Shah Jahan's time, and reworked extensively with marble and pietra dura inlay. Notable buildings in the fort include the Pearl Mosque or Moti Masjid, the Diwan-e-Am and Diwan-e-Khas (halls of public and private audience), Jahangir's Palace, Khaas Mahal, Sheesh Mahal (mirrored palace), and the Musamman Burj.

The forbidding exteriors of this fort conceal an inner paradise. The fort is crescent shaped, flattened on the east with a long, nearly straight wall facing the river. It has a total perimeter of 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi), and is ringed by double castellated ramparts of red sandstone punctuated at regular intervals by bastions. A moat 9 metres (30 ft) wide and 10 metres (33 ft) deep surrounds the outer wall.

Chhatrapati Shivaji visited the Agra Fort, as a result of the conditions of the Treaty of Purandar entered into with Mirza Raja Jaisingh to meet Aurangzeb in the Diwan-i-Khas (Special Audience Chamber). In the audience he was deliberately placed behind men of lower rank. An insulted Shivaji stormed out of the imperial audience and was confined to Jai Sing's quarters on 12 May 1666. Fearing the dungeons and execution he escaped on 17 August 1666.

The fort is a typical example of Mughal architecture, effectively showing how the North Indian style of fort construction differed from that of the South. In the South, the majority of forts were built on the seabed like the one at Befall in Kerala.

Agra Fort

Buland Darwaza Fatehpur Sikri:-

The Mughal Emperor Akbar built Fatehpur Sikri about 35 km (22 mi) from Agra, and moved his capital there. Later abandoned, the site displays a number of buildings of significant historical importance. A World Heritage Site, it is often visited by tourists. The name of the place came about after the Mughal Emperor Babur defeated Raṇa Sanga in a battle at a place called Sikri (about 40 km (25 mi) from Agra). Then the Mughal Emperor Akbar wanted to make Fatehpur Sikri his headquarters, so he built a majestic fort; due to shortage of water, however, he had to ultimately move his headquarters to Agra Fort.

Buland Darwaza or 'the lofty gateway' was built by the great Mughal emperor, Akbar in 1601 CE. at Fatehpur Sikri. Akbar built the Buland Darwaza to commemorate his victory over Gujarat. The Buland Darwaza is approached by 52 steps. The Buland Darwaza is 53.63 metres (175.95 feet) high and 35 metres (115 feet) wide. it is made of red and buff sandstone, decorated by carving and black and white marble inlays. An inscription on the central face of the Buland Darwaza demonstrates Akbar's religious broad mindedness, it is a message from Jesus advising his followers not to consider this world as their permanent home.

Buland Darwaza Fatehpur Sikri

I'timad-Ud-Daulah's Tomb:-

The Empress Nur Jahan built I'timad-Ud-Daulah's Tomb, sometimes called the "Baby Taj", for her father, Mirza Ghiyas Beg, the Chief Minister of the Emperor Jahangir. Located on the left bank of the Yamuna river, the mausoleum is set in a large cruciform garden, criss-crossed by water courses and walkways. The area of the mausoleum itself is about 23 m² (250 sq ft), and is built on a base that is about 50 m² (540 sq ft) and about one metre (3.3 feet) high. On each corner are hexagonal towers, about thirteen metres (43 feet) tall. Small in comparison to many other Mughal-era tombs, it is sometimes described as a jewel box. Its garden layout and use of white marble, pietra dura, inlay designs and latticework presage many elements of the Taj Mahal.

The walls are white marble from Rajasthan encrusted with semi-precious stone decorations – cornelian, jasper, lapis lazuli, onyx, and topaz in images of cypress trees and wine bottles, or more elaborate decorations like cut fruit or vases containing bouquets. Light penetrates to the interior through delicate jali screens of intricately carved white marble.

Many of Nur Jahan's relatives are interred in the mausoleum. The only asymmetrical element of the entire complex are the tombs of her father and mother, which have been set side-by-side, a formation replicated in the Taj Mahal.

I'timad-Ud-Daulah's Tomb

Akbar's Tomb:-

Sikandra, the last resting place of the Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great, is on the Delhi-Agra Highway, only 13 kilometres (8.1 miles) from the Agra Fort. Akbar's tomb reflects the completeness of his personality. The vast, beautifully carved, red-ochre sandstone tomb with deers, rabbits and langurs is set amidst a lush garden. Akbar himself planned his own tomb and selected a suitable site for it. To construct a tomb in one's lifetime was a Turkic custom which the Mughals followed religiously. Akbar's son Jahangir completed construction of this pyramidal tomb in 1613. The 99 names of Allah have been inscribed on the tomb.

Akbar Tomb

Jama Masjid:-

The Jama Masjid is a large mosque attributed to Shah Jahan's daughter, Princess Jahanara Begum, built in 1648, notable for its unusual dome and absence of minarets. The inscription at its entrance shows that it cost Rs 5 Lakhs at that time for its completion.

Jama Masjid

Chini Ka Rauza:-

Notable for its Persian influenced dome of blue glazed tiles, the Chini ka Rauza is dedicated to the Prime Minister of Shah Jahan, Allama Afzel Khal Mullah Shukrullah of Shiraz.

Chini Ka Rauza,Agra

Ram Bagh:-

The oldest Mughal garden in India, the Ram Bagh was built by the Emperor Babur in 1528 on the bank of the Yamuna. It lies about 2.34 km (1 mi) north of the Taj Mahal. The pavilions in this garden are designed so that the wind from the Yamuna, combined with the greenery, keeps them cool even during the peak of summer. The original name of the gardens was Aram Bagh, or 'Garden of Relaxation', and this was where the Mughal emperor Babur used to spend his leisure time and where he eventually died. His body was kept here for some time before sending it to Kabul.

On Ram Bagh to Tundla road near Etmadpur, there is a famed Yoga Ashram of Mahaprabhu Ramlal ji Maharaja(First Guru Gaddi), Yogeshwar Mulakh Raj Ji Maharaja(Second Guru Gaddi) & Yogeshwar DeviDayal Ji Mahadev(Third Guru Gaddi) blessed Swami Chandra Mohan Ji Maharaj named Shri Siddha Gufa Sawai. Thousands of devotees and seekers visit this holy place.

Ram Bagh,Agra

Mariams Tomb:-

Mariams Tomb, is the tomb of Mariam, the wife of great Mughal Emperor Akbar. The tomb is within the compound of the Christian Missionary Society.

Mariams Tomb,Agra

Mankameshwar Temple:-

The Mankameshwar Temple is one of four ancient temples dedicated to Lord Shiva located on the four corners of Agra City. It is located near the Jama Masjid and is about 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) from the Taj Mahal and less than 1 km (0.6 mi) from Agra Fort. Being located in the old city, the temple is surrounded by markets, many of which date back to the Mughal Era.

Mankameshwar Temple

Gurudwara Guru Ka Tal:-

Guru ka Tal was originally a reservoir meant to collect and conserve rainwater built in Agra, near Sikandra, during Jahangir's reign next to the Tomb of I'tibār Khān Khwājasara in 1610. In the 1970s a gurudwara was erected here. Guru ka Tal is a holy place of worship for the Sikhs. Four of the ten Sikh Gurus are said to have paid it a visit. Enjoying both historical and religious importance, this shrine attracts a large number of devotees and tourists. Boasting elaborate stone carvings and eight of the twelve original towers. It is located by national (Delhi-Agra) highway-2.

Gurudwara Guru Ka Tal

Paliwal Park(Hewitt Park):-

Paliwal Park(Hewitt Park) during the British Raj was known as Hewitt Park, is now renamed in memory of Shri Krishna Datta Paliwal, who was the first finance minister of Uttar Pradesh, when Shri Govind Ballabh Pant was the Chief Minister of the State.

Paliwal Park is located in the heart of Agra, spread over an area of around 70 acres (280,000 m²). It also has a small lake and a vast variety of trees.

Paliwal Park links the residential areas of Vijay Nagar Colony & Gandhi Nagar to the financial Hub of the city i.e. Sanjay Place.

John's Public Library, also known as the Agra Municipal Library, is also located here and one can find rare books on diverse topics here.

Many people come here for morning walk, as a result this place is full especially during the summer holidays when youngsters play all sort of different games.

Paliwal Park

Festivals:-

Taj Mahotsav:-

Taj Mahotsav is a cultural festival was started in year 1992 and has grown since then. The year 2017 is the 26th year of this Mahotsav. This festival also figures in the calendar of events of the Department of Tourism, Government of India. A large number of Indian and foreign tourists coming to Agra join this festivity in the month of February(18 to 27). One of the objectives of this craft fair is to provide encouragement to the artisans. It also makes available works of art and craft at reasonable prices that are not inflated by high maintenance cost.

Ram Barat:-

Ram Barat is a part of Ramlila celebration in Agra. It is one of the biggest annual events in North India. Ram Barat literally means Baraat Marriage procession of Sri Ram. Every year a new locality is chosen in Agra and is elaborately decorated with lights & flowers. The area is given a major face lift befitting the venue for the divine marriage.

Taj Literature Festival:-

Taj Literature Festival saw stars of the literary world manifest themselves on the earth of Agra. The galaxy included the stalwarts, Muzaffar Ali, Shobha De, Prahlad Kakkar and Raghu Rai. The stage shone brilliant and the heritage city breathed life. This festival, an attempt to rejuvenate that aesthetic spirit which is a soul of this historically rich city, Agra. The city that nurtured the likes of Ghalib, Tansen, Surdas, Nazeer and many more.

Kailash Fair:-

The Kailash Fair is held in the town of Kailash, about 12 km (7 mi) from Agra, in the month of August/September. It is a major fair celebrated in honour of Lord Shiva who is believed to have appeared here in the form of stone Lingam.

How To Reach:-

Bus:-

Idgah Bus Stand, Taj Depot, Fort Depot and Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) are the major bus stands in Agra, connecting Agra to most of the bigger cities in North India. It is a major junction of highways with 3 national highways and 2 expressway (Yamuna Expressway & Agra Lucknow Expressway) originating from Agra. Another national highway passes through the city bringing the total highway outlet to 7.

From Delhi: NH 19 (old number: NH 2), a modern divided highway, connects the 200 km (124 mi) distance from Delhi to Agra. The drive is about 4 hours. The primary access to the highway is along Mathura Road in Delhi but, if coming from South Delhi or Delhi Airport, it is easier to take Aurobindo Marg (Mehrauli Road) and then work up to NH2 via Tughlakabad.
From Delhi / Noida: Yamuna Expressway, a modern access controlled highway connects the 200 km (124 mi) distance from Delhi to Agra. The drive is about 2 hours. This highway has junction to Aligarh and Mathura via state highways.
Yamuna Expressway (formerly Taj Expressway) is a 6-lane (extendable to 8 lanes), 165 km (103 mi) long, controlled-access expressway, that connects Greater Noida with Agra via Khair and Mathura in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
NH 509 (old number: NH 93) is a National Highway that connects Agra to Moradabad via Aligarh
Agra Lucknow Expressway is a 6-lane (extendable to 8 lanes), 302 km (188 mi) long, controlled-access expressway, that connects lucknow with Agra via Kannauj and Etawah in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Rail:-

Railway Stations served by the Indian Railways network at Agra are: