After crossing a drawbridge which leads across the deep moat that surrounds the crenelated ramparts of the fort, and passing up a paved ascent, we drive across a barren square till we reach a broad flight of steps leading to a red sandstone platform. Mounting them, we come to a fine gateway. A door is thrown open, and we find our selves in a quadrangle paved with white marble, and on either side is a marble colonnade with exquisite arches, supported on light pillars of perfect grace. Opposite is a marble mosque resting on finely proportioned Saracenic arches supported on a row of triple pillars, massive, and exquisitely carved at the base. The whole is crowned with three white marble domes, and elegant kiosks break the monotony, which a long straight line would present to the eye. No more pure and stainless sanctuary was ever created by man in honour of the Creator. On the entablature there is an inscription of black letters inlaid in the white marble, which informs us that the mosque " may be likened to a mansion of paradise or to a precious pearl " ; and that the building was completed in seven years, at the cost of three lakhs of rupees, in the twenty-sixth year of the fortunate reign of Shah Jehan, in the year of the Hegira one thousand and sixty-three (A.D. 1665), the year when the gay Charles was on the throne of England and plague had devastated London.
A short distance from the Moti Musjid, or Pearl Mosque, lies the palace erected by Shah Jehan, under whom the Moghul Empire attained its highest limit of strength and magnificence. A somewhat mean portal leads to a square planted with trees and flowers and a few vines, which give to the courtyard the name of Anguri Bagh, or Grape Garden. White marble walks radiate from a marble plat form in the centre, and the beds are after the manner of the Moghul gardens, divided into numerous small compartments by ridges of red sandstone. Legend states that the soil was brought from Cashmere, and to this day its depth and rich ness are extolled by the gardeners. Around the courts are the apartments which the lights of the harem used to occupy, and opposite, on a raised platform of white marble, stands a fairy hall—the Khas Mahal, or reception room of the royal ladies. In front of the hall is a colonnade opening into the court. " The flat roof is supported on engrailed arches, spring ing from massive square pillars, whose base and capital are ornamented with sprays of flowers. Three smaller arches give access from the colonnade to the hall, and on the oppo site side are three archways with windows overlooking the river." Here the fair captives enjoyed the fresh breezes of the morning, and gazed upon the blue waters of the Jumna and the palaces and gardens of the nobles which lined its banks. Here they could watch the Emperor review his troops, and, unseen, catch a glimpse of the gay cavalcade that surrounded him. It was the only glimpse which the captives had of the outer world. No male was admitted into the palace, except the Emperor, and the domestic work was entirely done by women. It was a paradise of luxury and splendour. All gold and silver stuffs and jewels and all things gorgeous and costly were provided for the inmates, but it was a prison. The description of the harem of the Emperor Akbar by his minister reveals how dreary the daily life must have been. He informs us the harem contained a separate room for every one of the women, whose number exceeded five thousand, who were divided into companies, with proper employment assigned to each individual. Over each of these companies a woman was appointed (darogha), and one was selected for the command of the whole, in order that the affairs of the harem, the writer adds, " might be conducted with the same regularity and good government as the other departments of the State." " Every one received a salary according to her merit. The pen cannot measure the extent of the Emperor's largesses, but the ladies of the first quality received from one thousand to sixteen hundred rupees, and the servants according to their rank—from two rupees to fifty-one per month. And when ever any of this multitude of women wanted anything, they applied to the treasurer of the harem, who, according to their monthly stipend, took care their wants should be sup plied. The inside of the harem was guarded by women, and the most confidential were placed about the royal apart ments. The eunuch watched immediately on the outside gate, and at proper distances were placed the Rajpoots and porters ; and on the outside of the enclosure the Omrahs, the Ahdeeans, and other troops mounted guard according to their rank. But besides all the precautions above de scribed, his Majesty depends on his own vigilance as well as on that of his guards." It would be impossible to imagine a less romantic and more monotonous existence. But in spite of all the Emperor's vigilance " the human need of loving," as Browning says, had to be gratified even in the harem, and was too strong for his precautions. Below the palace are some dreary vaults. In the most gloomy of them we see a pit, and over it a beam highly carved, and from the beam dangles a silken cord. Here the frail ones of the harem were hanged.
Returning to the light of day, we ascended the platform of the Khas Mahal, and walking to the right we came to a marble open lattice-work screen, beautiful from its extreme simplicity. The screen separates the reception-room from a pavilion hanging over the river, and the most sacred of sacred apartments—those which were occupied by the Emperor and the favourite inmates of the harem. Two square chambers united by an arch, with three graceful Saracenic arches opening into the marble court, form the pavilion. The walls are encrusted with jasper, carnelian, lapis-lazuli, agate and bloodstone, and the balconies and terraces are marble wrought into lace. Hard by " the jewelled and enamelled caskets" of Shah Jehan is the red sandstone palace, which bears the name of Jehangir Mahal. " Nowhere," states Fergusson, " is the contrast between the two styles more strongly marked than in the palace of Agra : from the red stone palace of Akbar, with its rich sculpture and square Hindu construction, a door opens into the white marble court of the harem of Shah Jehan, with all its feeble prettiness, but at the same time marked with that peculiar elegance which is found only in the East." The exact date of the building of the palace cannot be ascertained, but there is good reason to suppose that it was built before the time of Akbar or of Jehangir. To erect it only Hindu architects and artists must have been employed, and it is a noble example of the Hindu skill in building and the luxuriance of his imagination. But it is imagination disciplined by the study of art. In the whole building there is nothing mean and commonplace, and there is not a single inch of orna ment lacking in originality. The Hindu mason has im pressed his originality on Saracenic geometrical tracery. The palace addresses the eye by a few clear and forceful lines, and it appeals to the imagination by the richness of the work. It is entered from Shah Jehan's harem, through a noble archway forming the centre of three sides of a quadrangle. Never were pillars erected more slender and graceful than those which support this porch. The round capitals are richly and elaborately sculptured, and send out elegant brackets on each side from above their tops. It is impossible to imagine anything in better taste than the way niches and recesses in the walls are faced with white marble, beautifully carved into engraved work, the points of which terminate with graceful oval pendants. Making our way through corridors and halls, each more elegant than the other, we reached the grand open pillared hall on the north side. From the first row of pillars project brackets of exquisite workmanship, which support broad sloping eaves formed of thin slabs of stones. The roof, supported by stone cross-beams, with great dragons carved on them, is " a wonder of architectural constructive in genuity." Passing from the grand court through corridors, we again came to the Anguri Bagh, and crossing the square we entered the Shisha Mahal, or the baths built for the inmates of the palace. " The Shisha Mahal, or house of glass, is both curious and elegant, although the material is principally pounded talc and looking-glass. It consists of two rooms, of which the walls in the interior are divided into a thousand different panels, each of which is filled up with raised flowers in silver, gold, and colours, on a ground-work of tiny convex mirrors ! The idea it impresses on the mind is that of being inside some curiously worked and arched box—so unlike is the apartment to a room ! The roof reminds you of the style of ceiling that prevailed during the time of Louis the XIV., and resembles the ceilings at Versailles. Pounded mica has the effect of silver. Fronting the entrance, in the second room, are three rows of niches for lights, and below, standing forward a little, there are more rows of marble niches for the same. From the top, the water pours out, and falls in a broad sheet over the upper lights, and is received below in a basin, from which it again pours forth in another fall over the lower row of lights, so that you see the lights burning behind the falling waters. The waters are then received in a fountain, which springs high and sparkles in the glare, and then, running over a marble causeway, fills another beautifully carved white marble basin, from the centre of which springs another fountain, which is in the first apart ment." As we wandered through the baths we recalled to
mind Lady Montagu's graphic description of the scene she witnessed in the Baths at Constantinople. She tells us that, as lightly clad as Eve before the fall : " They walked and moved with the same majestic grace which Milton describes of our general mother. There were many amongst them as exactly proportioned as ever any goddess was drawn by the pencil of Guido or Titian, and most of their skins shiningly white, only adorned by their beautiful hair, divided into many tresses, hanging on their shoulders, braided either with pearl or ribbon, perfectly representing the figures of the Graces." From the Shisa Mahal we proceeded to the Saman Burj, or Jasmine Tower, the boudoir of the chief Sultana. It is a fairy pavilion, exquisitely carved in marble, and ornamented with flowers wrought in precious stones. The court below the pavilion is arranged in squares of coloured marbles, so that the inmates of the harem could enjoy the game of pachist—somewhat similar to our draughts. A staircase leads from the Jasmine Tower to the Diwan-i-Khas, or hall of private audience. This finely proportioned hall opens by three arches on a lofty colonnade with a flat roof, supported by noble Saraccnic arches springing from graceful slender pillars arranged in pairs. The bases of the pillars are ornamented with the purest of white marble flowers, traced so delicately on the stone that they seem rather drawn than sculptured ; and these are surrounded by a band of mosaic flowers of the brightest colours. Near the Diwan-i-Khas, on a terrace facing the river, is the great marble slab commonly called the Black Marble Throne of Jeliangir. The stone has split through in a slanting direction in the middle, and the presence of iron in its composition has given it a reddish stain in one spot. Hence the legend that the throne emitted blood when desecrated by the foot of the infidel. Hawkins, who visited Agra during the reign of Jehangir, informs us that the black slab was used by the Emperor to pray upon. He writes : " In the morning at break of day, the King is at his beads, praying, on his knees, upon a Persian lambskin, having some eight rosaries, or strings of beads, each containing 400. The beads are of rich pearl, ballace rubies, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, aloes, wood, ahem and coral. At the upper end of a large black stone on which he kneels there are figures graven in stone of the Virgin and Christ ; so turning his face to the west he repeats 3,200 words, according to the number of his beads." On the other side of the court is a white marble slab on which the Vizier sat. It overlooks the Machi Bhawan (or Fish Tank), a vast courtyard of red sandstone, which has a tank in its centre and a series of chambers on two sides. On the east there is a platform where the grandees of the Court waited till they were admitted to a private audience with the Emperor. At a corner of the square is the Naginah Musjid, or Gem Mosque, which well bears out its name. This exquisite shrine of white marble stands in the centre of a small court, walled in with white slabs, and consists of three tiny aisles, supported on square plain pillars, from which spring Saracenic arches supporting the roof, which is crowned with three domes. This was the private mosque for the ladies of the harem. They had access to it by means of a screened passage, which led by the Diwan i-Am to their apartments. Following this passage we came to the royal gallery, which overlooked the Diwan-i-Am, or hall of public audience. " It is a pavilion of white marble, inlaid with jasper and cornelian, in the form of flowers, orna mented scrolls, and sentences of the Koran. Below it is an immense slab of white marble, on which he (the Emperor) was accustomed to seat himself." Seated on the marble slab and looking down on the deserted hall and barren courtyard, the memory goes back to the scene which the Emperor wit nessed when Agra had reached the meridian of its glory. Captain Hawkins, who was in high favour with Jehangir, writes : " At three o'clock all the nobles then in Agra, who are in health, resort to court, when the King comes forth to open audience, sitting in his royal seat, and all the nobles standing before him, each according to his degree. The chiefs of the nobles standing within the red rail, and all the rest without, all being properly placed by the Lieutenant-General. The space within the red rail is three steps higher than where the rest stand, and within this red rail I was placed among the chiefest of the land. All the rest are placed in their order by officers, and they likewise arc placed within another rail in a spacious place, and without the rail stand all kinds of horsemen and foot-soldiers belonging to his captains, and all other corners. At these rails there are many doors kept by a great number of porters, who have white rods to keep every one in order. In the middle of the place, right before the King, stands one of the King's sheriffs or judges, together with the chief executioner, who is attended by forty executioners, distinguished from all others by a peculiar kind of quilted caps on their heads, some with hatchets on their shoulders, and others with all sorts of whips, ready to execute the King's commands. The King hears all manner of causes in this place, staying about two hours every day for that purpose : or the Kings in India sit in judgment every day, and their sentences are put in execution every Tuesday." It is interesting to know what manner of man was the Sovereign who was surrounded with so much splendour. Hawkins writes : " After this he retires to his private chamber for prayers, when four or five kinds of finely dressed roast meats are set before him, of which he eats till his stomach is satisfied, drinking after his meal one cup of strong drink. He then goes into a private room into which no one enters, but such as are named by himself, where for two years I was one of his attendants ; and here he drinks other five cups of strong liquor, being the quantity allowed by his physicians. This done, he chews opium, and being intoxicated, he goes to sleep, and every one departs to his home. He is awakened after two hours to get his supper, at which time he is unable to feed himself, but has it thrust into his mouth by others, which is about one o'clock in the morning, after which he sleeps the rest of the night." The glory of the Moghul Empire was the transient glory of barbarous splendour and outward show. Neither pro perty nor life was safe from tyrannical caprice. Hawkins, writing about J ehangir, states : " While I was at his court, I have seen him do many cruel deeds. Five times a week he orders some of his bravest elephants to fight in his presence, during which men are often killed or grievously wounded by the elephants. If any one be sore hurt, though he might very well chance to recover, he causes him to be thrown into the river, saying, Despatch him, for as long as he lives he will continually curse me, wherefore it is better that he die presently.' He delights to see men executed and torn in pieces by elephants." Not an English traveller, but a Muhammadan historian, relates the following anecdote concerning Akbar, the wisest and most tolerant of all the Moghul Emperors : " At that time the Emperor used to retire for a long interval, after evening prayers, during which time the servants and cour tiers used to disperse, assembling again when they expect his Majesty to reappear. That evening he happened to come out sooner than usual, to hear the news from the Dakhin, and at first found none of the servants in the palace. When he came near the throne and couch, he saw a luckless lamp lighter, coiled up like a snake, in a careless death-like sleep, close to the royal couch. Enraged at the sight, he ordered him to be thrown from the tower, and he was dashed into a thousand pieces." The Moghul Emperors have left behind them some of the most beautiful buildings in the world as monuments of their rule, and the English have erected some of the ugliest, but the administration of the Moghuls will not bear comparison with our more prosaic and less splendid rule. We have given the natives peace, order, and security, for anarchy and oppression. But it behoves England to ponder well upon the task which her brave soldiers and illustrious statesmen have set her in India. To preserve her Empire she must do more than dig canals and build railways, material monuments of dominion. The besetting sin of a bureaucracy of foreigners is a blind belief in administrative machinery. During our century of rule we have made but little impression on the people. All we have done is to civilize administratiz.ely, and in doing so not only old mis managements but " reforms and taxations new " have pro duced their inevitable harvest of misery and disaffection. This cannot be met merely by legislation, but by the in struction and enlightenment of the people. Contact with the West has created changes in social relations and religious feelings, and the mental and moral agitation, the hopes and aspirations of the educated classes, must not be ignored, but guided by a wide, thorough, and liberal education. It is very insecure to reign supreme on the frail foundation of being the welcome composer of political troubles and the constructor of great public works. The sewage system of Rome was a wonder and model to the world, but the Roman Empire perished.