Shortly before arriving Agra—perhaps an hour—we were met by our new guide at Sikandra. Sikandra is the mausoleum of the Mogul emperor Akbar--construction was begun during his lifetime (1550-1605) and completed a few years after his death. This isn’t Sikandra:
--this is the gate to get INTO Sikandra. The mausoleum itself is much, much bigger! Between the gate and the tomb is a large park filled with some kind of “deer”—we think ibex (spelling?) of some variety.
There were also green parrots, and quite a few rather maniacal ground squirrels. This is some of Sikandra itself:
Look at the ‘lattice work’—this is carved out of single blocks of sandstone:
There is similar lattice work at the Taj Mahal—but there it is carved out of marble.
Leaving Sikandra, we completed the trip to Agra and visited the Agra Fort, also build by Akbar. This was actually a fascinating place, as far as engineering goes. You entered by crossing a drawbridge (a real drawbridge) that led you into a curved corridor—attacking soldiers that had passed through the curve could not retreat nor the following soldiers see what was happening; it was a trap. A narrow, high walled ‘channel’ rising at a fairly steep angle that could be fired upon by archers from several directions—if that wasn’t enough there were channels for pouring boiling oil down that –if that didn’t kill them—would cause them to slip and fall trying to make the grade. Beyond that and through another gate you entered a open area before another gate—this part was heavily populated with monkeys!
then through another gate into the fort itself. There was a LOT to see and visit in this fort—we were there for hours—and like the Red Fort in Delhi, only 25% of it is open to the public! The rest is occupied by the Army. For example, this is a huge bathtub, originally in one of the halls but pulled out by the archaeological society:
Shah Jehan, builder of the Taj Mahal, spent the last years of his life imprisoned in this fort:
from his “cell” (above) he could see the tomb of his beloved wife.
Two moats—an out, water-filled one and an inner ‘dry’ moat that we were told was similar to quicksand, back in the day…
altogether a fascinating place!
Leaving Agra Fort, we were driven to our Agra Hotel, the Clarke Shiraz, and got checked in and more or less put away. Quick snack and we went back into Agra to see a live show called Kalakriti, which depicted the life and love story of Shah Jahan and his beloved Mumtaj Mahal, her death and the construction of the Taj. Dancers, actors, film and lasers and a huge model of the Taj. (Headphones for narration in any of a dozen languages). Then—back to the hotel and a needed sleep. Up early tomorrow to see the sunrise at the Taj Mahal.
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