SURAJ-BHAN-KA BAGH.—This is another two-storied building of about the same period, but not quite so fine in style, facing the Agra road, at a little distance from the Kanch Mahal.
MARIAM ZÂMÂNI'S TOMB.—A short distance further on, in the direction of Muttra, is the building supposed to have been originally the garden house of Sikandar Lodi, in which Mariam Zâmâni, one of Akbar's wives, is said to have been buried. It has been used for many years as a printing establishment for a Mission Orphanage.
Other Buildings and Tombs at or near Agra
The tomb of Feroz Khan, opposite to the third milestone on the Gwalior road, is an interesting building of Akbar's time, richly carved and decorated with tile-work. Close by is the tomb of the Pahalwari, where a celebrated wrestler of Shah Jahan's time is buried. There are a considerable number of buildings and numerous ruins in Agra, and round about, which possess only historical or archæological interest. In the town are the following:—
The KALI MASJID, or Black Mosque, otherwise called the Kalan Masjid, or Grand Mosque, is of the early Akbar style. It was built by the father of Shah Jahan's first wife, the Kandahâri Begum. This is near to the Government dispensary.
In the Nai-ki-Mundi quarter is the mosque of Shah Ala-ud-din Majzub, commonly known as ALAWAL BILAWAL, a saint who lived at the time of Shere Shah. He established a school of Muhammadan law, and founded a monastery besides the mosque. The accumulations round the mosque have reached up to the springing of the arches, and tradition accounts for this by the following story: A camel-driver in Shere Shah's service stabled his beasts in the mosque, in spite of the protests of the saint Thereupon the building began to sink into the ground, and did not cease descending until the camels and their driver were crushed to death.
The HAMMAN, or Baths of Ali Verdi Khan, in Chipitolla Street, built in the time of Jahangir. An inscription over the gateway gives the date, 1620 A.D. They cannot be compared in interest with the splendid "Hakim's Baths," at Fatehpur Sikri.
The ROMAN CATHOLIC CEMETERY, in the quarter known as Padritollah, near the Law Courts, is one of the most ancient Christian cemeteries in India. The ground was granted to the mission by the Emperor Akbar. There are a number of Portuguese and Armenian tombs dating from early in the seventeenth century. It also contains the tomb of the notorious Walter Reinhardt, or Samru, as he was called, the founder of the principality of Sirdhana, whose history is given at p. 38. The Dutch General Messing, who held Agra Fort for the Mahrattas in 1794, has a very florid mausoleum of red sandstone, more curious than beautiful; the design of which is in imitation of the Taj.
Fatehpur Sikri
Fatehpur Sikri is the famous deserted city, about twenty-three miles from Agra, built by Akbar. It was formerly merely a village, called Sikri, celebrated as the abode of Sheikh Salîm Chishti, a Muhammadan pîr, or saint. In 1564, Akbar, returning from a campaign, halted near the cave in which the saint lived. The twin children of his Rajput wife, Mariam Zâmâni, had recently died, and he was anxious for an heir. He consulted the holy man, who advised him to come and live at Sikri. The Emperor did so, and nine months afterwards Mariam, who was taken to Chishti's cell for her confinement, gave birth to a son, afterwards the Emperor Jahangir. He was called Sultan Salîm in honour of the saint. Jahangir, who describes all these circumstances in his memoirs, adds: "My revered father, regarding the village of Sikri, my birthplace, as fortunate to himself, made it his capital, and in the course of fourteen or fifteen years the hills and deserts, which abounded in beasts of prey, became converted into a magnificent city, comprising numerous gardens, elegant edifices and pavilions, and other places of great attraction and beauty. After the conquest of Gujarat, the village was named Fatehpur (the town of victory)."