North India - Tourism AttractionTaj Mahal, AgraAgra. Where the sun dawns gently over the Taj Mahal. Where words of undying love need never spoken to be heard. Where white marble walls, fine filigree trellises and exquisite pietra-dura tell their own story. The Taj was built in the memory of the beautiful queen Mumtaz Mahal who died in child-birth. The bereaved Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, had no desire to live except to see a mausoleum built, as afitting tribute to her extraordinary beauty. The finest architects were summoned and the Taj Mahal was crafted as a labor of love over 21 years. Set on the banks of the River Jamuna, the Taj rises like a lovely lyric in white marble. Agra is far more than just the Taj. The seat of the Mughal Empire for years, its forts and mosques reflect Mughal architecture at its zenith. The Agra Fort with its massive red sandstone walls, deep moats, heavy draw-bridges and mysterious underground tunnels. Jahangir’s Palace with its symmetrically planned gardens, bubbling fountains, and richly engraved work on marble is an interesting blend of Hindu and central Asian architectural styles.
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The first reference to the name Delhi seems to have been made in the 1st century BC when Raja Dhilu built the first city of Delhi near the site of the future Qutab Minar. Delhi went through many ups and downs and did not reemerge into prominence until the 12th century A.D., when it was made the capital of the ruler Prthviraja III. After his defeat later that century, the city passed into Muslim hands. Qutb-ud-Din Aybak, builder of the famous tower Qutab Minar (completed in the early 13th century), also chose Delhi as his capital.
The second city of Delhi was built by Ala-ud-Din Khalji at Siri, three miles northeast of the Qutab Minar (near what is today Hauz Khaus and the Asian Games Village).
The third city of Delhi was built by Ghiyas-ud-Din Tughluq (1320-25) at Tughlakabad but had to be abandoned in favor of the old site near Qutab Minar because of a scarcity of water. The ruins of Tughlakabad are located on the present-day Delhi-Haryana border towards Faridabad.
His successor, Muhammad ibn Tughluq, extended the city farther northeast and built new forticications around it. It then became the fourth city of Delhi, under the name Jahanpanah. The new settlements were located between the old cities near the Qutab Minar and Siri Fort.
Muhammad ibn Tughluq's successor, Firuz Shah Tughluq, abandoned this site altogether and in 1354 moved his capital farther north near the ancient site of Indraprastha. Thus, the fifth city of Delhi, Firuzabad, was founded on what is now the Firoz Shah Kotla area. Delhi was invaded and partially destroyed by Timur at the end of the 14th century, and the last of the sultan kings moved the capital to Agra.
Babur, the first Mughal ruler, reestablished Delhi as the seat of his empire in 1526. His son and successor, Humayun, built a new city on the site of the previously demolished Firuzabad and called in Din Panah. Sher Shah, who overthrew Humayun in 1540, razed Din Panah and built his capital, the Sher Shahi (the Old Fort or Purana Qilah), as the sixth city of Delhi.
Delhi once again lost importance when the Mughal emperors Akbar (1556-1605) and Jahangir (1605-1627) moved their headquarters to Fatehpur Sikri (near Agra) and Agra, respectively. The city was restored to its glory in 1638 when the son of Jahangir, Shah Jahan, laid the foundations of the seventh city of Delhi, Shahjahanabad. What was Shahjahanabad has come to be known as Old Delhi. The greater part of the city is still confined within the space of Shah Jahan's walls and several gates built during his rule -- the Kashmiri Gate, the Delhi Gate, the Turkman Gate, and the Ajmeri Gate -- still stand.
The largest of Old Delhi's monuments is Lal Qila, or Red Fort (daily dawn-dusk; Rs0.50), whose thick red sandstone walls, bulging with turrets and bastions, rise above a wide dry moat in the northeast corner of the original city of Shahjahanabad. The fort covers a semi-octagonal area of almost 2km, its longest walls facing the town in the west and the River Yamuna in the east. Work was started on the fort - modeled on the royal citadel in Agra - in 1639, and it was completed by 1648. It contains all the expected trappings of the centre of Moghul government: halls of public and private audience, domed and arched marble palaces, plush private apartments, a mosque, and elaborately designed gardens.
Built by Akbar in 1564 and enlarged by the next three generations, the fort contains the Moti Masjid, Diwan-i- Am, Diwan-i-Khas, Jehangir Mahal etc. - all of which are the fine examples of the Mughal architecture.
24 miles south west of Agra lies the deserted sandstone city of Fatehpur Sikri, built by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1569 at the spot where Saint Salim Chisti, who foretold the birth of a son to the Emperor lived. To commemorate the event, Akbar shifted his Capital there and in a short span of time a complex of Forts, Palaces and Mosques sprang up. It is said that Englishmen who came to meet the Emperor at Sikri in 1583 could scarcely beleive their eyes for the glory and grandeur of the city.
Because of scarcity of water, Akbar was forced to abandon the city and Fatehpur Sikri became a ghost town. A number of graceful buldings adorn the city, the more important of which are :
Built in 1575 and designed to hold 10,000 worshippers, the Mosque excels in symmetry and inlay designs. The Victory Gate, the Buland Darwaza, with its massive dimensions, dominates the scene.
Within the courtyard of the Mosque is the mausoleum of Saint Salim Chisti who had foretold the birth of a son of Emperor Akbar. Even today thousands of childless women, belonging to all religions, come to the tomb of this Mohamadan saint, seeking the same blessing that he bestowed upon the Emperor over 400 hundreds ago.
More than 350 feet long, it consists of an alcove around a courtyard within which is the Hall of Judgement where Emperor Akbar sat. Behind the hall is the courtyard where the Emperor played chess using slave girls as living pieces.
Sam Sand Dunes- Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.
Welcome to the world of the Thar Desert, the land of Sam Sand Dunes, of adventure and rugged expeditions! Explore the undisturbed beauty, the rich culture and the picturesque sand dunes!
Any trip to Jaisalmer is indeed,
incomplete, without a trip to the most panoramic dunes of Sam where the wind is
unceasingly carving out scenic patterns, on the sand!
The dunes touched by the wind, and
therefore becoming as it were wrinkled, create a mystical picture, a challenge
to every trigger-happy photographer or filmmaker. Nevertheless, you need a
little bit of luck with the clouds, that means no clouds at all. The best point
of time is of course is sunrise or sunset.
Ajanta caves, Aurangabad
The state of Maharashtra is
blessed with a rich heritage of ancient monuments and exquisite architectural
marvels representing different phases of development in the art and
architectural style. The prime rock-cut architectural examples of the cave
temples that are spread all over the state are the caves of Ajanta and Ellora.
Ajanta caves including the unfinished ones are thirty in number; of which five
- 9, 10, 19, 26 and 29 are 'Chaitya-Grihas' and the rest are 'Sangharamas' or
'Viharas' (monasteries). After centuries of oblivion, these caves of Ajanta
were discovered in AD 1819. They fall into two distinct phases with a break of
nearly four centuries between them. All the caves of the earlier phase date
between 2nd century BC - AD.
Ajanta caves of the second phase were excavated during the supremacy of the
Vakatakas and Guptas. According to inscriptions, Varahadeva, the minister of
the Vakataka king, Harishena (c. 475-500 AD), dedicated Cave 16 to the
Buddhist Sangha while Cave 17 was the gift of the prince, a feudatory. An
inscription records that - Buddha image in Cave 4 was the gift of some
Abhayanandi who hailed from Mathura.
A few paintings, which survive on the walls of Caves 9, and 10 go back to the
2nd century BC-AD. The second group of the Ajanta cave paintings started in
about the 5th century AD and continued for the next two centuries as,
noticeable in later caves. The themes are intensely religious in tone and
centre round Buddha, Bodhisattvas, incidents from the life of Buddha and the 'Jatakas'.
Ajanta cave paintings are executed on a ground of mud-plaster in the tempera
technique.
Ellora caves, Aurangabad