Bandipora District / Hazratbal (Srinagar), JAMMU & KASHMIR :
Has 20 patents in his name, winner of 5 medals
Innovation is the process of turning ideas into manufacturer and marketable form and this maxim has been proven by M-Tech degree holder Jahangir Arshid of North Kashmir’s Bandipora district.
He has over 20 patents in his name, out of which five of them have won him gold medals. Jahangir, 27, is currently pursuing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AIML) at the University of Texas in the United States, and runs an institution called “Kashmir Innovates”, popularly known as KASHOVATIC, in Hazratbal, Srinagar.
Presently, he is working on a unique patent like “Spoon” that would check the concentration of salt in any dish that our womenfolk prepare in their kitchens.
The idea to determine the reading of salt in units was evolved after students often complained of not getting the taste of salt in their meals. Jahangir has six students of 9th to 12th standards assisting him at his Bandipora workshop, besides continuing with their learning.
Giving a reason for taking up the “Spoon” project, Jahangir said that, “In the dishes that our sisters and mothers prepare, the salt content either remains low or more. This encouraged students to create an electric device which will check the concentration of salt on the basics of 10th-level science, which teaches us the basis of conductivity and resistance.” Jahangir further said, “Spoon will show the reading of units of salt when it is put in the utensil containing the meal to be prepared and accordingly the quantity of salt can be added.” Describing it as a prototype, Jahangir said companies that accept it can take it and redesign it as per their requirement before marketing it.
“Presently, it works in battery mode and we are trying to make it battery less so that there is no need to charge it time and again,” Jahangir said, adding that it would take the boys at least two more months to reach perfection.
“We will make it on “Speck Effect”, which reacts to temperature and generates voltage and, when one dips the spoon in any hot dish, it will automatically show the content of salt,” Jahangir, adding, “We will change to super capacitor charge for it to run and work on its own.”
Jahangir said that “Spoon” will not only solve kitchen problems, but also help hypertensive people decide how much salt they should take.
He said that Adnan Farooq, Tabish Mushtaq, Tabasum Manzoor, Amaan, Seerat Jan and Zainab-un-nisa are presently on the job to take “Project Spoon” to its logical conclusion.
Jahangir’s first unique innovation was a “Baby Peace and Foretelling Device”, a diaper-shaped item meant for children and paralytic patients, giving advance signals about a baby or a paralytic patient about to go for a “Peep”. He said a nurse or attendant would get a message in advance when a patient wants to go for a “peep” and accordingly she can move the latter to the washroom.
Different companies from Japan, including Unicharm and Unitear, have shown interest after seeing our patents. “We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with them and are in constant touch rather than being in queue for medical research. Recently, we received an email stating that ‘we found your technology unique throughout the globe,’” said Jahangir.
“With the encouragement from Japanese companies, we have started a chain of innovations and presently we are working on more than 20 patents,” he added.
“Five of these patents are of international level and have won me four gold and one silver medal. We have also won the Medal of Honor from the Association of European Innovators, which are being run by the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Portugal,” Jahangir said
Gold medals have been won for the baby peace and foretelling device, self-cleaning utensils, brain interface for specially-abled persons and hardware automation system for examinations. The patent for stabilisation and transformation frequency control won a silver medal.
“After achieving success, we started a patent institution where we teach our students how to make these patents and how to apply basic science to remove the problems of common people,” Jahangir said.
“The motive of KASHOVATIC is to develop an innovative culture and scientific temperament in the Kashmir Valley which would help students of 9th and 10th standards to differentiate and find out what is piquant in society and attracts them in a big way. Developing a scientific temperament and attitude will encourage them to innovate, take responsibility and help society deal with its many problems,” he added.
More than 150 students have given us innovations through “KASHOVATICS”. “Recently, we got approval from the Association for Information Communication Technology (AICT),” he said, adding that “our institute is running successfully and our efforts are bearing fruit, as there is a lot of exposure in Srinagar.”
He said that under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2022, the promotion of innovative products needs enhancement of structure and development so that innovators can bring about a revolution in society. Jahangir further said that engineers who have completed their studies have great potential and could be great innovators in society.
“Not only engineers, but every student could be an innovator, but the need of the hour is to look at problems in a way that we can give solutions and that kind of thinking can make us innovators. Only innovation could take us forward in this world,” he concludes.
source: http://www.brighterkashmir.com / Brighter Kashmir / Home / by Qaisar Ahmad / March 10th, 2022
Ajar Village (Bandipora District), JAMMU & KASHMIR :
Bandipora :
In rural corners of Kashmir, where girls are struggling to support and their success is rarely celebrated, a young girl from Bandipora has let her paintbrush speak louder than words and became an inspiration for many by becoming first Kashmiri women to achieve Gold in Influencer Book of World Records.
Seerat Tariq, 19-year-old stroked in tradition and imagination, has become the first Kashmiri girl to receive a gold medal and etch her name in the Influencer Book of World Records through her mastery of tribal art painting.
Born in the quiet village of Ajar in North Kashmir’s Bandipora district, Seerat has proved that girls are not less than boys. She has achieved a feat which many boys and girls wish to achieve in their lives.
Speaking with the Kashmir Despatch, Seerat said that she was passionate about drawing and painting since childhood. “When everyone was inside their homes during the Covid-19, I used to utilize my time in painting and create imagery painting which helped me to polish my skills.”
Her recent paintings which highlighted tribal life in Kashmir have helped her to enter her name in the influencer book of records.
She received her award on August 17 in ceremony for International book of influencer records Jaipur Rajasthan.
Her paintings are not only about art, it also highlights crucial issues about climate change, drug addiction among youths and importance of keeping the environment clean.
“Everyone was saying art is not enough to build a future. Fewer people consider this a profession in future, especially if a girl is doing it. Everyone used to demoticate me but my mother stands beside me which gives me hope and helps me to achieve this feat,” Seerat told Kashmir Despatch.
Seerat earlier made a record of making 104 paintings in a single day and entered her name in Asia Book of Records, followed by India Star Passion Award for art and creativity. Each milestone of hard work carried her closer to the global stage.
“Art can communicate more than words, it is the way which attracts the soul. I hope my paintings can bring a social change in our society.”
After achieving this feat, Seerat is preparing for the Genius Book of records and wants to highlight the Kashmiri tradition and beauty on the global stage.
Seerat urges other youths not to involve themselves in evil things. “Identify your hidden talent and use your skill to polish that talent and come on forefront and be the responsible member of the society, serve your society and be a change maker.”
source: http://www.kashmirdespatch.com / Kashmir Despatch / Home> Business / by Seerat Un Nisa / September 01st, 2025
Four Indian Muslim women creatives talk about how they discovered what they love.
Art lets us see ourselves in other people. It opens windows so we don’t get lost in the darkness, and reminds us that we’re never alone.
I believe that every person who thinks creatively is an artist. Whether you’re an entrepreneur or a scientist, you are a creative person if you’re finding new ways to tell stories and experience the world. When we spend time with art, we start to see things differently. When we listen to other people’s stories, we begin to connect to them and also understand more about ourselves.
Today, on the occasion of Muslim Women’s Day, we are presented with a special opportunity to pass the mic and celebrate Muslim women in a world that has historically overlooked them. When I founded the trend report and online community Unapologetically Muslim back in 2017, there was an important cultural shift happening. Donald Trump had issued an immigration ban preventing Muslims from entering the United States, and people were showing vocal support for Muslims, but their identity was also being typecast and commodified. Their stories were being told for them.
In response, I created a platform for Muslim women to tell their own stories. Over the last six years, I have interviewed over 130 women from all over the world and shared their stories on Instagram. I’m not Muslim myself but wanted to find a way to show solidarity. It’s been incredible to speak to women about their creative journeys and their dreams for the future. We have so much to learn from each other.
This year, for Muslim Women’s Day, I interviewed four Indian Muslim women creatives about how they discovered what they love. I hope their words give you some inspiration, and I hope that you take the opportunity to celebrate the Muslim women in your life.
Ruha Shadab, founder of LedBy Foundation
I was born in Saudi Arabia and moved to Noida when I was eight years old. I was a very quiet child but remember speaking about social impact as a six-year-old. At dinner, an uncle asked me what I wished for when I grew up, and I said world peace. He laughed at me, which I thought was amusing because I was being very honest about what I wanted.
I would eventually go on to create the LedBy Foundation, a leadership incubator for Indian Muslim women. I truly believe that the education and employment of women is one of the most pressing issues we’re facing in India. I hope that every Indian gets the opportunities, support and encouragement to achieve their professional dreams. At LedBy, we focus on helping Muslim women with the hope that it will have a positive externality. We’re giving them the support they need to reach top positions in 10-20 years as they climb the corporate ladder.
During our graduation ceremony last year, we invited parents and family members to speak. One father said, ‘This is the first time I’m speaking on a public platform. LedBy is empowering Ayesha and now Ayesha is empowering me.’ It’s beautiful that our work can have an upstream effect towards parents. The impact is not just at the individual level, but at the family level. Change is already coming and I believe that LedBy is expediting it.
Sana Khan, co-founder of Bombay Closet Cleanse and pole dancer
Growing up in a very conservative family, I was never able to wear what I wanted to. I was pretty shy and underconfident because I wasn’t exposed to a lot. I used to go to tuitions wearing salwar kameez while my friends would wear shorts. I’ve changed outfits in cabs and corners under my building. I had to fight really hard for what I wanted to wear.
After I got married, I became a compulsive shopper and would buy things I didn’t need. I wanted to have everything that I didn’t get to wear as a teenager. I was on this spree of buying, buying, buying. It became my identity.
At some point, I organised a charity garage sale at my home where about 100 people turned up. I received so much love and warmth from this community and we raised INR 15,000 for the Salvation Army. It was really heartwarming to see the response, so my sister Alfiya and I started a thrift store called Bombay Closet Cleanse. At first, it was just about making space in my closet. Then, slowly, I learned a lot and became very passionate about sustainability.
At the same time, I was at a very low point in my life. I saw burlesque dancers perform in Melbourne and was inspired by their confidence and body positivity. I’ve always gravitated towards sensual dance forms because they make me feel powerful in a way that I didn’t as a child. When I came back to Bombay, I signed up for pole classes and started doing therapy. They worked like magic for my confidence.
I have a pole in my house and I only perform for myself. It’s something that I absolutely love doing and it’s helped heal my childhood trauma. I’ve fought for it so hard that now, everyone has accepted it.
Sabika Abbas Naqvi, poet and activist
I come from a legacy of care and love. I grew up in a mosque compound in Lucknow with lots of love and appreciation. I was the quiet one and loved books. I had a record of finishing a book a day.
I started writing poetry when I was four years old. I would go upstairs and scribble things and I would come back and people would read it. From the balcony of the masjid, older people would ask me to read what I had written. At that time, I would call my poetry gibberish, but that was the beginning.
I’m Shia Muslim so I come from a huge cultural context of mourning and the noha and marsiya poetry that comes out of it. I had no idea what spoken poetry was, but the performance of that poetry really inspired me and became a tool I used to question everything around me. Now, for me, there is no other way to do poetry.
My poems are questions that I wanted to ask everyone around me, and they are also answers to questions that I was asked. It’s an all-inclusive theatre of words. It’s not a piece of literature; it’s an experience, and the performance comes with it. It’s not just the words that have to be said, but the way in which the words have to be said: which word is lightly put forward and which word is put forward with tenderness or anger.
The purpose of this poetry is my lifelong mission. I write poems that are multilingual so that more people can understand them. My poetry must and should be read on the streets in protest and if it is not, then it is a failure of mine. If people can spread hatred on the streets, why can’t I spread love?
Nuzha Ebrahim, chef and owner of Kuckeliku Breakfast House and The Fromagerie
I’ve always been entrepreneurial. Growing up, I tried to use any bit of talent to create things I could sell. In second or third grade, someone gifted me a pottery kit and I went around my building trying to sell misshapen pots to people. In high school, I started painting white Bata canvas shoes and T-shirts and selling them to people. There’s still a Facebook group somewhere. That’s how I made my pocket money and it helped shape what I’m doing now.
I tried to pursue art but it was one of those things where if I did it for money, I would start to hate it and couldn’t stick to it. Retrospectively, I realised that cooking was the one thing I hadn’t quit. It’s one of those things that I just don’t get bored of. Twelve years later, I’m still doing it.
My dad’s side of the family is in the restaurant business. My granddad set up his first restaurant 35-40 years ago so I grew up in that culture, but my parents didn’t really consider that I would take this forward until later in life. They assumed that this was one of the many hobbies I would quit, so I don’t think anyone was taking it seriously.
Cooking is like jazz; you keep riffing and creating something new out of the same ingredients that you have, and that’s really fun for me. When I cook for myself, it’s always about throwing things together and it’s kind of awful because I can never make the same dish twice. If I make something and I really love it, I can never do it again, because I never write things down.
In the restaurant business, every day is a different challenge. I have a grilled cheese business called The Fromagerie and a restaurant called Kuckeliku Breakfast House. There’s never monotony, so it’s always fun. Right now, it’s keeping me quite fulfilled.
source: http://www.vogue.in / Vogue India / Home> Culture / by Nayantara Dutta / March 27th, 2023
From humble beginnings in Moradabad to restoring historic monuments, manuscripts, and paintings, Maimunah Nargis blends traditional techniques with eco-friendly materials
New Delhi :
Art conservation is a field that not only preserves history but also connects generations to their cultural roots. Among the pioneers in this domain is Maimunah Nargis, India’s first Muslim woman art conservator. Her journey is a testament to passion, determination, and resilience, transforming scattered fragments of history into living heritage.
From childhood, Maimunah nurtured an interest in fine arts, which later became both her profession and life’s calling. After completing her schooling, she enrolled in Fine Arts at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), but facing challenges in gaining admission to the MFA programme, she opted for a one-year diploma in Museology, a decision that became a turning point in her life. This course took her to New Delhi’s National Museum, where a three-month internship allowed her to experience history beyond books, touching and restoring priceless artefacts firsthand.
In 2002, Maimunah began her career as a curator at Jaigarh Fort in Jaipur, gradually establishing herself in the field of art conservation despite societal and professional hurdles. Wearing a hijab, she often faced doubts from clients, who would sometimes withdraw projects even after they had been approved. Reflecting on these challenges, she said, “This was a lesson for me, not a loss.”
Despite taunts when she left AMU for Delhi, her parents’ unwavering support gave her the courage to pursue her dreams, and her mother even accompanied her to the exam centre, demonstrating faith in her daughter’s ambitions.
Over the years, Maimunah has undertaken numerous landmark projects. She rebuilt the 400-year-old wooden chariot of the Lodwar Jain temple in Jaisalmer, which had been destroyed by termites, using traditional materials without the help of a carpenter. She reassembled broken statues from the 6th to 13th centuries in Akbar’s Fort, Ajmer, ensuring the joints remained invisible. She restored a 400-year-old Sanskrit manuscript in gold and ink at Kota Museum, and meticulously conserved the painted ceilings of 11 rooms in Garh Palace, Jhalawar, preserving three of them without removing a single piece or causing any damage.
Her work has also reached modern spaces such as Jaipur and Mumbai airports, where she restored a 5,000-square-foot canvas painting on Maratha history, and at Rashtrapati Bhavan, she preserved historic pictures on wooden doors. At the National Museum, she safeguarded historical books including Baburnama, Akbarnama, Shahjahanama, and Jahangirnama, and brought decayed artworks and royal garments back to life.
Maimunah’s approach to conservation goes hand in hand with her respect for the environment. She has often highlighted that cement lasts only 30 years, whereas traditional Indian plaster made of red clay and lime, being both eco-friendly and cost-effective, could endure for thousands of years. She applied these methods while constructing a building in Dehradun on the site of a 400-year-old mansion and a modern farmhouse in Gurgaon.
Her dedication has earned her three national and 28 state awards, as well as recognition from institutions such as Kurukshetra and Jammu University. Her dreams include building a heritage resort in Madhya Pradesh using traditional materials and restoring a 500-year-old temple in Mathura, aiming to help India rediscover its cultural roots and architectural heritage.
Hailing from Bhajoi in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, Maimunah grew up in a simple household but with ambitious dreams. Her father, a UP Police officer, always encouraged her, fostering the confidence to pursue an unconventional career path. Today, she resides in Jaipur, remaining hands-on in her work, kneading lime and plastering walls herself. She proudly states, “I am the only Shia Muslim woman art conservator in the country, and this is my identity.” Maimunah Nargis’s life story demonstrates that with passion, courage, and perseverance, a woman can overcome societal barriers, make history, and inspire generations. She has become more than a name; she is a symbol of culture, dedication, and empowerment.
source: http://www.clarionindia.net / Clarion India / Home> Editor’s Pick> Indian Muslim / by Clarion India / September 21st, 2025
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind’s Relief Center sent thirty trucks of humanitarian aid worth five million rupees to flood-affected Punjab districts.
A convoy of thirty trucks full of humanitarian aid of approximately five million rupees was sent by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind’s Relief Center to the districts affected by flood in Punjab.
The aid sent under the leadership of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind president Maulana Mahmood Madani will reach areas like Sultanpur Lodhi, Kapoor Thala, Anjala, Gurdaspur, Ferozepur, Ludhiana among others.
The convoy was led by Maulana Muhammad Yahya Karimi who is Nazim-e-Ala of Haryana.
During the convoy’s departure, members of Jamiat, ministers of the Punjab government, many activists and members of Sikh community were also present.
The local Sikh community praised jamait for its effort to send aid and bring relief to hundreds of families.
The Jamiat asserted that it believes that it is its duty to serve people regardless of religion and nation. It reaffirmed that the whole world is like a family of Allah and the best person is the one who serves everyone.
Maulana Madani stated, “We do all of this for the sake of Allah — to please him. We stand with our sikh brothers who are well known for serving humanity and we believe Allah sends help to those who help others around them.”
source: http://www.muslimmirror.com / Muslim Mirror / Home> India> Indian Muslim / by Muslim Mirror Network / September 23rd, 2025
A meeting of minds: Riyaz Shaik with Yaqeen Sikander, Research Scholar in Clinical Psychology at Ibn Haldun University, Istanbul – exchanging ideas on mental health and human resilience.
In the heart of Istanbul, where East meets West, a young Kashmiri psychologist has been quietly shaping the future of mental health. Yaqeen Sikander, a PhD candidate in Clinical Psychology at Ibn Haldun University, is not just a therapist; he is a bridge between cultures, faiths, and healing traditions.
The Journey of a Psychologist
Born in Kashmir and trained across continents, Sikander has dedicated his career to exploring the intersections of science, psychology, and spirituality. His work spans clinical therapy, psychometric testing, disaster psychology, and Islamic integrated psychotherapy.
“Healing is not just about the mind; it’s about restoring meaning, faith, and hope,” he often tells his students and clients.
Healing Amidst Disaster
When the devastating 2023 earthquakes struck Türkiye, Sikander rushed into the disaster zones of Adıyaman.
He offered psychological first aid to survivors.
Designed relaxation posters for children in refugee camps.
Guided families through grief and trauma recovery.
His reflections were later published in TRT World, where he described meeting a young man who had lost 229 members of his extended family – a haunting reminder of the depth of human suffering, and the urgent need for psychological care in crises.
Teaching & Workshops
In September 2024, Bengaluru, India hosted a 5-day workshop led by Sikander on Traditional Islamically Integrated Psychotherapy (TIIP).
The event brought together psychiatrists, counsellors, and students from across India, eager to learn how faith and therapy can complement each other in healing.
A New Face of Global Psychology
Certified TIIP practitioner
Advocate for refugee mental health
Trainer in self-care and stress management
Speaker in international forums on trauma psychology
From Kashmir to Istanbul, from classrooms to crisis zones, Sikander has become a global voice for compassionate psychology.
Special Note
“It was a pleasure meeting Mr. Yaqeen Sikander, Research Scholar in Clinical Psychology at Ibn Haldun University, Istanbul. His insightful sessions on mental health were highly beneficial and inspiring. Wishing him continued success and barakah in his academic and professional journey. May Allah SWT bless his efforts, Ameen.”
The Special Edition of Spot News Vijayawada celebrated Yaqeen Sikander not only as a scholar but also as a humanitarian – an individual proving that psychology is not confined to textbooks but is lived, felt, and shared in the deepest struggles of human life.
“Minds can heal. Nations can rise again. But it begins with care,” says Sikander.
source: http://www.radiancenews.com / Radiance News / Home> Features> Focus / by Radiance Special Correspondent / Radiance News Bureau / September 23rd, 2025
The Lahori Gate of the Red Fort that the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan built in Shahjahanabad, the new capital city he moved to from Agra in 1638, which is now know as Old Delhi.
ON the eastern edge of Delhi along the banks of the Yamuna river, which has shifted its course considerably today, and adjacent to the older Salimgarh Fort is situated the Lal Qila, or the Red Fort, one of the most iconic representations of India’s Independence Day celebrations. Declared a World Heritage Site in 2007, it was built by the fifth Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (regnal years 1628-1658) as the citadel of his new capital city, Shahjahanabad (literally the abode of Shah Jahan). Known by different names at different points of time such as Qila-i-Mubarak (the Fortunate Citadel), Qila-i-Shahjahanabad or Qila-i-Mualla (the Exalted Fort), the Red Fort represents the pinnacle of Mughal palace-fort building activity.
Shah Jahan constructed Shahjahanabad after he changed his capital from Agra to Delhi in 1638. The French traveller Francois Bernier said the scorching heat of Agra forced the emperor to look for a new capital. But there were clearly other deeper reasons. Delhi’s geographical location was more strategic for the control of the empire. Further, as the author of the 19th century biographical work Maasir al-Umara said: “Exalted sultans always had it in mind to cause the world to remember [them] by a permanent monument.” Agra had by then become a little too small for Shah Jahan’s grand and ambitious building plans. Overbuilding and encroachments had led to huge congestion in a city getting progressively eroded by the Yamuna. There had also been incidents of people getting killed/injured during processions/festivals. In 1639, Shah Jahan instructed his architects, engineers and astrologers to select a new site in a mild climate somewhere between Agra and Lahore.
The choice of Delhi was facilitated by many factors. It had been the capital and a centre of Muslim rule since the times of Qutbuddin Aibak until around 1506 when the Afghan ruler Sikandar Lodi (regnal years 1489-1517) shifted his capital to Agra. Later, Shah Jahan’s grandfather, the Mughal emperor Humayun, laid the foundations for a new capital called Dinpanah in the modern Purana Qila /Old Fort area. Delhi had also been an important religious-spiritual and pilgrimage centre housing tombs and graves of several holy men, including Nizamuddin Auliya, Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki and Nasiruddin Chirag Dehlavi. Hakim Maharat Khan Isfahani, writing in the early 18th century, says: “It was always the dar al mulk [seat of empire] of the great sultans and the centre of the circle of Islam [ markaz-i dairah Islam ].” The historian Swapna Liddle argues that the specific spot—the right bank of the Yamuna and south of the Salimgarh Fort, which Islam Shah Suri built in 1546—is regarded as auspicious in Hindu mythology. It was believed to have been blessed by Vishnu as a place where knowledge of the Vedas could be had by just taking a dip in the waters. It was called Nigambodhak , meaning that which makes known the knowledge of the Vedas. Nigambodh Ghat continues to be regarded as a holy site by Hindus.
Scholars have suggested various models to comprehend the city. The historian Stephen Blake argues that like many other capital cities, such as Istanbul, Isfahan (Persia), Tokyo and Peking, Shahjahanabad was also the “exemplar” of the sovereign city model—the “capital of the patrimonial-bureaucratic empire”, a type of state that characterised Asian empires from about 1400 to 1750. Others, such as E. Ehlers and Thomas Krafft, have characterised Shahjahanabad as an “imperial Islamic city”. An important factor to bear in mind is the way the Mughals, or for that matter even Hindus, viewed capital cities. The capital was an axis mundi —or the centre of the earth where the celestial and the mundane intersected. In the words of Muhammad Salih, an official historian of Shah Jahan’s reign: “Its four walls… enclosed the centre of the earth [ markaz-i khak ].” While the nature of the city continues to be debated, there is no doubt that it was one of the finest imperial capitals of the time. It had all the features of a great Mughal city: a palace-fort, enclosure walls, streets with squares, bazaars, mosques, gardens, imperial buildings, commercial neighbourhoods and industrial establishments, some within the palace-fort complex and some outside it.
On April 29, 1639, at a time determined by imperial astrologers, the subahdar (governor) of Delhi ordered the architects Ustad Ahmad and Ustad Hamid to begin the excavations for the new capital. After nine years, on April 19, 1648, Shah Jahan entered the Daulatkhana-i-Khas / Diwan-i-Khas (Hall of Special Audience) through the gate fronting the river.
The palace-fort was built at a cost of around one crore rupees, half of which was spent on the construction of the palaces within. It occupied the north-eastern edge of the new imperial city. Later, Shah Jahan also constructed a wall around the city, which Bernier found to be inadequate. The wall was punctuated by towers, bastions, gates and entryways. Of its 14 major gates, the important ones are the Mori, Lahori, Ajmeri, Turkomani, Kashmiri and Akbarabadi (later known as the Delhi Gate) Gates.
Fort wall and entrances The palace-fort complex together with the Salimgarh Fort occupies an area of 121 acres (one acre is 0.4 hectare). It is an irregular octagon with its two longer sides in the east and west. According to the art historian Percy Brown, most of it was laid out in squares and there was hardly an oblique line or curve in the entire scheme. The riverfront section contained important royal buildings. A water channel, called Nahar-i-behisht (Stream of Paradise), ran through these buildings. The fort complex was surrounded on three sides by a moat and by the Yamuna on the eastern side. The wall on the north-eastern side borders the Salimgarh Fort, which served as a prison during Mughal times. The wall of the palace-fort covers a perimeter of 2.41 kilometres. Along the river, it is 18 metres high and on the other sides it is 33.5 m high. The wall was built of red sandstone (hence the name Red Fort) brought upstream on the Yamuna from Fatehpur Sikri.
The archaeologist Y.D. Sharma pointed out that there were five grand entrance gates to the fort, only two of which are still in use: the imposing three-storey Lahori (facing the direction of Lahore) Gate and the Delhi Gate (facing Delhi). The latter, which Shah Jahan used to go to Jama Masjid, is similar in layout and appearance to the Lahori but is notable for the two life-sized stone elephants on either side of it. Aurangzeb, Shah Jahan’s son and successor, demolished the elephants, but the British Viceroy Lord Curzon had them restored in 1903. Lying under the Musamman Burj , the riverfronting octagonal tower, was a third gate that the emperor used as a private entrance.
The bazaars The fort was characterised by rectangular buildings laid out in a symmetrical arrangement with intersecting thoroughfares. There were two principal streets/thoroughfares, which also served as bazaars. They emanated from within the fort-palace but went beyond to the city. They intersected at right angles in the courtyard outside the Naqqar Khana (Drum House). The principal imperial street, running from east to west, began at the Rang Mahal (Palace of Colour) and ran through the Lahori Gate of the fort to Fatehpuri Masjid. This street was divided into three bazaars separated by two squares. The first, lying between the Lahori Gate and the chowk (square) of the Kotwali Chabutra (City Magistrate’s Platform), was called Urdu Bazar (Bazaar of the Royal Camp). The second part, commissioned by Shah Jahan’s daughter Jahanara Begum, extended from Kotwali Chabutra to the octagonal Chandni Chowk (Silver Square) and was called Ashrafi Bazar (Moneychangers’ Market) or Jauhari Bazar (Jewellers’ Bazaar). It had a hammam (bathhouse), a sarai (inn) and a garden (Bagh Sahibabad) near it. The final section, from Chandni Chowk to Fatehpuri Masjid, was called Fatehpuri Bazar . The Nahar-i-behisht , bordered by trees, ran down the middle of the bazaars.
The second street, in the north-south direction, stretched from the Akbarabadi Gate of the fort to the Akbarabadi Gate of the city and had a market that later came to be known as the Faiz Bazar (Bazaar of Plenty). As in the case of the first street, a stream from the Nahar-i-behisht ran down the middle of this bazaar. There was also a bazaar, a small one, that connected Jama Masjid and the palace-fort and it was inhabited by dancing girls, medicine men, jugglers, storytellers and astrologers.
The Lahori Gate remains the main public entrance to the palace-fort. The pointed arched entrance has kangura s (ornamental merlons) on the parapet and a row of dwarf chhatri s (canopy), each with a small marble dome. It is flanked by octagonal towers with sandstone domes and marble finials. Since 1947, Prime Ministers have made Independence Day speeches from the ramparts adjacent to this gate. Aurangzeb added barbicans to the Delhi and Lahori Gates and made the former the headquarters of the qiladar (fort commander). When Shah Jahan was imprisoned by Aurangzeb, he apparently wrote to his son from Agra saying: “You have made the fort a bride, and set a veil before her face.” The historian Percival Spear points out that Aurangzeb built the great wall in front of the Lahori Gate to save nobles the trouble of having to bow constantly as they walked the length of Chandni Chowk , which court etiquette required them to do when they were in the view of the emperor. Blake, however, says the wall was built to strengthen the outworks of the structure.
After entering the Lahori Gate, one comes to a vaulted arcade, or a covered bazaar ( Bazaar-i-Mussaqaf ). Blake says that establishing roofed bazaars was a common practice in Iran and West Asia but was unusual in India. This was a double-storey structure with arcaded shops at both levels, and there were shops on sides of the street too. Here, merchants of Delhi sold their goods to the nobles. In the middle of the bazaar is an octagonal court known as Chhatta Chowk with an open roof to allow in air and light. Going past the covered bazaar, one reaches the three-storey sandstone pavilion Naubat Khana (Music Gallery), or Naqqar Khana , where once ceremonial music was played five times a day and from where the arrival of the emperor and other dignitaries was announced. The Indian War Memorial Museum now occupies its upper storey. Between Naqqar Khana and Chhatta Chowk is an open square forecourt ( Jilau Khana ) on the sides of which were small rooms for officials connected with the daily guard. It is in the Jilau Khana that the people attending daily audience, ministers, bureaucrats, amirs and others waited. Only the princes could go beyond this point on their horses; all others had to dismount here.
The Naqqar Khana led to the rectangular Diwan-i-Aam (Hall of Public Audience) open on three sides with a courtyard in front. It is an arcaded structure consisting of nine engrailed arches supported by double columns made of sandstone. It has 27 bays, and the ceiling and the columns were originally decorated with gilded stucco work and hung with heavy curtains. Set against the centre of the eastern wall is a marble canopy known as the Nashiman-i-Zill-i-Ilahi (Seat of the Shadow of God). This canopy with fluted/baluster columns, inlays of precious stones and a Bengal-styled roof once stood over the emperor’s throne. Here he sat and listened to complaints and suggestions from the general populace and deliberated upon routine military, administrative and financial matters. A railing separated him and the common people. Below the throne was a marble dais decorated with semi-precious stones to be used by the wazir (prime minister). The wall behind the throne was ornamented with beautiful panels of pietra dura work, said to have been executed by the Florentine artist Austin de Bordeaux. The panel has beautiful flowers along with birds and animals. It also has a representation of the Greek god Orpheus playing the flute to animals, including a hare, a leopard and a lion. The art historian Ebba Koch says this symbolised the ideal rule of Shah Jahan “whose justice would make the lion lie down with the lamb and, in the human world, free the oppressed from their oppressors”.
The Diwan-i-Aam was sometimes used for state functions, and the courtyard behind it leads to the imperial apartments. In order from north to south, they are Mumtaz Mahal , Rang Mahal , Khas Mahal , Diwan-i-Khas , the hammam and Hira Mahal . Built along the Yamuna, these palaces now overlook the traffic-heavy Mahatma Gandhi Road. The eastern ramparts are flanked by two towers, Asad Burj (Lion Tower) and Shah Burj (Emperor’s Tower) respectively, on the south and north ends. Raised on a common marble platform, these were mostly open marble pavilions with perforated screens, inlaid with precious stones and decorated with moulded plaster and paintings. They had walled courtyards on the western side to give them privacy from the rest of the palace. The Nahar-i-behisht brought water from the river by way of a marble ramp that led into a lotus-shaped pool in the north-eastern building. From here, it filled the royal baths, ran through the Diwan-i-Khas and the emperor’s private chambers and beneath the marble trellis screen that carried the carving of the Mizan-i-Insaf (Scales of Justice), through the section reserved for the royal women.
Behind the Diwan-i-Aam and separated by a court is the Rang Mahal , a huge hall whose name is derived from its painted interior. It had a facade of five engrailed arches set on piers. The ceiling was originally built of silver and, in the words of Muhammad Salih, was “gilded and ornamented with golden flowers”. The central hall was divided into 15 bays formed by intersecting arches. The structure had two vaulted chambers on either end that were adorned with wedges of mirrors embedded in the ceiling. These apartments are popularly called Shish Mahal (House of Mirrors) because of the effect they produced.
Beyond this is the Mumtaz Mahal (Distinguished Palace), a building that now houses the Fort Archaeological Museum. It had a brightly coloured ceiling inlaid with gold and at four corners were reed houses ( khas khanas ). There was a large garden with a pool and a marble basin between this palace and the Diwan-i-Aam . Between the Mumtaz Mahal and the Asad Burj were living quarters for women of the imperial household. Small gardens laid around central pools dotted the courtyard.
Emperor’s living quarters Immediately north of the RangMahal were the emperor’s living quarters called the Khas Mahal (Special Palace). This composite palace consisted of three segments: a beautifully carved marble building inlaid with precious stones called the Aramgah or Khwabgah (Place of Sleep) flanked by the Tasbih Khana (Chamber for counting beads for private prayers) and the Tosha Khana (Robe Chamber). The Tasbih Khana was a set of three rooms facing the Diwan-i-Khas . This was separated from the central Khwabgah by a marble screen containing a representation of the Mizan-i-Insaf suspended over a crescent amidst stars and clouds. The Tosha Khana , also known as the Baithak (Meeting Hall), faced the Rang Mahal and had painted walls and ceiling and a perforated screen. The Musamman Burj , with its beautifully painted interior, protruded from the eastern wall of the Aramgah . It served as a place for the Jharoka Darshan (Balcony of Audience)—a practice borrowed from Hindus whereby the emperor appeared before his subjects every morning. In 1808, Akbar Shah II added a small balcony to this burj . It was from this balcony that King George V and Queen Mary appeared before the people of Delhi during the Durbar of 1911.
To the east of the Diwan-i-Aam and along the riverfront is the Diwan-i-Khas . The location of this hall, deep within the living quarters of the imperial family, indicated its special, private character. This rectangular chamber was a place for exclusive and private audience. Built of pure white marble, it was one of the most elegant buildings in the palace-fort. Its roof has pillared umbrellas at the corners. The chamber has engrailed or scalloped arches resting on a set of 32 piers with square shafts. The lower walls were studded with agate, pearl and other precious stones while the upper portion had fruits and flowers painted in colourful and intricate designs. Takht-i-Taus , the famous peacock throne with the Koh-i-Noor diamond embedded in its canopy once stood in the centre of the room on a wide marble platform. The Nahar-i-behisht flowed right through the middle of the hall, adding to the beauty of the place. The Diwan-i-Khas inspired the poet Amir Khusrau (1235-1325) so much that he left a quote in the building wall: “If there be a paradise on the earth, it is this, it is this, it is this.”
North of the Diwan-i-Khas lay the hammam , which was a three-storey structure built of marble. While one storey was used as a dressing room, the other two were for hot and cold water baths respectively. It was decorated with mosaic and pieces of glass and nicely painted. At the north-eastern corner of the palace-fort and along the riverfront, lay the Shah Burj .
North of the Diwan-i-Khas was the marble Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque) built around 1659 for exclusive private use. This is the only building that Aurangzeb erected within the palace-fort and is now closed to the public. The northern sector of the imperial quarters was occupied by the gardens, primarily the Hayat Baksh Bagh (Life Bestowing Garden) and Mahtab Bagh (Moonlight Garden). The Hayat Baksh Bagh was a paradise garden with tanks, fountains, tunnels, pavilions and all the other structures typical of such gardens in the West Asian countries. It had a rectangular pool in the centre beside which stood an open summerhouse ( barahdari ). At the north and south ends of this garden stood two identical pavilions named after the monsoon months of the Hindu calendar: Sawan (fourth month) and Bhadaun (fifth month).
After Shah Jahan The fortunes of the fort started disintegrating after the death of Aurangzeb, a period that witnessed battles for succession, dissensions within the royalty, the rise of ambitious nobles, invasions from abroad and natural calamities. The palace-fort was a centre for artistic and cultural performances during some periods. Muhammad Shah, one of the later Mughals, patronised Urdu, Qawwali and music, particularly khyal . Paintings of Holi celebrations during his period are well known.
In 1739, Nadir Shah, the Turk ruler of Iran, crossed over Afghanistan and Punjab and defeated the Mughals at Karnal. In the subsequent display of power, his name was proclaimed as the sovereign in the khutba read in the mosques in Shahjahanabad. He also got Muhammad Shah to receive him at the fort where he symbolically returned the throne to the defeated emperor. On March 22, 1739, infuriated by attacks on his army, Nadir Shah ordered a massacre of citizens of Delhi and witnessed the barbarity sitting on the roof of Sunehri Masjid near Chandni Chowk . He also plundered the fort and the city and carried away a booty with an estimated value of 700 million rupees, including the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor .
The destroyed city and plundered empire was further weakened by the raids of the Marathas, the Sikhs, the Jats, the Gurjars, the Rohillas and the Afghans around the mid to later 19th century.
The historians Percival Spear and Amar Farooqui argue that the Mughal Empire as an imperial raj or a political entity ceased to exist in the 1750s. But the “imperial” aspect of the emperor and his distinctive social status as the foremost resident of Delhi ensured that his position remained central to the identity of the city even after British occupation. In 1803, Lord Lake defeated the Marathas near Patparganj and gained control of the Ganga-Yamuna plains and the Delhi-Agra region. The city became a part of the North-Western Provinces and was governed from Agra. A British Resident was stationed in Delhi. He started functioning from an office at Dara Shukoh’s Library on the right bank of the Yamuna close to the imperial palace.
Rebellion of 1857 The early decades of the 20th century, sometimes described as the “English Peace”, were also the period of the “Delhi Renaissance”, which was characterised by literary greats such as Ghalib, Momim, and Zauq; the intellectual endeavours of the faculty at the Delhi College and its English institute; and the coming of printing presses and newspapers. This was disrupted by one of the most serious challenges to the British colonial rule, the Rebellion of 1857.
The year 1857 witnessed armed revolts in parts of central and northern India, leading to a loss of British control over these regions. It began with a mutiny of sepoys but acquired a civil and popular character in parts of Upper India. The historian Eric Stokes says that the rebel sepoys showed a “centripetal impulse to congregate at Delhi”. The Red Fort thus emerged as a focus centre for the rebellion. Under pressure from the rebels and princes, the reluctant 82-year-old Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, became the titular leader of the rebellion, while Prince Mirza Mughal (commander-in-chief) and Jiwan Bakht ( wazir ), along with other princes and nobles, exercised the real power.
The palace-fort soon became the seat of new power and Bahadur Shah a symbol of the rebellion. There were attacks on Europeans, Christians and those connected with the British government. The British army waited for reinforcements from Ambala. Once the army started gaining control of the city, it went on an offensive against both Hindus and Muslims. The population of the city was driven out and took shelter around the Qutb and the Nizamuddin and could only re-enter the city the following year. Mosques were taken over. After September, the British forces unleashed a reign of terror that saw indiscriminate shootings, courts martial and summary hangings.
Bahadur Shah had escaped via the Yamuna and taken refuge in Humayun’s tomb. He was arrested along with three princes who were killed on the way back near the Delhi Gate by Major William Hodson. Bahadur Shah returned to the Red Fort as a prisoner of the British, was tried in the Diwan-i-Khas in 1858 and exiled to Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar), on October 7.
The fort complex also incurred the wrath of British officials. More than two-thirds of the inner structures were destroyed. Henceforth, the palace was to be used as quarters for the British garrison and the famed Diwan-i-Aam as a hospital. The buildings south of the Diwan-i-Khas were found to be “of little architectural interest” and were declared suitable for troops. Most of the jewels, precious stones and artworks of the Red Fort had been looted and stolen during Nadir Shah’s invasion and after the “Great Indian Rebellion” was suppressed. Several existing Mughal structures were demolished, including the harem courts and gardens to the west of Rang Mahal and the royal storerooms and kitchen to the north of Diwan-i-Aam and the Mahtab Bagh . British buildings such as army barracks, hospitals, bungalows, administrative buildings, sheds and godowns became a part of the palace-fort complex.
The rebellion ended the rule of the East India Company, and an Act passed in the British Parliament in August 1858 made Queen Victoria the sovereign head of British India. The office of Secretary of State was created to rule India. The new power dynamics were sought be cemented through imperial durbars held in 1877, 1903 and 1911. The author Pran Nevile says this was in keeping with the Indian tradition of the durbar, which celebrated the coronation of a new ruler to mark his/her sovereignty over his/her subjects. The third durbar also saw a surprise announcement from King George V of the transfer of the capital from Calcutta (now Kolkata) to Delhi. The next few decades were spent on building the last imperial city, New Delhi, also known as Lutyen’s Delhi.
The Red Fort became visible again in the years preceding Independence. The chambers within the baoli , or stepwell, believed to predate the Red Fort, were converted into a prison. It housed Colonel Shah Nawaz Khan, Colonel Prem Kumar Sahgal, and Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon during the Indian National Army (INA), or Azad Hind Fauj, trials in 1945-46. The massive nationwide campaign for their release reinforced the public perception of the former Mughal palace as the symbol of anti-colonial resistance. On August 16, 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, raised the Indian national flag above the Lahori Gate. Farooqui says that the act of replacing the British flag with India’s national flag—a day after the swearing-in of the first Cabinet—amounted to reclaiming this contested site for the nation.
After Independence, the Red Fort witnessed a few changes but continued to be used as a military cantonment. A large part of the palace-fort remained under the control of the Indian Army until 2004 when it was handed over to the Archaeological Survey of India for restoration.
Shashank Shekhar Sinha has taught history in undergraduate colleges at the University of Delhi. He does independent research on tribes, gender, violence, culture and heritage .
source: http://www.frontline.thehindu.com / Frontline / Home> Arts & Culture> Heritage> Agra Fort / by Shashank Shekhar Sinha / January 30th, 2019
A Mughal painting of Akbar with Jesuits. The Great Mughals are well known in history, but few people are aware of the story of Gujarat’s Sultan Bahadur Shah. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
This fictionalised narration of the life of the 16th-century monarch of Gujarat is enjoyable but does not provide a coherent narrative.
The year 1526 was a watershed in the history of India. It was the year of the First Battle of Panipat, when Zahiruddin Babur defeated the last ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, Ibrahim Lodhi, and founded the Mughal dynasty. The Mughals went on to form a part of India’s most colourful, extravagant period in history: an era of cultural efflorescence and impressive art and architecture. A larger-than-life dynasty that drew the attention of faraway lands.
Bahadur Shah of Gujarat: A King in Search of a Kingdom
By Kalpish Ratna / Simon & Schuster India, 2023 / Pages: 395 pages / Price: Rs.809
What few people know is that 1526 also marked the ascension to the throne of another historical figure, Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. Caught between the Portuguese—then tightening their hold on western India—and the Mughals, Bahadur Shah is an enigmatic figure, a man of whom too little is known, far less remembered. As Kalpana Swaminathan and Ishrat Syed, writing as Kalpish Ratna, mention in the introduction to their novel Bahadur Shah of Gujarat: A King in Search of a Kingdom, most people coming across Bahadur Shah’s name confuse him with Bahadur Shah II “Zafar”, the last of the Mughals.
This fictionalised retelling of Bahadur Shah’s story sets out to explore his life and times. The book, divided into five parts, does not go the usual way of biographies: in fact, Bahadur Shah does not put in an appearance until the fifth chapter, “14 February 1537”. The first four chapters are all quite different from each other in style, setting, and narrative structure. The first chapter, for instance, centres round a village in North Konkan, its inhabitants trying as best as they can to deal with the firangi. The second chapter, narrated as a fast-paced, larger-than-life performance by a professional storyteller, a daastaango perhaps, is about Babur, “The Shining Sword of Samarqand” that came sweeping down on Hindustan. Chapter 3, “Hokka”, takes the form of a poem about (and narrated by) the two-headed doum palm of Diu, known locally as hokka:
“I’m prized here by only one man,
I’ve known him for years, and not a year goes by without his coming to see me.
Like me, he’s two-headed.
I’m the only two-headed palm in this part of the world, and he’s the only two-headed man I know.
Like a hokka, he’s hired for impossibilities.”
Just when the reader begins to wonder which way this novel is going, there comes Chapter 4, “Diu”, a somewhat dry essay on the history of this much-coveted, intensely fought-over port.
Too many threads in narrative
Is Bahadur Shah of Gujarat poetry? Is it a story? Is it factual essay? Is it adventure, ribaldry, bloodshed, politics?
It is a combination of all these and then some more. The canvas is enormous, stretching from Delhi to Chittorgarh, Diu to Shashti Pranth (now on the fringes of Mumbai), even going as far as Lisbon. The cast of characters is proportionately vast, reading like a who’s who of Indian politics in the early 16th century: Ibrahim Lodhi, Rana Sanga, Babur, Humayun, Afonso de Albuquerque, Malik Ayaaz. There are other famous names (Bhakti poet Meera Bai among them) and an array of people not so well-known: diplomats, warriors, cooks, librarians, interpreters. Plus, of course, there are fictitious characters.
There is war, revenge, lust, some farcical humour, and there are conspiracies galore. Most of it is based on fact, on events that actually happened, but narrated with a hefty dose of imagination thrown in. For instance, the attempted poisoning of Babur by Ibrahim Lodhi’s mother, Dilawar Begum, is narrated with a long prelude. It is heavily embellished with concocted details and some fairly juvenile humour: the cooks use unconventional (if that!) ingredients, the “poison” is not quite toxic after all; and the results are bizarre.
The scope of this book is so huge that it is hardly surprising that it ends up being confusing. Part of this confusion stems from the fact that the authors seem to have tried to include just about every aspect of Bahadur Shah’s struggle to get to and retain his throne. The conspiracies, plots, dialogues, and events are multifarious, and they are not tackled in a chronological or even logical fashion. Random chapters wander off here and there, telling an anecdote from the point of view of, say, Ibrahim Lodhi or Sikandar Shah (Bahadur Shah’s elder brother). Other chapters are devoted to a jewelled kamarband, to the Kohinoor, Meera Bai, the hokka. People reminisce, pontificate, and have conversations that are often obscure, leaving the reader baffled.
There are footnotes scattered through the pages and copious endnotes for almost each chapter, but these are often carelessly dealt with. The footnotes, which mostly explain a Hindustani/Persian word, are somewhat arbitrary, often explaining one fairly common word but omitting another. Some are repetitive, others are mirrored in the endnotes.
If the objective was to convey a sense of the turmoil and chaos of the era, Bahadur Shah of Gujarat achieves it. The best way to enjoy this book is to savour its language, to appreciate the somewhat quirky humour of it, and to take it one chapter at a time. To understand the many threads criss-crossing the life of its protagonist and get a firm grasp on what really happened may be a bit too much to ask of it.
Madhulika Liddle is a novelist and short story writer.
source: http://www.frontline.thehindu.com / Frontline / Home> Books> Book Review / by Madhulika Liddle / December 14th, 2023
Pandit was the then state’s director-general of police (DGP) from 1987 to 1989, the years during which Kashmir began its descent into turmoil.
Ghulam Jeelani Pandit / sourced by the Telegraph
Ghulam Jeelani Pandit, the last Kashmiri Muslim to head Jammu and Kashmir police and whose tenure saw the rise of militancy in 1988, died on Sunday evening nearly three-and-a-half decades after his retirement. He was 92.
Pandit was the then state’s director-general of police (DGP) from 1987 to 1989, the years during which Kashmir began its descent into turmoil. He was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard in Jamalata in Srinagar’s old city.
On October 12, 1988, Pandit had dropped a bombshell saying that around 100 Kashmiris had returned after receiving arms training across the Line of Control, and that a weeklong crackdown had nabbed 72 of them.
Pandit’s tenure as the DGP witnessed low-key insurgency. It was after his removal on December 20, 1989 — as part of a new hard line pursued by the V.P. Singh government at the Centre — that Kashmir erupted into mass uprising.
The trigger for the protests was the large-scale killings of civilians, beginning with the Gaw Kadal massacre of January 21, 1990.
A series of electrifying events had preceded Gaw Kadal. Pandit helmed the police when Rubaiyya Sayeed, daughter of then Union home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, was kidnapped on December 8, 1989.
Delhi reportedly prodded the Farooq Abdullah government to release five top JKLF militants in exchange for her release, giving the militants their first major success.
Pandit became a casualty and was replaced by the hardliner J.N. Saxena, a non-local. A month later, on January 19, Delhi appointed Jagmohan as governor, plunging the region into chaos. The Farooq Abdullah government resigned in protest a day before Jagmohan took the oath of office.
The killings at Gaw Kadal and other places led to mass protests and prompted thousands of Kashmiris to cross the Line of Control to secure arms training.
Current DGP Nilin Prabhat mourned Pandit’s death and offered “tribute and heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family”. Pandit is survived by his wife, son and two daughters.
Born on February 22, 1933, in Srinagar, Pandit joined the police and rose through ranks to take over as DGP on May 21, 1987.
“Ghulam Jeelani Pandit was only the second and the last local Muslim ever to head the state police in its over 100-year history,” People’s Democratic Party leader and former minister Naeem Akhtar wrote on X.
The other Kashmiri Muslim to have headed Jammu and Kashmir police was Peer Hassan Shah, who became the force’s first DGP in 1982. Till then, an inspector-general of police would head the force. Shah is still alive.
Ali Mohammad Watali, who was Srinagar police chief in 1988 and became the target of an unsuccessful militant assassination attempt that year, said Pandit was a good officer.
“It was Delhi that replaced him with Saxena. The Farooq Abdullah government had no say in (such big decisions). At that time, Mufti Sahab was the (Union) home minister,” Watali told TheTelegraph.
“He (Pandit) lived a quiet life after retirement and stayed away from controversies.”
The attack on Watali took place on September 17, 1988. It woke up the administration to the lurking danger of militancy.
In July that year, the Valley was rocked by two bomb blasts in Srinagar but there were no casualties. According to the grapevine, Khalistani militants were behind the explosions.
After Pandit, the only Kashmiri to become DGP was Kuldeep Khoda, but he was a Hindu. While most of the DGPs during the last 36 years have been non-local, two were from Jammu. They were A.K. Suri and S.P. Vaid.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph Online / Home> India / by Muzaffar Raina / September 23rd, 2025
The Agra Fort, a World Heritage Site, is the only fort in India to have been inhabited by all the early Mughal emperors.
The Amar Singh Gate of the Agra Fort is on the southern side of the fort complex and is its public entrance.
SITUATED on the right bank of the Yamuna river, very close to the iconic Taj Mahal, is the Agra Fort, also known as the Red Fort. Declared a World Heritage Site in 1983, it is the only fort in India that was inhabited by all the early Mughal emperors. The fort, therefore, provides a useful template not only for the development of Mughal and Indo-Islamic architecture but also the evolution of Mughal palace forts, polity and ideas of kingship. The fort’s palaces and pavilions inspired the Red Fort (Lal Qila) in Delhi and buildings in Fatehpur Sikri and Lahore. However, the history of the Agra Fort is not just connected with the Mughals—who held sway over the fort, certainly between Akbar and Aurangzeb—but also with Mahmud of Ghazni, the Rajputs, the Lodis, the Surs, the Marathas, the Jats, the Durranis and finally, the British, before the greater part of the complex was handed over to the Indian Army in 1947.
The fort complex
A poem written in 1134 C.E. by Masud ibn Saad Salman, a Persian poet, mentions that the fort of Agra was captured by Mahmud of Ghazni. Later, towards the second half of the 15th century, a Rajput king called Badal Singh constructed a brick fort at the site and called it Badalgarh fort. The fort gained prominence when the Sultan of Delhi Sikandar Lodi (regnal years 1489-1517) decided to shift his capital from Delhi to Agra. Thereafter, the Badalgarh fort became the residence for the Lodi sultans.
From the Lodis, the fort passed into the hands of the Mughals. After defeating Ibrahim Lodi at the First Battle of Panipat (1526), Babur (regnal years 1526-30), the first Mughal emperor, ordered his son Humayun to take charge of Agra and the fort’s treasures. Babur built some paradise gardens in Agra and a baoli (stepwell) within the fort complex. Humayun (regnal years 1530-40 and 1555-56) was crowned at the fort in 1530 but preferred to rule from Delhi. The Afghan chieftain Sher Shah defeated him at Bilgram in 1540, occupied the Agra Fort, and garrisoned it thoroughly. An exiled Humayun could recapture his throne only in 1555 but died soon afterwards.
With the arrival of Akbar (regnal years 1556-1605) in 1558, Agra’s and the fort’s fortunes changed completely. After staying in the Badalgarh fort for a few years, he decided to rebuild it as the site of his government, and the old brick fort gave way to a new one in red sandstone. Approximately 4,000 builders are said to have worked every day for eight years (1565-73) to complete this renovation task. The historian Michael Fisher points out that Akbar created his court complex within the existing fort, demonstrating his early architectural aesthetic—uniform red sandstone surfaces highlighted with white marble. A new citadel-city came into being. The Jesuit missionary Antonio Monserrate, who saw the fort complex in 1580, recorded that besides the emperor’s palace there were “mansions of his nobles, the magazines, the treasury, the arsenal, the stables of the cavalry, the shops and huts of drug-sellers, barbers, and all manner of common workmen”. Abul Fazl, Akbar’s court historian, records that 500 buildings were built there in the Bengali and Gujarati styles.
Akbar’s successor, Jahangir (regnal years 1605-27), used to visit Agra at regular intervals and even stayed in this fort. However, he focussed his efforts more on building forts and palaces in Lahore and Kashmir. The Agra Fort was modified considerably during the reign of Shah Jahan (regnal years 1628-58). Between 1628 and 1637, he destroyed many existing buildings, renovating some and constructing three new marble palace courtyards (alongside three mosques) according to his own architectural taste. Aurangzeb (regnal years 1658-1707) deposed Shah Jahan, his father, to take control of the fort and built two barbicans around the gates and on the riverside to strengthen its defences. When the British took over the fort in 1803, they destroyed many buildings to make way for military structures. The complex now has only around two dozen monuments left, mostly those built by Akbar and Shah Jahan.
Gates, palaces and courtyards
The fort has a semicircular shape and is surrounded by a broad deep moat. Its eastern side, some 725 metres long, faces the bank of the Yamuna. Spread over 94 acres (38 hectares) of land, the fort complex is enclosed by a double-battlemented wall of red sandstone punctuated at regular intervals by massive circular bastions. It has a circumference of almost 2.5 kilometres and its walls are around 21 m high. The fort has four gates, one on each side. Of these, the Delhi Gate (in the north) and the Amar Singh Gate (in the south, now the public entrance to the fort) are the most prominent ones. The other two gates are the Elephant Gate (Hathi Pol Gate) and the Khizri Gate (also known as the water gate because it opened on the eastern riverfront side where the ghats were located). R. Nath, a historian of Mughal architecture, points out that the Delhi and Amar Singh Gates are architecturally similar: both have a drawbridge, a crooked entrance with dangerous trap points and a steep rise.
Most buildings are concentrated in the south-eastern corner of the fort complex in a band-like succession of courtyards along the riverfront. Shah Jahan did not alter Akbar’s riverfront alignment in his building programme. The Yamuna, Nath says, provided a river frontage, a pleasing landscape and fresh air and a constant supply of water. After ascending the ramp through the Amar Singh Gate, one can see, on the eastern side, two courtyards of Akbar’s time: Jahangiri Mahal and Akbari Mahal. In the south to north direction, there are three courtyards that Shah Jahan rebuilt along the riverfront: the Anguri Bagh (Grape Garden), the Machli Bhawan (Fish House) and the Diwan-i-Aam (Hall of Public Audience). The overall symmetrical planning of imperial residences, the art historian Ebba Koch argues, became mandatory only during Shah Jahan’s reign. In Akbar’s time, the regular planning of large-scale residential architecture was deployed only in temporary Mughal camps. In the Agra Fort, she clarifies, the residential axis was met at an angle by the (broken) public axis formed by an open bazaar street stretching from the Hathi Pol Gate to the Diwan-i-Aam courtyard.
Nath says both Akbari Mahal and Jahangiri Mahal were built in the mid 1560s and formed a part of the original Bengali Mahal , which according to Abul Fazl was the newly constructed palace where Akbar seemingly moved in on May 11, 1569. Nath opines that the two palaces probably got separated and acquired their respective nomenclature through guidebooks written in the 19th century. The oldest red stone palace in the southern part of the fort complex became known as Akbari Mahal, and the stone palace in the northern part, where a monolithic granite bowl (7.62 m × 1.42 m) built by Jahangir in 1611 was discovered, became known as Jahangiri Mahal.
Both palaces have a crooked entrance and enclosing walls to ensure privacy and security. While Akbari Mahal is in a partly preserved state, Jahangiri Mahal is in reasonably good shape. Faced with finely carved red sandstone, Jahangiri Mahal, Nath tells us, presents a complex arrangement of verandas, courtyards, galleries and rooms and halls around a quadrangle. While historians agree that the palace represents an amalgamation of various architectural styles and techniques, they differ on the exact nature of these influences. Ebba Koch contends that it combines (a later altered) symmetrical Timurid ground plan patterned on the mausoleum of Khwaja Ahmad Yasawi, a famous Sufi poet and teacher, in Turkestan, which was built between 1394 and 1399 and has the elevation of an open courtyard building. Further, the building brings together various Transoxanian features, such as the veranda of the east front with its high slender columns, along with courtyard halls styled in the broader Gujarat-Malwa-Rajasthan tradition, which the Mughals learned from the early 16th century architecture of Raja Man Singh (a noble at Akbar’s court) of Gwalior. Nath maintains that the multi-storey arrangement of palaces around inner courts reflects the catuhsala (four-sided) plan of the elevation of the chowk (quadrangle), a part of ancient Indian residential architectural tradition.
The indigenous component, according to Nath, further manifests in the duchhati (double ceiling, one above the other) composition with a central, three-openings dalan ; double floor apartments on the sides; a whispering gallery around a hall; and a portal composition with jharokha (balcony) windows. Ebba Koch and Nath have different opinions on the architecture of the rooms, halls and ceiling inside the complex. Ebba Koch feels that most of the rooms are not trabeate (a form of architecture that uses horizontal beams, or lintels, as distinct from the arcuate style, which uses arches and vaults/domes) but are a veritable pattern book of the vaulting of the time: stucco domes with geometrical patterns and/or arch netting, ribbed domes, lotus domes carved in sandstone, pyramidal vaults with a cut top, coved ceilings, etc. To Nath, the dominant architecture is trabeate as evidenced by the pillars, beams and lintels, flat ceilings (sometimes ladao ceiling consisting of ribs and panels), chajja s (eaves) and chattri s (pavilions).
The historian William G. Klingelhofer says the striking architectural elements of Jahangiri Mahal include the innovative use of Timurid geometric designs, creative adaptations of Indian art forms such as makara (crocodile) and peacock brackets and various vault designs, and the inclusion of creatures from indigenous art tradition such as the hamsa (swan), the parrot and the elephant.
As far as the functionality of the palace is concerned, most scholars, including Ebba Koch and Nath, hold that it was primarily meant for imperial women and served as Akbar’s harem and residence. Klingelhofer, however, argues: “Architectural space and design seem to have been a flexible commodity in early Mughal building, adaptable to many and diverse purposes.” It is therefore not really important to understand the exact function of each space or for that matter which rooms were provided for the palace harem, the library, temple and audiences. The palace, he elaborates, served a much broader purpose; it “was constructed at the conceptual centre of a larger Agra scheme and was intended to serve as the primary architectural embodiment of the imperial seat”. Between the red sandstone Jahangiri Mahal and the white marble Khas Mahal (Special Palace) lies a palace called Shahjahani Mahal, though there is not enough evidence to claim that Shah Jahan built it. It has a hall, side rooms and an octagonal riverside pavilion. The brick mason and red sandstone construction was plastered in white stucco and painted in colourful floral designs. The so-called Somnath Gate is kept here in one of the rooms on the western side. The subterranean three-storey chambers below Jahangiri Mahal and the area lying to the north contain the phansighar (gallows) and Babur’s baoli.
Anguri Bagh
The Anguri Bagh complex is a three-layered architectural zone set in the harem complex: the upper riverfront terrace is occupied by the Khas Mahal flanked by two identical oblong pavilions; the intermediate layer is occupied by a scalloped, trefoiled tank; and the lower zone is occupied by the Anguri Bagh (one can see a grapevine on the lawns). The Khas Mahal is built along the lines of what Ebba Koch says is the favourite Mughal pavilion theme: the combination of an enclosed inner hall (now called tanabi khana or tambi khana ) with a pillared porch or veranda (the Mughal iwan ). The court historian Lahauri calls it Aramgah (bedchamber). The spacious inner hall has beautiful Yamuna-facing marble screens with glasswork while the white marble surface is beautifully painted in floral and stylised patterns. It also has a number of oblong niches in its wall meant possibly to hold portraits of emperors and princes. The exterior porch is made up of five nine-cusped arches (popularly known as the Shahjahani arches) supported on square piers and is three-aisles deep. It has a chajja , supported by beautifully carved and moulded brackets, projecting from all sides. There are two chattri s on the parapet on the riverside but not on the Anguri Bagh side. The marble building is secured on the north and south by thin marble curtains ( sarapada ) to ensure purdah, or seclusion.
The Khas Mahal is flanked by two identical buildings with gilded bangladar/bangla roofs (a curved circular roof and a chajja ): on the left (north) is the Bangla-i-Darshan (Imperial Viewing Pavilion), and on the right (south) lies the bangla of Jahanara, a pavilion that belonged to Shah Jahan’s daughter Jahanara. Bangladar was an architectural device used in buildings in the Bengal region. After Akbar annexed the Gaur kingdom, Nath says, many Bengali craftsmen dispersed to other regions, and some naturally sought patronage at the Mughal court. Both these pavilions were originally made in red sandstone but stuccoed with white shell-plaster later to give them the semblance of white marble. There are square rooms towards the side of the pavilions.
In the Bangla-i-Darshan, which has pillar brackets and lintel openings, the emperor made an appearance every morning to his subjects gathered below the fort. Ebba Koch points out that the bangla of Jahanara, with its multi-cusped Shahjahani arches, had no ceremonial function but indicated her status at the court and provided imperial symmetry. It formed a part of Jahanara’s apartments located towards the end of the southern wing, and the three courtyard wings and northern rooms of Jahangiri Mahal were adopted for her and other women.
The Anguri Bagh happens to be the only garden in the main palace complex. It is laid out in the form of a rectangular charbagh (fourfold garden) divided by marble walkways intersecting at the centre in a marble pool. Each quarter has geometrically drawn parterres. The garden is enclosed by two-storey living apartments formed of a modular sequence of open, pillared verandas and small enclosed rooms ( hujra s). Nath underscores that the water devices at the Anguri Bagh—tanks, fountains, waterfalls, candle niches and water channels—demonstrate how running and splashing water had become an integral part of Shahjahani architecture. Akbar, on the other hand, was more fond of hammam s (bathhouses). Water was supplied to the fort through well-laid-out water systems from the Khizri Gate and the overhead tanks in the Jahangiri Mahal complex.
‘Chain of justice’
Located between the Anguri Bagh and the adjoining Machli Bhawan is a spacious octagonal tower called the Muthamman Burj or Shah Burj (imperial/king’s tower). This housed the original jharokha from where Akbar and Jahangir appeared before the people every morning ( jharokha darshan ). The burj was also where Jahangir instituted his famous “chain of justice” in 1605 to redress the grievances of the people. The tower was rebuilt by Shah Jahan in white marble, profusely inlaid and roofed with a gilded copper dome. Five of its sides project outward towards the river and are rotated by a chajja supported by brackets. Pillars, brackets, and a railing/balustrade with jali work decorate the structure. On the western side, the tower leads to a dalan /hall with three alcoves and a shallow water basin sunk in the centre. The palace has deep ornamental niches along with dados (bas reliefs) inlaid in polychrome stones and carved plants. Ebba Koch mentions that this was where the emperor met his highest dignitaries and his sons in secret council and also worked with the court historians Qazwini and Lahauri on editing the official history of his reign. Shah Jahan was imprisoned in this burj by Aurangzeb and died there in full view of the Taj Mahal. His coffin was taken out of the door at the base of the tower and then transported on a boat over the Yamuna to the Taj where he was eventually buried.
To the west of the Muthamman Burj is the entrance to a group of basement rooms with waterfalls and pools called Shish Mahal (Mirror Palace, which Lahauri called tahkhana ) because the facade has mirror mosaic set in white stucco ( ayina bandi or ayina kari ). The structure (now closed to the public) has extra thick walls and ceilings to ensure coolness and a dim interior to allow for the play of light and mirrors. Nath argues that the art of glass mosaic was originally Byzantine and spread with Islam. The Mughals Indianised it by associating it with exquisite relief and incised stucco work, something lacking in the Byzantine glass art. Further, he elaborates, unlike the saintly figures and florals featured in Byzantine glass art, the Mughals used Persian motifs, floral and stylised.
The Machli Bhawan complex, lying north of the Anguri Bagh, contains the Hall of Private Audience (earlier known as the ghusl khana or bathhouse but popularly called the Diwan-i-Khas) and the hammam , which are both on the riverside terrace on the pattern of the riverfront gardens. Below, on the ground floor, were vaulted rooms housing government offices, including the treasury.
The Diwan-i-Khas, occupying the south-eastern corner of the complex, is a large pavilion meant for meetings of the private council, exclusive law court, musical performances or inspection of the work of artists employed by the emperor. According to Lahauri, it was built in 1635, around the same time when other buildings of the harem were being completed. The exterior is protected by a broad chajja supported by brackets. The chattri s, pinnacles and kangura s (merlons) that once adorned the building are now missing. This marble building has two halls with coved ceilings, both connected by three archways—the enclosed inner hall/ tanabi khana and the outer dalan /Mughal iwan. The outer hall, having double pillars, is beautifully inlaid with floral designs and carved dados similar to the Taj Mahal and multi-foiled niches. Lahauri describes the oblong inner hall as being ornamented with paintings and floral designs and adorned in gold.
Opposite the Diwan-i-Khas, on the northern side of the terrace, lies the hammam rebuilt and refashioned by Shah Jahan. Consisting of various rooms and halls, the structure was decorated among other things by inlay work on the dados and glass mosaic on the walls and arches. It had provisions for both cold water ( sard khanah ) and warm water ( garmkhanah ). The structure now lies in a ruined state and is closed to the public. Ebba Koch points out that parts of the hammam were taken down by Lord Hastings in 1815 and its pillars were scattered. The facing and some pillars, she mentions, were sold at an auction by Lord William Bentinck (Governor General from 1828 to 1835), giving rise to the rumour that he also wanted to take down and sell the Taj Mahal.
Along the riverfront, between the Diwan-i-Khas and the hammam lies Jahangir’s finely carved black throne, which was brought from Allahabad in 1610. The crack in the throne is attributed to the uprising of the Jats of Bharatpur who temporarily controlled the fort around 1765. (There is another white throne lying opposite the black one on the terrace.)
The ground-level courtyard is enclosed by two-storey-high arcaded wings with Shahjahani columns and multi-cusped arches. It contained government offices behind the arcaded galleries. The open court in the centre was used by the emperor to inspect his hunting animals—hounds, hawks and cheetahs—and horses working out. It was also used for animal fights. A marble seat with a baldachin projects from the centre of the southern wing. It is decorated by baluster columns and semicircular arches with a rich naturalistic acanthus decoration—inspired by European engravings—which Ebba Koch argues was of a type first used exclusively in the architecture framing the appearances of Shah Jahan.
Located in the middle of the eastern side of the fort is the spacious court known as the Diwan-i-Aam. According to Lahauri, a cloth tent and, later, a wooden hall were used for the purposes of Diwan-i-Aam before the present structure came into being under Shah Jahan.
The main audience hall is a rectangular, pillared building standing on a red sandstone plinth. It has four rows of pillars and pilasters on the north-south axis and 10 along the east-west alignment. The hall has double columns on all the three external sides (similar to the Chaunsath Khamba at Nizamuddin in Delhi, which is square in shape though). Resting on square bases, these pillars were once carved or stuccoed and the outlines of the bases, shafts, capitals and cusps were gilded. They support engrailed or nine-cusped Shahjahani arches. The emperor’s jharokha , or throne chamber, projects from the eastern wall of the hall. Its walls, pillars and even the ceiling have stylised floral designs in pietra dura inlay, which is characteristic of Shahjahani architecture. Ebba Koch says that the naturalistic plant decoration symbolically represented the bloom brought about by the just rule of Shah Jahan. The jharokha walls have china khana niches—possibly used to keep porcelain vessels—which the contemporary poet Kalim wrote was a tribute of China to the court of Shah Jahan. The hall has a flat roof and the exterior is protected by chajja s in turn supported by brackets. While the hall is made of red sandstone, it is white-plastered to give the effect of marble. The courtyard of the Diwan-i-Aam is surrounded by narrow galleries/ dalan s/verandas with multi-cusped arches. Shah Jahan held court at the Diwan-i-Aam twice a day and attended to administrative matters. All the courtiers and honoured visitors who assembled there, Fisher points out, “would stand deferentially with crossed arms in hierarchically arranged semicircles [separated by railings] centred on his throne, moving outward from highest to lowest”. The audience hall served a larger symbolic purpose that went beyond being a place where administrative matters were dealt with or foreign dignitaries were received; it also reinforced Shah Jahan’s position as the head of the spiritual domain.
On account of its 40 pillar sites, the Diwan-i-Aam was also known as Chihil Sutun (Forty-Pillared)—the name by which the ruins of Persepolis (in present-day Iran) were widely referred to then. By recreating the famous audience halls of the ancient kings of Iran, Ebba Koch argues, the Mughal emperor claimed the status of these kings, who were considered exemplary rulers in the Islamic world. However, unlike the original Iranian halls, she substantiates, those of the Mughals followed the plan of a mosque (the closest parallel could be the Pathar Masjid in Srinagar) with a wider aisle in the centre. While in the mosque the central aisle leads to the mihrab (the niche that shows the direction of Mecca), in the case of the Diwan-i-Aam, it leads to the emperor’s jharokha . Ebba Koch points out that the idea that Shah Jahan’s authority was not only worldly but also spiritual was further reinforced by the presence of a mosque right opposite the audience hall at the centre of the west wing. Nath puts forward a somewhat similar concept albeit rooted in Indian thought and philosophy—the 40-pillar sites made up of 27 bays, representing the 27 nakshatra s (constellations) denoting the incarnation of the jagat (universe) presided by the emperor sitting like a sun. The audience hall of the Agra Fort served as a model for those in the palaces of Lahore and Shahjahanabad.
Scholars are divided on whether or not Akbar built a mosque within the fort premises. There are, however, three surviving mosques built by Shah Jahan. Describing the Shahjahani mosques, Ebba Koch says they are of two main architectural types and both had already started becoming distinct during Jahangir’s time. To the first category belong the great city mosques, such as the Jami Masjid of Agra built by Jahanara in 1648, which has prayer halls with massive pishtaq s (having a high portal/facade gateway) surmounted by three or five domes and courtyards surrounded by continuous arcaded galleries with axial gates. To the second category belong smaller mosques, mostly with a direct imperial connection, which have an additive system of vaulted bays—they may have flat or coved ceilings, domes or even high bangla vaults—and could appear without pishtaq s and outer domes. Also unlike the first category, they do not have minarets, for example, the Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque, 1647-53), the Mina Masjid (or Gem Mosque, completed in 1637, it was the emperor’s private mosque) and the Nagina Masjid (Jewel Mosque). The Nagina Masjid is covered by bangla vaults and chajja s, which, according to Ebba Koch, is the first time such a motif appears in a Mughal mosque.
Agra Fort after Akbar/Shah Jahan
Akbar’s fort was one of the strongest and most defensible structures of its times. Even rebellions carried out by his son Jahangir (1599) and grandson Shah Jahan (1622) failed to break through its defences. The complex took much of its current form during the reign of Shah Jahan, and it continued to remain his imperial residence even after 1638 when he shifted his capital to Delhi. Aurangzeb’s efforts to capture the fort with the help of military power and guns proved futile, and he finally succeeded in breaking its defences by cutting the water supply through the Khizri Gate side. A desperate Shah Jahan wrote:
“…Only yesterday, I was the master of nine hundred thousand troopers
and today I am in need of a pitcher of water…”
The emperor finally surrendered in 1658 and spent the rest of his life imprisoned in the fort. Agra began to lose much of its imperial charm after Shah Jahan’s death (1666) even though Aurangzeb continued to hold court at the fort. In 1666, during Aurangzeb’s reign, the Maratha king Shivaji visited Agra to meet the Mughal emperor in the Diwan-i-Khas. Aurangzeb’s death in 1707 threw both Mughal power and the imperial stronghold into disarray. The history of the Agra Fort, for most of the 18th century, remains a story of multiple sieges and pillage, and it changed hands many times, including those of the Jats and the Marathas. The Marathas gained control of the area south of Delhi after defeating the Mughals around the mid 18th century. After their loss to the Afghan and Rohilla forces led by Ahmad Shah Durrani at the Third Battle of Panipat (1761), the fort came under the control of the Durranis. The Marathas were able to regain control in 1785 under the reign of Mahadji Shinde. Subsequently, the Marathas lost to the British in the Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803) and with it the fort. Colluding with European officers working in the Maratha garrison, Lord Lake was able to breach the fort in the south-eastern side (Bengali Burj).
With the establishment of the British military garrison at the fort, many Mughal structures were pulled down to construct residential quarters, barracks, stores and so on. The grand courtyard of the Diwan-i-Aam, for example, was converted into an arsenal, and many buildings and pavilions were whitewashed and subdivided with mud partitions for the private use of officers.
It is interesting to note, however, that the British used the artefacts associated with the fort to play divisive politics. Nath says that the British deliberately planted the torso of a horse at the edge of the moat near the public entrance to perpetuate the escape story of Rao Amar Singh, a Rajput nobleman affiliated with the royal house of Marwar. Amar Singh killed Salabat Khan (one of Shah Jahan’s important officers) in front of a full court in 1644. It was popularly believed that he escaped the Mughals by jumping across the moat on his horse. The fact is, Nath says, that Amar Singh and his followers were killed while trying to escape. Thanks to this episode, however, the gate eventually became known as the Amar Singh Gate. A big statue of him stands at the traffic intersection in front of the fort. Another such artefact—now kept in a glass enclosure in the Shahjahani Palace but not related to the fort or the Mughals in any way—is the Somnath Gate, which was brought to India from Afghanistan in 1842. To enlist the support of Hindus, Governor General Lord Ellenborough made a speech on the occasion wherein he proclaimed that he had brought back the sandalwood gate taken away by Mahmud of Ghazni from the Somnath temple. A historical insult, he claimed, had been avenged after 800 years. It was soon discovered that the gate, made of deodar wood and carrying Islamic motifs, actually belonged to the tomb of Mahmud of Ghazni, a fact corroborated by the Arabic inscription on the structure. Thereafter, it was left abandoned in the Agra Fort.
The fort came under some conservation efforts towards the late 19th century with the involvement of the Public Works Department. Lord Curzon’s restoration campaign at the beginning of the 20th century saw many military structures being removed from the premises. Independence, however, brought the military back to the Agra Fort, and a large part of the complex, including the Khizri and Hathi Pol Gates, the Meena Bazaar and the Moti Masjid, remains under the control of the Indian Army and is inaccessible to the public. In recent decades, there has been a growing demand from archaeologists, historians, conservationists and heritage enthusiasts that the Army vacate the premises.
Shashank Shekhar Sinha has taught history in undergraduate colleges of the University of Delhi. He does independent research on tribes, gender, violence, culture and heritage .
source: http://www.frontline.thehindu.com / Frontline / Home> Arts & Culture> Heritage> Agra Fort / by Shashank Shekhar Sinha / January 30th, 2019
