Following our lunch we headed for the Agra Fort or what is known as the “Red Fort.” The name comes from the red colored stone used in the construction. This was the summer home of the Mughal.
The main gate. You can see this is a popular attraction.
A shot from inside showing the double moat.
There were monkeys here and at the Taj.
Getting to the Mughal’s area required passing through two defensive areas. This is the first gate.
This is a picture of the second gate. Note the incline. This could be used to roll boulders or hot oil down on attacking forces whom made it through the first gate.
Entrance to the Mughal’s private area.
Inside the Mughal area. This is where he held court and heard individual grievances. He would sit on a raised dais by the back wall. His ministers and court officers would stand by the pillars. The pillars are off-set so that he could see all of them from his seat. No pillar conceals a view of another from his vantage point.
This is the Mughal’s residence behind the court building above.
Across the courtyard was the residence of his Haram. At one time he had 5,000 women in residence. This area was decorated with painted murals and hanging tapestries. There are secret passages that the Mughal could use to spy on them. There was a class system of wives, contract wives, entertainers, cooks, cleaning and others I forgot. The Mughal could not be with any women from the underclass. This created a problem if he took an interest in a woman from a underclass. However this was easily solved since he also had the power to promote the ladies from one class to another. He also noticed how the wall paintings faded over time. That gave him the idea to use inlay in the Taj rather than painting.
A long story but the Mughal (still the same guy who built the Taj) was overthrown by his son who then imprisoned him for eight years in this area within the fort palace before he died.
You can see the Taj from the fort. Here is a picture of two beauties and what the imprisoned former Mughal would have seen.
The story continues. The son couldn’t overthrown his father without the help of his sister. She agreed to help him if he promised to let her marry after he became Mughal (Women of the royal family needed Mughal permission to marry which was rarely given. Cut down on the number of people plotting for the throne.) He promised, she helped him, he was successful as you know from above, and then he imprisoned her in this area. And we think we can’t trust our politicians!!
This is a bottomless pit that was used to dispatch enemies. Like the one in the movie “300.”
OK, it is about five feet deep and an old fountain. Did I get you for just a moment? Note the lack of safety equipment around the hole. I some places they trust you not to fall into holes.
One can only take so much Taj and Fort on a hot, humid day.
So it was time to head back to the bus.
More about the Fort if you can read it. Try enlarging it.
A picture of an Indian policemen and their famous crowd control sticks.
This was the end of our day in Agra. We headed back to the airport, a quick flight back to Mumbai and a bus trip to the ship. Gone for 16 hours. We did have part of the next day in Mumbai. After a good night’s sleep (and a bit into the day) Noreen realized that she hadn’t had any time to……shop! So off we went to the local market.
Some Mumbai pictures. Note the taxis and no Tuc Tucs. When we were driving between the ship and the airport we saw a number of what could be considered slums. When we were driving back in the evening around 10:30 PM we saw lots of people living on the street including whole families. However below is a more affluent area around the ship as we went to the market and back.
In the port we were docked by the Indian naval yard. I was surprised that we were allowed there and could take pictures. Do you see the two subs in the picture below?
This is a jump jet carrier purchased from the British. It sailed away later in the day.
We were also with the Coast Guard. The jump jet carrier in the foreground is a museum.
And then it was time to sail away. The picture below shows how busy the harbor area is around Mumbai.
And off to Dubai, UAE. We hope you enjoyed our time in India.
i'm going to look up the information about the "Red Fort" and family...interesting history. was it surprising how many people were on the streets and did it seem normal to others???
ReplyDeleteam very much enjoying seeing a slice of different cultures and areas...