Flying through Mughal history in Agra~Kirin

The Mohiles'
Jan 4, 2020
2 min read

Before getting into this post, I am just going to talk about an amazing sight we saw on the way from Jaipur to Agra. Chand Bawri is a large step well used to take the water out for royal Rajastani kings. This hidden secret of India composed of 3,500 steps was built by king Chanda in the 9th century. We found out about this in Atlas Obscura and the step well did not disappoint.

Before going into our amazing journey to the Taj Mahal, I have to explain some Mughal history for you. So anyway, Babur was a man from Afghanistan who was a great warrior. He was the one who founded the Mughal empire in India. Years later his grandson, Akbar had his capital in Agra called Akbarabad. He wanted to have a son so what happened is a sufi saint supposedly blessed him with a son. He was so happy that he built a whole new capital for the empire to honor this saint. This capital was called Fatepur Sikri and is located outside of Agra. It was abandoned after a decade or so but is very well preserved.

It was interesting because Akbar had three wives: a Muslim wife, a Christian wife, and a Hindu wife. The Muslim wife had a small room, the Christian wife had a medium house, and the Hindu wife had a huge palace because she was the one that birthed Akbar's son. The bottom picture above was part of the Hindu wife's palace.

Sorry about my moms weird faces.

Above is a huge mosque and the white marble building is devoted to that sufi saint.

The top right picture is supposedly the biggest gate in the world.

Now, to the Taj Mahal!!!! Akbar's grandson Shah Jahan built this amazing monument you all know of as a symbol of loved to his deceased wife Mumtaz Mahal. This is a true wonder of the world and the first time you see it, it is like WAAAAAAAAWWWAWA!!!!!!