United States or North Macedonia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Returning now to the Dîwan-i-âm, we can ascend by one of the small staircases to the throne-room, and enter the upper arcades which surround the Machhi Bhawan, or "Fish Square." The courtyard has suffered so much from ruthless vandalism that it is difficult to realize its former magnificence. It was formerly laid out in marble with flower-beds, water-channels, fountains, and fish-tanks.
We will now pass over to the river side of the Machhi Bhawan, and approach that part of the palace which contains the Dîwan-i-khas, or Hall of Private Audience, the Zanana and Mahal-i-khas, all built by Shah Jahan and occupied by him in the days of his royal state and sovereignty. They rank with the Dîwan-i-khas at Delhi as the most exquisite of Shah Jahan's buildings.
We saw other places of interest, such as the Muchee Bhawan, the fort in which our soldiers were previous to the siege; the Kaisar Bagh, an extensive garden, filled with showy, lofty houses, where the King of Oude and his numerous retinue had resided; the Chuttar Manzil, a handsome building where public entertainments were given; the gateway at which the gallant Colonel Neil fell now called Neil Gate; the Secunder Bagh, a garden with a high wall, where a large body of the enemy was posted, and which was stormed by the 78th Highlanders, who shut up every exit and killed every soul, many of the Sepoys fighting desperately to the last.
THE HINDU TEMPLE. Beyond the Chitore gates you enter into another quadrangle surrounded by arcades, which recalls a different chapter in the chequered history of the palace. Here is a Hindu temple, built by one of the Bharatpur Rajahs, who sacked Agra about the middle of the 18th century, and occupied it for ten years. The Machhi Bhawan.
THE CHITORE GATES. The further corner of this courtyard, on the left, leads to the Chitore gates, the trophies which Akbar placed there as a memorial of his capture of that great Rajput stronghold in 1657, after a desperate resistance by its gallant defenders. They form the principal entrance to the Machhi Bhawan, the great courtyard behind the Dîwan-i-âm, but are generally kept closed.
Word Of The Day