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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.
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.
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.
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.
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