Agra’s hidden heritage sites cry out for conservation – Firstpost

During Diwali week, a newspaper report presented a stunner that startled and shocked heritage enthusiasts. A historic monument in Agra, though of relatively minor importance, had collapsed. It was a tower that stood on the banks of the Yamuna and dated back to the heyday of Agra – when it was one of the most important cities of the Mughal Empire, including a period as its capital.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) list for Agra district has 67 monuments. Number 32 on that list is now reduced to a state of rubble. This was the corner tower of the Zahara Bagh – mentioned in the ASI list as ‘Zohra Bagh and riverside kiosk’. The newspaper incorrectly dated it to 1526, when Babur first arrived in Agra, after his victory over the Lodis. According to detailed research by historian Ebba Koch, the Bagh in question was built almost a century later under the patronage of Mumtaz Mahal, wife of the Mughal prince Khurram and later empress when Khurram ascended the throne as Shah Jahan.

According to a 17th-century map found by Ebba Koch in a museum in Jaipur, the Zahara Bagh was one of several walled gardens built along the Yamuna in Agra during that century. Like the Zahara Bagh, most of the others were also created under the patronage of members of the Mughal imperial family or high nobility. Close to the Bagh is the Chini ka Rauza, the grave of a high nobleman. A little further away is the beautiful tomb of Itmad-ud-daulah, the father of Empress Nur Jahan. The Bagh was thus located in a zone intended for the empire’s elite.

Only the name wasn’t Zahara Bagh! After Mumtaz Mahal, the Bagh was passed on to her eldest daughter, Princess Jahanara, and named after her. Over time, ‘Jahanara’ mutated into ‘Zahara’. Worse, some call it ‘Zohra’. Names aside, the real tragedy of heritage-rich locations like Agra is that so many nuggets from their past tend to fall off the radar of those responsible for their upkeep. Lack of sufficient financial resources is an important cause, as is the lack of initiative and passion.

Perhaps the biggest flaw in the Indian approach to heritage management is that it tends to focus on monuments, looking at individual structures rather than the larger ecosystem of which they are part; an ecosystem that may well have produced the monument itself. In this approach, major monuments – both in terms of historical importance and size – receive all the attention and money. The smaller ones, like the ‘Zahara’ Bagh, have to prove that God does indeed exist somewhere.

Agra was once a city full of such gardens and havelis: enormous mansions where the nobility and wealthy citizens lived. Most were intact even at the beginning of the 18th century. Since then, events such as the gradual decline of the Mughals until their eventual collapse and the Partition have combined with the decadent lifestyle of the nobles themselves to ruin them – leading to the gardens being gradually abandoned and mansions sold to anyone who could pay, mostly wealthy merchants. . Over time, the mansions were sold in parts to different buyers, or some were occupied only by families needing to resettle. New walls replaced the old, elegant features such as towers and domes were demolished to make way for functional rooms and soon all structural integrity was lost. If you explore Agra today, you will see remains of many such lost structures.

Starting with the now lost corner tower of the ‘Zahara’ Bagh yourself. Two months ago it stood tall: three stories rising above the ground floor, topped by a dome (as shown in the main image). Now only the ground floor remains under a pile of rubble.

A short drive from the Bagh takes a visitor to the Chauburji. Usually the gate to the walled area where this structure is located is closed. But if anyone gets a peek inside, there is a square tomb inside. This is believed to be the original grave of Babur himself, before his body was exhumed and taken to Kabul.

On the same side of the river is a village called Kachhpuraconsidered a not too safe part of the city to go to due to some supposedly anti-social elements living there. In an earlier era, it witnessed the establishment of a mosque by Humayun. The structure is still in use.

Etmadpur: Outside Agra, on the road to Tundla, this was once an extensive complex with a tomb on one side of a large body of water. At the center of a body of water is an octagonal pavilion connected to the edge of the tank by a causeway. In the grave lies a nobleman named Itimad Khan, who died around 1578. In the late 19th century it appears that British troops used the site for camping, carving their names and dates into the walls, making their graffiti now part of our history.

Fatehabad: Located east of the city of Agra, at a place named after Aurangzeb’s victory over Dara Shikoh, lies a small complex. Some buildings here have been converted into a government medical facility when this author last visited the place. Some elegant pavilions in the complex are overgrown by vegetation and falling apart.

Tal Firoz Khan: Originally a village just outside Agra on the road to Gwalior, it has now been incorporated into the growing city. The village grew up around the grave of a Mughal nobleman named Firoz Khan, a eunuch who may have served Shah Jahan. His beautiful red sandstone tomb, built over two levels and richly decorated, still stands. The body of water – the ‘tal’ – is now filled with waste and has become much smaller. It may soon disappear, taking away part of the monument’s ecosystem and leaving visitors wondering about the village’s name.

Suraj Bhan ka Bagh: This monument is located close to Akbar’s grave in Sikandra and is strangely in private hands, in a closed area. Although no trace remains of a bagh, there is a large gate in red sandstone, richly carved on the outside.

Tomb of Ladli Begum: This is the classic example of a monument that no longer exists and whose very existence is now only a legend. It is said that the grave was on the old road from Agra to Delhi. There is no trace of it now!

Some opinions dating back more than a century say that the tomb was sold to wealthy merchants from Mathura, who tore it down and used the land for various purposes. Since the only known Ladli Begum – daughter of Nur Jahan from her first marriage – was buried next to her mother in Lahore, there is also doubt about whose grave this was.

These examples are just a handful from a city with hundreds of vulnerable monuments. And unlike them, many do not have a sign parked next to them stating that the state is protecting their existence. They are as much a part of the city’s past as the Taj, but they need documentation and some preservation to survive. One hopes that the loss of the ‘Zahara’ Bagh will spur some people into action.

The author is a natural heritage explorer with a penchant for seeking out obscure locations. He is a brand consultant by profession and tweets @HiddenHeritage. The opinions expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of Firstpost.