captured by the emperor Baber, the famous Koh-i-noor diamond being part of the loot; and it was here that Baber announced that his invasion was to be a permanent conquest, and not a mere temporary inroad. It was Baber’s grandson Akbar that built the present fort, whose strong and lofty walls of red sandstone are a mile and a half in circumference. The building was completed in 1665, when Charles II. was on the throne of England and the plague was devastating London. Another building of much the same date is the red stone palace generally attributed to Akbar, but probably of an earlier time, which is the finest example of pure Hindu architecture; while the Moti Masjid, or Pearl Mosque, is an equally perfect example of the Mahommedan style.
But the glory of Agra, the most splendidly poetic building in the world, is the Taj Mahal, the mausoleum built (A.D. 1632) by the emperor Shah Jahan for the remains of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, in which he himself also lies buried. The building is built of white marble throughout, crowned with a great white dome in the centre, and Taj Mahal.with a smaller dome at each of its four corners. From the marble terrace which surrounds it rise four tall minarets of the same material, one at each corner. The Taj has been modelled and painted more frequently than any other building in the world, and the word pictures of it are numberless. But it can only be described as a dream in marble. It amply justifies the saying that the Moguls designed like Titans and finished like jewellers. In regard to colour and design the Taj ranks first in the world for purely decorative workmanship; while the perfect symmetry of its exterior once seen can never be forgotten, nor the aerial grace of its domes, rising like marble bubbles into the azure sky. In his History of Architecture, Fergusson says of it:—
“This building is an early example of that system of inlaying with precious stones which became the great characteristic of the style of the Moghals after the death of Akbar. All the spandrils of the Taj, all the angles and more important architectural details, are heightened by being inlaid with precious stones such as agates, bloodstones, jaspers and the like. These are combined in wreaths, scrolls and frets, as exquisite in design as they are beautiful in colour, and relieved by the pure white marble in which they are inlaid, they form the most beautiful and precious style of ornament ever adopted in architecture. It is lavishly bestowed on the tombs themselves and the screens which surround them, but more sparingly introduced on the mosque that forms one wing of the Taj, and on the fountains and surrounding buildings. The judgment, indeed, with which this style of ornament is apportioned to the various parts, is almost as remarkable as the ornament itself, and conveys a high idea of the taste and skill of the architects of this age.”
Of the Taj as a whole Lord Roberts says in his Forty-one Years in India:—
“Neither words nor pencil could give to the most imaginative reader the slightest idea of the all-satisfying beauty and purity of this glorious conception. To those who have not already seen it I would say, ‘Go to India. The Taj alone is well worth the journey.’ ”
The Taj was designed by Ustad Isa, variously described as a Byzantine Turk and a native of Shiraz in Persia. The pietra dura work belongs to the Persian school and the common belief that it was designed by Austin de Bordeaux, a French architect in the service of Shah Jahan, is probably incorrect.
Agra was formerly the capital of the North-West Provinces, but after the Mutiny the seat of government was removed to Allahabad. Situated 841 m. from Calcutta it is now an important railway centre, whence two main lines diverge southwards towards Bombay. In 1901 the population was 188,022, showing an increase of 12% during the decade. The city contains cotton mills, factories for ginning and pressing cotton, a tannery and boot factory and flour mill. There are also two missionary colleges.
The District of Agra has an area of 1856 sq. m. Its general appearance is that common to the Doab, a level plain intersected by watercourses and ravines. Its general elevation is estimated at from 650 to 700 ft. above the level of the sea. The district is intersected by the Jumna, and is also watered by the Agra canal. The principal crops are millets, pulses, barley, wheat, cotton and a little indigo. The population in 1901 was 1,060,528, showing an increase of 6% during the decade.
The Division of Agra has an area of 10,154 sq. m. In 1901 the population was 5,249,542, showing an increase of 10% during the decade, attributed to the extension of irrigation from canals. It comprises the six districts of Muttra, Agra, Farukhabad, Mainpuri, Etawah and Etah.
For an account of the architecture of Agra see Fergusson’s History of Architecture; Cities of India (1903) by G. W. Forrest; Enchanted India (1899), by Prince Bojidar Karageorgevitch; and E. B. Havell, Handbook to Agra and the Taj (1904). (C. L.)
AGRA CANAL, an important Indian irrigation work, available also for navigation, in Delhi, Gurgaon, Muttra and Agra districts, and Bharatpur state. The canal receives its water from the Jumna river at Okla, about 10 m. below Delhi. The weir across the Jumna was the first attempted in Upper India upon a foundation of fine sand; it is about 800 yds. long, and rises 7 ft. above the summer level of the river. From Okla the canal follows the high land between the Khari-nadi and the Jumna, and finally joins the Banganga river about 20 m. below Agra. Navigable branches connect the canal with Muttra and Agra. It was opened in 1874.
AGRAM (Hungarian Zágráb, Croatian Zagreb), the capital of Croatia-Slavonia, and a royal free town of Hungary; pleasantly situated between the north bank of the Save and the mountains which culminate in Sljeme (3396 ft.); 187 m. by rail S. of Vienna. Pop. (1890) 38,742; (1900) 57,930, or with garrison 61,002. Agram is the seat of the ban, or viceroy, of Croatia-Slavonia, of the Banal and Septemviral courts, the highest in the land, and of a chamber of commerce. It is also the meeting-place of the parliament; but local affairs are conducted by a municipal council. The city is divided into three districts. The Kapitel-Stadt, sometimes called the Bishop’s Town, with the palace of the Roman Catholic archbishop, and his late Gothic cathedral, dating from the 15th century, lies eastward of the Medvešćak, a brook which flows into the Save. The Upper Town, on high ground west of the Medvešćak, contains the palace of the ban and the natural history museum. On the south, the Lower Town is separated from the other districts by the Ilica, a long street traversed by a cable tramway. In it are the business and industrial quarters; the palace of justice; the academy of science, with picture-galleries, a library and a collection of antiquities; the theatre; the Franz Josef University, founded in 1874 to teach theology, law and philosophy; the synagogue; and the only Protestant church existing in the country at the beginning of the 20th century. Roman Catholic churches and schools are numerous. Besides the large Maximir park and botanical gardens, many of the squares are planted with trees and adorned with statues; while the whole city is surrounded by vineyards and country houses. Tobacco, leather, linen, carpets and war-material are manufactured in Agram, which also contains the works of the Hungarian state railways, and has a brisk trade in grain, wine, potash, honey, silk and porcelain.
In 1094 Agram was founded by Ladislaus I. of Hungary, as the seat of a bishop; and on the expulsion of its Mongol colony, in 1242, it was raised to the rank of a royal free city. For centuries a bitter feud raged between the Kapitel-Stadt and the Upper Town, until these rivals were forced to join hands against the Turks. Agram, already the political centre of Croatia-Slavonia, was selected as the capital in 1867. It suffered severely from earthquake in 1880 and 1901.
AGRAPHA (i.e. “unwritten”), the name given to certain utterances ascribed, with some degree of certainty, to Jesus, which have been preserved in documents other than the Gospels, e.g. Acts xx. 35; 1 Tim. v. 18; 1 Cor. vii. 10-12, and the Logia (q.v.) discovered in 1897 and 1903 at Oxyrhyncus. Two interesting examples of such sayings may be quoted: (1) “That which is weak shall be saved by that which is strong”; (2) “Jesus, on whom be peace, has said: ‘The world is merely a bridge; ye are to pass over it, and not to build your dwellings upon it.’ ” The first of these is from the Apostolic Canons (c. A.D. 300), the second was found by the missionary Alexander Duff inscribed in Arabic on the gateway of the mosque at Fatehpur Sikri.
