MUGHAL MONARCHS
An Introduction to the Mughal Dynasty and Mughal Agra

Shah Jehan
Jehangir's son and successor, Shah Jehan ruled from 1628 to 1658. He was a great patrons of the arts, and Mughal painting and architecture, blending Persian and Indian traditions, reached their zenith at this time.
With the accession of Shah Jehan to the throne, came a flowering of architecture both in Agra and Delhi. The profusion of white marble buildings raised during the period of Shah Jehan, led one scholar to characterise it as the reign of marble. Red sandstone and brick remained major building materials, but the use of marble is expressive of the very high standards of elegance and luxury that governed all aspects of an architectural project throughout Shah Jehan's reign. The innovations seen in the buildings created during Shah Jehan's reign are striking demonstrations of the effect of particular aesthetic and political concerns. In addition to a greater use of marble, which was a textural quality quite distinct from the red sandstone favoured by his predecessors, there was refinement of the architectural vocabulary. Among specific changes were the introduction of cusped arches and of pillars with tapering shafts and baluster detailing. Many developments can be directly related to a desire to articulate more forcefully paradisiacal and imperial theme, drawing on sources that included European motifs.
Shah Jehan had many earlier structures in the Agra Fort dismantled in order to make room for his own marble pavilions. It seems that immediately upon his accession in 1628, Shah Jehan ordered palace additions to the existing forts at Agra and Lahore. The most notable complex of white marble palace structures is situated on the eastern edge of the fortified walls built by Akbar bordering the Yamuna river. Among these is Muthamman Burg (Jasmine Tower), built at a point where the main north-south wall of the fort takes a turn towards the east. The octagonal room, which offers an exceptional view of the Taj Mahal, is supposed to be the place where Shah Jehan died in 1666. The Muthamman Burg is connected with a series of other marble pavilions forming the east side of a large courtyard that once contained a garden. Only the structure and not the flora survives today. To the north of the palace quarters bordering the garden are additional rooms including the Hall of Private Audience, which is a marble pillared hall decorated with profuse inlay. The Shish mahal which is located close to the royal apartments, has hundreds of small mirrors embedded in stucco decorations, in intricate floral and geometrical designs. Some distance away is the magnificent Moti Masjid, the Pearl Mosque built at an elevation so that its ethereal domes and kiosks are visible above the walls of the fort.