TWO PALACE GARDENS 83 



are many fish for delight." This description of 

 Niccolao Manucci's, in his Storia do Mogor, gives a 

 vivid impression of what the Machchi Bhawan (the 

 Fish Square) and the Anguri Bagh, two of the 

 principal squares in the palace at Agra, looked 

 like before their spoliation. Now, alas! what 

 between the Jats of Bharatpur, who carried off 

 the marble fountains and tanks to the palace of 

 Suraj Mai at Deeg, and Lord William Bentinck, 

 who sold what was left of the mosaic and marble 

 fret-work, there is nothing left in the garden of 

 the sacred fish from which to realise its former 

 magnificence. 



The Anguri Bagh has fared better. This 

 garden lies in front of the Khas Mahal and is 

 enclosed on three sides by arcades. It was the 

 principal square of the zenana apartments, and 

 is a typical specimen of an old Mughal garden, 

 laid out in geometrical stone-edged parterres, 

 with four terraced walks radiating from a central 

 chabutra, with a raised fountain tank. A stone 

 trellis formerly enclosed the flower-beds, and is 

 thought by some to have supported vines, but the 

 name of Anguri Bagh (Grape Garden) was more 

 probably derived from the vine pattern decoration 

 in precious stones which Shah Jahan constructed 



