106 GARDENS OF THE PLAINS DELHI 



before they were back at Delhi a dangerous ex- 

 periment with the once popular Shah Jahan alive 

 and a prisoner at Agra. The journey was made 

 at the instance of the King's ambitious sister 

 Roshanara Begam, who had been long anxious 

 to appear, in her turn, amid the pomp of a mag- 

 nificent army, as her sister Begam Sahiba had 

 done during the reign of Shah Jahan, and also, no 

 doubt, to see the snow mountains and the famous 

 Kashmir gardens about which there must have 

 been so many tales told in the seraglios of Delhi 

 and Agra ever since the Empress Nur-Mahal 

 set the fashion by undertaking this arduous 

 journey almost every spring. 



The Shalimar gardens are mentioned by 

 Lieutenant Franklin, who saw them in 1793, in 

 the reign of Shah Alam. The grounds, he says, 

 were laid out with admirable taste : " but a 

 great part of the most costly and valuable 

 materials have been carried away." He also 

 notes " the finest chanam (white plaster made of 

 crushed marble) and the beautiful paintings 

 of flowers of various patterns " on the walls of 

 the harem quarters. After 1803 the gardens 

 were for a time used by the British Resident as 

 a summer retreat. But, unfortunately, this did 



