CHOICE OF SITE 41 



Babar introduced into India. The Mughals, 

 with their fine traditions, laid most stress on 

 the choice of site. Babar was evidently too wise 

 to suppose, as many modern garden planners 

 suppose, that he could build a great garden 

 without a great idea or a great opportunity ; 

 and to his disgust, the dull monotony of the 

 plains of Agra offered neither. Water, too, was 

 a vital necessity to cool the dwelling rooms, 

 supply the baths, and irrigate these immense 

 terraced enclosures. All the finest Mughal 

 gardens or their ruins are found in beautiful 

 situations, centring round a hillside spring, like 

 the gardens of Achibal, Verinag, Wah, and 

 Pin j or ; or else built across a narrow ravine or 

 valley through which a constant stream of water 

 flows, such as the Kashmir Shalimar Bagh, the 

 Gardens of the Ghat near Jeypore, and older 

 still, the ill-famed Persian gardens of the Castle 

 of Alamut, — ^the Paradise of the Assassins, of 

 which Ser Marco Polo left such a quaint descrip- 

 tion, and the crusaders brought home strange 

 tales. 



No spring or rivulet being available in the 

 vicinity of Agra, Babar perforce had to start the 

 work by digging wells ; next, he proceeded with 



6 



