42 GARDENS OF THE PLAINS— AGRA 



the tamarind tree enclosure and its octagonal tank, 

 and then the great hall of audience. In Persia and 

 India a house or palace is always understood to 

 be included under the name of garden, and the 

 whole composition was closely and beautifully 

 interwoven. How much the finest Mughal build- 

 ings lose by the destruction or alteration of their 

 gardens can be easily seen in the great palace- 

 forts at Agra, Delhi, and Lahore, and the many 

 desolate enclosures, all that are now left of the 

 once " Paradise -like orchards " of the Moslem 

 garden-tombs. 



The Ram Bagh, on the left bank of the Jumna, 

 may possibly be the garden -palace of Babar's 

 description. It was a royal garden in the time 

 of his great-grandson Jahangir ; one of the 

 numerous palaces of the Empress Nur-Jahan. It 

 is astonishing to find how many of the famous 

 Mughal gardens throughout Northern India and 

 Kashmir owe their inception to, or were directly 

 inspired by, the taste and the love of natural 

 scenery and flowers of this royal lady, who 

 shared with Babar the joyous art-loving tradi- 

 tions inherited from Turki and Persian ancestors. 

 In the Ram Bagh the great Emperor was laid 

 in his last sleep, before his remains were removed 



