88 THE AGRA GRAPE GARDEN 



alternately were the favourite symbols of life, 

 death, and eternity ; the solemn background of 

 the deep-toned cypress, emblem of death and 

 eternity, contrasted with the waving, delicate 

 sprays of rosy almond tree or silvery flowering 

 plum, emblems of life and hope. 



The designs of the old Firdus (Paradise) 

 carpets were, as their name implies, directly 

 taken from some such garden parterre as those 

 which still exist in outline in the Anguri Bagh; 

 where each of the four squares which make up 

 the whole design has its separate border and 

 central plot, once, like the carpets, full of brightly- 

 coloured flowers woven into a close geometrical 

 pattern. The Mughal parterres must not be 

 confused with the English " carpet bedding " 

 of mid- Victorian days — tiny coloured leaves and 

 flowers worked into a tedious pattern along some 

 border or bank — ^but were boldly massed flowers 

 of varying heights and beautifully chosen colours, 

 like the lily beds of the Taj dados, the red rose 

 garden of Jahangir's Memoirs, the narcissus, 

 anemone, and tulip plots that so delighted 

 Babar. The surrounding border was treated 

 differently, in oblong beds of alternate colour- 

 ing, or else with single flowers like the groups 



