Jxxxiv 



Hejport oj n the Archaeological Siwvey. 







by Bernier and Thevenot. What, then, was their original site ? This 

 I believe to have been the fort of Agra in front of the river gate. 



153. In his account of the city of Agra, Abnl Fazl, # the Minister 

 of Akbar, states that " His Majesty has erected a fort of red stone, 

 the like of which no traveller has ever beheld." "At the eastern 

 gate are carved in stone two elephants with their riders, of exquisite 

 workmanship." The eastern gate of the fort of Agra is the river gate, 

 in front of which the two statues most probably remained undisturbed 

 until the reign of Shahjahan, who, as I presume, must have removed 

 them to Delhi to adorn his new capital of Shahjahanabad. It is 

 scarcely possible that Jahangir could have removed them to Delhi ; 

 but, if he did so, they would have been placed in front of the gate of 

 SalimgarJi, to which he added a bridge, at the same time changing the 

 name of the place to Nurgarh, after his own title of Nur-udiin. 



154. I have been disappointed in not finding any mention of these 

 elephant statues in the accounts of our early English travellers. Cap- 

 tain Hawkins and William Finch both visited Agra in the beginning 

 of Jahangir's reign. The former attended the Eoyal Durbar in the 

 Agra Fort regularly for two years, and describes minutely the King's 

 ^aily occupations, which, according to William Finch, included the 

 witnessing of animal fights on every day except Sunday, and of 

 executions on every Tuesday. Both the fights and the executions took 

 place in a courtyard, or out-work, in front of the river gate. This 

 gate is described by Finch as follows: — "The fourth gate is to the 

 river called the Bur sane (Darsan Darwdza, or " Grate of Sights") 

 leading to a fair court, extending along the river, where the King 

 ]poks out every morning at sun-rising. # # Right under this place is a 

 kind of scaffold, on which the Nobles stand. # # Here, likewise, the 

 King comes every day at noon to see the Tumdsha (shows) or fighting 

 with elephants, lions, and buffaloes, and killing of deer by leopards. 

 # * Tuesdays are peculiarly the days of blood, both for fighting 

 beasts and killing men, as on that day the King sits in judgment, 

 and sees it put in execution." I can only account for the silence of 

 Finch and Hawkins by supposing that they had never seen these two 

 remarkable elephants with their warrior riders. This, indeed, is likely 

 enough, for the principal gate near the city, by which they would have 

 entered the fort, is on the western side • and unless they had passed 

 # Ayin Akbari, 11—36. 



