FORT OF AGRA. 
133 
is exceedingly elegant ; many artists and other able 
critics have declared it one of the most perfect spe- 
cimens of symmetry extant in oriental architecture. 
The front consists of seven beautiful arches overhung 
with a broad canopy ; the centre is crowned with a 
large and nobly proportioned dome, with one on 
either side considerably smaller, and on the extremi- 
ties of the fa9ade are two small pavilions. A few 
shallow steps lead up to the interior, which is sup- 
ported by pillars of the same fashion as those with- 
out, and vaulted with intersecting arches of a cor- 
responding form ; facing the centre arch is the tahk, 
or sacred niche, in which a copy of the Koran is 
always deposited while service is being performed; 
and on either side under the second arch is a small 
pulpit, also of white marble. An air of solemn gran- 
deur reigns throughout the whole building ; hut that 
which particularly delights the eye and the heart is 
the supernatural purity and spotless lustre of the 
entire structure. 
After a surfeit of admiration, the question naturally 
occurs, by whose refined taste and critical skill was 
this exquisite gem designed ? The architect was the 
princely but unfortunate Emperor Shah Jehan, whose 
mild and generous disposition offered a temptation to 
his crafty and ambitious son, Aurungzebe, to dethrone 
and imprison his royal father, and usurp his do- 
minions. A quotation of my own words,* if I 
* See First Impressions and Studies from Nature in Hindostan. 
London, Allen and Co., 1837. 
N 
