Some idea of the luxury of the Mogul court may be gained from an account given by M. Bernier, a Frenchman who visited Agra in 1663 during the reign of Shah Jehan.

After we had travelled three nights and two days and a half, we reached Agra on the 13th of Januarythe former residence of the Great Mogul of India.

I went from Agra to Satagam in Bengala, in the companie of one hundred and fourescore boates laden with Salt, Opium, Hinge, Lead, Carpets, and diuers other commodities, downe the riuer Iemena.

When the traveller leaves Agra by rail, going east, the Taj in all its glory can be seen in the distance, floating like the mirage of some wondrous fairy palace over the waving tufts of the pampas grass, until at last it sinks into the pale horizon.

Their religion varies with the locality, but the Jâts who occupied Agra under Suraj Mal were Hindus.

Perhaps (he wrote) months of the monotony of a Calcutta existence may render the mind more sensitive to novelty and beauty; at any rate, the impressions experienced on visiting Agra at this time have been singularly vivid and keen.

She lived in the marble palace of Agra from 1556 to 1605; a woman of extraordinary force of character, the equal of Queen Elizabeth in intellect and of Mary Stuart in physical attractions, and her life was a mixture of romance and tragedy.

Here is a Hindu temple, built by one of the Bharatpur Rajahs, who sacked Agra about the middle of the 18th century, and occupied it for ten years.