A report on Agra Fort, Agra, Mumtaz Mahal and Aurangzeb

The Tomb of Mariam-uz-Zamani in Sikandra was originally built as a Baradari by Sultan Sikandar Lodi in 1495.

Agra Fort captured by Hemu before the Battle of Delhi (1556).

The Town and Fort of Agra, an engraving.

A painting from c. 1637 shows the brothers (left to right) Shah Shuja, Aurangzeb and Murad Baksh in their younger years.

Samuel Bourne, "The Fort. Delhi Gate. Agra," 1863–1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet, Department of Image Collections, National Gallery of Art Library, Washington, DC

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Taj Mahal is the final resting place of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan.

The Mughal Army under the command of Aurangzeb recaptures Orchha in October 1635.

A painting from Padshahnama depicts Prince Aurangzeb facing a maddened war elephant named Sudhakar.

Scene of the gunpowder explosion at Agra Fort, 29 November 1871

Tomb of Mumtaz Mahal in the Taj Mahal, alongside her husband Shah Jahan

Sepoys loyal to the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb maintain their positions around the palace, at Aurangabad, in 1658.

Plan of the Red Fort, Agra from Murray's Handbooks for Travellers 1911

The sweet dish petha, which is a symbol of Mughal legacy.

Mughal Empire under Aurangzeb in early 18th century

Plan of Agra Fort on display at the fort, 2012

Aurangzeb compiled Hanafi law by introducing the Fatawa-e-Alamgiri.

Exterior of Diwan-i-Am or Hall of Public Audience

Railway Map of Agra (the line to Jaipur has meanwhile been converted to broad gauge)

Interior of Diwan I Am (Hall of Public Audience)

Aurangzeb seated on a golden throne holding a Hawk in the Durbar. Standing before him is his son, Azam Shah.

Inner Ring Road link Yamuna Expressway to Lucknow expessway, Fatehabad Road, Shamshabad Road, NH-3, NH-11 Agra

Aurangzeb Receives Prince Mu'azzam. Chester Beatty Library

Agra Fort Diwan I Am (Hall of Public Audience)

Dagger (Khanjar) of Aurangzeb (Badshah Alamgir).

Manuscript of the Quran, parts of which are believed to have been written in Aurangzeb's own hand.

The Birthday of the Grand Mogul Aurangzeb, made 1701–1708 by Johann Melchior Dinglinger.

Josiah Child requests a pardon from Aurangzeb during the Anglo-Mughal War.

The most common front view of the Taj Mahal

By 1690, Aurangzeb was acknowledged as: "emperor of the Mughal Sultanate from Cape Comorin to Kabul".

Taj Mahal and outlying buildings as seen from across the Yamuna River (northern view)

Aurangzeb spent his reign crushing major and minor rebellions throughout the Mughal Empire.

Tombs of Shah Jahan and his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal

The tomb of Akbar was pillaged by Jat rebels during the reign of Aurangzeb.

Aurangzeb leads the Mughal Army during the Battle of Satara.

Weeks Edwin Gate of the Fortress at Agra India

The Jahangiri Mahal, the largest residence in the complex

Raja Shivaji at Aurangzeb's Darbar- M V Dhurandhar

Musamman Burj, an octagonal Tower which was the residence of Shah Jahan's favourite empress, Mumtaz Maḥal

Aurangzeb dispatched his personal imperial guard during the campaign against the Satnami rebels.

Amar Singh Gate, one of two entrances into Agra's Red Fort

Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib in Delhi is built at the place where Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded.

Zafarnama is the name given to the letter sent by the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh in 1705 to Aurangzeb. The letter is written in Persian script.

Aurangzeb in a pavilion with three courtiers below.

Anguri Bagh, the garden in the courtyard

Bibi Ka Maqbara, the mausoleum of Aurangzeb's wife Dilras Banu Begum, was commissioned by him

Aurangzeb's tomb in Khuldabad, Maharashtra.

Agra Fort: Hon'ble John Russell Colvin's Tomb.

The unmarked grave of Aurangzeb in the mausoleum at Khuldabad, Maharashtra.

Tughra and seal of Aurangzeb, on an imperial firman

In the year 1689, according to Mughal accounts, Sambhaji was put on trial, found guilty of atrocities and executed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mehta |first=J. L. |title=Advanced Study in the History of Modern India: Volume One: 1707{{snd}}1813 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d1wUgKKzawoC&pg=PA50 |access-date=29 September 2012 |date=2005 |publisher=Sterling Publishers |isbn=978-1-932705-54-6 |pages=50–}}</ref><ref name="google2">{{cite book |last=Stein |first=Burton |author-link=Burton Stein |year=2010 |orig-year=First published 1998 |editor-last=Arnold |editor-first=David |editor-link=David Arnold (historian) |title=A History of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QY4zdTDwMAQC&pg=PA180 |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |edition=2nd |page=180 |isbn=978-1-4051-9509-6}}</ref>

Guru Tegh Bahadur was publicly executed in 1675 on the orders of Aurangzeb in Delhi<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.allaboutsikhs.com/Sikh-Guru-Ji'/Sri-Guru-Tegh-Bhadur-Sahib-Ji.html |title=A Gateway to Sikhism {{!}} Sri Guru Tegh Bhadur Sahib |website=Gateway to Sikhism |access-date=28 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327223831/http://www.allaboutsikhs.com/Sikh-Guru-Ji'/Sri-Guru-Tegh-Bhadur-Sahib-Ji.html#12 |archive-date=27 March 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Sarmad Kashani, a Jewish convert to Islam and Sufi mystic was accused of heresy and executed.<ref name="David Cook 2007">{{cite book |last=Cook |first=David |author-link=David Cook (historian) |year=2007 |title=Martyrdom in Islam |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=80 |isbn=978-0-521-85040-7}}</ref>

Seventeenth-century Badshahi Masjid built by Aurangzeb in Lahore.

Tomb of Sufi saint, Syed Abdul Rahim Shah Bukhari constructed by Aurangzeb.

Shawls manufactured in the Mughal Empire had highly influenced other cultures around the world.

François Bernier, was a French physician and traveller, who for 12 years was the personal physician of Aurangzeb. He described his experiences in Travels in the Mughal Empire.

Map of the Mughal Empire by Vincenzo Coronelli (1650–1718) of Venice, who served as Royal Geographer to Louis XIV of France.

Aurangzeb leads his final expedition (1705), leading an army of 500,000 troops.

Mughal-era aristocrat armed with a matchlock musket.

Aurangzeb, in later life, hunting with hounds and falconers

Agra fort is a historical fort in the city of Agra in India.

- Agra Fort

The Taj Mahal in Agra, often cited as one of the Wonders of the World, was commissioned by her husband to act as her tomb.

- Mumtaz Mahal

Under Mughal rule, Agra became a centre for learning, arts, commerce, and religion, and saw the construction of the Agra Fort, Sikandra and Agra's most prized monument, the Taj Mahal, built by Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his favourite empress.

- Agra

Mumtaz and her husband had 14 children, including Jahanara Begum (Shah Jahan's favorite daughter), and the Crown prince Dara Shikoh, the heir-apparent, anointed by his father, who temporarily succeeded him until deposed by Mumtaz Mahal's sixth child, Aurangzeb, who ultimately succeeded his father as the sixth Mughal emperor in 1658.

- Mumtaz Mahal

After Shah Jahan recovered from illness in July 1658, Aurangzeb declared him incompetent to rule and imprisoned his father in the Agra Fort.

- Aurangzeb

Shah Jahan built the beautiful Taj Mahal in the memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

- Agra Fort

Aurangzeb's mother Mumtaz Mahal was the daughter of the Persian noblemen Asaf Khan, who was the youngest son of vizier Mirza Ghiyas.

- Aurangzeb

Agra was the foremost city of the subcontinent and the capital of the Mughal Empire until 1658, when Aurangzeb shifted the entire court to Delhi.

- Agra

Aurangzeb and his brother were consequently reunited with Shah Jahan in Agra.

- Aurangzeb

For example, no other empress' residence was as decorated as Khas Mahal (part of Agra Fort), where Mumtaz lived with Shah Jahan.

- Mumtaz Mahal

Built in loving memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, the mausoleum was completed in 1653.

- Agra

Shivaji came to Agra in 1666 as per the "Treaty of Purandar (1665)" entered into with Jai Singh I to meet Aurangzeb in the Diwan-i-Khas. In the audience, he was deliberately placed behind men of lower rank. Insulted, he stormed out of the imperial audience and was confined to Jai Singh's quarters on 12 May 1666.

- Agra Fort