The Ram Bagh (Hindi: Aaram bagh, Urdu: اراما باغ)
is the oldest Mughal Garden in India, originally
built by the Mughal Emperor Babur in 1528,
located about five kilometers northeast of the
Taj Mahal in Agra, India. Babur was temporarily
buried there before being interred in Kabul.
The garden is a Persian garden, where
pathways and canals divide the garden to
represent the Islamic ideal of paradise, an
abundant garden through which rivers flow. The
Aram Bagh provides an example of a variant of
the charbagh in which water cascades down three
terraces in a sequence of cascades. Two viewing
pavilions face the Jumna river and incorporates
a subterranean 'tahkhana' which was used during
the hot summers to provide relief for visitors.
The garden has numerous water courses and
fountains.
The Ram Bagh is said to have been constructed by
Babur. It is commonly believed that when Babur
died in 1530 his mortal remains were temporarily
kept in Chaubureja a place close to
Itimad-ud-Daula tomb till these were taken for
the final resting place at Kabul. The original
name of the bagh was Aram Bagh, which was later
corrupted to Ram Bagh under the Marathas, when
they occupied Agra from 1775 to 1803 AD The
first historical mention of this garden site as
the Bagh-Nur-Afshan led some historians to
believe that this name had been derived from a
garden ( Bagh –Gul- Afshan or Nur Afshan ) in
Kabul. The garden was in good maintenance under
Jahangir as confirmed by Tazuk-I- Jahangiri. It
gets additional support from the paintings and
epigraphical evidences found in some of the
remaining structures of this garden. Colossal
walls enclose the garden with corner towers
crowned by pillared pavilions. The garden is
divided into quarters by stone paved pathways.
On the north- eastern side of this building,
there exists another terrace, from which steps
leads to a Hammam. The rooms of the Hammam, now
in ruins bear evidence of a vaulted one roof.
Immediately north side of this garden, there is
a row of ruined houses with a gateway, built of
red sandstone at each end.
The layout of the garden complex is not on the
formal Char Bagh pattern, but confirms rather to
the pattern of Bagh- Hasht-Behisht. In the
garden three levels have been maintained, one
for flowers and vegetables, second for flower
beds, with fine stone paved terraces and kiosk
and the third one has structures, terraces and
tanks.
Open from Sunrise to Sunset. |