1 SHAHAB-UD-DIN SHAH JAHAN. 167
2 of the river. Both canals were constructed by Ali Mardan Khan, formerly
3 Governor of Kandahar,. under the king of Persia, who, dreading the tyranny
4 of his master, sought an asylum in the court of Shah Jahan. Subsequent-
5 ly, in 1820, the British Government cleared out the canal and re-opened
6 it in the city, on which occasion the inhabitants went out to meet the
7 stream, and cast sweetmeats and flowers into it, as a manifestation of their
8 oy.
9 vat the new city the king built a fortified palace of red granite, a mile
10 and a half in circuit, described by Bishop Heber as one of the noblest
11 pieces of architecture he ever saw, and far surpassing the Kremlin at Moscow.
12 It is surrounded by a wall of red sandstone, forty feet high and flanked with
13 turrets and cupolas. The interior was decorated with spacious courts, pavi-
14 lions of white marble, surmounted by golden domes and cupolas, with pillars
15 and arches exquisitely carved and ornamented with arabesques, gilt and
16 stucco work, and ceilings most elegantly adorned with a rich foliage of
17 gold and silver filigree work; a simple and chaste mosque with marble
18 arcades, a marvel of Mahomedan art; bath houses and beautiful gardeus,
19 planted with fragrant flowers and cooled with fountains and cascades. The
20 mosaic paintings are now mostly destroyed. The silver filigree ceiling, the
21 estimated value of which was £170,000, formed .part of the spoil of the
22 Mahrattas in 1759, by whom it was melted down.
23 In the centre of the hall of special audience, or ‘House of Lords,’ stood
24 the famous peacock throne, so called from its having the figures of two pea-
25 cocks standing behind it, with tails expanded, and the whole so inlaid with
26 precious stones of appropriate colours as to represent life. The throne was
27 six feet long and four feet broad, composed of solid gold, inlaid with rubies,
28 emeralds and diamonds. It was surmounted by a gold canopy, supported
29 by twelve pillars, all richly emblazoned with costly gems. Around the
30 canopy hung a fringe of pearls, Between the two peacocks stood the figure
31 of a parrot carved out of emeralds. On each side of the throne.stood an
32 umbrella, the symbol of royalty, formed of crimson velvet richly embroider-
33 ed with gold thread and pearls, with handles eight feet long of solid gold
34 studded with diamonds. This unparalleled achievement of the jeweller’s art
35 - was executed by Austeu de Bordeau, who, after defrauding several princes
36 of Europe by means of false gems, which he fabricated with great skill,
37 repaired to the Imperial Court of Shah Jahén, where he.made his fortune
38 and was in high favour with the emperor. Tavernier, a Frenchman, and
39 himself a professional jeweller, who inspected it, estimated the value at six
40 millions of pounds sterling. This glittering ornament of the court of the
41 oe Moghal was subsequently carried away by the Persian conqueror, Nadir
42 ah.
43 In 1658, the last year of Shah Jahdn’s reign, he built the great Jama
44 Masjid, the chief mosque of Dehli, and one of the most beautiful mosques in
45 the Hast. It rises majestically from a rocky eminence, overlooking the city,
46 with a square platform of 450 feet, approached by magnificent flights of
47 steps. It is surrounded by open arcades, and has three domes of pure
48 marble placed upon drums, out of which they emerge in a curve, and
49 two lofty towers each 180 feet high. Its construction is said to have
50 employed a daily average of 5,000 workmen for a period of six years.
51 The cost of the building was £100,000 of English money.
52 But the best known of all the architectural works of Shah Jahan is the
53 celebrated mausoleum of the empress at Agra, raised in honour of Mumtaz
54 Mahal, his favourite queen. She died in childbirth of her eighth child, in
55 The canalso Ali
56 Mardan Khan.
57 The palace of Delhi.
58 The famous peacock
59 throne.
60 The grand mosque,
61 built, 1658.
62 The Taj Mahal
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