Historical Introduction Agra has two histories: one of the ancient city on the east, or left, bank of the river Jumna, going back so far as to be lost in the legends of Krishna and of the heroes of the Mâhabhârata; the other of the modern city, founded by Akbar in A.D. 1558, on the right bank of the river, and among Muhammadans still retaining its name of Akbarabad, which is intimately associated with the romance of the Great Moguls, and known throughout the world as the city of the Taj. Of anci

[1] Babar's "Memoirs," translated by Erskine. [2] For further particulars of Babar's history the reader is referred to the "Memoirs," or to Stanley Lane-Poolers admirable "Life of Babar," in the "Rulers of India Series" (Macmillan & Co.). [3] The State documents of the Mogul Emperors, "given under the royal hand and seal," were sometimes actually impressed by the royal hand. Plate I. reproduces part of a letter, addressed by Shah Jahan to an ancestor of the present Maharajah of Gidhour.