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Shah Jahan repaired the Nahr-i Bihisht canal to ensure a reliable supply of water into his capital. It entered the Red t at Shah Burj, behind this magnificent marble cascade and canopy later added by Aurangzeb. The water would tinkle over the patterned cascade down into the shell-shaped pool, dancing a reflection on the pietra dura inlay decorating the back wall. It then made its way southwards, towards the Hammams and palaces. The cooling waters of the Nahr-i Bihisht flowed through the Khas Mahal, seen in the distance, across the blinding heat of the courtyard and into the Rang Mahal they reached this superb marble fountain, originally inlaid with stones whose colours danced up through the waters and were reflected in the lavish wall and ceiling decoration. To the left, a canal took some water to fall over a cascade of marble niches and into a garden pool |
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A few stones survive to give an idea of how this centerpiece of the Rang Mahal would have looked in Shah Jahan's time, water shooting up into the air from the fountain and tinkling down into the lotus-shaped pool with its three colorful borders. Behind it, the lattice-work of the triple window, the trompe-l'oeil carved roofs above them and the vestiges of painted gold arabesques above all hint at the magnificence of the original decoration. Lovat Fraser wrote in 1902 that 'only by degrees do you realise how much of the first fine splendour has vanished. . . the jeweled walls of the Zenana glittered in the morning light. . . Underground passages permitted the royal favorites to wander from the Zenana to the baths unseen by curious eyes . . . The very baths were richly inlaid and jeweled. In one, dozens of little fountains spurted rosewater, wherein the royal ladies dipped their jewels on rising.' |
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Right, Shah Jahan entered his sparkling new city through the river gateway at the bottom of Mussaman Bur/, the domed octagonal tower of his private quarters. Khas Mahal. This entry, reserved for him and for great statesmen, emerged at ground level in the courtyard on the far side. The tower is the only room to jut forward and break the smooth line of the Fort wall. This is where the people gathered on the river banks to witness the Emperor performing his first public duty of the day by showing himself, safe and sound, to his subjects at the Jharokah-i Darshan, the Showing Balcony - although he probably looked through a window, for the little balcony is a later addition. Below, the Lahore Gate was, and still is, the principal entrance to the Fort. Rising high above the walls and with the Indian tricolour flying above, the full view of its majesty is now blocked by Aurangzeb's barbican. In ShahJahan's time, horses were exercised here in the early morning, and travellers, merchants and ambassadors arrived here to try to gain entry to the world's most dazzling Court. Later, even without the splendid Mughal trappings, the nineteenth-century poet and traveller Wilfred Scawen Blunt wrote in his secret diary: 'The mosque is far and away the finest mosque, the palace far and away the finest palace; and, except Madura, they stand together first in the universe. The palace is full of interest, for it was here that the great events of the last three hundred years happened.' |
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Complete web site on Red Fort Delhi with large Gallery, Introduction, History and tourist information
