Part Fifteen: Other Buildings
and Tombs at or near Agra.
*The Kali Masjid*
-- *Alawal Bilawal* -- *The Hammam*
-- *The Roman Catholic Cemetery*.
The tomb of Feroz Khan, opposite to the third
milestone on the Gwalior road, is an interesting building of Akbar's time,
richly carved and decorated with tile-work. Close by is the tomb of the
Pahalwari, where a celebrated wrestler of Shah Jahan's time is buried.
There are a considerable number of buildings and numerous ruins in Agra,
and round about, which possess only historical or archæological interest.
In the town are the following:--
The Kali Masjid,
or Black Mosque, otherwise called the Kalan Masjid, or Grand Mosque, is
of the early Akbar style. It was built by the father of Shah Jahan's first
wife, the Kandahâri Begum. This is near to the Government dispensary.
Alawal Bilawal.-- In
the Nai-ki-Mundi quarter is the mosque of Shah Ala-ud-din Majzub, commonly
known as ALAWAL BILAWAL, a saint who lived at the time of Shere Shah. He
established a school of Muhammadan law, and founded a monastery besides
the mosque. The accumulations round the mosque have reached up to the springing
of the arches, and tradition accounts for this by the following story:
A camel-driver in Shere Shah's service stabled his beasts in the mosque,
in spite of the protests of the saint. Thereupon the building began to
sink into the ground, and did not cease descending until the camels and
their driver were crushed to death.
The Hammam, or
Baths, of Ali Verdi Khan, in Chipitolla Street, built in the time of Jahangir.
An inscription over the gateway gives the date, 1620 A.D. They cannot be
compared in interest with the splendid "Hakim's Baths," at Fatehpur Sikri.
The Roman Catholic Cemetery,
in the quarter known as Padritollah, near the Law Courts, is one of the
most ancient Christian cemeteries in India. The ground was granted to the
mission by the Emperor Akbar. There are a number of Portuguese and Armenian
tombs dating from early in the seventeenth century. It also contains the
tomb of the notorious Walter Reinhardt, or Samru as he was called, the
founder of the principality of Sirdhana, whose history is given *in
Part Seven*. The Dutch General Messing, who held Agra Fort for the
Mahrattas in 1794, has a very florid mausoleum of red sandstone, more curious
than beautiful, the design of which is in imitation of the Taj.