The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c18.66

v4.c18.66

Returning to Delhi, Shāh Jahān consoled himself for the loss of this prized outpost of his empire by rejoicings over the completion of his new capital. His grandfather had refounded the ancient city of Āgra and given it the name of Akbarābād. After long search for a site with amenities of landscape and climate, in 1639 he began to lay the foundations of a great fortress to contain the royal palace and of a city round it. The site chosen was on the bank of the Jumna, north of the older cities of Delhi, close to a small fort of the Sūr kings. For ten years work was concentrated on it, artificers and labourers being collected from all parts of the empire. Transport of stone from near Āgra, 150 miles away, by impressing carts, dislocated the ordinary trade of that neighbourhood so much that the English factors at Āgra could not move their goods to the coast. In nine years the fort and palace had been completed at a cost of six million rupees (£750,000), and to celebrate its occupation the peacock throne which had been set in hand at Shāh Jahān’s accession and had taken seven years to complete was brought from Āgra, and great rejoicings took place. The new city was called Shāhjahānābād.