The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c23.s4.138

v4.c23.s4.138

This magnificent royal residence, the last and finest of its kind, is unique because the whole of it was the conception of one mind, and carried out on a systematic and uniform plan. The scheme of this plan was an arrangement of rectangles, generally squares, no curved or oblique lines being introduced, in accordance with that quadrangular convention so deeply rooted in the Mughul mind. Immediately within the main gate a large space was divided off to contain the habitations of the palace retinue, who although residing within an enclosure assigned to them, would thus have easy access to both the city outside and the palace within. Through this service area a wide vaulted passage led directly from the main gate to the official portion, admission to which was obtained through the *naubat khāna* or music gatehouse. This official portion, occupying a large rectangle in the centre of the fort, consisted of an arcaded courtyard with the columned hall of the Dīwān-i-‘Ām at the far side, where affairs of an official nature were administered. Around this central enclosure the entire area remaining was reserved for the accommodation and personal use of the royal household, including also the Dīwān-i-Khāss where private audiences were held. One half of this private part was occupied by the residences and living rooms of the emperor’s family, while the corresponding space on the other side was divided up into a series of formal gardens. And along the whole length of the retaining wall overlooking the river was aligned that range of marble pavilions and palaces each one more chaste than the other, proving by their combined beauty the truth of the couplet with which one of them is inscribed, that “if there is a paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this”.