luable garnets and emeralds." (Elliott.)
In 1739 Nadir, Shah of Persia, sacked Delhi, carried off Shah Jahan's
famous peacock throne, and laid Agra also under contribution. The
Mahrattas next appeared on the scene. In 1764 the Jats of Bharatpur,
under Suraj Mal, captured Agra, looted the Taj, and played havoc
with the palaces in the Fort. They were joined by Walter Reinhardt,
an adventurer, half French and half German, who sold his services
for any work of infamy, and had only recently assisted in the murder
of the British Resident and other Europeans at Patna. He afterwards
entered the Mogul service, and was rewarded by a grant of a tract of
country near Meerut, which remained in the possession of his family
until recent times. He died at Agra in 1778, and was buried in the
Catholic cemetery.
For the next thirty-nine years Agra was occupied by Mahrattas and
by Mogul imperialists in turn. John Hessing, a Dutch officer in the
employ of the Mahrattas, was Governor of Agra in 1794, and died there
in 1802. The next year it was captured by the British under General,
afterwards Lord, Lake, and from that time until 1857 its history
was uneventful.
Agra in the Mutiny.
Agra did not take any prominent part in the events of the Mutiny. A
mob plundered the city, burnt the public offices, and killed a number
of Europeans; but the rioters left soon to join their comrades at
Delhi. There was a small engagement outside the city. The British
troops and the whole of the European population were afterwards shut
up in the Fort until the capture of Delhi. The Lieutenant-Governor,
Mr. John Russell Colvin, died there, and was buried in front of
the Diwan-i-am.
The Fort
The present Fort was commenced by Akbar in 1566, on the site
of an older one constructed by Salim Shah Sur, the son of Shere
Shah. Its vast walls (seventy feet in height, and a mile and a half
in circuit), its turrets, and noble gateways present from the outside
a most imposing appearance. It contains within its walls that most
exquisite of mosques, the Muti Masjid, and the palaces of Akbar and
Shah Jahan. The principal or north entrance is the Delhi Gate, nearly
opposite to the railway station and the Jami Masjid. Formerly there
was a walled enclosure in front of this gate, called the Tripulia,
or Three Gates, which was used as a market. This was cleared away by
the military authorities in 1875. Crossing the drawbridge over the
moat which surrounds the F
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