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Today’s Ram Bagh was once ‘Aram Bagh’ of Mughal emperor Babur
Interestingly, the garden was built by Mughal ruler Babur who named it as ‘Aram Bagh’, but Maratha rulers who occupied Agra for a period after the Mughals changed it to ‘Ram Bagh’
In a country where Lord Ram is a revered Hindu deity, people name various places after His name. One such place in Agra is ‘Ram Bagh’ - a lavish garden that stands on the banks of Yamuna.
Interestingly, the garden was built by Mughal ruler Babur who named it as ‘Aram Bagh’, but Maratha rulers who occupied Agra for a period after the Mughals changed it to ‘Ram Bagh’, said historian Raj Kishore Raje.
Raje said Babur came to India as invader and won the first battle of Panipat in year 1526 after defeating Ibrahim Lodhi and moved ahead. Babur reached Agra on May 10,1526, but was much troubled by the hot weather of the city.
He said that hot weather in Agra forced Babur to conceptulise a garden where he could relax in hot and humid weather conditions. Built on the banks of river Yamuna, the green stretch was named as ‘Aram Bagh’ by Babur, he said.
Humayun, the successor of Babur had tough time but his son, Akbar took the Mughal rule to heights. Jahangir, the successor of Mughal emperor Akbar, renovated the garden between 1615 to 1619, this creation of his great grandfather Babur till than was known as ‘Aram Bagh’, he said.
Located on the other side of the river Yamuna in Agra, the Aram Bagh had a fountain in the centre with grass area all around. The garden was so beautiful that it was also called ‘Bagh-e-Gulafsan’ and had landscape much common to Mughal architecture on ‘Charbagh’ pattern, Raje said.
However, Maratha came to power and ruled Agra between 1774 to 1803 and changed the name of ‘Aram Bagh’ to ‘Ram Bagh’ and name remained so while British ruled the nation, said Raj Kishore Raje.
Now a protected site of Archaeological Survey of India, Ram Bagh is on the list of places offered to tourists coming to Agra. It is a ticketed monument but not many tourists visit the place, much because of lack of proper road connectivity, and thus Ram Bagh is often counted as lesser known monument.
