Ram Bagh, Agra

The Ram Bagh is the oldest Mughal Garden in India, originally built by the Mughal Emperor Babur in 1528, located about five kilometers northeast of the Taj Mahal in Agra. The garden is a Persian garden, where pathways and canals divide the garden to represent the Islamic ideal of paradise, an abundant garden through which rivers flow. The garden has numerous water courses and fountains. The name is a corruption of the Persian Aaram Bagh meaning 'Garden of Rest'. It is also variously known as Bagh-i Nur Afshan 'Light-Scattering Garden', Aalsi Bagh or 'Lazy Garden': according to legend, Emperor Akbar proposed to his third wife, who was a gardner there, by lying idle for 6 days until she agreed to marry him. The preserved, surviving architecture dates to Jahangir's reign and demonstrates the skill of his wife Nur Jahan as a garden designer.