is
also closely linked with this fort. It was frorth here ht the British
deposed the last Mughal ruler, Bhadur Shah Zafar, marking the end of the
three century long Mughal rule. It was also fromits ramparts that the
first prime. Minister of India, pandit Jawharlal Nehru, announced to the
nation that India was free form colonial rule. The mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, after ruling from
Form the Lahore Gate, a visitor has access to the Chatta Chowk (vaulted arcade ) which as once a royal market and housed court jewelers, miniature painters carpet manufacturers, workers in enamel, silk weavers and families of specialized craftsmen. The road from the royal market leads to the
Nawabarkhana (band house) where the royal band played five times a day.
The band house also marks the entry into the main palace and all visitors,
except royalty had to dismount here.
The
Diwani-I-Am is the Red Fort's hall of public audience. Built of sandstone
covered with shell plaster polished to look like ivory, the 80 x 40 feet
hall is sub-divided by columns. The Mughal emperors would hold court here
and meet dignitaries and foreign emissaries. The most imposing feature
of the Diwqani-I-Am is the alcove in the back wall where the emperor sat
in state on a richly carved and inlaid marble platform. In the recess
behind the platform are fine examples of Italian pietra-dura work.
The piece de resistance of the fort, the Diwan-I-Khas was the hall of
private audience. The most highly ornamented of all Shah Jahan's buildings,
the 90 x 67 feet Diwani-I-Khas is a pavilion of white marble supported
by intricately carved pillars. So enamoured was the emperor by the beauty
of this pavilion that he engraved on it the following words: If there
is paradise on the face of this earth, it is this, it is this."
Richly decorated with flowers of inlaid mosaic work of cornelian and other
stones, the Diwan-I-Khas once housed the famous Peacock Throne, which
when it was plundered by Nadir Shah in 1739, was valued at six million
sterling.
Residence of the senior queens, the Rang Mahal (hall of colours ) has
a central hall surrounded by six apartments. The apartments are assured
privacy by intricately carved screens which do not hinder the free flow
of fresh air and light. The stream of paradise flows through the main
hall, and is marked in the centre by a huge lotus shaped marble basin
with an ivory fountain.
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