Mehtab Bagh – a place frequented by Shah Jahan to admire the beauty of Taj Mahal

Overlooking the Taj Mahal in Agra stands a pleasure garden which was especially frequented by the late emperor Shah Jahan to admire the beauty of the white-marbled monument he made in the memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz. The Mehtab Bagh, which stands for “moonlit pleasure garden” in Urdu, is a square-shaped garden complex, well-lined-up with the Taj Mahal on the opposite bank of Yamuna River in Agra.
As per the historical records, the Mehtab Bagh is the last of the eleven gardens built by the Mughals along the banks of Yamuna right opposite the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort. Legend has it that emperor Babur was the first person to build Mehtab Bagh. Decades later, when Shah Jahan ascended the throne, he identified the same spot to serve his aforementioned purpose and beautified it with airy pavilions, white-plastered walkways, pools, fountains, fruit-bearing trees etc.

Going by the travelogue of 17th century French traveller Jean Baptiste Tavernier, Shah Jahan had desired to building a black Taj Mahal on the site where Mehtab Bagh stands today. However, before he could implement his idea, he was imprisoned by his son Aurangzeb. Later, a British archaeologist, A.C.L. Carlleyle, came across the remains of a fabled monument ridden with lichen and moss at the same site.
The revival of a forgotten heritage

The modern world would have never known Mehtab Bagh due to the recurring ravages of man and time. Wild vegetation and alluvial silt enveloped the once-glorious structure by the time it was early 1990s. Finally, in 1994, the ASI discovered the ruinous monument, which they assumed to be a Persian-styled garden with four segments, rotting under the mound of sand. The ASI did an extensive research on the history of the gardens, and consulted a host of experts in the field of history and archaeology to restore Mehtab Garden in its former shape.

Mehtab Bagh – as it is today

Although, what we see today is not the original Mehtab Bagh, yet the renovated version is no less pretty. About 80 species of plants including Asoka, Neem, Hibiscus and citrus fruit-bearing trees beautify the gardens. The presence of trees, shrubs and flower-bearing plants that characterise a typical Mughal garden, make the Mehtab Bagh an ideal site to behold the Taj Mahal.

Other details

Mehtab Bagh is open for visitors from 6 AM to 6 PM. The entry fee is INR 100 per person. It would normally take a couple of hours to explore and enjoy the gardens.