name some contemporary literary sources about Taj Mahal ???
The first Mughal garden was created in 1526 in Agra by Babur, the founder of the dynasty. Thereafter, gardens became important Mughal symbols of power, supplanting the emphasis of pre-Mughal power symbols such as forts. The shift represented the introduction of a new ordered aesthetic — an artistic expression with religious and funerary aspects and as a metaphor for Babur's ability to control the arid Indian plains and hence the country at large. Babur rejected much of the indigenous and Lodhi architecture on the opposite bank and attempted to create new works inspired by Persian gardens and royal encampments. The first of these gardens, Ram Bagh, was followed by an extensive, regular and integrated complex of gardens and palaces stretching for more than a kilometre along the river. A high continuous stone plinth bounded the transition between gardens and river and established the framework for future development in the city.
In the following century, a thriving riverfront garden city developed on both banks of the Yamuna. This included the rebuilding of Agra Fort by Akbar, which was completed in 1573. By the time Jahan ascended to the throne, Agra's population had grown to approximately 700,000 and was, as Abdul Aziz wrote, "a wonder of the age — as much a centre of the arteries of trade both by land and water as a meeting-place of saints, sages and scholars from all Asia.....a veritable lodestar for artistic workmanship, literary talent and spiritual worth".
Agra became a city centered on its waterfront and developed partly eastwards but mostly westwards from the rich estates that lined the banks. The prime sites remained those that had access to the river and the Taj Mahal was built in this context, but uniquely; as a related complex on both banks of the river.