It is easy to assume Agra’s story starts with the Mughals. It does not. By the time Babur rode in after the battle of Panipat in 1526, Agra had already been the seat of the Delhi Sultanate for twenty years — the capital of the Lodi sultans.
In this article
Sikandar Lodi Moves the Court
Sikandar Lodi, who ruled from 1489 to 1517, moved his capital from Delhi to Agra in the early years of the 16th century, usually dated to around 1506. Agra stood on the Yamuna at a strategic point for controlling the rebellious country to the south and west, and the Sultan built it up as his base.
He died in Agra in 1517, and the place that grew up around his works on the Delhi road still carries his name: Sikandra, where Akbar was later buried.
Badalgarh: The Fort Before the Fort
Before the red sandstone walls of today’s Agra Fort, there was an older brick fort on the same riverbank, known as Badalgarh. The Lodis held it, Babur and Humayun used it, and it was only in the 1560s that Akbar had it rebuilt on a grand scale in sandstone — the fort we visit now. Our Agra Fort guide takes the story from there.
What the Mughals Inherited
When Ibrahim Lodi, Sikandar’s son, was defeated and killed by Babur at Panipat in 1526, Agra was the prize. Babur made it his capital and began laying out gardens on the Yamuna’s east bank, the start of the riverside garden city that would later hold the Taj. A working capital, with its fort, treasury and trade, is what the first Mughal took over.
Lodi Traces in Agra Today
Lodi Agra is hard to see because the Mughals built over it so thoroughly. The clearest survivor is at Sikandra, where a Lodi-period pavilion is believed to have been reused as the tomb of Akbar’s wife Mariam-uz-Zamani — we wrote about it here. Elsewhere, look for older brick and rubble work under later Mughal sandstone.
Why It Matters
Knowing that Agra was a capital first explains why the Mughals built so much here: they were not founding a city but taking over the seat of power and making it their own. It also explains Sikandra, Badalgarh and the long riverfront, all of which predate the Taj.
Tajnuma, on Fatehabad Road in Tajganj, opens at 12:00 pm and serves pure vegetarian Mughlai food.
