Agra to Amritsar: Kos Minars

Visitors to India almost inevitably find their way to the stretch of the GT road between Delhi, the nation’s capital, and Agra’s world-famous tourist sites. As travelers from the ancient to the present have found their way down this same road and to their nightly stops, their path would be set every 2.1-2.4 kilometers or around every kos(3.22 kilometers/1.1 miles) by distance markers called Kos Minars. Simple kos minars constructed from mud and wood are known to have existed along the route as far back as the 3rd century B.C.E.. First recorded in the reforms of Ashoka, the revitalization of the royal road under the Mughals and Sher Shah Suri would upgrade Kos Minars into architecturally sound, plastered brick and stone conical structures. The construction of these markers was of particular interest to the first Mughal ruler, Barbur, who ordered the placement of 11-meter/36-foot high kos minars every nine kos from Agra to Kabul. Sher Shah Suri and the Mughal Emperors Akbar and Jahangir would similarly upgrade the royal road’s guidance system by constructing additional minars along the royal highway and throughout their empire.