maverickbird
The stupendous Buland Darwaza towered at 55 meters high and was built in 1576 to commemorate emperor Akbar’s victory in Gujarat. Flanked by impressive domes it looked 3 dimensional and was inscribed with messages from the holy Koran. A beautiful red sandstone structure, it was set on the south wall of the congregational mosque or Jama Masjid. The massive doors were embedded with horseshoes, some of which dated back to the beginning of the twentieth century, thus rendering it the name of Horseshoe Gate.
I found the piece of British superstition in a very Islamic place odd and intriguing, but due to lack of a guide that mystery remained unsolved. We entered Akbar’s “City of Victory” and stared in bewilderment at the stunning ghost city. It is said that Akbar himself dictated the architectural style of his dream city and saw to it that the Islamic virginal beauty blended with sensuous Indian opulence perfectly. It also spoke volumes of his tolerance for all faiths and he actually used to hold audience with spiritual leaders of different religions to understand the depths of their beliefs. His compounded religion Ain-i-Akbari happened after many such religious discourses and was a mixture of sensibilities from all faiths.
Originally called Fatehabad, it was later renamed Fatehpur Sikri and was indeed Akbar personified. As a brainchild of an eternal learner, a man of earthly passions, a mighty emperor and a great statesman, Fatehpur Sikri truly reflected Akbar’s magnitude. Because of easy availability of locally quarried sandstone (called Sikri sandstone), it shaped into a beautiful red city and the ghost town is one of best preserved collections of Mughal architecture in India. Fatehpur Sikri sat 3 kilometers in length and 1 kilometer wide, walled on 3 sides and with the 4th having a lake. Its main architect was Tuhir Das and most of his skilled craftsmen came from Gujarat and Bengal thus resulting in heavy Hindu and Jain embellishments on the structures. Accessible through gates along the long fortified wall, namely, Delhi Gate, the Lal Gate, the Agra Gate, Birbal’s Gate, Chandanpal Gate etc the complex contained many royal palaces, harem, courts, a mosque, private quarters, step wells etc.
The Jama Masjid in comparison to the Buland Darwaza was strikingly simple. Its most striking feature were the row of chatris or tiny domes (a very Indian style) which topped the sanctuary. The Masjid overlooked the massive courtyard and the shimmering white tomb of Salim Chishti. The great saint lay under a single storied white marble structure with a lovely tank of red sandstone. A lotus shaped fountain stood in its middle and the pool served for ablutions before prayers. His male descendants lay entombed near his shrine and it was a lovely intricate white shelter. Noni flapped around like free bird and although it was pretty crowded, the vastness of the ghost town drowned dwarfed all. I felt very lonesome there and somewhere identified with the town because in spite of the crowd, noise and small pattering feet, Fatehpur Sikri looked strangely desolate.
We explored deeper into complex and took in its magnificence. The public multi bayed colonnaded Diwan-i-Aam (for public audience), the Turkish Baths and the Diwan-i-Khaas (for private audience like the great spiritual leaders) and its courtyard ( containing Ankh Michauli for playing hide and seek, Astrologer’s Seat and Pachisi Court, giant ludo like board game) unraveled in layers immediately beyond the main courtyard. Akbar was reportedly a fanatical player and used slave girls dressed in costumes as live pieces. The court chronicler Abu Fazl (one of Akbar’s nine gems) mentioned the emperor habit of studying his courtiers’ psyches and capacity based on those games and needless to say some of his Pachisi games lasted up to months.
We took a break in front of Anup Talao (Peerless Pool), an ornamental lake which lay placidly green in the afternoon sun. Important private quarters stood surrounding it and the royal enclave including the Daulat Khana (Abode of Fortunes) Akbar’s own private quarters and library (although he was an illiterate), Khwab Bagh (House of Dreams with the huge imperial bed), the 5 storied Panch Mahal (a Hindu astrology based structure to mark the beginning of Women’s Quarters or Zenana) etc circled the pool. It was very intimate and offered an unbelievable insight into the heavily guarded private life of the royal family and I could imagine their balmy evenings of entertainment with musicians performing in the central platform of the lake.
The afternoon sun rose high in the sky and made further explorations in to the depth of the city difficult. Noni grew cranky from sleep and fatigue and demanded being carried most of the time. We quit our Fatehpur Sikri walk soon, leaving Jodha Bai’s palace (his chief queen and a hugely successful shipping tycoon in her own right), Birbal’s House (Akbar’s favourite courtier and one of his 9 gems), Hawa Mahal (Palace of Winds) and Sunhara Makan (Golden House) unexplored. The fortified complex of Fatehpur Sikri however was not restricted to those buildings only and stretched laboriously further into mints, royal workshops, records office etc. A whole bustling world of common existence lay outside the complex and caravan serais, shops, homes of a long gone era encircled the city.
As we drove out, I turned around to see the disappearing turrets and domes of Fatehpur Sikri silhouetted defiantly against a blazing noon sky. Heart breakingly desolate yet staggeringly magnificent it was bewildering to figure out as to why somebody would abandon something so beautiful and cherished. Fatehpur Sikri was indeed Akbar’s dream in red sandstone, his pride and his proof of dedication to his patron saint, Salim Chishti.
Akbar was a descendant of the great Uzbek leader Timur Lane and wanted to revive the splendours of the Persian court in his new city. The idea of “Navratna” or the nine jewels of his court was also born here. With so much of heart strings attached, it was indeed mindboggling as to why Fatehpur Sikri got abandoned so quick. Was it due to the oft mentioned water paucity or pressing military issues which made him take the drastic step and incur huge financial waste along with the risk of being called whimsical? The reason behind its abandonment is still unknown and till today the beautiful ghost city of Fatehpur Sikri remains an enigma. Stunning, desolate and seemingly unreal it looms on the rocky ridge of the Vindhyas like a spectre of a beautiful woman, who waits for her abandoned lover endlessly, in vain.
RESPONSIBLE TRAVELING-BECAUSE I CARE
Fatehpur Sikri loomed
And stretched
In a beautifully haunting way
Intricately carved
Lovingly dreamed of
It spoke volumes of its creator
And his creative inquisitive mind
The Buland Darwaza hardly revealed
The intricacy of his dream
Or his reverence
To Salim Chishti
It set my mind thinking
And added whole new dimensions
To the mysterious Mughal aura
We explored
We could walk no more
And after rest a while
Grabbed my mini maverickbird
And headed out
Of the abandoned heart breaking
Enigma called Fatehpur Sikri