We covered Fatehpur Sikri before Rajasthan. The post is in reverse order. Didn't get the time or the wifi connectivity to write this out. The details are going to be sketchy given that it's over a week since we went there. But...for the sake of completeness, will write out something really quick.
There was thick fog as we set out from Agra. The visibility was very poor and the driving slow. And the weather....painfully cold as it has been throughout this trip.
We've taken a guide at every point and it has been useful and informative. Without a guide, these places will be just another set of relics. The guide makes the place come alive...and thankfully, they've all been well informed which made up for the lack of fluency in English.
"Fateh" means victory. Akbar made a pilgrimage on foot from Agra to this place. The sufi saint "Salim Chisti" lived at Sikri which was already an established place. Akbar had no sons at that point in time and he sought the blessings of Salim Chisti. In due course, Akbar and Jodhabai had a son. They called him "Salim" who grew up to be Emperor Jahangir. Salim's birth was a personal victory for Akbar. He decided to move his capital from Agra to Sikri and built an entire city in 8 years. This city became Fatehpur Sikri which had quarter of a million people at one point in time.
UnlikeAgra where the Yamuna flows, Fatehpur Sikri has no rivers. It boasted of a lake. Despite Akbar's efforts to store the rain water in several tanks, (there are examples within the Sikri palace), water scarcity became a problem. After 16 years, Akbar moved his capital back from Fatehpur Sikri to Agra. Fatehpur Sikri became a ghost town.
There are mainly two co-located monuments: the palace and the complex hosuing the Jami Masjid and the dargah of Salim Chisti. More on this later.....
There was thick fog as we set out from Agra. The visibility was very poor and the driving slow. And the weather....painfully cold as it has been throughout this trip.
We've taken a guide at every point and it has been useful and informative. Without a guide, these places will be just another set of relics. The guide makes the place come alive...and thankfully, they've all been well informed which made up for the lack of fluency in English.
"Fateh" means victory. Akbar made a pilgrimage on foot from Agra to this place. The sufi saint "Salim Chisti" lived at Sikri which was already an established place. Akbar had no sons at that point in time and he sought the blessings of Salim Chisti. In due course, Akbar and Jodhabai had a son. They called him "Salim" who grew up to be Emperor Jahangir. Salim's birth was a personal victory for Akbar. He decided to move his capital from Agra to Sikri and built an entire city in 8 years. This city became Fatehpur Sikri which had quarter of a million people at one point in time.
UnlikeAgra where the Yamuna flows, Fatehpur Sikri has no rivers. It boasted of a lake. Despite Akbar's efforts to store the rain water in several tanks, (there are examples within the Sikri palace), water scarcity became a problem. After 16 years, Akbar moved his capital back from Fatehpur Sikri to Agra. Fatehpur Sikri became a ghost town.
There are mainly two co-located monuments: the palace and the complex hosuing the Jami Masjid and the dargah of Salim Chisti. More on this later.....
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