7 December to Agra

Today we visited Fatehpur Sikri and the Friday Mosque on our way to Agra.  This is another place I had strong recollections of.  Fatehpur Sikri which is a planned walled city was built by Akbar the Great over  fifteen years. It is a series of royal palaces, harem, courts, a mosque, private quarters and other utility buildings.  There are two leaders who appear to be revered above all others in Indian history.  One is Ashoka and the other is Akbar.  I began to wonder if there was anything that Akbar couldn't do.  He came to power at the age of 13 and a chronicler of his life described him as an artisan, warrior, artist, armourer, blacksmith, carpenter, emperor, general, inventor, animal trainer (reputedly keeping thousands of hunting cheetahs during his reign and training many himself) lacemaker, technologist and theologian. Now there's a varied CV.  It is also recorded that he was illiterate. It makes me wonder how he had time for living the opulent lifestyle he apparently enjoyed at Fatehpur Sikri.

^{Central pillar in the Diwan-i-Khas}

Diwan-i-Khas or Hall of Private Audiences known as the Jewel House, in the background.  Looking across the human pachisi board.  Akbar would sit on the small platform in the middle of the paved area, and would direct his harem girls dressed in transparent dresses to move around the board. 

Left is a madrasa (school for girls), and to the right is the Panch Mahal.  

The Panch Mahal a five-storied palatial structure, with the tiers gradually diminishing in size, till the final one, which is a single large-domed chhatri (umbrella shaped pavilion).  Originally pierced stone purdah screens faced the facade suggesting it was built for the ladies of the court to watch happenings. The floors are supported by intricately carved columns on each level totalling 176 columns.  It acts as a windcatcher and is close to the Zaneena or Harem.

Akbar's King size bed which had water below it in hot weather and a stair well that allowed him to keep his feet dry..

View of agricultural land from FS.

Water supply and the Hamam on the right.

Apparently he would disguise himself and mingle in the market places to listen to what the people were saying about him.  He is credited with halting sati (the practice of a wife being cremated alive with her dead husband) although this is still practiced occasionally.  He is credited with stopping the child marriage system and introduced the right to marry again. 

When he was at Fatehpur Sikri, he held discussions as he loved to know about other religious beliefs. He noticed that the religious people of other religions were often bigots. This led him to form the idea of a new religion, Sulh-e-kul meaning universal peace. His idea was for a religion that did not discriminate other religions and focused on the ideas of peace, unity and tolerance.  The religion did not gain acceptance.

He had three wives: one a Portuguese Christian , one a Muslim from Persia and one a Hindu.  He had no heir so he walked 300 kms to Aajmer each year to see Saint Salim Chisti.   Finally his son Jahangir was born so a tomb was built for the saint at the Friday Mosque beside FS.

 We walked around the three separate houses for his wives.  Apparently they were all given the same amount of money to spend on their houses but the Muslim wife built a very small house, the Christian wife's house was also modest but the house of the Hindu wife was enormous - built around a courtyard the size of a football field and with a separate kitchen. 

Fatehpur Sikh was ultimately abandoned due to lack of water.

The mob sitting on the entrance to the HIndu woman's living quarters.

A short walk away was the Friday Mosque with the tomb to Saint Salim Chisti.  It was a Friday so there were many at prayer when we called in.

Tomb of Saint Salim Chisti at the Friday Mosque.

Today we drove past at least 2 kms of sandstone works on both sides of the road.  Huge chunks of sandstone were being converted into temple statues and statues for public buildings and hotels.  We saw one block being unloaded from trucks by use of a crane.  It was at this point that our bus driver suddenly turned right from the left lane, across two lanes of traffic and then drove up the wrong side of the road.  This was yet another heart-stopping moment. He drove us to a hotel where we had lunch under a canopy in the back yard.

There were also many chimneys for brick works which made bricks from the ground sandstone, I think.  In the fields are mustard in flower, wheat, barley for beer and marigolds.  At the many small "border" stops trucks line up to pay taxes for moviing from one district to another. 

At our Agra  hotel we ate our meal on the  rooftop from where we heard a sudden commotion.  A random wedding just started up in the street below.  The groom was sitting in a carriage with swirling lights behind him and the brass band played loudly in discord, drums thumped and several people stood holding flower covered umbrella shapes.  We watched for more than half and hour but it was clear he was going nowhere fast so we went back to our room to do our washing.

Hotel Crystal Inn.