TamiAndCedricInIndia: Akbar's city and grave

Panch Mahal : 176 columns support this five storey structure

In Indian history, Akbar the Great, the third Moghul emperor, is the real deal. A great general, administrator, patron of art and intellectual, he brought much of current India (down to the Deccan) under his rule. He was a secularist and created a synergistic religion, that sadly, did not survive his death.

We visited the city he created as his capital in 1569 - Fatehpur Sikri. A beautiful city, the location had too many challenges and the capital moved to Lahore in 1585. Just a 16 year stint. There's definitely precedence here for government wastefulness! Fatehpur Sikri is about an hour's drive from Agra.

Entrance to Mariam's Palace

Mariam's Palace - inside courtyard

Mariam's Palace - carving detail

Birbal's house - a gem!

Carving detail at Birbal's house. Everything is carved like this.

Turkish Sultana's House

Detail: Turkish Sultana's house

To get a sense of the scale (Wikipedia has a great panorama)

Ibadat Khana

Ibadat Khana - Akbar is said to have sat at the center spot & discussed theology with scholars at the four ends. Sounds very James Bondish to me.

Entrance gate to the Jama Masjid

Tomb of Salim Chishti, the sufi saint that drew Akbar to Fatehpur

Beautiful marble screens in Salim Chishti's tomb

From the inside. Women wanting children tie strings to some of the interior screens.

The huge courtyard of the Jama Masjid. This is where people gather to pray (it is a functioning mosque)

One of the few things I remember from my visit at age 15. The impressive Bulund Darwaza - an entrance to the Mosque from the town.

Bulund Darwaza is at the top of a steep flight of steps & it is quite an experience to look up at it.

Akbar started construction of his tomb in Sikandra, just outside Agra, during his lifetime. It followed the familiar (to readers paying attention!) pattern of a square walled off space with grand entrances, a garden divided into four with water ways (a char baug) and a mausoleum that housed his grave as well as others close to him. I thought the tomb had a lot going on and wasn't anywhere as harmonious a design as his father Himayun's tomb in Delhi.