ARCHITECTURAL TRIP C.S.P.A.

Presented By Saurabh Gupta A4018 CHITKARA SCHOOL OF PLANNING & ARCHITECTURE

Introduction (Fatehpur Sikri (imperial ghost city) - The History)

Mughal emperor Akbar ascended to the throne in 1556 at the tender age of 14 years. Apparent reason of ascending throne was the sudden demise of his father, Humayun. Akbar turned his attention towards building a magnificent Imperial capital at Agra. Instant result of his interest was impressive Agra Fort, which was a great asset militarily as well as it served as the royal residence.
In due course of time Akbar decided to shift his capital to nearby. There is a difference of opinion among historians about this decision of Akbar. According to the legends Akbar used to visit the hamlet of Sikri to take the blessings of the great Sufi saint Salim Chisti in order to have an heir to his throne. Akbar's visitations were fruitful, for he was blessed with three sons. He built the new city according to the instructions of Salim Chisti whose mausoleum is a part of Fatehpur Sikri. Another set of historians say that he built the new city at Fatehpur Sikri as it was falling on the highway towards South India from North India. From this place he was able to control all parts of the country and move in any direction without much trouble. The new city was set on a hilltop that made it reasonably safe from future attacks. The new city, built on a ridge, grew into a magnificent township larger than contemporary London. Akbar did not stayed in this magnificent city for long and reasons for deserting Fatehpur Sikri are as much mysterious as was its construction. The imperial city of the Mughal dynasty between 1571 and 1584, Fatehpur Sikri was built by Mughal Emperor Akbar. The architectural grandeur of this deserted city cannot be described in words and one can only experience the aura of its magnificent edifices by seeing them. Fatehpur Sikri is the most popular day excursion from Agra, the city of Taj and capital of invincible Mughals for a long time.

Lay out of FATEHPUR SIKRI

Jodha Bai Palace Diwan-i-Khas

Diwan-i-Am
Elephant Gate Salim Chisti Tomb Jami Masjid Mosque Buland Darwaza Anup Talab Panchmahal

Jodha Bai Palace

The largest and the most important building in the royal palace, named after Akbars Rajput wife, Jodha Bai. This spacious palace was assured of privacy and security by high walls and a 9 metre guarded gate to the east. The architecture is a blend of styles with Hindu columns and Muslim cupolas. is entered from the east side. The entrance to the palace is cleverly conceived so that the inmates are not seen directly on admission and we are told, by contemporary accounts, that it was guarded by formidable eunuchs. It is possible that this was the zenana or harem for Akbar's wives (some put the number at 500, others at 3000 courtesans and queens were from royal Hindu families of Rajasthan: a clever political move by Akbar to win over neighbouring princes and forge alliances. There is no doubt that the decoration and motifs used to adorn the sandstone walls of this building are similar to ones that the indigenous artist used when constructing temples. At the center is a courtyard and around it are the living rooms. The rounded roofs above are covered with turquoise tiles that contrast dramatically with the red of the sandstone. The use ceramic tiles in this building in Fatehpur Sikri is interesting, for it compares with architectural decorations often found in Persia and Pakistan. Perhaps one can suggest other structures at Fatehpur Sikri, now bare: the kiosks of the Diwan-e-Khas and the domes of the mosque were once adorned with similar tile-work.

The city of Fatehpur Sikri is a complicated complex of palaces and courtyards, full of light and air, unlike any of the palaces of Europe where the climate necessitated closed cloisters. But, here, like everything Mughal, care was taken to see that every detail was designed to cultivates the senses: the warm red texture of the stone, elegant visual forms and shapes beside shimmering ponds filled with fragrant perfumes and flowers, while the sound of music forever echoed through the spaces.

Diwan I khas
Diwan-i-Khas or the Hall of Private Audience stands at the northern end of the first courtyards. Diwan-I-Khas By all accounts, Diwan-i-Khas is the most enigmatic structure of the whole complex. From the exterior it looks like a simple doublestoreyed building but it actually has only one floor. The interior has intrigued historians and archaeologists for centuries. A massive, intricately carved column rises from the centre of the ground floor. The top of the column broadens into a wide circular seat with four catwalks connecting it to the circular galleries that run halfway up the wall. Tradition says this way Akbar's Diwan-i-Khas where he met ambassadors and governors and heard report from officials. However the design of the hall does not gel with this. As a matter of fact, many other buildings in the complex have also been identified as the Diwan-iKhas. Historians have been greatly intrigued by the unusual shape of the central column. Some see it as the Tree of Life, others as a Hindu mandala. Some feel this was, in fact, the Jewel House mentioned in many contemporary chronicles, while others say this was the famous Ibadat Khana, where Akbar met religious leaders for discussions. The chief product of Akbar's religious study was a new religion, the Dini-Illahi, which drew together ideas from disparate sources. The spacious mardana or courtyard behind the Diwan-e-Am is surrounded by several interesting structures, though the function and purpose of some of them remain an enigma. To the north is a square red sandstone building standing by itself a little aloof and selfcomposed, referred to as the Diwan-e-Khas. The building from the exterior has two storeys, the upper one with a deep hanging eave around it like a hood and the lower floor is demarcated externally by a balcony supported by decorative brackets. The flat roof has a tall kiosk at each of the four corners. Inside, it appears that the building is not two-storeyed but one high-ceilinged room. At the center is a single faceted pillar with long tapering brackets clustered around it supporting a walkway with branching catwalks connected to corners of the room. Was the emperor meant to sit at the center and command proceedings from above or was this a conference room for Akbar's philosophers discussing the religious of the world? What was the purpose of this peculiar building? Perhaps we will never know. As you walk southward along the paved sandstone courtyard there are designs that appear on the floor like a giant game of ludo, which the guides will tell you was used by the emperor who played the game using live human counters.

Panch mahal
Facing the Pachisi Court where Akbar is said to have played the board game of pachisi with maids as human counters, is the most eye-catching structure in Fatehpur Sikri - the delicately-columned hall rising five storeys, called the Panch Mahal. Ever level diminishes in size until there is just one four-columned kiosk at the top. The carvings on the pillars have a wide variety of motifs and, originally, the space between the pillars was covered by jali screens. It was probably a building used for social occasions and, despite its height, the structure has a light and airy appearance. Surrounding the courtyard are other storeyed building and apartment rooms, but the most intriguing is the Panch Mahal, the five (tiered) palace. The first two floors are of equal size while the next are graded, and on top is a single kiosk or open pavilion. The building perhaps once had sandstone jalis around the outer row of pillars. Now the pillared halls of each floor or open to the breeze and it is understood to have been used by the royal ladies as a garden pavilion where they could enjoy a magnificent view of the fort and the palace below in the glowing light of an Indian sunset. From the top of the Panch Mahal one can appreciate the layout of the imperial city, the private areas and the public ones, and the courtyards that link them together The next courtyard has a delightful ornamental pool called the Anup Talao that faces the double-storeyed private palace of the emperor called the Khwabgah or Palace of Dreams. Legend has it that the royal court singer Tansen used to perform from the seat in the centre of the pool.

Diwan I am

Diwan-i-Am or the Hall of Public Audience is the fist building beyond the entrance. It is a pillared pavilion in red sandstone facing a large courtyard surrounded by a colonnaded corridor. It was one of the earliest structures to be finished and, according to contemporary accounts like the Akbarnama, it served a variety of purposes. The meeting place It was where the Emperor held this daily audience, where major court activities took place, and where major festivals and events were celebrated, including Prince Salim's wedding to a Hindu princess in 1584. It has beautifully carved jali or trellis screens with Islamic geometric designs and Hindu touches in the floral motifs, the chhajjas and corbelled capitals. A small entrance behind the Diwan-i-Am leads into the mardana or gentlemans' court. Here are the personal palaces of the king and the official buildings ranged around two connected courtyards. On the periphery, and as you enter the fort area of the royal city, there are service apartments and stables along with palaces constructed by courtiers invited to build at the site. The royal complex is entered through the Diwane-Am on the north-eastern side, at the opposite end of city from the mosque. There is also an entrance to the private quarters from the Jama Masjid. The Diwan-e-Am (Hall of Public Audience) is an enclosed space surrounded by colonnades, and on the western face is the pavilion where the emperor sat in honour surrounded by his courtiers. (The mirhab marks the western side, the direction of prayer in a mosque. What was Akbar trying to say by seating himself at the western side of this hall?) From the throne room side an entrance leads to the protected private domain of the imperial palace which contains mansions for the royal harem and the ladies-inwaiting, residences for the ruler and living quarters. The private courtyards are magnificent open spaces paved in red sandstone, and the palace buildings are aligned like a trying of rectangular blocks to one another. Contemporary architecture decided that these palace buildings were themselves independent units encased within high walls and designed around an open courtyard. The rooms and verandas all look out on to the courtyard, offering the residents a comfortable assortment of warm areas that received direct sunlight, and cool chambers shrouded in shadows and shade.

Salim chisti
By 1568, Akbar, the third monarch of the Mughal dynasty had built himself an impressive empire. His kingdom spanned north India and there was no king who could challenge him. There was peace in the land and the royal treasury overflowed with tribute. His only grief was that, at he age of twenty-six and after twelve years of rule, he had no heir. None of his sons had survived infancy. When Akbar prayed before the Sufi saint, Sheikh Salim Chishti, he predicted that the king would have three sons. Chishti lived in a scheduled hill-top shack in a village called Sikri, a little removed from Agra. In 1569, one of Akbar's Rajput queens, who later came to be known as Maryam Zamani or Mary of the Age, gave birth to a son. He was named Salim after the saint. And, as predicted, two other sons were born within the next few years. The emperor gave thanks with extravagant grandeur. In 1571, Akbar began building a mosque and then a palace complex at Sikri. The spiritual centre of Fatehpur Sikri is the shrine of Sheikh Salmi Chishti. In fact, the great congregational mosque, the Jami Masjid, was completed in 1571, even before work on the palaces had begun. The dargah complex is usually entered by the eastern gateway, the Badshahi Darwaza or the royal gateway, so called because the Emperor used it when coming from the palace to join the congregational prayers. Through the gateway one enters the great expanse of the courtyard of the mosque. To the left is the mammoth Buland Darwaza, while a little ahead to the right is the ethereal marble tomb of Sheikh Salim Chishti. In 1569 the Mughal Emperor Akbar, after the capture of the fort of Ranthambhor, came to the hamlet of Sikri to see Shaikh Salim. The young emperor was 27 years old, but still childless as three children had died in infancy. Shaikh Salim prophesied that he would have not one but three sons. The following year a son was born and called Salim in difference to the saint. In gratitude emperor Akbar began to construct a great mosque at this site. The saint died in 1572 and a tomb for Shaikh Salim (or Salim Chisti) was built within the mosque complex. It is still a venerated place of pilgrimage, especially for childless women who come and tie a thread on the lattice windows of the tomb chamber as a reminder of an unfulfilled desire; untying it when their wish is granted, believing that like Akbar's wish, theirs too will be granted. When the royal Salim (later Jahangir, the next Mughal Emperor) was a year old, construction of the fort and palaces began in earnest, and continued until 1585. Emperor Jahangir describes the beauty of the site in his memoirs: My revered father, regarding the village of Sikri, my birthplace, as fortunate to himself, made it his capital, and in the course of fourteen or fifteen years the hills and deserts, which abounded in beasts of prey, were converted into a magnificent city, comprising numerous gardens, elegant edifices, and pavilions of great beauty. After the conquest of Gujarat, the village was named Fatehpur: the town of victory. The Tomb of Shaikh Salim was originally built in red sandstone but is now entirely faced with marble, a later addition. The tombstone within is covered by cloth and lies under a canopy of ebony, mother of pearl, and brass. The square tomb chamber is surrounded by a corridor (for circumambulation) with lattice marble jalis of a quality unmatched anywhere in the world. The jalis are linked together by a series of ornate marble pillars with branching brackets. The tomb has a low dome and heavy protruding eaves that hang over the edge of the roof like a decorative canopy. Its design and ornamentation is traced to contemporary tombs of Gujarat, the region that Akbar had annexed. The tomb of Salim Chisti is a beautiful monument to the Sufi saint who, amongst other things, greatly influenced the life of Akbar, one of the greatest Mughal emperors. At the heart of Akbar's city is the marble shrine of Sheikh Salim Chishti. It is one of the most significant Sufi shrines of the region and one of the finest and most famous examples of marble work anywhere in the world. The entrance has four slim pillars with unusual serpentine struts that curve upwards to the roof. The jewel-like tomb has delicately carved screens enclosing the verandah that create a serene ambience of dappled light and shade. It is on these jalis that the faithful tie their threads when they throng the dargah, seeking the fulfilment of their wishes. The Arabic writing in relief around the outer wall of the tomb chamber are verses from the Koran of special significance to Sufis. The floor of the chamer is paved with white marble, inlaid with stones of different colours. The cenotaph has a canopy of glistening mother-of-pearl. Often you will see bands of men with musical instruments sitting in the courtyard next to the dargah. They are the qawwal singers who make the evenings magical with their folk-styled songs of devotion or qawwaalis.

Buland darwaza
In 1572 Akbar conquered the fertile cotton and indigo plains of Gujarat and its famous ports which had links with Persia, Egypt, and Arabia. To celebrate his triumph and the addition of this enormous wealth to his treasury he built Buland Darwaza, a royal southern entrance to the mosque and named his new capital Fatehpur Sikri, the City of Victory. The gateway is approached by a sleep flight of steps that add height and majesty to the entire structure (which is 54 meters high). The Buland Darwaza is designed in colored sandstone and marble. On one side is deep well where children today make a quick buck from tourists with their exhibitionist dives. The gigantic gateway Akbar name Buland Darwaza or the Lofty Gate looms over the courtyard. It is the greatest architectural monument of Akbar's entire reign. Fatehpur Sikri, whether approached from Agra or Bharatpur is dominated by this stupendous structure. The Emperor built it after conquering Gujarat in 1573. The Darwza rises to a height of 40 metres and is topped by pillars and chhatris. It is the most Islamic structure in Fatehpur Sikri and echoes early Mughal design with simple ornamentation, the carved verses from the Koran and soaring arches. On the outside a long flight of steps sweeps down the hill giving the gateway additional height.

Anup talo
At the opposite end is a lovely architectural composition of a tank called Anup Talao with embellished edges and a platform at the center that can be reached (like the catwalks of the Diwan-e-Khas) by narrow bridges. It is said that music performances were held here and acclaimed musicians of Akbar's court, like Tansen, sat on the central platform entertaining the emperor.

Jama masjid mosque

The Buland Darwaza leads into the grand Jama Masjid of Fatehpur Sikri which stands at the south-western end of the royal city complex. A high wall with gateways on three sides opens into a huge courtyard, 111 by 139 meters, making it one of the largest of its kind in the Mughal kingdom. The inner walls are lined with colonnades and cloisters (unfortunately party inhabited by persistent shopkeepers) and the western faade has a massive arched doorway behind which are three (stunted) domes. A row of little kiosks stand like domed sentries along the boundary wall, guarding the pearl tomb of Salim Chisti within the courtyard.

REACHING FATEHPUR SIKRI

HOW TO REACH THERE By Rail One can also opt for the train route as several train runs to and through Fatehpur Sikri. By Road

Agra is the nearest big town of Fatehpur Sikri and both these city's are very well connected to each other. Agra as obvious is very well connected to the rest of the cities and towns of the country, so one can easily visit this place by visiting Agra from which numbers of buses are available daily.
touristplacesinindia can arrange for you all types of land transport for your comfortable journey in Fatehpur Sikri and throughout the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.