In early childhood, each of us listened to fairy tales about magical abandoned cities in the distant jungle. Such a place lost in centuries is the dream of any traveler. It turns out that in India there is the abandoned city of Fatehpur Sikiri, and it is not at all fabulous. Once upon a time, life was seething in it, but now you can only admire its former greatness.
City Location
Currently, Fatehpur Sikri is an open-air museum city. It is located forty kilometers from the ancient village of Agra, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The road leading to the ancient city rests on the lancet gates of the fortress. The whole complex is surrounded by fortress walls demonstrating former power.
First impression
Of course, even on the outskirts of the city, its charm strikes. There is some mystery in this place bordering on a fairy tale. But crowds of tourists and numerous guides inviting guests spoil the whole amazing mood. It is not for nothing that Fatehpur Sikri is considered to be a mystery, not subject to time. When you enter the complex, you understand how amazingly beautiful and unusual it is. Apparently, its creator realized the dream of a real paradise.
Having entered the territory of Fatehpur Sikri, tourists find themselves in a huge courtyard with a beautiful lawn. But in the era of prosperity of the city, the yard was completely covered with expensive carpets. But now the place makes a strong impression.
Background of the city
This is now Fatehpur Sikri - a ghost town that personifies oriental tales. Its creator, the Mongol ruler Akbar the Great, probably dreamed of the prosperity of the paradise he had created. But, unfortunately, fate decreed otherwise.
Grandfather Akbar was a famous commander named Zahiruddin Babur, who in 1525 defeated the troops of the Delhi emperor Ibrahim Lodi. He founded the Mughal empire, which became the most powerful state on the territory of Hindustan. The country can be safely called a symbol of not only eastern wealth, but also at the same time despotism.
In 1568, the conqueror's grandson - Akbar - was just at the peak of his strength and glory. His powerful empire grew stronger year after year, and the treasury was full of gold. The emperor was married, and by tradition he had far from one wife, each of whom was beautiful and smart. Nevertheless, Akbar was not happy and fully satisfied with his life. And for that he had a reason. None of the wives gave him a son, which means the empire did not have an heir. Akbar heard about the holy Salim Chishti, who lived in a distant, very small village called Sikiri. With hope in his heart, the emperor went to him like a simple pilgrim.
Perhaps the prayers of St. Chisti were heard. He predicted to the emperor that the birth of three sons awaited him ahead. One legend says that Chishti even sacrificed one of his children. True or not, it is not known for certain. Most likely - this is just a beautiful legend. Nevertheless, the saint's prophecy soon came true. In August 1569, Akbar finally received the long-awaited heir. The prince was named Salim in honor of the Sufi. This is how the future head of the country Jahangir was born. Akbar's happiness knew no bounds. He decided that it was worth living next to the sage. Therefore, he began the construction of a new capital near the village of Sikri.
Construction Fatehpur Sikri
The emperor thoroughly approached the matter. He invited the best masons and architects, who created stunning palaces, pavilions, verandas, framed by carvings and ornaments. Fatehpur Sikri was the first Mughal city to be built according to plan. Everything was thought out to the smallest detail. Akbar managed to create a Mughal style, which we have seen more than once in films, which is a mixture of Rajput and Muslim architecture. The city was built of marble and red sandstone. Thus, a desert hill over a decade and a half turned into a chic fortress. In the hotel courtyard, a dwelling was built for the sage, who predicted the emperor's birth of a son.
After a very successful trip to Gujarat, the emperor named his city Fatehpur Sikri, which means "the city of Victory near Sikri." It is located on a hill surrounded by stone walls with nine gates. The complex itself, in fact, consists of two parts - the temple and residential.
Beautiful garden city
The residential part of Fatehpur Sikri is called Dualat Khan, which translates as "the abode of fate." On its territory there are pavilions for private and public audiences, a game yard, a five-story palace, a treasury and palaces for each queen. The Panch Mahal invariably attracts tourists' attention - this is a five-tier palace, which is also called the "catcher of the winds." All floors of the building are decorated with openwork columns, and each subsequent floor has a smaller area than the previous one. The palace was specially designed in such a light and airy style that the wind penetrated into all its parts, because before there were no air conditioners. Therefore, it was necessary to maximize the use of natural opportunities.
The columns of the palace are very unusual. They are decorated with carvings and have different shapes: there are round, patterned, with lilies, etc. And the dome with an openwork screen completes the appearance of the structure. Near the building there is a gazebo. It is said that she was one of the first schools in India for women. The court girls here were taught the basics of numeracy and literacy.
Royal chambers of wives
On the opposite side of the gazebo is the monastery of the Turkish wife of the emperor. The palace is decorated with patterned stone screens, arabesques, and the roof is covered with unusual material resembling tiles. It is said that the sultana asked to build a stone bas-relief for her, on which animals were depicted. To this day it is inside the palace. But all animal heads were repulsed on it, since Islam does not allow portraying living beings in this way. Who ruined the panel is not reliably known. Perhaps this was done already at the time when the dead city was visited by tourists.
Akbar was generous to his wives. Each of them had its own palace, decorated with carvings, interesting ornaments. The buildings were equipped with air balconies, domes and colonnades. Queens could walk through the beautiful courtyards and terraces.
It is known for certain that the Queen Mother’s palace was decorated with gold murals depicting scenes from the Persian epic.
The windows of the Turkish wife’s palace overlook the Anup Talo pond, in the center of which is an islet. Four pavements were laid on it. One of the court chroniclers recorded in letters that in 1578 the emperor ordered to fill the pond with copper, silver and gold coins as a sign of "generosity to his subjects."
Daydreaming room
The city of Fatehpur Sikri is full of interesting structures. One of them is the bed of the emperor or the room of dreams, as it was also called. The padishah’s bedroom is a huge room with a pedestal in the middle on which the bed rises. And there is only water around. In fact, only the bed rises above the water. The bedroom was built in this way for a reason. With the help of water, several problems were solved at once. Firstly, the emperor received such valuable coolness, and secondly, the water helped to hear the enemy penetrating the bedchamber. In the bedroom, yellow-blue frescoes have still survived. The same is in the secret room, located opposite the padishah library, which totaled about 25 thousand manuscripts.
In the residential part of the fortress Fatehpur Sikri (India), Akbar received guests, had fun and relaxed. Between the buildings of the palaces is Pachisi Court - an ancient Indian game. The game yard resembles a chessboard. It is fully paved with tiles.
Treasure chest padishah
In Fatehpur Sikri (India) there was also its own treasury. It is believed that she was in Ankh-Michauli, which is confirmed by the very massive walls of the pavilion. However, there is another version, according to which women played hide and seek in this building, which explains the great many mazes in it.
Which hypothesis is true, no one knows for sure. However, the appearance of the columns of the building, which are decorated with mythical creatures in the form of monsters, speaks in favor of the first version. It is likely that such guardians could very well have been created in the treasury.
Place of state meetings
The ancient city of Fatehpur Sikri was equipped with all the buildings that might be needed for a comfortable life. The emperor was engaged in important government affairs daily. In addition to his personal office, there was also a sofa-i-aam - this is the place where Akbar received people. Justice sessions and important state meetings took place here. In the hall there is a real imperial throne, covered with openwork screens, towering on a carved pedestal.
And opposite this pavilion in the courtyard is a large stone ring, dug directly into the ground. They say that he was tied to the real state elephant, which resolved the controversial matter. There is a legend that when the padish found it difficult to make the right decision, he ordered the two disputing parties to appear before the elephant. The one whom the animal first trampled, and was considered a loser. Although, he did not care. By the way, the elephant is buried in the territory of Fatehpur Sikri, near the tower of Hiran Minar.
Approximate Emperor
For personal meetings, the padishah had separate chambers - Divan-i-Khas. The pavilion incorporated a mixture of styles. It is decorated with exquisite carvings with elements and symbols belonging to different religions. The hall also has the throne of the emperor, located on a round platform. But the guests and vassals were seated in galleries, diverging from the throne in the form of rays. That is, the center was, of course, the padish.
The emperor in the pavilion led discussions with representatives of completely different religions and did not consider it shameful. Here he also received advisers who helped him in state affairs. They were also called the "nine sages." An interesting fact is that their names have survived to this day, and some have even gone down in history. It is known for certain about the existence of the chronicler Abdul Fazl, his brother Fayzi (poet), singer and musician Tansen, Minister Bairbal, Raja Todar Mal, who monitored the imperial income, etc.
Lost heaven
And yet such a beautiful city ceased to exist. And now the beauty of Fatehpur Sikri is a tourist attraction worth seeing if you come to India. What are the reasons that the city is empty? There is a legend according to which the reason why the fortress was abandoned was water problems. When she left Fatehpur Sikri, the inhabitants simply had to look for another place to live. But why the life-giving moisture from the city disappeared is unknown. It is believed that this could be due to an earthquake. There is also a mystical version of the explanation of the phenomenon, according to which the padish was thus punished for pride and sins. It is worth remembering that during the construction of the city, engineers created an uninterrupted water supply system according to a special system, which was replenished by special people. It is possible that over time, the amount of fluid intake has increased, so it just ceased to be enough.
Be that as it may, the capital was moved to Lahore. And the city of victory simply became a real ghost, demonstrating its former splendor. Surprisingly, after so many centuries of oblivion, the fortress is quite well preserved.
How to get to Fatehpur Sikri?
If you are planning a trip to India and you are interested in an abandoned city, then you should take the time and go to it. You will not regret the time spent. If we ignore a large number of tourists and intrusive guides, it seems that I got into a real oriental tale. Still, mysterious ghost towns exist in real life. One of them is Fatehpur Sikri. It’s easy to get to the open-air museum. The nearest airport is in the town of Agra, which is 39 kilometers from the historic complex. And the railway station is just a kilometer from the village. Directly to the fortress itself can be reached by any of the tourist buses. But their minus is that it gives tourists an inspection of only an hour or a half. But it is very small for such a wonderful place. Therefore, experienced travelers recommend using a regular bus from the town of Arge. Transport departs every half hour, which is quite convenient. You can also take a taxi.
Instead of an afterword
According to historians, it is not surprising that such a rich city quickly turned into a ghost. History knows many examples when residents quickly left the settled villages, throwing all their belongings. And in the conditions of an incredible hot climate, it is not at all surprising that Fatehpur Sikri is empty. In India, it is simply impossible to exist without water. For many centuries, even the poor and homeless did not settle in the city, since living without it is unrealistic.