Our Excursion to Fatehpur Sikri

Doana/Josaf (Canada)
Visited: 20. 12. 2002

On our vocational trip to North India, while covering Agra in our Golden Triangle package Tour we had a beautiful excursion to Faterpur Sikri an abandon city standing in isolation.

Me and my husband Josaf went through the brochures available to us at Agra. Faterpur Sikri could not escape our eyes as the city was lying just 40 km from Agra, a striking feature that was suiting our schedule too, therefore we opted for our trip to Fatehpur Sikri.

We took a guide from Agra itself as only our travel agent arranged for it. He was a well-trained guide well aware about the facts of Indian history, all the way he well aquatinted us about Mughal Regime, its glory and its magnificent monuments. He further continued that Fatehpur Sikri was the capital of the Mughal Empire between 1570 and 1586. Akbar the great Mughal Emperor was boon by a son with the blessings of the Sufi saint Sheikh Salim Chisti. In order to honor the saint emperor named the prince Salim, and founded a new city naming as Fatepur Sikri. It was quite strange to know that later on the city was vacated due to the acute shortage of water in the town.

We were absolutely fascinated by the charm of the city, the real prodigy of human hands were showcased in the city. The foremost monuments inside this royal city are the Diwan - i - Am, Diwan - i - Khas, Panch Mahal, Jama Masjid, Panch Mahal, Buland Darwaza and the tomb of Saint Sheikh Salim Chisti. The Panch Mahal, or Palace of 5 Stories, and the Buland Darwaza, the enormous door that is the main gateway to the complex fascinated us the most. I my self a art lover and a painter could not stop admiring the great beauty and the Corinthian grace of Fatehpur Sikri and could really feel that this monumental city cannot be surpass- not even by the Taj. I could trace some of these majestic structures on my canvass. The most striking part was the mammoth chessboard, our guide Mohan told us that here human figures were used as chess pieces and moved at the emperor's will, that was really amazing.

Some times when we sit and think about our trip to Fatepur Sikri a grandiloquent place, we really feel that our tour of India would have been obscured in disgrace- for not visiting this chef d' oeuvre of the Great Mughal Akbar. A cranny in the hall of Mughal fame, Fatehpur Sikri is embellished with the finest of human workmanship.