Fatehpur Sikri

Topic: The Mughal Empire: Babur to Aurangzeb · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 2 "Reshaping India's Political Map"

Meaning

Fatehpur Sikri is the walled city that Akbar built near Agra. It was the Mughal capital for only about 10 years, in the second half of the 16th century. [3][4] It matters because it was the first planned city of the Mughals. It was also the place where Akbar's big ideas began: the Ibadat-Khana, Sulh-i-Kul and the Maktab Khana. [4]

Explanation

Background: why Akbar built it

• Akbar's empire had grown very large. It held people of many faiths, languages and cultures. [2]
• He wanted a new capital that showed his power. He also wanted a place where his new ideas on religion and rule could take shape.
• According to tradition, he chose Sikri because the Sufi saint Sheikh Salim Chishti lived there. Akbar believed the saint's blessing gave him his son and heir, Salim (later Jahangir). The saint's tomb stands inside the city's mosque courtyard.
• "Fatehpur" means "city of victory". Sikri was the name of the old village on the site.

Main features: a planned city on terraces

• Planning: the land was a sloping ridge. The builders cut it into terraces (flat steps of land). Each terrace held a group of buildings. [4]
• Material: mostly local red sandstone, which gives the city its colour.
• Style: a mix of Persian (Islamic) and Indian building ideas. You can see arches and domes next to Indian-style pillars, brackets and chhatris (small domed pavilions).
• The main buildings [4]:
• Jami Masjid: the great congregational mosque, where people gathered for Friday prayers.
• Buland Darwaza: the huge gateway into the mosque complex.
• Tomb of Sheikh Salim Chishti: inside the mosque courtyard.
• Panch Mahal: a five-storied open palace. Each floor is smaller than the one below it.
• Diwan-i-Am (hall of public audience) and Diwan-i-Khass (hall of private audience).
• Khass Mahal and Khwabgah (the emperor's private rooms and sleeping chamber).
• Anup Talao (an ornamental tank), Chaupar (a courtyard laid out like a board game).
• Shahi Bazar and Mina Bazar (market areas).

How it worked: a laboratory of ideas

• Fatehpur Sikri was not only a capital. It was where Akbar tried out his religious and cultural policy. [4]
• Ibadat-Khana ("house of worship"): a hall for debate. Akbar invited scholars of many religions to argue their views in front of him. Two Jesuits (Catholic priests from Europe) also came. A court painting shows them in the discussion. [4]
• Other ideas linked to the city [4]:
• Sulh-i-Kul: "peace with all". Akbar's rule of treating all religions with respect.
• Din-i-Ilahi: a small spiritual order (path) that Akbar shaped around his own ideas.
• Tarikh-i-Ilahi: a new calendar.

• Jharokha-Darshan: the emperor showed himself to the public from a balcony every day.

• Maktab Khana ("house of translation"): set up in 1574 to turn Sanskrit texts into Persian. [2]

• Sanskrit scholars explained a text in everyday speech.
• Persian writers then wrote it in Persian prose.
• The Razmnama ("Book of War"), the Persian Mahabharata, was commissioned in 1582. [2]

Results and decline

• The capital moved away after about 10 years. [3][4] Historians give different reasons, such as a shortage of water and Akbar's need to stay near the north-west frontier. So treat this as debated.
• The buildings survived well because the city was left empty so soon.
• It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986 (List no. 255). [3]

Time, place and evidence

• Period: the reign of Akbar, Mughal dynasty. It was the capital for about 10 years in the second half of the 16th century. [3][4]
• Place: near Agra, in present-day Uttar Pradesh.
• Key people: Akbar (builder and patron); Sheikh Salim Chishti (Sufi saint buried there); the Jesuits at the court debates; and the Sanskrit interpreters of the Razmnama, called mu'abbiran. A 1599 colophon (the note at the end of a manuscript) names them: Deva Misra, Satavadhana, Madhusudana Misra, Caturbhuja and Shaykh Bhavan. [2]
• How we know:
• The standing buildings, recorded by the Archaeological Survey of India. [4]
• Mughal court paintings, such as the one showing the Jesuits at Akbar's debates.

• Manuscripts made at the Maktab Khana, such as the Razmnama. Later copies were made for nobles. Folios (single pages) from the copy made for 'Abd al-Rahim Khan-i Khanan are held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. [5]

• Heritage status: UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986. [3]

Don't confuse with

• Ibadat-Khana vs Maktab Khana: both were at Fatehpur Sikri. The Ibadat-Khana was the hall for religious debate. The Maktab Khana was the house of translation, started in 1574. [2][4]
• Fatehpur Sikri vs Shahjahanabad: Fatehpur Sikri was Akbar's planned city near Agra. Shahjahanabad was Shah Jahan's new capital at Delhi.
• Tomb of Sheikh Salim Chishti vs Akbar's tomb (Sikandra): the saint's tomb is inside Fatehpur Sikri. Akbar himself is buried at Sikandra, near Agra.
• Panch Mahal vs Diwan-i-Khass: the Panch Mahal is the five-storied open pavilion. The Diwan-i-Khass is the hall of private audience.

Prelims Hooks

• Fatehpur Sikri was built by Akbar near Agra. It was the capital for only about 10 years. [3][4]
• It was the first planned city of the Mughals, built on terraces cut into a sloping ridge. [4]
• Panch Mahal = five-storied palace at Fatehpur Sikri.
• UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986 (List no. 255). [3]
• Maktab Khana at Fatehpur Sikri was set up in 1574. The Razmnama (Persian Mahabharata) was commissioned in 1582. [2]
• Trap: the Ibadat-Khana, Din-i-Ilahi, Tarikh-i-Ilahi, Jharokha-Darshan and Sulh-i-Kul are all linked to Fatehpur Sikri. The Buland Darwaza and Salim Chishti's tomb are here too, not at Agra Fort. [4]

Mains Points

• A city of ideas, not just a capital.
• The Ibadat-Khana, Maktab Khana, Din-i-Ilahi and Sulh-i-Kul all began in the same city within about a decade. [4]

• This makes Fatehpur Sikri the best physical example of Akbar's policy of including people of all faiths. [2][4]

• Composite architecture and culture.

• Red sandstone buildings mix Persian arches and domes with Indian pillars, brackets and chhatris.

• The translations made there, such as the Razmnama, joined Indian stories, Persian words and Mughal painting. Use this in GS-I answers on Indo-Persian synthesis.

• Short life, lasting legacy.

• It was abandoned after about 10 years. The reasons are debated: water shortage and frontier politics are the usual explanations.
• Its quick abandonment preserved it, and it is now a UNESCO site. [3] It also shows that Akbar's cultural projects depended on him personally. Under later rulers such as Aurangzeb, this kind of patronage narrowed.

Related concepts

• Buland Darwaza
• Panch Mahal
• Ibadat Khana
• Din-i-Ilahi
• Maktab Khana
• Razmnama
• Hamzanama
• Daswanth and Basawan
• Navaratnas of Akbar
• Birbal

Read more

• Akbar's court and the translation movement