Salaam!

After the Taj Mahal visit we were incredibly tired and hungry. We ate a dissatisfying breakfast of greasy paratha and neglected our distasteful coffee. We returned to base to get forty winks before we continued with our site seeing day.

Next we took a journey out to the Fatehpur Sikri, the city of the third great Mughal Akbar and grandfather of Shah Jahan (of infamous Taj Mahal fame). Although only occupied for fourteen years it has left its mark in the history of India. Akbar was illiterate but this did not prevent him from making a lot of achievements during his rein. Around him he had his 'nine jewels' which were his advisors. Akbar studied and discussed many religious texts, these included the Koran, the bible, the great writings of Hinduism (the Rig Vedas, Purana, Mahabarata etc) as well as Buddhism, Jainism and Judaism. He eventually created his own religion that believed in one god only but incorporated parts of each faith. This is evident in the detailing of his buildings, you can see date trees that represent Islam - there is no symbolic representation in Islam however date trees are in abundance in Mecca and as a result artisans often employ there image as a sign of their faith. There are swastikas representing Hinduism as well domed arches in the shape of a cathedral to indicate Christianity. Akbar had three wives, one Muslim, one Christian and the other Hindu. He built quarters for them in the appropriate styles of their faith. although he had many wives and concubines he never had any children. He went to visit Sheikh Salim Chisti at Sikri, he being a holy man so that he may enlist their prayers. The Sheikh told Akbar that he would have three sons. Soon, one of his wives was pregnant and the prophecy became fulfilled over time. Akbar built a new capital at Sikri, in honour of the saint and soon after the palaces of Fatephur were built. When the Sheikh passed away Akbar had a tomb built in his honour.

Sandstone was Akbar's favorite building material. This is the Panch Mahal, it would have original had scented grass screens to protect the women inside form the sun and heat, as well as keep them away from onlookers.


There are many buildings mainly empty shells but beautifully preserved.


In the middle of this pool which would have been filled with rose scented water, the musicians of the court would play to Akbar who sat upon a nearby platform. The acoustics would have been amazing.


Akbar’s rather large stone bed, still all of his concubines would not fit on it, they queued outside waiting to accommodate the emperors needs!


An example of the date trees representing Mecca.


An intricate lotus design supporting for raised platforms. Akbar sat in the middle and would debate with four of his advisors.

Some detail...


In the adjacent mosque - the Jama Masjid which contains the Sheikhs tomb K and I sat for a while after fighting off students who wanted to explain to us the mosque hopefully to get money although they insisted that they were not trying to be guides. They did pester us a lot. I managed to have some conversations with people, I shall write about what I learned in another post. This mosque is a Sufi mosque, Sufis are Sunnis, they can celebrate God through music unlike other more orthodox Islamic sects which believe that music distracts one from God. There were musicians and a singer seated at the front of the tomb, we sat with them for a while. Inside some tombs, women will tie threads in the hope that their wishes will be fulfilled, they hope for children or husbands. I believe that this is a practice of Sufis only although I cannot be sure. Men were also taking in flowers and candies as offerings, I was informed that this was not like Pooja in Hinduism but comparable to what the women were doing.


When we headed back to Agra we saw these deer.


Some more shots of traffic - we do spend a lot of time in it after all! These guys were ducking under the load.


We see many convoys of half made trucks driving along the roads, they await the chassis to be built. We are not sure if the buyer of the engine and the wheelbase arranges their own styling of its body to meet their needs.


We did get to see the outside of the Agra Red Fort but ended up giving it a miss. We hope to see the one in Delhi sometime.


Thus ends the photos from Agra :-)