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FATEHPUR SIKRI
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See also:FATEHPUR SIKRI , a See also:town in the See also:Agra See also:district in the See also:United Provinces of See also:India, on the road from Agra to See also:Jaipur. Pop. (1901) 7147. It is a ruined See also:city, and is interesting only from an archaeological point of view. It was founded by See also:Akbar in 1569 as a thank-offering for the See also:birth of a son, See also:Selim, afterwards the See also:emperor See also:Jahangir, foretold by Selim Chisti, a famous See also:Mahommedan See also:saint. The See also:principal See also:building is the See also:great See also:mosque, which is said by See also:Fergusson to be hardly surpassed by any in India. " It See also:measures 55o ft. See also:east and See also:west by 470 ft. See also:north and See also:south, over all. The mosque itself, 250 ft. by 8o ft., is crowned by three domes. In its courtyard, which measures 350 ft. by 440 ft., stand two tombs. One is that of Selim Chisti, built of See also: Even these parts, however, are surpassed in magnificence by the See also:southern gateway. As it stands on a rising ground, when looked at from below its See also:appearance is See also:noble beyond that of any portal attached to any mosque in India, perhaps in the whole See also:world." Among other more noteworthy buildings the following may be mentioned. The See also:palace of Jodh See also:Hai, the See also:Rajput wife of Akbar, consists of a courtyard surrounded by a See also:gallery, above which rise buildings roofed with See also:blue See also:enamel. A See also:rich gateway gives See also:access to a See also:terrace on which are the " houses of Birbal and Miriam "; and beyond these is another courtyard, where are Akbar's private apartments and the exquisite palace of the See also:Turkish sultana. Here are also the Panch Mahal or five-storeyed building, consisting of five galleries in tiers, and the See also:audience chamber. The See also:special feature in the See also:architecture of the city is the softness of the red See also:sandstone, which could be carved almost as easily as See also:wood, and so See also:lent itself readily to the elaborate See also:Hindu embellishment. Fatehpur Sikri was a favourite See also:residence of Akbar throughout his reign, and his See also:establishment here was of great magnificence. After Akbar's See also:death Fatehpur Sikri was deserted within 5o years of its See also:foundation. The See also:reason for this was that frequent cause in the East, lack of See also:water. The `only water obtainable was so brackish and corroding as to cause great mortality among the inhabitants. The buildings are situated within an enclosure, walled on three sides and about 7 M. in circumference. They are all now more or less in ruins, and their elaborate See also:painting and other decoration has largely perished, but some See also:modern restoration has been effected. See E. B. Havell, A Handbook to Agra and the Taj, Sikandra, Fatehpur Sikri, &c. (1904). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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