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FATEHPUR SIKRI
SIKRI IS SITUATED ON AN EXTENSION OF THE UPPER VINDHYAN RANGES, ON THE BANK OF A LARGE NATURAL LAKE WHICH HAS NOW MOSTLY DRIED UP. THE RIDGE IS COMPOSED OF RED SANDSTONE FORMATIONS. IT IS A PREHISTORIC SITE AND, WITH ABUNDANT WATER, FOREST AND RAW MATERIAL, IT WAS IDEAL FOR PRIMITIVE MAN’S HABITATION. ROCK SHELTERS WITH PAINTINGS EXIST ON THE PERIPHERY OF THE LAKE. STONE AGE TOOLS HAVE BEEN FOUND IN THIS AREA. OCHRE COLOURED POTTERY (C.2ND MILLENNIUM B.C.) AND PAINTED GREY WARE (C. 1200-800 B.C.) HAVE ALSO BEEN DISCOVERED. SIKRI HAS BEEN MENTIONED IN THE MAHABHARATA AS ‘SAIK’ IN CONNECTION WITH SAHADEVA’S SOUTHERN CONQUESTS ON THE EVE OF THE PANDAVAS’ RAJASUYA YAJNA. LEXICONS DEFINE ‘SAIK’ AS A REGION SURROUNDED BY WATER, WHICH DENOTES ITS ORIGINAL TOPOGRAPHY. ‘SIKRI’ IS DERIVED FROM THIS ROOT. THE INSCRIPTION ON THE SCULPTURE OF JAINA SARASWATI DATED IN 1010 A.D. MENTIONS THE PLACE AS ‘SEKRIKYA’, WHICH IS ALSO A SIMILAR DERIVATIVE. EXCAVATIONS HAVE REVEALED JAINA AND BRAHMANICAL SCULPTURES OF 10TH AND 11TH CENTURIES A.D. ALL THIS SHOWS THAT IT WAS CONTINUOUSLY INHABITED SINCE THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD. IT WAS AN IMPORTANT LANDMARK ON THE ANCIENT TRADE ROUTE, WHICH CONNECTED THE NORTHERN AND THE SOUTHERN REGIONS AND IT WAS A GREAT CULTURAL CENTRE WHERE TEMPLES ABOUNDED.
BABUR WHO VISITED IT ON THE EVE OF THE KHANWAH BATTLE IN 1527 A.D. MENTIONED IT AS ‘SIKRI’ IN HIS MEMOIRS. HE FOUNDED HERE A GARDEN, A JAL-MAHAL (WATER PALACE) AND A BAOLI (STEP-WELL) TO COMMEMORATE HIS VICTORY IN THE KHANWAH BATTLE, AS ITS INSCRIPTION RECORDS.
HIS GRANDSON AKBAR (1556-1605) SHIFTED HIS RESIDENCE AND COURT FROM AGRA TO SIKRI, FOR A PERIOD OF 13 YEARS, FROM 1572 TO 1585. THE SIMPLE REASON ASCRIBED BY ABUL FAZL, THE COURT HISTORIAN OF AKBAR, WAS THAT THE SUFI SAINT SHEIKH SALIM CHISHTI RESIDED HERE, IN A CAVERN ON THE RIDGE.THE EMPEROR HIGHLY REVERED HIM, AND IT WAS BY THE SAINT’S BLESSINGS THAT THE HEIR-APPARENT, NAMED SALIM AFTER HIM, WAS BORN HERE IN 1569. HE RECORDED THAT LOFTY BUILDINGS FOR THE USE OF THE KING AND HOUSES FOR THE PUBLIC WERE RAISED. THUS GREW A CITY WITH CHARMING PALACES AND INSTITUTIONS, SUCH AS KHANQAHS, SCHOOLS AND BATHS. A LARGE STONE BAZAR WAS BUILT. BEAUTIFUL GARDENS WERE MADE IN THE VICINITY. HIS MAJESTY GAVE IT THE NAME OF FATHABAD AND, THIS BY COMMON USE, WAS MADE INTO FATHPUR.
THIS WAS THE MOST FORMATIVE PERIOD OF HIS REIGN DURING WHICH, PRACTICALLY, ALL MUGHAL INSTITUTIONS SUCH AS, THE “IBADAT-KHANAH” (1576), ‘DIN-I-ILAHI’ (1582), ‘JHAROKHA-DARSHAN’ (1572-85), THE DOCTRINE OF SULH-I-KUL AND POLICY OF LIBERAL PATRONAGE TO INDIGENOUS ARTS AND LITERATURES, WERE FOUNDED. KARKHANAHS (WORKSHOPS) OF HANDICRAFTS SUCH AS SILK, WOOL AND COTTON CLOTHES; CARPETS AND DURRIES; GOLD, SILVER AND OTHER METAL WARES; JEWELRY; LEATHER-WORK, WOOD AND IVORY-WORK; STONE-WORK, ENAMELLING; PERFUMES; AND PAINTING WERE ESTABLISHED HERE BY AKBAR.
SIKRI WAS THE FIRST PLANNED CITY OF THE MUGHALS. IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE SLOPING RIDGE, TERRACES ON RECEDING LEVELS WERE MADE FOR THE THREE MAIN COMPLEXES; THE MOSQUE COMPLEX, AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL, COMPRISED THE JAMI MASJID, BULAND-DARWAZAH AND TOMB OF SHEIKH SALIM CHISHTI; THE ROYAL COMPLEX, ON A LOWER LEVEL COMPRISED THE RANIWAS (HAREM) MAHAL-I-ILAHI, SHAHI-BAZAR, MINA-BAZAR, BAITHAK AND A GARDEN; AND THE PUBLIC COMPLEX, AT THE LOWEST LEVEL COMPRISED THE PANCH-MAHAL, KHWABGAH, SHAHI KUTUB-KHANAH, ANUP-TALAO, THE HALL OF THE UNITARY PILLAR, CHAUPAR AND DIWAN-I-AM. THE ORIENTATION OF THE BUILDINGS OF THESE THREE COMPLEXES, SITUATED AT THREE RECEDING LEVELS, BEING EXACTLY ON THE N-S AXIS OF THE RIDGE, FACILITATING THEM EITHER TO FACE EAST OR NORTH CORRECTLY; PERFECT ALIGNMENT OF EACH COMPLEX; INTERMITTENT OPEN SPACES AND VIRTUAL SEPARATION OF SOME QUARTERS BY HIGH ENCLOSING WALLS FOR PURDAH AND SECURITY; AND EFFICIENT SYSTEM OF DRAINAGE AND WATER-SUPPLY SHOW THAT IT WAS LAID OUT ON AN EXTREMELY INTELLIGENT TOWN-PLANNING.
ALL THESE BUILDINGS WERE RAISED FROM 1572 TO 1585. STONE CUTTERS’ MOSQUE (C.1562) AND RANG-MAHAL (1565-70) ARE EARLIER. THE BULAND DARWAZA WAS BUILT IN 1601, IN PLACE OF THE SOUTHERN GATEWAY OF THE JAMI MASJID, TO COMMEMORATE THE DECCAN CONQUEST. THESE WERE ALL BUILT OF RED SANDSTONE IN THE TRABEATE BEAM-AND-POST ORDER, COMPOSED OF PILLARS, ORNAMENTAL ARCHES, BRACKETS-AND-CHHAJJAS, JHAROKHAS AND CHHATRIS. SOME BUILDINGS DRAW ON THE INDIGENOUS ART SO THOROUGHLY THAT THEY LOOK LIKE TEMPLES. WITH THE LOCAL ARTISANS, GUILDS OF STONE-WORKERS FROM MALWA, RAJASTHAN AND GUJARAT ALSO PARTICIPATED ON THIS GRAND PROJECT AND THE ART OF FATEHPUR SIKRI HAS A DEFINITE ALL-INDIA CHARACTER. IT IS A PROLIFIC AND VERSATILE INDO-MUSLIM COMPOSITE STYLE, WHICH HAS GROWN FROM THE COMPOSITE CULTURE OF INDIA.
IN ORDER TO MAKE ADEQUATE ARRANGEMENT OF WATER SUPPLY TO THE PALACES ON THE RIDGE, A WATER-WORKS WITH A PERENNIAL BAOLI (STEP-WELL) WAS FOUNDED ON ITS EITHER SIDE. THE TOWNSHIP NEVER SUFFERED BY ANY SCARCITY OF WATER.
AFTER AKBAR SHIFTED TO THE PUNJAB IN 1585, OWING TO POLITICAL REASONS, SIKRI WAS PRACTICALLY DESERTED BY THE MUGHALS. THOUGH, TIME AND AGAIN, UNSUCCESSFUL CLAIMANTS TO THE MUGHAL THRONE FLED FROM DELHI AND SOUGHT SHELTER HERE, IT LOST ITS IMPORTANCE UNTIL IT WAS TAKEN OVER BY THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA AND CONSERVED IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY. ITS GRAND DAK BUNGALOW WAS COMMISSIONED BY LORD CURZON IN 1904. THE GROUP OF MONUMENTS WITH FORTIFICATION WALLS AND GATEWAYS OF SIKRI IS INSCRIBED AS A WORLD HERITAGE SITE BY UNESCO.
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