Fatehpur Sikri - A Ghost City

Fatehpur Sikri, the capital of mughals from 1571-1585 AD. Mughal Emperor Akbar built this town 40 kms west of Agra. This place was chosen by the emperor because it used to be believed the center of the universe and many scholars continue to believe so. Fatehpur sikri is one of finest example of the advanced science & architecture. Its a monument different from others in many respects, one important being is the area it is spread over. This is as large as the town itself. Tourists today see only the two parts and that too very restrictively. Most of the places are either not accessible or closed down by government due to their dilapidated condition. But, Tourists can see the ruins from the outside.  

Fatehpur Sikri once had become a ghost town or in other terms a place which was deserted, lost its pre-historic & mughlai grandeur. It remained so for over 500 years. It is only recently, Fatehpur Sikri got its due recognition when declared as World heritage site by UNESCO in 1986 A.D., ever since travelers started coming to this place. 

Let us explore some Vintage photographs of Fatehpur sikri.

Photograph - 1869 A.D.

Photograph -1869 A.D.

Photograph - 1869 A.D.

Photograph - 1880 A.D.

Photograph - 1880 A.D.

              

No last word on Fatehpur Sikri origin :

There are many versions of history talking about inception of Fatehpur Sikri. One, being universally accepted is that Great mughal emperor Akbar built it in 16th century where as carbon dating of the place & its stone suggest that it is much more older than the century it is claimed to be built in.


Another point of view got added after recent excavation of Jain statues at VEER CHABILI TEELA behind the Fatehpur sikri ridge. This place has recently been linked to Jainism and its inception associated with the very beginning of Jain religion which takes back Fatehpur sikri history to 5th century BC. However, this version doesn't seem to have much truth hidden in it.

Third story that says, Babar (Grandfather of Akbar) invaded India in 1526 AD and fought first war in Panipat in the same year. Then, He went to fight another battle in 1527 AD in the battle field of Khanuah which is very much in Fatehpur sikri while moving towards the center of India from north west direction. This suggests that there must have been something already existing to attract an invader to fight and conquer. Some historian believe that Fatehpur sikri was built by Rajput Emperor Maharana Sanga who lost it to Babar.

                              Therefore, there is nothing certain about Fatehpur sikri history. In both first & last cases, Akbar built it or had got it from his forefathers. He stayed here for some 15 or so years and that constructs the Fatehpur Sikri history.We will also talk about Fatehpur sikri from that angle. We will not be going in much detail of every monument but will focus more on larger picture and details which are not much discussed on other forums.

Points of interest

Palace of Jodhabai : Its a large complex which is only known as Jodhbai Palace locally but entails many other monuments with in it like.
(1) Palace of Jodhabai (Hindu Queen of Akbar)
(2) Queen Marium's palace (Christian wife of Akbar)
(3) Beautiful palace of Turke-me-sultana (alias Rukiyya Begum)
(4) Haram (bedroom) of Akbar himself
(5) Birbal's palace
(6) Diwan-I-Khaas (Ibadat khana- meeting place)
(7) Anup talao
(8) Panch mahal and so on


                              

General Information : This is the first monument, a tourist must see in Fatehpur Sikri. And, this is the only place one needs to buy ticket to get in, all other places in Fatepur Sikri are free or without tickets. Tickets for Indian adult are INR 20 and for a foreign national is INR 260. Cameras without trio-pod are allowed free of cost. Normally, It takes about 2 hours to visit this complex, but if you are an architecture enthusiast, it may take longer as it has lot to offer. Audio guide facility can be availed now at this palace. Headphones can be hired for INR 68 (Hindi version) & INR 130 (English version), however, this is not as interactive as a human guide. ASI authorised Guides can also be hired near the ticket window. Check your Bargaining skills! 

Buland Darwaja & Mosque Complex : This is another attraction, situated 100 meter west of jodhabai Palace, this also has few attractions.
(1) Buland Gate (highest gate in asia continent)
(2) Tomb of Sufi Saint Shiakh Salim chisti
(3) Jama masjid (Mosque)
(4) A closed tunnel
(5) A reservoir outside the buland  gate on on the left side

General Information : This should be explored once you have already seen the Jodhabai palace. However, there is no rule as such but only recommended. There is no ticket to it. All you need to do is to take your footwear off at the entrance gate as there are two gates to enter. You will always reach Badshahi Gate side if you are coming from Jodhabai Palace. You may give some INR 5 per pair of shoes, although its not officially charged but an errand run by locals. In this complex, tourist have to be aware of some touts, constantly irritating vendors and hawkers who will try to push to buy a chadar (Linen) to lay on the shrine of sufi saint. This is reckless and stupid. Don't fall into their trap as this all is a commission based business. Cops as and when try to catch them and put them behind bars.

Hiran Minar & Carvan-Sarai : This is less explored place as not so many tourists walk down to this side of the monuments. This is recommended to be visited after Palace of Jodhabai & Buland Gate. This is situated north of both the monuments. To get down here, when you are walking from Palace of Jodhabai towards Buland Gate Complex, immediately before the entrance to Buland gate complex or Badshahi gate side, you will find on your right a narrow path built with red stones. Hiran minar is hardly 5 minutes walk from this point. It's down the hill. This is a tomb of an elephant who was so amiable to the emperor that when the elephant died, king built a minaret to pay tribute to him. It is believed locally that many elephant tusks were fitted into it earlier but after they started getting stolen. Government replaced them with tusk shaped stones. however, its absolutely worth walking down the hills as you get to see many ruins around including Carvan Sarai - the word Caravan is an Arabic word which means a group of people traveling together and word Sarai means an inn or place to stay at. Therefore, carvan sarai was the place where group of people passing Fatehpur Sikri used to stay.

General Information : Women traveler alone need to be little more attentive as this is very lonely area. however recently, ASI (Archeological survey of India) has been keeping a vigil in this area and two guards are permanently stationed. So, it has become more safer. Still, keeping your cameras and valuables inside the begs are highly recommended. This area is the back side of all the monuments and hence, you may have splendid views from here. It hardly takes about an hour or so to walk down the entire area.

                     

Dak Bunglow & Mint : These are also less talked about sites in Fatehpur Sikri. They both are situated east of Jodhabai Palace at the 5 minutes walking distance. You can either reach there walking across diwan-I-am or else there is a separate entry to it from the other side. Mint is the place where coins used to be minted. Dak bunglow or cicuit house is a later addition by Viceroy of India Lord Curzon in 1905 AD, it meant for govt officials to stay whenever they visited the town. Dak Bunglow, though built in 20th century but resembles the same architecture of Mughals.


General Information : Although, these sites are recommended for the tourists who are staying in the town for few days. They can also be visited by same day visitors.

 Museum : Recently, ASI has built a museum at Fatehpur Sikri which is situated right in front of the Mint. Beautiful Jain statues and artifacts have been preserved there which were excavated from the VEER CHABILI TEELA, which has already been discussed in this blog. There is also an audio/video show at the museum thrice a day from 0900 hrs in the morning until 1700 hrs in the evening. This show is of 15 minutes explaining the rich culture & heritage of Fatehpur sikri.





So, These are 5 major points of interest in Fatehpur Sikri. If you have some more energy left in you. Then, you can take a walk through the Sikri Village which is behind the ridge. This ridge is an extension of Vindhyan ranges of Indian peninsular plateau. Mostly people confuse it with Aravali ranges due to the proximity of Fatehpur Sikri to Rajasthan. After that Village, one can take cycle tour along the hemispheric ally built wall around the town.


Strategic Location Advantage : Fatehpur Sikri is situated in the center of Golden Triangle of India i.e. Delhi-Agra-Jaipur. Many travelers prefer staying in Fatehpur Sikri for longer time and visiting nearby places from here. One can come to Fatehpur Sikri from Delhi via Agra or Bharatpur if not in a taxi. There are trains running from Delhi to Agra and Bharatpur from where buses run regularly to Fatehpur Sikri. Otherwise, Taxi can directly transfer you to Fatehpur Sikri. It is 200 kms (4 hours drive) away from Delhi. There are decent, reasonably priced hotels in Fatehpur Sikri which can be booked in advance. Fatehpur sikri is much more peaceful, pollution free and economical vis-a-vis Agra. 

Most popular itinerary -

1st Day - Take some rest in Fatehpur Sikri and visit the monuments here
2nd Day - Go to Agra early morning and see the Taj with first ray of sun, this helps you avoiding you long ques and day rush at Taj. Red Fort and Sikandra can also be seen on the same day. Come back to Fatehpur Sikri
3rd Day - Early morning, move to explore Ghana Bird sanctuary at Bharatpur, this adds a natural walk experience to your trip. (Deeg Fort can also be seen which is 30 kms away from Bharatpur) Deeg Fort is undoubtedly beautiful and Serene experience, is also less crowded. Come back to Fatehpur Sikri.
4th Day - For Indian philosophy & spirituality, there can be nothing better than Mathura & Vrindavan, Go and check the sacred temples here and come back to Fatehpur Sikri. 
5th Day - Check out from Fatehpur Sikri and move onward to Jaipur. There are many buses running 24*7 from Fatehpur Sikri to Jaipur.

Travel Tip - The itinerary above is indicative and modifications can be made by traveller themselves depending on their requirement. Mostly hotels in Fatehpur Sikri can arrange taxi/cabs for you to move around and visit nearby places like Agra, Bharatpur, Mathura & Vrindavan. They can also pick up and drop from/to Delhi & Jaipur.

Hotels to Stay in Fatehpur Sikri  -

Hotel Goverdhan
Sahkuli, Fatehpur Sikri - 283110
M : +91-94125-26585
URL - www.hotelfatehpursikriviews.com

Hotel Vrindavan
Sahkuli, Fatehpur Sikri - 283110
M : +91 - 94125-16664
URL - www.hotelvrindavanfts.com

Hotel Rahi Gulistan Tourist Complex
Sahkuli, Fatehpur Sikri -283110
(A unit of UP Tourism)

There are few more hotels in Fatehpur Sikri. Above three are the most prominent and professionally managed. All three can be booked by phone, e-mail or sites like booking.com, expedia.com, cleartrip.com, makemytrip.com etc.

Tourist Parking at Fatehpur Sikri : 

Fatehpur Sikri is one of the 32 World heritage sites in India, accorded by UNESCO. Hence, Diesel/Petrol vehicles are not allowed in close perimeter of these sites. As per the order of honorable Supreme court, UP tourism has developed a tourist parking at some 500 meters distance from Monuments. All the tourist vehicles coming to Fatehpur Sikri are stopped here, asked to pay the parking fee and park the car inside the parking from where you have Govt run CNG buses running every 5 minutes to take you to the monuments. This costs you about INR 5 per person. 
Kindly note if you are coming to stay in a hotel situated after the parking or inside the town, You may either tell the parking representatives that you are going to stay here or show them your hotel booking voucher. There have some bad incidents at this parking and complaints like misbehavior of parking representatives, help from local police can be sought. If you have booked the hotel, you have all the rights to go inside the town and park your vehicle in the hotel, you booked.

Railway Station at Fatehpur Sikri : 

Although, its not a major station. There are trains fro/to two important destination Sawai Madhopur and Lucknow or Allahabad. But, good thing about this station is that it has Govt railway reservation desk from where one can easily plan and book tickets as this window is usually free of crowd in comparison to others in Agra and other major destination.

For more information on Fatehpur Sikri :

Please log on to - http://www.up-tourism.com/destination/fatehpur/fatehpur.htm

                                                                   

                                                   

Indian Societal & cultural Transformation

"Change is the only constant." Change comes to anything or everything in the world including societies. Almost all the societies of the world kept on evolving. But when, It came to the Indian Society. It became very difficult for Indian societal structure to define new boundaries and transform from Agrarian feudalistic society to modern progressive structure. Indian Society has always been reluctant to adopt the changes at the beginning, but gradually embrace them when asked by its young members. Perhaps, Indian society is the only society in the world to have got the Predefined societal structure which has made the society such that it wants to abide by those same norms, customs and traditions, prevailing for ages. That's true also as depicted in Mahabharata & Ramayana where there is a king & his state. This then continued over a period of time whilst Indus Civilization, vedic Era, mahajanapada times, ancient India, medieval India and modern India. Besides, Varna System (Caste System), Men dominance & Patriarchal pattern of family were few of the many other prominent features of Indian Society. 

Indian Society remained so until 1990 A.D.. Perceivable changes in Indian society started reflecting only after 1990's, that too because process of change was initiated in the early 19th century by some of the Indian spiritual leaders like Raja Ram Mohan Rai, Ram Krishna Paramhans, Dayanand Saraswati, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Swami Vivekananda. Most of them agreed to adopting best from other cultures & societies and leaving the malign systems of our own society. Some even went on record saying that our own Vedas & Puranas are fallible. They believed that every individual must interpret their religious texts themselves and follow what they think is logical & scientific.

But these changes created havoc among people. Western culture started influencing Indian society due to the British Legacy India had. But as mentioned above, Indian society was not ready to accept those changes at one go. There were lot of protests from society. British went back, India got freedom. But they left western influenced Indian society behind. Post Freedom, people in India attributed high class society to modern society of Europe. People in India, especially youth got attracted to it.

                                         With the advent of Internet revolution and start of LPG era in India in 1990's, Process of change became all the more faster. This is then, the actual transformation of Indian society started. Baby-boomers & Generation 'X' is not able to tune in with Gen Y & Gen Z. This 30 years lag from 1990 until 2020 is the most difficult time period of Indian societal & cultural transformation as there is a big trans generational gap. The values or culture, Baby-boomers or Gen X has inherited from their forefathers is not what they are able to pass on to their children. This is where the conflict lies.

There are social conflicts like love marriages, live-in relationships, orientation towards nuclear families, less god fearing people, ending superstition, independent lifestyle, ageing population fear security, youth demanding much more liberty & freedom,  western style life style and above all this, Cinema & TV culture. There are many other social issues also which further broadens the generation gap. This transition has become very painful for girls. At times, they become a victim of honor killings, abused and advised to dress sensibly. Girls feel it a bloat on their democratic right.

Putting all this in a nut shell, India changes, so does the Society & Culture. World has become a smaller place. Therefore, Cross-culture changes are inevitable. Also, its not values, traditions and systems which are changing. Its just an improvement over what people have been following for ages without thinking. But yes, Indian society has to be alert while accepting changes that people must not confuse so called "Modernity" with western society, because modernity is of thought process, better civic sense for a sustainable world and ideas, people conceive.

Well, whatever transition is taking place, That has become an experience with both positives & negatives for people living this transformation.

Narendra Modi vs. Priyanka Gandhi

 It's not Modi, but his "Modism" which has become a religion with numerous followers, coloring the nation saffron, drumming the victory of developmental society, banging the administrative machinery and asking Indian to come forward, leaving communal issues behind and put in collective efforts to take their own country in top slot. Its not that Congress is worse or BJP is better. But, It is his charisma which is above all this downgraded psychology. People don't want to vote a party. They have no love left for any politician or Political party. They are also exhausted of Hung Parliament for over 20 years. But now, they shout an individual with clear mandate to lead them from front.

                                                                                                               

On the other hand, Priyanka has always been a hidden face of Congress think tank. Most of party strategies are devised by her. She has inherited leadership skills directly from her Grand Mother 'Indira Gandhi'. Its not Rahul or Sonia Gandhi who poses threat to BJP or Modi, but Priyanka who keeps BJP top shots busy. A very few in the country knows that whatever happened with congress ally DMK, Kanimojhi and Raja was a masterpiece of Priyanka's planning skills. There is an adage in Hindi which goes ""Saanp bhi Mar gaya aur lathi bhi nahin tooti"" Or in other terms, DMK

had to suffer whatever Priyanka wanted to, and they could also not break ties with Congress due to their situation back home in Tamilnadu. People in India still admire Indira's Prime minister-ship when she led the nation very bravely. They still see Indira in Priyanka Gandhi. But unfortunately, Congress has put Priyanka at back burner. This was the time when party needed her the most. Nevertheless, they have positioned Rahul Gandhi against Modi which eventually made people think that no big constructive changes from Congress end even after the fruitless reign of 10 years. 

Fight between Narendra Bhai Modi and Priyanka Robert Gandhi would have created a chaos in the country. Voters would have had to think twice before enjoying their sufferage that whom to be brought to power.

Well, whoever comes, India immediately needs great heeling. Many loop holes are to be plugged in over a very short span of time. There are areas of alarming threat. Take a look at them.

1. Current Deficit (Deteriorating Rupee further rising the CD) 

2. Manufacturing Sector to be focused upon (already skipped by India as per 

    Growth Pole Theory)
3. India's stringent labour laws to be relaxed
4. FDI norms
5. Taxation Policy (especially Income Tax - Kelkar Task force recommendations   
    to be adopted in letter & spirit)

6. International border issues with India's neighbors
7. Reservation in Job & Education Policy
8. Demographic Dividend - 50 % young population require training & skills
9. Naxalism & Terrorism
10. National Ombudsman to be appointed keeping the balance of Lokpal & Jan

     Lokpal

Therefore, Its the need of the hour that these all are looked into, right after the 2014 elections. And to do this, We need a Prime Minister with full of professionalism, experience and positive attitude. 

"India will become World Leader by 2020." - Nostra Damus (French Apothecary)