The twin sites of Fatehpur-Sikri lie just on the outskirts of Agra, and while visiting Agra to see the Taj Mahal, most tourists stop here to see Akbar's palace and Salim Chisti's tomb. Akbar, as the 16th century emperor of the Indian subcontinent, needs no introduction. Salim Chisti was a sufi saint, who lived as a hermit in the hills of Sikri.
Before 1569, Akbar had no heir to his throne. Akbar's first three children - a daughter Fatima, and twin sons, Hussain and Hassan - died in infancy. Akbar, a very worried and heir-less emperor then approached Salim Chisti, in the hope that divine intervention could help him with his heir troubles. It is said that he even moved his pregnant wife to Sikri, so that she would be in blessed surroundings when the child came.
All this paid off, and a son was born to Akbar in 1569, and named "Salim" after the saint. Salim would later become famous as Jahangir, but that's a different story.
Akbar now started considering Sikri a lucky place for him. He decided to move his capital from Agra to Sikri, and started building a royal city around Salim Chisti's hermitage. This new city was named Fatehpur or "victory city". Two years later, in 1571, Akbar moved to this new city with his family and courtiers. Red sandstone was the building material that was available at that time, and you can see the entire complex in Fatehpur is made of this material.
I visited Agra in January of 2009. The only thing on our to-do list was to visit the Taj Mahal, but we drove down from Jaipur and reached Agra after 5PM, and by that time the Taj premises were closed. So we settled for a quick visit of Agra fort. Interestingly, from the ramparts of this fort, the Taj can be seen across the dry bed of the Yamuna river. So my first ever view of the Taj was from Agra fort's Diwan'e'khaas!
The next morning, I was off to see the Taj. Apparently, you cannot just drive in, park your car and see the Taj. The UP Govt. has made sure that tourists have a tough time, while the local transportation business can fleece us. The car park is about 3 kms from the Taj gates, and you have the option of riding a horse drawn "tonga" or a auto-rickshaw down to the gate. Whichever mode of transport you choose, you will land up paying a ridiculously high amount to the tonga or auto driver! Then you are greeted with a long queue, with an impatient hawildar trying to manage the queue. Only after passing through these ordeals are you deemed worthy of a glimpse of the Taj. And here is what the first glimpse is... a kind of little "Buland Darwaza" leading to the Taj Mahal proper.
Enter through these gates, and you are greeted by a Tourism department counter that asks you to hand over any video cameras that you may have. Apparently, the Taj Mahal is allergic to video cameras, so you cannot take them close to the monument! So after completing the formalities of depositing your camcorder for safe-keeping, you are finally allowed to gaze upon Shah Jahan's famous creation.
After spending a while marvelling at the structure, I was greeted with the remarkable phenomenon of the sun rising over the Taj. Once you see this, all the trouble of haggling with the auto driver & standing in the queue is forgotten. It's a site worth seeing. Check out these pics below!
