Fatehpur Sikri: Akbar's Short-Lived Red Sandstone Capital

Fatehpur Sikri is a former Mughal capital in northern India, built by the emperor Akbar from 1571 on a rocky ridge about 37 kilometres west of Agra. For about 14 years it was the centre of the empire, a city of red sandstone palaces, courts and mosques where Akbar held his famous religious debates. Largely abandoned after 1585, it survives remarkably intact and is one of the finest examples of Mughal architecture.

Background: Akbar and the saint of Sikri

Akbar (r. 1556–1605) came to the throne as a boy and, over the following decades, expanded the Mughal empire across much of northern India. By the late 1560s he still had no surviving male heir, and he sought the blessing of Shaikh Salim Chishti, a Sufi holy man of the Chishti order who lived at the village of Sikri.

According to the court tradition, the saint foretold that Akbar would have three sons. On 30 August 1569 Akbar’s wife gave birth to a son at Sikri, in the saint’s house. The boy was named Salim after the shaikh; he later ruled as the emperor Jahangir. Two more sons followed, and in 1571 Akbar decided to build a new imperial city at Sikri.

Building the city

Construction moved quickly. Within a few years a walled city with palaces, a congregational mosque, offices, baths, workshops and a large artificial lake had risen along the ridge. The buildings were made from the local red sandstone, carved with remarkable skill, often in styles drawn from both Islamic and Hindu traditions of building, such as brackets, carved pillars and flat roofs.

After Akbar’s conquest of Gujarat in 1573, the city became known as Fatehpur, the City of Victory. His historian Abu’l-Fazl recorded the building works in the Akbarnama, the official chronicle of the reign.

The main buildings

The city falls into two main parts: the religious complex around the Jama Masjid and the palace complex.

The Jama Masjid, completed in the early 1570s, is one of the largest mosques in India, with a vast courtyard. Its southern entrance is the Buland Darwaza (Lofty Gate), built around 1575 to celebrate the Gujarat victory. Including the steps, it rises about 54 metres above the ground and dominates the skyline.

In the mosque courtyard stands the tomb of Shaikh Salim Chishti, who died in 1572. Built around 1580–81 and later refaced in white marble, it stands out brightly against the red stone around it, and its delicate pierced marble screens are among the finest in Mughal India. It remains a place of pilgrimage, where visitors tie threads to the screens while praying for wishes.

The palace complex includes the Diwan-i Am (Hall of Public Audience), a courtyard where the emperor appeared to his subjects, and the Diwan-i Khas (Hall of Private Audience), whose interior is dominated by a single carved central pillar supporting a circular platform linked by walkways to the corners. Nearby are the five-storey open pavilion known as the Panch Mahal, the pool called Anup Talao, and a large residence for the imperial women, popularly called Jodh Bai’s Palace.

The Ibadat Khana and religious debate

In 1575 Akbar built the Ibadat Khana, or House of Worship, at Fatehpur Sikri. At first it hosted discussions among Muslim scholars, but from 1578–79 Akbar invited representatives of other faiths, including Hindus, Jains, Zoroastrians and, from 1580, Jesuit missionaries from Portuguese Goa.

The debates reflected Akbar’s growing interest in a policy of sulh-i kul, or “peace with all”, which aimed at tolerance among his religiously diverse subjects. In 1582 he also formed the Din-i Ilahi, a small circle of disciples devoted to the emperor rather than a new religion in the full sense. The Ibadat Khana’s building has not been securely identified among the ruins.

Why the city was abandoned

In 1585 Akbar left Fatehpur Sikri for the north-west, where the death of his half-brother Mirza Muhammad Hakim of Kabul and threats from the Uzbeks required his presence. He made Lahore his base for the next 13 years, and when he returned to the heartland he settled in Agra.

The traditional explanation for the abandonment is a failure of the water supply. Water was certainly a problem on the dry ridge, but many historians argue that strategic and political needs were more important, since Mughal emperors often moved their court to wherever the empire required them. Fatehpur Sikri was used only occasionally afterwards, and its buildings were left largely as they were.

Life in the imperial city

At its height Fatehpur Sikri was not only a palace but a working capital. Nobles built mansions on the slopes below the ridge, and markets, caravanserais and workshops served a large population of soldiers, officials, artisans and merchants. A great artificial lake, formed by damming the low ground to the north-west, supplied water, and a system of wells and channels lifted it to the palaces.

The court followed an elaborate routine. Each day Akbar showed himself to his subjects at a window, received officials in the audience halls and held discussions late into the evening. Painters in the imperial workshops produced illustrated manuscripts there, and the city hosted envoys and travellers from across Asia and Europe.

Myths and facts

Myth: Jodh Bai’s Palace belonged to a queen called Jodh Bai. The name was given long after Akbar’s time. The building was the main residence of the imperial women, and the identification with a particular Rajput wife is a later tradition.

Myth: Akbar abandoned the city simply because it ran out of water. Water shortages were real, but the emperor left mainly to deal with threats in the north-west, and the court never returned for political reasons as much as practical ones.

Fact: many building names are guesses. Labels such as Birbal’s House, the Astrologer’s Seat or the Treasury were attached by later guides and scholars, and the original purpose of several buildings is uncertain.

Legacy and World Heritage

Because it was not rebuilt by later rulers, Fatehpur Sikri preserves a complete early Mughal imperial city in a way that Agra and Delhi do not. Its blending of Persian, Central Asian and Indian forms influenced later Mughal palaces such as the Red Fort in Delhi. The English merchant Ralph Fitch, who visited in 1585, judged both Agra and Fatehpur to be larger than London.

Fatehpur Sikri was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1986. Together with Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal, it forms one of the most visited heritage areas in India.

Timeline

• 1556: Akbar becomes Mughal emperor.
• 1569, 30 August: Prince Salim, the future Jahangir, is born at Sikri.
• 1571: Akbar begins building his new city at Sikri.
• 1572: Shaikh Salim Chishti dies.
• 1573: Conquest of Gujarat; the city is named Fatehpur.
• c. 1575: The Buland Darwaza and the Ibadat Khana are built.
• 1580: The first Jesuit mission from Goa arrives at Akbar’s court.
• 1585: Akbar leaves Fatehpur Sikri for the north-west.
• 1986: Fatehpur Sikri becomes a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Why it matters

Fatehpur Sikri captures a short but remarkable chapter of Mughal history, when Akbar built a capital to honour a saint and celebrate his victories, and opened its halls to debates between faiths. Its well-preserved buildings show the confident synthesis of traditions that defined Mughal culture at its height.