Fatehpur Sikri

Above: A corridor of red sandstone columns. It the warm Indian sunlight, Fatehpur Sikri is a magical place!

Left: An ornately carved passageway inside of the abandoned city. After several hundred years, much of the carving remains despite how vulnerable sandstone is to wind erosion.

November 13, 2004 Journal continued:
Yesterday was fabulous! Yesterday I went to Fatephur sikri on the way to Bharatpur where I caught the train to Ranthambore. The deserted city of Fatephur was beautiful. I wandered around alone, guide free this time, and just took it all in. I tried to imagine what the fountains and pools would look like with rose water and the domes covered in paint and gold.

In any case, Akbar the great constructed the city and lived there for many years. Suddenly, the water grew short and the town was abandoned. They left behind beautiful palaces and painted walls. Much of the fort and palaces were made of sandstone, so the wind and rains have taken their toll over time. Still, you could tell that the city was grand. It has ornamental pools that were filled with jasmin water and rose petals, a grand pedestal where the emporer sat and conferred with his generals, and a room with the walls built entirely out of carved stone... like lace, called the wind palace.

Right: A view from one of the inner chambers of the palace. The arches are particularly impressive. I loved standing beneath them, amazed by the hours of work that went into each section.

Journal continued:
Anyway, now they are doing some work to restore the old city and the interesting thing was that the people were putting together carved columns and things to replace a few of the fallen ones... and they were doing it right there in front of you... with chisel and hammer. It was as if I was right back in 1600, or whenever it was.

Another part of the town is the mosque with the temple dedicated to the guy who "granted" a son to Akbar. It was a marble enclosure that looked like lace walls as well. It was filled with people asking for babies... they are crazy for babies here.

Above: Just a few roof supports. These elaborate sandstone carvings are par for the course at Fatehpur Sikri.

Right: Beyond the gates of Fatehpur sikri, the ghost town extends for several Kilometers. While most of the residents have gone, there are a few that continue to hang on, and in fact, more that come every day to attend to the tourists' needs. The fellows, meanwhile, seem to just be enjoying the afternoon sun and watching their donkeys graze.

Journal Continued:
Of course the mosque was muslim, but the streets were also alive in festivities. As I mentioned earlier, the devali festival for lakshmi the goddess of wealth had begun the night before with firecrackers and general reverie. The streets were lined with pushcarts filled with marigolds and rose garlands. You buy the garlands as symbolic gold to give to the gods and goddesses. I think that Lakshmi is the consort of vishnu the god of preservation. Shiva, the god of destruction and rebirth is married to kali, the goddess of something bloody and destructive. Brahma is the god of creation. I don't recall who his consort is. The interesting thing is that Lakshmi rides the bull... not brahma. So why are Indian cows called brahmas?

Another fun thing about devali is that people paint the outside of their houses with colorful designs, they paint the pigs and donkeys with purple and pink hand prints, they dress up their camels and the light candles everywhere. It is also the time for sweets, so you see sweets all over the streets with bees buzzing around wanting some of the tasty treats. I don't much like Indian sweets, so this hasn't been a problem for me at all.

Left: More and more marigolds. In India they are sold by the pound before a festival. I believe for about ten rupees you can buy all the marigolds on the scale.

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