Fatehpur Sikri was founded in 1569 by the Mughal emperor Akbar, and served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1571 to 1585. Here the construction of a planned walled city took fifteen years to build a series of royal palaces, harem, courts, a mosque, private quarters and other utility buildings. It is one of the best-preserved collections of Mughal architecture in India. In Fatehpur Sikri, capital of the Mughal Empire for only ten years, the complex of monuments and temples, all in a uniform architectural style, includes one of the largest mosques in India, the Jama Masjid. Within it is the tomb of Salim Chisti; many believe that he makes our wishes come true! Lucy Peck goes into the architectural magnificence of the city giving us the history behind the forgotten or ghost city .

Four centuries ago, a magnificent king built his city of dreams on a hill. And then after a few years he walked away from it, never to return. The reason why Jalaluddin Akbar abandoned the city of Fatehpur Sikri remains a mystery. This book deals with this topic. Four centuries ago, a magnificent king built his city of dreams on a hill. And then after a few years he walked away from it, never to return. The reason why Jalaluddin Akbar abandoned the city of Fatehpur Sikri remains a mystery. It is a city, of legends, frozen in time, of a grateful king's act of gratitude to a Sufi saint,

This traces the history of the Mughal empire from its creation in 1526 to its breakup in 1720. It stresses the quality of Mughal territorial expansion, their innovation in land revenue, military organization, and the relationship between the emperors and I

The Rough Guide Snapshot to Uttar Pradesh is the ultimate travel guide to this beautiful part of India. It guides you through the state with reliable information and comprehensive coverage of all the sights and attractions, from the must-see Taj Mahal at Agra and the great tomb of Akbar to the sacred city of Varanasi and the Buddhist pilgrimage site of Sarnath. Detailed maps and up-to-date listings pinpoint the best cafés, restaurants, hotels, hostels and shops ensuring you have the best trip possible, whether passing through, staying for the weekend or longer. Also included is the Basics section from The Rough Guide to India, with all the practical information you need for travelling in and around Uttar Pradesh, including transport, food, drink, costs, health, activities and tips for travelling with children. Also published as part of The Rough Guide to India. Full coverage: Agra, Taj Mahal, Fatehpuri Sikri, Sikandra, Akbar's tomb, Akbar's Palace, Fatehpur Sikri, Jhansi, Lucknow, Allahabad, Varanasi, Sarnath, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar (Equivalent printed page extent 121 pages).

‘Very impressive ... It will enrich the understanding of those interested in the history not only about these buildings but also more widely about historical monuments and their preservation’ – Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Chancellor and Professor of History at Ashoka University ‘The first real attempt to bring historical sites and buildings of the past within the reach of the masses ... A must-read for all’ – Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi, author of Fathpur Sikri Revisited ‘Offers an excellent academic–public interface for the study of monuments, the cities in which they are located, and their extended geocultural connections’ – Rana Safvi, author of The Forgotten Cities of Delhi and Shahjahanabad ‘A book to be read several times, in different ways’ – Swapna Liddle, author of Connaught Place and the Making of New Delhi Delhi, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, historic cities of legend and lore and home to six UNESCO World Heritage Sites, have captured the imagination of Indians and the world at large for centuries. In this ambitious book, Shashank Shekhar Sinha traces the extraordinary pasts of the three imperial capitals, their monuments, settlements and extended geocultural connections, while presenting a graphic account of the iconic heritage sites – from the life and times of rulers who built them, their survival through periods of war, turmoil and conquests, to their present afterlives. Packed with intriguing and little-known stories about the monuments – busting several myths around them along the way – the book takes us on a journey from the pillared galleries of the mosque at the Qutb Minar complex, the majestic double dome of Humayun’s tomb, the bastions of the impenetrable Agra Fort, the picturesque pavilions at Fatehpur Sikri, the tapering minarets of the Taj Mahal, to finally the Mughal court of the Red Fort, giving us the full measure of their dazzling grandeur. ABOUT THE SERIES Combining powerful storytelling with deep, recent scholarship, the Magnificent Heritage series uses multidisciplinary approaches to showcase a fresh perspective on heritage sites and storied cities, locating them in their larger geographical, sociocultural and historical contexts.

Entitled as it is, this is devoted to the study of the Architecture of Fatehpur Sikri, the township of Akbar, the Great, and its forms, techniques and concepts. The first chapter deals with Babur's Jal-Mahal which has been identified for the first time. The second chapter is on the formative process whereby a cosmopolitan style is formed by the assimilation of disparate building traditions, in respect of Mughal Architecture (which was, originally, a part of the paper for the XXVI International Congress of the History of Art, Washington D.C. 11-18 August 1986).The third chapter studies architecture of Fatehpur Sikri in respect of the sources and determinants of its forms; its town-planning; plan and design of its buildings; and façade and superstructure (in its original form, it was read in the International Symposium on Fatehpur Sikri held at the Harvard University Cambridge Massachusetts, U.S.A. on 17-19 October 1985).Such distinctive features of its architecture as 'khaprel' roof, 'chhappar' and 'ladāo' ceilings, 'tibārā' 'duchhattī' and 'jālī' have been studied in separate chapters, in full details, in order to elucidate their significance in the formation of this style. The Hiran-Mīnār and the Panch-Mahal, two representative buildings of Fatehpur Sikri, have similarly been studied in separate chapters, the former in respect of its Meaning and Purpose, and the latter in respect of its Architectural Derivation and Raison d'etre. The problem of 'nomenclature' of medieval monuments which has largely confused their history, has been discussed in the chapter on 'Todarmal's Bārahdarī', which too bears this misnomer a little too heavily, and attempt has been made to identify it architecturally. An introductory chapter on Masons'-Marks has also been given.Amazingly, there is nothing experimental, and Fatehpur Sikri's is a fully developed, 16th century A.D., Native Style of India, with minimal true-arched, true-vaulted and true-domed forms! It is, essentially, STONE-WORK, and even large ceilings have been built, in a wide variety with stone beams-and-slabs, stone ribs-and-panels and stone brackets-chhajjā -an h ols. Its art is a faithful reflection of Akbar's personality, in the right earnest, and his reign (1556-1605 A.D.), which is the most important phase of the Medieval period, cannot be historically comprehensive without study of Fatehpur Sikri.

There is perhaps no greater constant in religious intuition and experience than the presence of light. In spiritual traditions East and West, light is not only ubiquitous but something that assumes strikingly similar forms in altogether different historical and cultural settings. This study examines light as an aspect of religiously valued experiences and its entailments for mystical theology, philosophy, politics, and religious art. The essays in this volume make an important contribution to religious studies by proposing that it is misleading to conceive of religious experience in terms of an irreconcilable dichotomy between universality and cultural construction. An esteemed group of contributors, representing the study of Asian and Western religious traditions from a range of disciplinary perspectives, suggests that attention to various forms of divine radiance shows that there is indeed a range of principles that, if not universal, are nevertheless very widely occurring and amenable to fruitful comparative inquiry. What results is a work of enormous scope, demonstrating compelling cross-connections that will be of value to scholars of comparative religions, mysticism, and the relationship between art and the sacred. Contributors: * Catherine B. Asher * Raoul Birnbaum * Sarah Iles Johnston * Matthew T. Kapstein * Andrew Louth * Paul E. Muller-Ortega * Elliot R. Wolfson * Mimi Hall Yiengpruksawan * Hossein Ziai