The Fatehpur Sikri

The Fatehpur Sikri

The Fatehpur Sikri was established by great mughal emperor Akbar in 16^th century. It was a tribute to renowned sufi saint, Sheikh Salim Chishti. It is said that Akbar walked barefooted from Agra to Fatehpur Sikri seeking the heir for the Mughal Empire and Salim Chisti predicted a male heir. And the prediction of the saint came true and Akbar was blessed with a son. Akbar named his son 'Salim' after the Sufi saint.

It is located at 40 kilometres from Agra. The credit of visiting the city goes to my father who was very keen on visiting the city. And though I was not much interested in visiting this city after the exhausting Agra trip a day before, I loved the city. We headed to Fatehpur Sikri Fort complex which is dotted by several architectural marvels soon after our breakfast.

Though our guide gave a lot of information but only few seemed true. The first place we saw was Diwan-e-aam, the hall of public audience that was used for public meetings and celebrations; its construction is very much similar to Diwan-e-aam of Red Fort of Delhi. Then we headed to Diwan-e-khas, the hall that was used for private meetings, there is a beautifully carved pillar in the centre of this hall. One very interesting thing in front of the Diwan-e-khas, is a life-size board for a game of Pacchisi (a precursor to Ludo), where human figures were used as the pieces and were moved by the direction of its players. What royalty and grandness the Mughals lived their life in.

Then we headed to the three small structures. Our guide said that since Emperor Akbar had three favourite wives, one of whom was Hindu, one Muslim and one Christian, he built one palace in name of each of his wives. Though I have never read this version of story in any of the Mughal books I have read.

Panch Mahal, whose photo is shown in the tourist book’s pages is a five storeyed building a place for recreation and relaxation for the royal family. The structure has been so designed that each story is pillared and is smaller than the other as you move upwards. Though now it is not allowed to climb up this structure. While no less than 84 columns support the ground floor, the uppermost domed floor has only 4 columns. The whole structure is only pillared without any enclosed wall and hence very airy. It is said that it was styled to give relief from the scorching summers of Agra and never used for residential purpose.

The Turkish Sultana’s House is one of the most ornamented buildings of this complex. Each and Every inch of this building is beautifully carved and designed. Though there is not much story about who Turkish Sultana was, but our guide said she was one of the wives of Akbar. It is a small structure surrounded by a verandah, but designed very intricately.

Just adjacent to the Turkish Sultana’s House is Anup Talao. This is actually a pool with a raised platform built by red sandstone and surrounded by stone jalis in its centre. There are four paths from four directions that connect this raised platform to the sides of the pool. Our guide has one more story to say about this pool, don’t know how much it is true. But according to our guide- this pool was once filled with coins and ornaments during the Mughal Era and when the rays of sun falls on this pool it created a visual treat. Today, despite being a part of world heritage the water in the pool is dirty and no one can enter the raised platform in the centre of the pool.

Then there is Jama Masjid and Sheikh Salim Chisti’s Tomb. The Jama Masjid is a beautiful and grand masjid. There are two entrances for this masjid, one is from Buland Darwaza, through which we entered and other one is through The King’s Gate (Badshahi Darwaja). It is said that Bulund Darwaza is said be raised in 1602 AD to celebrate Akbar’s victory over Gujarat. We entered through Buland Darwaza. 

The Sheikh Salim Chisti’s Tomb is one of the most revered Sufi shrines of India. People from all religions come here to seek blessings and it is believed that their wished will be granted. And though all the other structure of this complex is made of red stone, the tomb is made of white marble. It is enclosed by beautiful marble jalis where people tie thread and ask for the blessings of the Sufi saint. This tomb is very serene and beautiful.

Fatehpur Sikri remained the capital of Mughal Empire during the era of Akbar for 14 years. But then due to the acute water shortage in the region, it was abandoned by Mughals. 

India after 63 years of independence

By Maryam Yasmin

It has been sixty three years since our motherland broke the shackles and unfettered her from colonial presence. These sixty three years have not been easy. Every day, every year has been a story of relentless hard work and perseverance of each and every Indian trying to carve out a niche for their motherland in the international platform.

The country has undergone many changes, developments and constitutional amendments.

No doubt there have been many accomplishments and achievements in last sixty three years. But now as we enter sixty four years of independence, there are many issues that need to be addressed before we point out our accomplishments.

And the immediate one that our government should address is Kashmir. According to official data over 55 Kashmiris – including children and teenagers — have died from police action in a span of 64 days of violent clashes between security forces and people across the Valley. And suddenly all news channels and newspaper’s time and space are dominated by news from Kashmir.

Kashmir is an extreme example, but the country is wounded by a thousand cuts from ongoing social strife.

India’s north-east has seen more violence in the last 50 years than any other part of the country. Yet the outside world knows virtually nothing about the crisis there.

More than half of all Indians killed in political violence in the 1980s and 1990s died in the north-east.

Seven states (also known as the Seven Sisters) constitute the Indian north-east: Assam (the largest and most important), Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. Together, they cover a total of 255,000 square kilometres, with a combined population of over 30 million. It is home to over 200 tribal groups and sub-groups. There is little industry in the north-east, and agriculture is backward.

Although the north-east has substantial reserves of oil, natural gas, limestone-dolomite and coal, political violence means that much of these resources go unexploited. The oldest insurgency is in Nagaland. The main Naga militant group, the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isaak–Muivah), claims a territory six times the size of present-day Nagaland, including most of Manipur, as well as parts of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Burma.

Assamese nationalism emerged in the late 1970s as a protest against immigration from West Bengal and the influx of ‘foreigners’ from Bangladesh. The most prominent Assamese insurgent group is the secessionist United Liberation Front for Asom (ULFA). While the ULFA has lost some of its mass appeal, it is still a major source of violence and instability.

The local population is trapped between a repressive government and intolerant militants, against the backdrop of a shambolic democratic process. Delhi-appointed governors in the north-east play a dominant and meddlesome role in local political life, much to the irritation of local leaders.

New Delhi views the insurgencies in the north-east not as expressions of local discontent but as part of wider efforts at destabilization by China and Pakistan. And not to forget, that the issues of North East have been completely ignored by our popular news channels and newspapers.

And not to forget the country's worst industrial disaster which saw a cloud of deadly gases explode out of a faulty tank in a pesticide factory and silently spread into the homes of people. Over 20,000 people were killed within days, and the horrific effects of the gas continue to this day.

And twenty-five years have passed since this disaster but no justice has been given to it. The Bhopal gas tragedy verdict has taken almost 26 years to come, but has justice been done? 

The compensation that was promised to the victims hasn’t been given till now. There have been no efforts in fixing the accountability of the disaster to Union Carbide and to make them pay for the destruction caused. Adequate measures to address the long term impacts of the gas leak, including cleaning up the site, remediation of the factory, regular supply of safe water and economic rehabilitation, haven’t been done till now.

The ministerial panel on the Bhopal tragedy has recommended that the government set aside Rs. 1500 crores as relief package to the victims of the tragedy. However this will be paid from the Indian taxpayers’ money and not from Dow Chemicals, who at present owns Union Carbide. Systematic failure of the Indian administration to hold Union Carbide accountable for the disaster is again on view here. In a mad chase for bringing more and more foreign companies to India, it seems the government is giving little consideration to the safety of the common man and to his basic human rights.

The US government and the Obama administration have some answering to do on their double standards on dealing with environmental disasters. While Obama speaks about keeping his “boot on the throat” of BP for the oil spill at the Gulf of Mexico, he remains silent on Warren Anderson, who is the prime accused of the Bhopal tragedy. When it is understandable for the US administration to shield one of their citizens, what is a matter of disgrace is the inability and palpable indifference of various Indian governments to pursue Anderson.

The inadequate judicial verdict on the Bhopal gas tragedy shows that there is a lot of discrepancy in our judicial system when it comes to giving justice to the victims of industrial disasters.

We already had problems of poverty, lack of education, construction of roads, implementation of policies at ground levels and other developmental issues but issues of Kashmir, North East, separatism and on top of all inflation that affects common masses like anything. g