I have written other articles about Afghanistan that are relevant to this series on India. Interested readers may want to check them out.
https://mikingery.blogster.com/footsteps_ancient_armies

https://mikingery.blogster.com/kunduz_amu_darya_afghanistan

https://mikingery.blogster.com/travel_herat_afghanistan
Prologue

I do not pretend to be any kind of authority on the history of India. I am convinced that one could spend 2-3 lifetimes studying it. The Agra scene is so interesting however, that I will risk attempting to give you some idea of the chain of events taking place there as Emperor Humayun and his descendants set up the Indian Mughal empire, which lasted into the 18th century – not that long ago, actually. It is a fascinating story.

It also confounds attempts to describe it. The more you dig into it, the more complicated it becomes. It quickly leads to the conclusion that one must believe in reincarnation in order to ever understand what is going on in India. Is that why the people there believe in reincarnation? Maybe. They calmly accept the situation, and I resist the temptation to subscribe that to intellectual laziness, and instead give them credit for an understanding that most of us do not have. If the solution to a problem takes more years than one has coming to him, then pass it on to your next incarnation.

At the height of the Mugal Empire, in the 17th century, the capital of India was in Agra, about 150 miles south of the present capital, New Delhi. The occupation of India by the Muslim Persians occurred in the 16th century, when they moved in from Kandahar and Kabul in Afghanistan. (In those days, Pakistan did not exist.) There was a lot of fighting in what is now Patiala in the Punjab, between the Persians and the Sikhs, and other Hindu armies. A series of battles took place over several decades, and eventually the Persians prevailed and eventually worked their way down to Agra.

So where do we start? My wife and I started by getting into our car and driving south from New Delhi for about 100 miles, to reach Agra. In getting there, we didn’t notice the sign, “Fatehpur Sikri 12 km”, and when we reached a place called Sikandara, we didn’t pay any attention to that, either. Fatehpur Sikri is the birthplace of Jahangir, and Sikandrara is the site of the tomb of Akbar the Great. It is very easy to miss the significance of things like this. One can be standing in the middle of a heap of archeological treasures, and not realize it. It happens to almost everyone, including us. That is why a week-long visit to some place is really not enough.

We found the Taj Mahal, of course. Usually this is the central objective of everyone’s visit to Agra. It is a huge structure, built of white marble. Traditional dome with four minarets arranged around it. A long reflecting pond leads to the entrance. The area was littered, and the pond was dry. Signs of maintenance neglect.

Close examination of the walls of the Taj reveal fine detail work by the artisans. The entire structure is covered by inlays of semi-precious stones, in floral designs typical of Islamic art. The structure was then about 300 years old.

The interior is simple, not ornate. A tomb holding the body of Mumtaz Mahal lies in the middle of the large room under the dome. Beside it is a smaller tomb, holding the body of her devoted husband, Shah Jahan, the 4th Mughal Emperor. Shah Jahan had plans to build his own tomb on the banks of the Jumna, opposite the Taj, using black marble. That plan was interrupted by his son, Aurangzeb, who in a power play judged his father incompetent and placed him under house arrest in Agra Fort in 1658. Eight years later, Shah Jahan died and Aurangzeb seceded him as 5th ruler of the Mughal Empire.

On the way back to Delhi the next day, we stopped off at Sikandara, to check out Akbar’s tomb. Who was Akbar, anyway? He is called Akkbar the Great, and was the 2nd ruler of the Mughal Empire, seceding his father, Humayun in 1556. Akbar had a son, Jahingir who seceded him as Emperor in 1605.

Akbar’s tomb is nowhere nearly as impressive as the Taj. It is built of red sandstone, so typical of old buildings in that area. It was not well maintained in 1973, but now the Indian government is paying proper attention to these antiquities. Akbar’s crypt is in the central room, under the dome. The place is bare and austere.

This time we noticed the sign on the highway at the turn off to Fatehpur Sikri. Out of time, we agreed to check that out on our next trip.

Fatehpur Sikri

In a later trip, we arrived in Fatehpur Sikri from the west side, because we’d spent the night at Baratphur, the marshy area reserved for birds. We left the main road on a small track barely visible on the map we had. It wound through the countryside, through villages full of curious people. The sight of us, in our huge Mercury Marquis Brougham car brought everyone out to take a look. At one point they surrounded the car and discovered that by pushing on it, they could rock it. When the rocking reached an uncomfortable level, I gunned it out of there, and we drove on to Baratphur.

We spent the night in simple but clean accomodations, and got up the next morning before sun up to tour the bird park in a boat poled by a man that took us around so we could see the birds. They’d built large nests in the tops of low trees, surrounded by the marsh. It was interesting. After the tour, and a breakfast of scrambled eggs and freshly prepared chapatis, we packed up and continued on to Fatehpur Sikri.

Emperor Akbar wanted to make the area his headquarters, so he ordered the construction of the majestic fort. (Akbar had no heir, and consulted his Sufi Saint Salim Chisti, who told Akbar that if he lived there in Fatehpur Sikri, he would have a son.) In 1569, Akbar’s son, Jahingir, was born at Fatehpur Sikri. In gratitude, Akbar built a magnificent tomb for Salim Chisti in Fatehpur Sikri, which is a major attraction of the place. Built of white marble, decorated with inlays of mother of pearl and colored semi-precious stone, one peers through the marble lattices, to view Chisti’s tomb inside.

Due to lack of water, the place had to be abandoned after only a few years of use. It stands there today, in a splendid testament to the glory of the Empire. Any visit to Agra should include a side trip to Fatehpur Sikri.

The Mughal Empire collapsed with Sultan Muhammad Akbar being the last personality. He was never Emperor, and after falling into disfavor, was exiled to Persia by his father Aurangzeb, where he died. Aurangzeb, son of Mumtaz Mahal, is considered by historians to be the last Mughal Emperor. Aurangzeb died in Ahmednagar in 1707 four years after his son Akbar.

By then, the capital had been moved to Delhi.

One could go on and on about this time period in India’s history. My suggestion is, go there if you can, and be sure to allow enough time to learn to appreciate the place. Like, say, a lifetime?

-=<()>=-

As-Salāmu ‘Alaykum (السلام عليكم)
The Islamic greeting; literally "Peace be upon you"; In addition, wa-Raḥmatullāhi wa-Barakātuhu means "and the Mercy of God and His blessing". The response to this greeting is wa-‘Alaykum us-Salām wa-Raḥmatullāhi wa-Barakātuhu --"And on you be the Peace and Mercy of God and His Blessing".