IX

€1^ (Saptfale t»f %Ji&ar

C71¦^EEN Babur won the Battle of Bayana, he probably

^l r never imagined that Akbar, his grandson,
would rule a great empire only a few miles from hio
field of victory. Though the Sultans had chosen Delhi,
Akbar chose Agra as his first capital; Fafcohpur Sikri
as his second, and Agra again as his last. It was in
Agra that Akbar^s grandson was to build the world
renowned Taj MahaL

Akbar, for very religious reasons, transfered his
seat of government from his first capital, Agra, to
Fafcehpur Sikri 5 twenty-six miles away. He had Ions
yearned for a son, and the Saint of Sikri forecast the
birth of Salim, to be known later as the emperor Jehangir.
Sikri, therefore, became significant, and Akbar built
there a capital in red sand-stone. u Here, we might aay,
stood Troy ", wrote Jerome Xavier, a leader of the third
Jesuit Mission, as he passed through this capital of
Akbar.

Fatehpur means u City of Victory n; so to Sikri,
Akbar added Fatehpur. The immense gateway to the
mosque of Fafcehpur Silkri was erected to commomorn-te
Akbar^s conquest of Gujarat. Only pictures can convey
the lavishness and luxury, the solidifcy and design with.
which Akbar the Great planned Fafcehpur Sikri that, in
its time, was the centre of the eastern world. Bub
alas! Sikri lacked water and so, at last, Akbar abandoned
the capital built to his own plan. He left ostensibly,
for a compaign in Kabul, but he was never fco return to