Q.

With reference to buildings at Fatehpur Sikri, analyse how architecture was used as a
medium to articulate authority.

Fatehpur Sikri is one such Mughal imperial city whose architecture is a reflection of the
empire building process of the medieval Mughal period under the patronage of the Mughal
emperor, Akbar. Fatehpur Sikri is not an uncharted realm. Work on it started from the colonial
period onwards by both archaeologists and historians starting with the work of E.W. Smith. But
it was not free from problems be in terms of nomenclature with one building given different
names or understanding the purpose of building. The study of history and archaeology and the
various literary sources of Abul Fazl, Arif Qandahari, Badauni, travellers William Finch, Joseph
Tieffenthaler, Jesuits Anthony Monserrate, the Mughal miniature paintings, all give rich details
about the Mughal capital and one could understand the actual meaning behind the imperial
city of Fatehpur Sikri which was build from 1571 onwards and remained the Mughal capital for
fourteen years before its sudden abandonment of which many but not concrete reasons are
stated. Nadeem Rezavi gives us a detailed architectural study of this royal city before it became
a capital, its stature as a seat of Mughal domination and its condition after its desertion by
Akbar. The city founded with the intermingling of spirituality, imperial ideology and political
prowess. Thus, it was used as medium to articulate authority.

Fatehpur city was chosen when Akbar had already established himself as the powerful
emperor. It was under him that full attention was given to the politics, economic and military
structure and led to an autocratic centralized empire as studied by J.F. Richards. Akbar’s aim
was to stabilize his rule and for this introduce revenue collection system, hierarchy of
administrative system with the help of nobility, carry out military campaign to expand the
empire and build new cities as capital to have his central authority everywhere. His bureaucracy
was based on the mansabdari system which formed the base of the Mughal Empire. Patronage
to architecture was an important source of legitimacy and sovereignty and is one of the
reasons why the Mughals were such avid builders. Large monumental structures were raised
during the reign of Akbar. These grand buildings were reflections of the grandeur of the
Mughal Empire.

The city has a long history dating back to the Painted Grey ware through the Sunga and
Kushana dynasties and later on under the control of Sikarwar Rajputs. In the medieval period
the battle of Khanwa between Babur and Rana Sangram Singh of Mewar was fought near the
new city in 1527. Babur won the battle and constructed a garden named Bagh I Fath (the
garden of victory) and the name probably inspired Akbar to rename the area as Fathabad.
After Akbar became the emperor, he converted Sikri into a royal city when he conquered
Chittor and Ranthambor and also in honour of the Sheikh Salim Chisti and channelled empire’s
resources towards building it. The religious institution, the dargah of Sheikh and a mosque
became the central point at the beginning of the foundation of the city of Fatehpur Sikri. In
urban planning regardless of the models, the central place was that of palace and the place of
worship. Later on, in the imperial complex the Jami Masjid was constructed and to the south
wall of the mosque was added the Buland Darwaza as the ‘victory arch’ to commemorate the
success of Akbar in the Gujarat campaign.

According to Weberian model, the orient did not have any city culture and lacked basic
autonomy and self governance. This view is been countered by Nadeem Rezavi who states that
though Fatehpur Sikri has a strong centralizing base, but has features similar to that of the
European capital cities. It was a well planned city with Mughal architects also aimed to
provide public services, with proper roads, streets, hydraulic works for water supply, sarais,
and gardens. The contemporary sources as well as archaeological remains attest to the fact
that the city was a thriving commerce and craft centres and remained so even after the shift of
capital. Fatehpur Sikri was a walled city and can be termed as a sharlbalda or a big city.

The principal inspiration of the construction of Fatehpur Sikri was that of a Mughal
encampment. The Persian vocabulary is being used to describe the buildings that were used for
the imperial camp setting. It was put forward by Athar Abbas Rizvi and Satish Dewar that the
city was not build on one go and constructed over a period of time of 1571 to 1580. Like how
Akbar organized his state system, his city was also organized. The most important for any
state was interconnectivity and this seat of power was well interconnected having eight gates
(darwazas) connected by roads which in turn divided the city into eight zones. There was a
hierarchical progression from public to the private areas. The central area was for imperial use
surrounded by princes’ quarters and that in turn encircled by nobility.

The city was a reflection of Akbar’s ideology of syncretism and assimilation with the
architecture bearing signs of Indian embellishments. Akbar tried to systematize the urban
society starting with his imperial palace structure. The major structures of the official city,
located at the top of the ridge, like the daulatkhana (the imperial palace), the khalwatkada-i-
khas (the imperial chambers), the khwabgah (the imperial resting quarters), the haramsara
(the residence of the emperor’s wives), the ibadatkhana (the house of worship) and the
daftarkhana (secretariat), the royal stable. All these structures made the political centre of
the Mughal state building process. The diwan I am and diwan I khas, the building typology in
many cities are also present here.

The importance of Ibadatkhana which Rezavi has analysed in detail was a place which was an
exemplar of the synthesis of various religions, traditions, spiritual awakening etc. It can be
taken as a reflection of what Akbar wanted the society to be. Here the doctrine of Sulh I kul
and tauhid I illahi was formulated by Akbar.
The shabistan I iqbal which was the haramsara housed the royal ladies. According to Ruby Lal
during the time of Akbar, harem became an institutionalized body and has its origin in the
formation of royalty itself. The construction of the imperial capital at Fatehpur Sikri led to the
organization of space that incorporated various people and structures within it. In this imperial
quarters manifested the power of the monarchy. Here the royal women became invisible
residing in the segregated spaces.

Economically, the imperial and the nobles did control the vast majority of empire’s revenue
and this help in the architectural development of the city. There were also five markets in the
city which took care to the requirements of the inhabitants. Also was the presence of gardens
played major role in the construction of Mughal identity. Though not situated on the bank of
the river, the city did have a lake which was an important source of water and with this there
were numerous hauzes (tanks), chahs (wells), baolis (stepped wells) to keep the imperial capital
well-watered. Outside the limits of the city was established the Shaitanpura (the prostitutes’
quarters), Dharampura and Khairpura to feed the poor Hindus and Muslims and Jogipura
(quarters for Hindu mendicants).

The ‘subalterns’ are not forgotten by Nadeem Rezavi. The towns and cities were built to
inhabit the subjects of the empire. Under the royal patrons worked the actual builders of the
empire, the skilled as well as unskilled labourers supervised by an official head working in the
karkhana I imarat. Fatehpur Sikri was abandoned in 1585 by Akbar and his movement towards
north western frontier and making of imperial capital at Lahore and then at Agra due to
water crisis leading to the decay of the city. It is challenged by Nadeem Rezavi. Here we can
understand that though the city’s base was constructed by the political patronage it was never
the sole criteria for the functioning of the city. The urban space was also based on commercial
activities which cannot be undermined. Stephen Dale talks about Mughal cities being
sovereign city and lacking the character of a capital city like Europe. But in the case of
Fatehpur, it was a sovereign city but also a capital city which was well equipped to survive after
the change of capital.

Hence, to conclude Fatehpur Sikri can be an ideal example of the historical processes under
the Mughals, and architecture was used as a medium to articulate authority. It reflected the
political ambition of a ruler who was a conqueror and extended his control as far as he could
reach and was an avid organizer who wanted to move away from the peripatetic nature of the
empire though its essence still remained. Fatehpur Sikri was part of Akbar’s state building
process. The medieval historiographical writing in recent times has examined how built spaces
reflected imperial ideology and political visualization.

The city has deep meaning with the formulations of various ideologies. It was based on Abul
Fazl theory of the social contract in the Ain I Akbari where the emperor as long as he fulfils the
contract, enjoys absolute power. According to Monica Juneja, the complex of Fatehpur Sikri
was conceived of as a microcosm of the Mughal Empire. It reunited within it spaces, different
visuals and structural forms belonging to different regions under the Mughal structure.