Buland Darwaza Fatehpur Sikri
Monument.
By
cruisingindia.com
on
Feb 18, 2006.
Buland Darwaza or ‘The Lofty Gate’ was built in the sixteenth century by the great
Mughal Emperor Akbar as a gateway to his newly built city of
Fatehpur Sikri, which is near the
city of Agra. Towering over the city up to a height of forty meters, the Buland Darwaza is one of the largest gateways in the world and is also called the Gate of Magnificence. Akbar built it to celebrate his victory over
Gujarat. The greatest of all the
Mughal kings, Akbar was inspired to build a new city of Fatehpur Sikri, or The City of Victory, around twenty-six miles from Agra after his successful Gujarat campaign. According to legend, Akbar received a blessing in the form of the birth of his heir
Jahangir after praying to the
Sufi saint Sheik Salim Chisti and built his new capital in his honor. It served as the Mughal capital from 1571 to 1585. Legend also has it that Akbar shifted his capital to
Lahore due to a chronic shortage of water.The grand recessed Buland Darwaza was built in 1576 to commemorate Akbar’s defeated of the King of
Khandesh in Gujarat. It is the most magnificent arch of its kind among Mughal architecture in India, and the most Islamic structure in the Fatehpur Sikri complex. It reflects early Mughal design with designs such as simple ornamentation, carved verses from the
Quran, and soaring arches. The entire complex reflects a mix of
Hindu and
Jain design as well as Islamic influences.Rising to a height of one-hundred-seventy-five feet, Buland Darwaza is easily spotted in the complex. It is approached by a flight of steps and visitors have to pass under its magnificent arch to enter Fatehpur Sikri. The Buland Darwaza is an outstanding example of Mughal architecture. It is built entirely of red and buff sandstone and decorated by carvings and inlays of black and white marble. A Persian inscription on the eastern archway of the gateway records Akbar’s conquest of the Deccan in 1601.The Buland Darwaza is semi-octagonal in design with pillars and canopied structures called
Chattris on top of it. It is a good example of early Mughal architecture with simple ornamentation, towering arches, and carved verses from the Koran. There are thirteen smaller domed kiosks on the roof, stylized battlements, small turrets, and inlay work of black and white marble. There is also a long sweep of steps leading down the hill.Buland Darwaza has many inscriptions, one of which is witness to the secular mindedness of the emperor – it is the words of Jesus Christ – “The world is a bridge; pass over it; but build no house upon it. The world endures but an hour; spend it in prayer; who sees the rest? Thy greatest richest are the alms which thou has given. Know that the world is a mirror where fortune has appeared, then fled; call nothing thine that thy eyes cannot see.”At Sikri, the various royal palaces have been formed in Gujarati and
Rajasthani architectural styles using ornate columns, fanciful jaali (stone) work and beautiful surface ornamentation. But the large scale planning is typically Islamic and Central Asian in its inspiration.
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