A Handbook to Agra and the Taj, Sikandra, Fatehpur-Sikri and the Neighbourhood Part 6

The great mosque of Fatehpur is worthy of its founder's lofty ideals and n.o.bility of soul. It is one of the most magnificent of all Akbar's buildings; the historic a.s.sociations connected with it combine with its architectural splendour to make it one of the most impressive of its kind in the world. It is said to be copied from one at Mecca; but this cannot be altogether true, because, though the plan and general design follow Muhammadan precedent, many of the details show Akbar's Hindu proclivities.

Within the great mosque, Akbar frequently held religious discussions with the learned doctors of Islam; and here, also, after the chief Mullahs had signed the famous doc.u.ment which declared Akbar to be Head of the Church, the Emperor mounted the pulpit, and stood before the congregation as the expounder of "the Divine Faith." He commenced to read a _Khutbah_, or litany, which Faizi, Abul Fazl's brother, had composed for the occasion--

"The Lord, who gave to us dominion, Wisdom, and heart and strength, Who guided us in truth and right, And cleansed our mind from all but right, None can describe His power or state, Allahu Akbar--G.o.d is Great."

But before he could finish three lines of it, the sense of the tremendous responsibility he had undertaken overpowered him. He descended the pulpit trembling with emotion, and left the Imam of the mosque to continue the service.

There are two entrances, approached by broad flights of steps. The one on the east side is the Emperor's Gate, by which Akbar entered the mosque from the palace, and the other, the majestic Baland Darwaza, or High Gate, which towers above everything on the south side, and even dwarfs the mosque itself with its giant proportions. The latter gate, however, was not a part of the original design, but was added many years after the completion of the mosque, to celebrate Akbar's victorious campaign in the Deccan.

The mosque itself was built in honour of the Saint of Fatehpur, Sheikh Salim Chishti, whose tomb, enclosed in a shrine of white marble, carved with the delicacy of ivory-work, glitters like silver on the right of the quadrangle. Barren women, both Hindu and Muhammadan, tie bits of string or shreds of cloth to the marble trellis-work as tokens that if blessed with a son they will present an offering to the shrine. Close by is a plainer, but much larger mausoleum, for his grandson, Nawab Islam Khan, who was made Governor of Bengal by Jahangir. This also contains the remains of many other of the Sheikh's male descendants. A separate vault, called the Zanana Rauza, for the women of his family is formed by enclosing a portion of the adjoining cloisters.

The mosque proper contains three chapels, crowned by domes. The princ.i.p.al one, in the centre, is screened by the facade of the entrance, the doorway being recessed, in the usual style of Saracenic buildings, in a great porch or semi-dome. An inscription over the main archway gives the date of the completion of the mosque as A.D. 1571. The chapels are connected with each other by n.o.ble colonnades of a decidedly Hindu or Jain character. The Saracenic arches combine most happily with the Hindu construction, and the view down the "long-drawn aisles" is singularly impressive. Much of the charm of the interior is due to the quiet reserve and dignity of the decoration, which is nearly all in the style of Arabian mosques, and may account for the statement on the central arch, that "this mosque is a duplicate of the Holy Place" (at Mecca).

At each end of the mosque there is a set of five rooms for the mullahs who conducted the service; above them are galleries for the ladies of the zanana. s.p.a.cious cloisters surround three sides of the quadrangle; these are divided into numerous cells for the _maulvis_ and their pupils.

The triumphal gateway, called the BALAND DARWAZA (Plate XIII.), is really a building in itself. It must be seen from the outside of the quadrangle, for, magnificent as it is there, it certainly does not harmonize with the mosque viewed from the quadrangle. This mighty portal, 176 feet in height from the roadway, is a landmark for miles around. From the top of it the Taj, twenty-five miles away, and the distant Fort of Bharatpur are visible.

There are three doors recessed in the immense alcove on the front of the gate. One is the horseshoe door, so called from the numerous votive offerings of owners of sick horses, donkeys, and bullocks, which were nailed on in the hope of obtaining the favour of the saint. The doorway on the right of this has the following inscription carved over it in Arabic:--

"His Majesty, King of kings, Heaven of the Court, Shadow of G.o.d, Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, Emperor. He conquered the kingdom of the South and Dandes, which was formerly called Khandes, in the 46th Divine year [_i.e._ of his reign] corresponding to the Hijira year, 1010 [A.D. 1602]. Having reached Fatehpur, he proceeded to Agra. Said Jesus, on whom be peace! The world is a bridge, pa.s.s over it, but build no house there. He who hopeth for an hour, may hope for eternity; the world is but an hour, spend it in devotion; the rest is worth nothing,"

Over the left doorway is the following:--

"He that standeth up in prayer, and his heart is not in it, does not draw nigh to G.o.d, but remaineth far from Him. Thy best possession is what thou givest in the name of G.o.d; thy best traffic is selling this world for the next."

Akbar himself died four years after this great sermon in stone was written.

The Stone-Cutters' Mosque.

At the back of the great mosque is a graveyard containing the tomb of an infant son of Sheikh Salim. The legend concerning him is, that at the age of six months he addressed his father, telling him that all of Akbar's children must die in infancy, unless some child died for them. He therefore had resolved to sacrifice himself for the Emperor's sake, and immediately after this miraculous speech he died. Jahangir was born nine months afterwards. Sceptics have suggested that he was really a son of the Sheikh, subst.i.tuted for a still-born child of Mariam Zamani.

Some distance beyond this tomb there is a small mosque, built in honour of the saint by the quarrymen of Fatehpur, before he had attracted the notice of the great Emperor. It is called the Stone-Cutters'

Mosque, and is supposed to have been erected on the site of the cave where he lived the life of a hermit It is an unpretending little building; the brackets which support the cornice are the only noticeable architectural features. They are direct imitations of wooden construction, and are copied, with greater elaboration of carving, in the marble shrine inside the Jami Masjid. The cell where the saint is said to have lived is on the right-hand corner of the mosque.

The birthplace of Jahangir is pointed out in a dilapidated palace not far from this mosque. It is occupied by a lineal descendant of Salim Chishti, and is only rarely shown to visitors.

The Houses of Abul Fazl and Faizi.

The houses where these two famous brothers, the friends of Akbar, lived, are close under the north wall of the great mosque. Their father, Sheikh Mubarak, was one of the most learned men of the age, and the sons were as distinguished as the father. Faizi was the Persian Poet Laureate, and tutor to the Royal Princes. He was also employed on many diplomatic missions. Abul Fazl was the author of the celebrated "Akbarnama," a history of the Mogul Emperors down to the forty-seventh year of Akbar's reign. He was for a long time Akbar's Prime Minister; he took a prominent part in the religious discussions inaugurated by the Emperor, and often discomfited the orthodox followers of Islam with his arguments. Sheikh Mubarak drew up the famous doc.u.ment declaring Akbar to be the Head of the Church, and both his sons subscribed to it. Abul Fazl declares that the doc.u.ment "was productive of excellent results: (1) The Court became the resort of the learned men and sages of all creeds and nationalities; (2) Peace was given to all, and perfect tolerance prevailed; (3) the disinterested motives of the Emperor, whose labours were directed to a search after truth, were rendered clear, and the pretenders to learning and scholars.h.i.+p were put to shame."

Notwithstanding his high character and generous disposition, Abul Fazl had many enemies at Court. He was at last a.s.sa.s.sinated at the instigation of Jahangir, who believed him to be responsible for a misunderstanding between himself and his father.

There is nothing architecturally interesting about the two houses, which have been for some time used as a Zillah school.

Bharatpur and Other Places In the Vicinity of Agra.

There are some other places of considerable interest easily accessible from Agra, but it would be beyond the scope of this book to describe them in detail.

BHARATPUR.--This place, which has been often alluded to, is the capital of a native state of that name, founded by the Jats under Suraj Mal about 1750. The origin of the Jat race is obscure, but probably they are of Scythian descent. Some authorities have put forward a theory that the gypsies of Europe and the Jats are of the same race. They form a large proportion of the population of North-Western India. Their religion varies with the locality, but the Jats who occupied Agra under Suraj Mal were Hindus.

In 1809, the fort at Bharatpur resisted for six weeks a siege by General, afterwards Lord Lake, who withdrew, after four desperate a.s.saults.

The Palace of Suraj Mal is at Dig, twenty-one miles by road from Bharatpur. It was commenced about 1725, and is the finest and most original of the Indian palaces of that period. The Jat chief carried off to it a great deal of the loot from the Agra Fort.

GOVARDHAN.--The tombs of Suraj Mal and his two Ranis are at Govardhan, a very picturesque place about eight miles from Dig. There are also a number of very interesting tombs and buildings of later date. Fergusson [17] says of one of these, which was in course of construction when he was there in 1839, that he acquired from its native architect more knowledge of the secrets of art as practised in the Middle Ages than he had learnt from all the books he had read. The same living architectural art is practised all over Rajputana at the present day. The preference we show for the incomparably inferior art of the mongrel eclectic styles we have imported into India, is only a proof that there is something wanting in the superior civilization and culture which we believe ourselves to possess.

There is also at Govardhan a very fine Hindu temple, dating from the time of Akbar.

A great fair is held here every year about the end of October, or beginning of November, on the occasion of the Hindu Diwali, or Feast of Lamps, one of the most beautiful and impressive of all the Hindu festivals.

Muttra, the Mathora of the Greeks, about fourteen miles from Govardhan, and within easy reach of Agra by rail, is one of the most sacred places of the Hindus, from being the reputed birthplace of Krishna. It is a great centre for the wors.h.i.+p of Vishnu.

Brindaban, or Bindaraban, which is a very short distance further by rail, possesses an old Hindu temple, dedicated to Govind Deva, or Vishnu, of the same period as the other at Govardhan, and built by the same person, Rajah Man Singh of Amber, an ancestor of the present Maharajah of Jaipur. Fergusson describes it as one of the most interesting and elegant temples in India.

There is also a great Vishnu temple of the last century, in the Dravidian style of Southern India, built by a Hindu millionaire merchant. Krishna's childhood and early youth were pa.s.sed in the vicinity of Brindaban, and on that account it is held especially sacred by the followers of the Vaishnavite sect of Hinduism, who flock there in thousands on the anniversary of Krishna's birth, in the month of Bhadon (August--September).

NOTES

[1] Babar's "Memoirs," translated by Erskine.

[2] For further particulars of Babar's history the reader is referred to the "Memoirs," or to Stanley Lane-Poolers admirable "Life of Babar,"

in the "Rulers of India Series" (Macmillan & Co.).

[3] The State doc.u.ments of the Mogul Emperors, "given under the royal hand and seal," were sometimes actually impressed by the royal hand. Plate I. reproduces part of a letter, addressed by Shah Jahan to an ancestor of the present Maharajah of Gidhour. In this letter the Raja Dalan Singh is informed that "the auspicious impress of the royal hand" is sent as a mark of royal favour, and he is commanded to proceed to Court to partic.i.p.ate in the festivities and to pay homage to the Emperor.

[4] Bernier's "Travels"--Constable's translation.

[5] These elephant statues have been a vexed point with archaeologists. Bernier, in his description of Delhi, refers to two great elephants of stone, with their riders, outside of the Fort Gates. The riders, he says, were portraits of the famous Rajput chiefs Jaymal and Patta, slain by Akbar at the siege of Chitore. "Their enemies, in admiration of the devotion of the two heroes, put up these statues to their memory." Now, Bernier does not say that the statues were put up by Akbar, but General Cunningham, inferring that Bernier meant this, propounded a theory that they were originally in front of the Agra Fort, which Akbar built, and removed to Delhi by Shah Jahan, when he built his new palace there. Keene, who discusses the question at length in his "Handbook to Delhi,"

accepts this suggestion. Neither of these authorities seem to have been aware of the existence of the marks of the feet on the platform in front of the Agra Hathi Pol. I have compared the measurements of these marks with the dimensions of the elephant which still exists at Delhi, and find that they do not correspond in any way. The Delhi elephant is a much larger animal, and would not fit into the platform at the Agra gate. General Cunningham's theory, therefore, falls to the ground. It is just possible that the Delhi elephants were intended to be copies of those placed by Akbar at Agra. Shah Jahan is not likely to have intentionally perpetuated the memory of the Rajput chiefs, but popular tradition or imagination may have fastened the story told by Bernier on to the Delhi statues. Elephants were so commonly placed in front of Indian palaces and fortresses that, except for this story, there would be no need to suppose any connection between those at Agra and those at Delhi.

Purchas, quoting William Finch who visited Agra in Jahangir's time, describes the elephants at the Hathi Pol, but gives a different origin to the statues. "Beyond these two gates you pa.s.s a second gate, over which are two Rajaws in stone. It is said that they were two brother Rajputs, tutors to a prince, their nephew, whom the King demanded of them. They refused, and were committed; but drew on the officers, slew twelve, and at last, by mult.i.tudes oppressing, were themselves slain, and here have elephants of stone and themselves figured." The expression "over" (the gate) has the meaning of "high up," and not, as Keene supposes, its more modern sense of "on the top of."

[6] The old Mogul road led directly from the Elephant Gate to the entrance of the Diwan-i-am. I understand that this road will be restored shortly by the Archaeological Department.

[7] An ugly modern marble rail, in imitation of wood, probably a reminiscence of the time when the palace was occupied by the British garrison, still disfigures and stunts the proportions of the upper storey of the Samman Burj.

[8] This question is discussed at length in an article by the author, ent.i.tled "The Taj and its Designers," published in the June number of the _Nineteenth Century and After_, 1903.

[9] Tavernier says twenty-two years probably including all the accessory buildings.