The resting emperor

Few kilometres away from the Taj Mahal it was a picture contrast at Sikandra, with no queue at the ticket counter or any tightened security at the entrance or without the overwhelming crowd of photo enthusiasts like the Taj Mahal the premises of the tomb of greatest mughal emperor at Sikandra looked like a palatial nest of eternal peace. Animals and birds in the premises of nicely maintained garden have added a natural look in the serenely imposing ambience.

Entrance of Sikandra,Agra

His long reign of nearly five decades forms the bright chapter of the Indian History during which the country made rapid progress in all walks of life. He introduced a new Divine faith (Din-i-Ilahi) combining the good points of all religions. The brave general and capable administrator of a huge empire, he was passionate for knowledge in spite of illiteracy, under his patronage art, architecture, literature attained new heights. He was Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, greatest of the Mughal emperors and one of the ablest kings the world has ever seen.

Sikandra,Agra

Akbar`s lifetime was associated with interminable incidents and stories in Agra, he founded Fatehpur Sikri, refurbished the Agra fort. Prolific examples of composite architectural styles within the Agra fort, Fatehpur Sikri, were his brain child. Akbar himself initiated the work of his tomb at Sikandra in his life time. Akbar died in 1605 and was buried at Sikandra, Agra and the tomb was completed by his son Jehangir in 1612 as per the design of Akbar.

Inside Sikandra,Agra

Sikandra has many features to mesmerize the tourists. Right from the entrance gate, the calligraphic inscriptions in Persian were eye catching, the environment was definitely an exception among the other crowded monuments of Agra. Dome less structure of Sikandra tomb was built on red sandstone, and its top only was made of white marble, with its four marble minarets at the gate were placed by Jahangir, believed to have inspired by the architecture of Charminar, Hyderbad. In the spacious room of the actual tomb of Akbar, the building acoustic was extremely fascinating. We heard an effect of sound to fade away soothingly after getting nicely reverberated in the surrounding. Not sunk under the burden of prestigious title, the four hundred years old architecture, housing the tomb of the greatest mughal emperor will surely reign in the heart of history lovers for an endless century.

view of the tomb of Akbar,Sikandra,Agra

Golkonda fort:my communion with the History

view of the Golkonda fort

With great surprise, I was looking at the Fateh Darwaja or the Victory Gate of the Golconda Fort, Hyderabad. The gate of Fateh or Victory was named after Aurangzeb`s army made an entry into the fort through this gate, and achieved their much awaited win. Huge in size, studded with giant spikes, and strong like a shield to meet any challenges, the door was strong enough to repulse the attack of even war elephants. A hole at the center of arch of the gate was kept, to pour boiling liquids on the elephants of the enemies in order to repulse an attack outside the gate. But, in reality the gate was opened from inside, before it could face the challenge of being battered down, and Mughal army under the leadership of Emperor Aurangzeb smoothly entered into the Golkonda Fort.

Fateh Darwaja

The guide was showing us the engineering marvels of Golkonda, sound of a hand clap under the dome at the entrance could be heard clearly at the highest point of the pavilion of the fort and which was a kilometre away. It acted for conveying a warning note to the residents in case of danger. I was asking myself, did anybody clap to alert the residents on the night of 16-th May 1687 when Mughals were attempting to escalade the fort with ladders for a silent entry into the fort? Or the dog which was wandering round the rampart of the fort?In different forts lots of architectural and engineering marvels could be seen,were built to protect the King from the enemies,but,in how many cases they prevented the King from attacks of enemies may be subject of research. It was said that on noticing the Mughal intruders,the dog started barking and alerted the soldiers of Golkonda. The incident delayed the win of the Mughals over the Golkonda fort for few months.

view of Nagina Bagh

The colour of the Sun light in the evening started to create magical web with the Sun set and my visions started filling with silhouette of life that passed through the decades of war and peace.The sound of life of the ages gone by could be felt,it was like a communion with the history. At the Nagina Bagh of the fort the Commander Abdur Razzaq Lari of King Abul Hasan was resqued with innumerable wounds. The true saviour fought to resist the Mughal attack with just twelve of his followers with a sword and sitting on a bare horseback. The valiant warrior had such an envious loyalty to his master that he refused Aurangzeb`s proposal of joining his force with a very high rank. It was said that conquest of Golkonda would have been more difficult if the King Abul Hasan had possessed more Commanders like Abdur Razzaq Lari in his army. Another Commander of the King Abul Hasan,Abdullah Khan Pani of Golkonda guided the Mughal soldiers of Aurangzeb into the fort and the gate was opened from inside on 21-st September 1687 A.D.

layers of the rampart

The place once filled with echoes of peals coming out of the harem, reverberated the sound of anklet of the court dancers, new buds of hope bloomed with exuberance or where the whispers of conspiracy ended with bloodshed. The offices of Akanna and Madanna, the two efficient Ministers in the Qutb Shah-i court were further up. On the 16-th March 1686 may be through this road the two Ministers were on their way to home from the fort, were brutally slaughtered and their heads were presented before Aurangzeb, and crushed under elephant leg. It may be first possible conspiracy that Aurangzeb made in the fort that was successful before his conquest of the fort.

Ministers Office

The Golkonda fort,where the art and architecture found a modern direction towards prosperity, the place that silently felt the heart beats of different colours of life. With the exit of the last tourist of the evening the place will be in dark solitude. The evening was approaching, I looked back again with surprise,the Sun of the Qutb-Shahi dynasty was set on that day when the King was arrested by the soldier`s of Aurangzeb. Three line of ramparts of the fort were built one within the other to provide a three layer of defence but, could not protect the King Abul Hasan of Golkonda to surrender before Aurangzeb and could not prevent to be sent to Daulatabad as a prisoner. The witness of one of the greatest struggles of Indian History will be alone once again, as it was when the King was taken under Aurangzeb`s custody.

the Golkonda fort