The Ancient Capital Near Agra

India is a massive country dense with things to see and do and Agra is no different. Even though people usually just visit the city for the Taj and then leave sometimes even by doing a day trip from Delhi I recommend a few days. This article will explore one more thing to add to an Agra itinerary: Fatehpur Sikri. I will talk about the things to do and not to do from personal experience when exploring the site especially since I found somewhat limited info before visiting.

How to Get to Fatehpur Sikri?

So first thing’s first: getting to this site starts off from Agra which is somewhere that most people will include on their northern India itinerary. From Agra there are 2 choices: to go by tuk-tuk or to take the public bus from the Idgah Bus Stand near the Agra Cantt train terminal. At the bus stop just ask around for Fatehpur Sikri and try to avoid the tuk-tuk drivers trying to sell you the round-trip.

I was told that there was no running bus by one of the Tuk-tuk drivers which is one of the oldest tricks in the book but other people around seemed to confirm this and the bus terminal did seem eerily empty so I reluctantly agreed only half-convinced of this. It was not until later that I found out that I was there on the first day of a nation-wide bus driver strike.

The driver charged me 1200 rupees which is the equivalent of about 14.50 USD . I have heard people of being able to bargain it down to 1000 but I am not exactly the best bargainer.

From One Former Capital to Another

The tuk-tuk drive was 45 minutes of frigid winter air rushing through the flapping panels along the sides of the tuk-tuk as I curled up to conserve heat. Somewhere along the ride the driver picked up a kid around 10 years old that I understood was his nephew and stopped for gas. I was severely underdressed for most of my time in India as I had wrongly believed the tropical climate was year-round even in the north.

When we got there, my driver recommended getting a guide and while I was still in the back of the tuk-tuk at the parking lot one of them popped his head through the window and made a marketing pitch. Part of me wanted to say no and enjoy the site by myself like I usually do but I also knew very little about Fatehpur Sikri and feeling a bit cornered I gave in; a big regret but I’ll get into that later on. A short, slightly balding man with pretty good English skills led me along.

From the parking lot we walked along a path by some crafts stalls and up to a place where tourists (mostly Indian) are shuttled to the palace complex. Before boarding the tour guide asked for me to pay the palace fee which I noticed was about 100 rupees more than what I saw posted later on. After a short ride he handed me the ticket and we entered the complex.

Entering Akbar’s Palace

The actual info from my tour guide was helpful and would come in handy when understanding other Indian palaces and architectural elements. The first building that we entered past the public courtyard was the Diwan-E-Khas which is the palatial audience hall. The central support column had some of the most intricate carvings I had seen yet in India and it extends with bridges on the second floor to 4 platforms. The guide explained that Akbar, the Mughal Emperor that built the palace, would stand on the central pillar and hold audience with 4 scholars who would be on the 4 platforms in the corners.

From there we visited a reflecting pool that once played host to singers and performances in the past as the king watched from his royal palace/bedroom chambers. The actual bedchamber building was full of pillars that made it look very extravagant with a raised stone platform for the king’s bed.

One of the most unique facts that I learned about the palace was that in addition to the various concubines that was commonplace amongst medieval royalty Akbar had 3 principal wives, all from different religions: Muslim, Hindu and Christian. Each one of these wives had a different palace but the most grand by far belonged to the Hindu wife. This was because of the story where Akbar’s quest for an heir led him to a Muslim holy man who predicted a male heir that eventually was fulfilled by the Hindu wife who subsequently became the Mughal emperor’s favorite.

Unfortunately I did not get a good look at the Christian wife’s palace before being rushed along by my guide to the Hindu palace. Where the other two had a cube structure palace with limited rooms, the Hindu palace looks like a proper royal palace with a courtyard and multiple rooms with a balcony from where the wife could look out to the emperor’s palace. This was the first opportunity granted to me to freely explore. 5 minutes before my guide fetched me, “You’re ready? Let’s go”, phrasing it more as a statement than a question. This means that we avoided such attractions as the concubines’ chambers and the Hiran Minar which is a minaret full of spikes that commemorates the death of Akbar’s favorite execution elephant.

The Grand and Ancient Mosque What I enjoyed even more than the palace was this huge mosque; its public gateway entrance could be spotted for miles almost like a palace itself. This place just had a certain energy with musicians sitting in the sahn and worshippers abound everywhere. The atmosphere was ecstatic and luckily I was spared the worst of the hawkers selling bracelets and necklaces who were pursuing other obvious western tourists quite relentlessly.

My guide and I entered through the King’s Gate which looked surprisingly inconspicuous compared to the public Victory Gate which dominates the skyline. After checking in our footwear to the shoe-minders at the doorway the crowds expanded far beyond what was in the palace. This was perhaps because this attraction is free (except for tipping the people watching over your shoes or the many salespeople inside the mosque). The swell of crowds along with the shehnai blares and drum beats from performers in central sahn all adds to the ambience.

The Muslim holy man who foretold the birth of Akbar’s male heir was buried here in a white structure which stand opposed to its red stone surroundings. There are actually many graves and tombs along the sides of the walls that we passed by before the guide landed us at a salesman.

5000 rupees (60$) for a chaddar cloth and a thread. That was the price offered in the promise of “charity”. Not only was that a ridiculous price but the cloth was to be laid on the Muslim saint’s tomb and not kept. The thread to be knotted three times on the exterior lattice work. I don’t know who is willing to pay 60$ for this but my guide had me sit down in front of the salesman who began using luck, religion and culture to guilt me into this obviously fake donation. I dismissed this, got up and left saying I’ll just visit the tomb without “gifts”. All I could imagine is the famous story of Jesus overturning stalls in a temple which although from the Christian tradition surely should have some weight in the Muslim sphere where he is considered a prophet.

The actual tomb is very nice if a bit cramped to visit. Multiple stone lattice windows form the walls. Seeing the devotees tying the threads to the walls while reciting prayers and wishes was spectacular. I can only imagine they got the threads at a discounted price or brought them from elsewhere. Great photography opportunity and then my guide came in and walking against the flow of worshipers fetched me to continue on.

The next part of the mosque was the actual prayer hall of the mosque. There was a caretaker taking his rounds on a walk making sure no one disturbed this island of peace in the middle of the noise; occasionally he sat down to pray. I had only observed him a while and then my guide ushered me from the prayer hall and across the courtyard and back out the King’s Gate. Now if I had it may way, I would have devoted at least some time to get close with the Victory Gate which is kind of the most fascinating piece of architecture in all of Fatehpur Sikri but instead we collected our shoes and got back on the shuttle to take us back down the hill.

Headed Out

The last part of the tour required the tour guide to take me to the tourist bazaar that lies between the parking lot and the shuttle stop. When we passed by it on the entry I was relieved to not be pressured into looking around at the knick-knacks for sale. I’m just not a huge souvenir person. Yet here again I was in a situation being pressured to buy something I had no interest in. The carvings at the shop I entered were actually very intricate and would no doubt make a nice place for themselves on a shelf back home but also would no doubt be crushed by the force of clothes being lugged along for two more weeks of travel. The store owner followed me back to the parking lot before being convinced of my non-interest.

Finally as I was guided back to my tuk-tuk who had waited there for the full time I said goodbye to my guide and paid him what we had agreed to . It was what I thought was a reasonable amount before hand but the signs posted everywhere for official rates seemed to disprove this. As I got into the tuk-tuk he looked over my shoulder as he instructed me to put in a good word with the driver.

Somehow the ride back seemed much shorter as my driver discussed religion & politics in India. Once back in Agra I was dropped off at my hostel which demanded a few more rupees. As I left the driver asked me to give him money for his nephew but I had already tipped him at 20% and with this response he seemed placated.

So Why Don’t I Recommend a Guide

It probably seems obvious at this point that I would not recommend a guide to visit Fatehpur Sikri with the caveat being that you found a highly recommend guide or something like that. In general I prefer not to have a guide and walk about on my own and take my time. With a guide here my experience was very rushed. There were monuments that were skimmed over or completely dodged that without a guide I would have seen. Observing the performers in the central square of the mosque or the devotees at the saint’s tomb were spared very little time.

At a later time in Jaipur my guesthouse (a photographer) host also described how his family avoids guides because of how they rush through things. They do this because they rely on high turnover so the faster they finish, the faster they can get another tourist to show around.

Furthermore it seems like the guides encourage the behavior of scam salespeople here such as the 5000 rupee cloths and threads or others as I was directed towards them. In addition my guide asked for more money than what my ticket was worth for entry and uncharged me on the official guide fee (these charges did not bother me as much as they were fairly minimal but lowered my overall trust).

There are probably really good guides out there but just beware that if you are one of the people who really do like guides that the experience will be rushed. In fact in the past when I do spontaneously get a guide it really has led to some profound local interactions (ie my visit to Hebron in Palestine). For me though, I would have gotten more enjoyment from Fatehpur Sikri by wandering around myself and reading from a guide book or the internet.

Final Thoughts & Summary

I would say Fatehpur Sikri is definitely worth a trip from Agra if you have a day or even a few hours to spare. Its palatial architecture is stunning and the mosque is very unique from any Jama Masjid I’d seen in India. The fact that this former Mughal capital is 40 minutes away by tuk-tuk or bus from the Taj Mahal really does it a disservice because anywhere else it would be a star tourist attraction.

Anyone interested in the history, architecture or culture should visit this royal city especially as Agra would be sure to fall on most people’s India itinerary at some point. Hopefully with this guide and better bus connections other people will know what to expect and have an even better time visiting than me.