Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-19
AN ABANDONED CITY
The Summer Home Of Akbar
the Great.
GRAND EMPTY PALACES
AN ELABORATE TESTIMONIAL OF
APPRECIATION.
The Enterprise Cost the Indian Tax
PAYERS a Hundred Millions of Dol
lars, Not Including Wages.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS,

Snlcdgo
AGRA, India, February %, 1904.
Everybody admits that the Tai Mahal is
the noblest tribute of affection and the most
perfect triumph of the architectural art In
existence. and the beautiful edifices in the
fort at Agra, which we also owe to Shah
Jehar. the greatest of the Moguls, have al
ready been mentioned. l am conscious that
my words are weak 1t is not possible to
describe them accurately No pen can 90
them Justice The next best work in India.
a group of buildings second only to those In
Agra, and in many respects their equal, are
credited to Akbar the Great, the grand
father of Shah Jehan He regned from
1855 to 1905. They may be found at Fat
tehpur-Sikra Hhe City of Victory, twenty
two miles from Agra on the Delhi road.
They occupy rocky ridge. and are sur
rounded by a stone wall protected with
battlements and towers. The emperor in
tended these palaces to be his summer resi-
dence and was followed there by many or
the rich mobiles of the court, who built
mansions and villas of corresponding size
and spiendor.
The city was built and abandoned within
fifty years. Perhaps Akbar became tired
of it. but the records tell us that 1t was
impossible to secure a water supply suih-
cient for the requirements of the population
and that the location was exceedingly UNI
healthy because of malaria. Therefore the
king and the court. the officials or the gov
eminent. with their clerks and servants,
the military garrison and the merchants
who supplied their wants, all packed up
and moved away, most of them going back
to Agra. where they came from, leaving the
glorious marble palaces without tenants and
allowing them to crumble and decay.
Abandoned Cities Not Unusual.
Abandoned cities and citadels are not UNI
usual in India. / told you of similar one
near Jeypore the other day, where once
was even larger population, who were
compelled to desert their homes and bust
ness houses for similar reasons-the lack
of sufficient water supply, and there are
several others in different parts OF india
Some of them are in fair state or pres
ervatOn others are almost RACED to the
ground and their walls have been used as
quarries for building stone in the erection
of other cities. But nowhere can be FOUND
50 grand, so costly and so extensive
group of empty and useless palaces as at
Fattehpur-Sikri.
The origin of the town, according to ira
dition, is quite interesting. When Akbar
was returning from one of his military
campaigns he camped at the foot of the hill
and learned that a wise and holy hermit
named Shekh Selim Chishli, who resided in
a cave among the rocks. exercised powerful
influence among the Hindu deities. Akbur
was a Mohammedan, but of liberal mind,
and had not the slightest conjunction
about consulting with clergyman of an
other denomination. This was the more
natural because his favorite wife was a
Hindu princess, daughter of the Maharaja
of Jeypore, and she was extremely anxious
to have child. She had given birth to
pair of twins some years previous. but to
her deep grief and that of the emperor,
they had died in infancy.
The holy man on the hill at Fattehpur
was believed to have tremendous influence
rx-,t IA;ts H.,
of babies into this great world; hence the
emperor and his sultana visited Shekh
Selim in his rocky retreat to solicit his in
terposition for the birth of a son. Now, the
hermit had son only six months Old who,
the evening after the visit of the emperor,
noticed that his fathers face wore de-
jected expression. Although he had never
spoken before, being but few months old,
this precocious child naturally caused great
aStonishment when, by a miracle he sat
up in his cradle and in language that an
adult would use inquired the cause of anx-
iety. The old man answered:
1T is written in the stars OH nv SON
that the emperor will never have an heir
unless some other man will sacrifice for
him the life of his own heir, and surely in
this wicked and selfish world no one is
capable of such generosity and patriotism"
If you will permit me, oh, my father"
answered the baby, 81 will die in order that
his majesty may be consoled.''
The hermit explained that by such an
act he could acquire unlimited merit among
the gods, whereupon the obliging infant
Strengthened its tiny limbs and expired.
Nine months after the sultana gave birth to
boy, who afterward became the Emperor
Jehanghir.
Akbar's Appreciation.
Akbar of course, was tremendously graf
flied and to show his appreciation of the
services of the hermit decided to make the
rocky ridge, where these wonderful events
had occurred his summer capital. He sum-
moned to his aid all the architects and art
lists and contractors in India and a hundred
thousand mechanics, stone cutters, masons
decorators, were kept busy for two scores of
years erecting the palaces tOmbs and tenn
pies that now testify with mute elouuence
to the genius of the architects and builders
Of those days. 1t is shown by the records
that this enterprise cost the taxpayers of
India hundred millions of dollars, and
that did not include the wages of the work.