Page 189 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

UT T AR PR ADESH & UT T AR AKHAND  187

Jama Masjid

This grand open mosque towers over the city
of Fatehpur Sikri and was the model for several
Mughal mosques. Flanked by arched cloisters,
its vast congregational area has monumental
gateways to the east and south. The spiritual
focus of the complex is the tomb and hermitage
of the Sufi mystic, Salim Chishti, as popular
today as it was during the time of Akbar.
Tomb of Sheikh Salim Chishti
Exquisite marble serpentine brackets and
almost transparent screens surround the
inner tomb, which has a sandalwood canopy
inlaid with mother-of-pearl.

Badshahi
Darwaza
Akbar used the
steep steps of this
royal gateway to
Hujra enter the complex.
Symmetrically flanking the main mosque, this pair The view of the
of identical cloistered prayer rooms have flat-roofed sacred mosque
pillared galleries that run round the complex. directly across,
greeted his entry.

Corridors

Making a Wish in Salim Chishti’s Tomb
Ever since Akbar’s childlessness was ended by the remarkable
prediction of Salim Chishti in 1568, the
saint’s tomb has attracted crowds of
supplicants, particularly childless women
in search of a miracle. Visitors to the dargah
Buland Darwaza (shrine), lavishly endowed by both Akbar
Erected by Akbar to mark and his son Jahangir, make a wish, tie
his conquest over Gujarat in a small cotton thread on the screen
1576, this huge 54-m (177-ft) around the tomb, and go back confident A thread tied to a screen in
gateway later inspired other that the saint will make it come true. Chishti’s tomb
such lofty portals.

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