Akbar's Tomb

Akbar was the fourth Moghul emperor, and is perceived as the most tolerant toward his Hindu subjects.  His tomb is in Sikandra, which is about 3 miles northwest of Agra city.  He began building it during his lifetime, but it was finished after his death by his son Jahangir.  This is one of many buildings that prefigured the Taj Mahal; the central entrance and the archway are virtually identical, and this too is surrounded by spacious gardens.  The actual tomb (deep underground) is surprisingly small and unadorned. 

This was taken in Jan. 2003.

 

 Here is a closer shot of the tomb entrance, showing the elaborate inlay work that decorates it.  Note the elaborately carved marble screens around the doorway.  There's also a small reflecting pool in the foreground, although it was empty when we were there. 

The man sitting outside by the doorway is there to ensure that people remove their shoes before entering (and to watch them while people are inside).  Since this is tomb (and thus a Muslim religious place), respect for the dead and for Muslim religious etiquette means that one must enter in bare feet. 

 This was taken in Jan. 2003.

 

Under Islamic religious law, figural images (that is, representations of people or animals) are prohibited in religious architecture, where the decorations have usually been geometric patterns, vegetal imagery (plants and vines), and calligraphy.  Muslims did create figural representations (such as miniature paintings or in illustrated manuscripts), but these images were made in the context of the court, and were not for display in public religious settings.  Here we see an example of the decoration in Akbar's tomb, which uses both geometric and floral imagery.   Not all of the decorations were in as good a shape as these, which are still vibrant after almost 400 years. 

 

  

Here's some calligraphy (which, alas, I cannot read), flanked at the top and bottom  by more floral motifs. 

This picture was taken in Jan. 2003

 

At the back and the two sides of the tomb are walkways leading to ornamental towers (again, this prefigures the Taj Mahal architecture, which has smaller buildings on each of the sides).  You can see that these buildings have the same sort of decoration as the front of the tomb, although on less grand a scale. 

This picture was taken in Jan. 2003

Return to the India J-term Itinerary

 

Islam Picture Index

Jim Lochtefeld's Main Page

Carthage Home Page

These pages are in progress.
Page maintained by James G. Lochtefeld.
Last modified 15 December 2003