Fatehpur Sikri, the Rajasthan Countryside, and a village
Today we left Agra bound to the Dera Village Retreat, a place in the countryside. But first we visited Fatehpur Sikri, a city created by the Mughal Emperor Akbar beginning in 1570. He took 15 years to complete the city and then abandoned it just 14 years later, returning to Agra. The commonly given reason for the abandonment of the city was that the water supply to the city failed. Our guide has an alternative (and not necessarily competing) theory. It turns out that Akbar was a bit of a strange Mughal Emperor (which is saying a lot). He had gone so far as to develop his own religion based on an amalgam of Islam, Hinduism, and some of his own ideas. (And, no, he didn't originally come from California). The only trouble was that, even though he was the Emperor, he couldn't get his people to accept this religion. (He had a generally tolerant attitude to all religions.) And so he left Fatehpur Sikri broken-hearted and couldn't stay there because it was the symbol of his failure in terms of religion. Since I have no real study in this area, I will leave to others this debate. Fatehpur Sikri is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and our guide noted that India has many places that should be on the list but aren't because of both politics and economics. He says the politics is an unwillingness to let any one country get too many sites and the economics is the commitment once a site has been nominated and named to provide the upkeep needed. He lamented that the Indian government does not seem to have enough money to keep all of its important sites in good repair. Again, this is another debate I leave to others. I will, instead, leave you with a few pictures from the place, which was fabulous.
Today we left Agra bound to the Dera Village Retreat, a place in the countryside. But first we visited Fatehpur Sikri, a city created by the Mughal Emperor Akbar beginning in 1570. He took 15 years to complete the city and then abandoned it just 14 years later, returning to Agra. The commonly given reason for the abandonment of the city was that the water supply to the city failed. Our guide has an alternative (and not necessarily competing) theory. It turns out that Akbar was a bit of a strange Mughal Emperor (which is saying a lot). He had gone so far as to develop his own religion based on an amalgam of Islam, Hinduism, and some of his own ideas. (And, no, he didn't originally come from California). The only trouble was that, even though he was the Emperor, he couldn't get his people to accept this religion. (He had a generally tolerant attitude to all religions.) And so he left Fatehpur Sikri broken-hearted and couldn't stay there because it was the symbol of his failure in terms of religion. Since I have no real study in this area, I will leave to others this debate. Fatehpur Sikri is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and our guide noted that India has many places that should be on the list but aren't because of both politics and economics. He says the politics is an unwillingness to let any one country get too many sites and the economics is the commitment once a site has been nominated and named to provide the upkeep needed. He lamented that the Indian government does not seem to have enough money to keep all of its important sites in good repair. Again, this is another debate I leave to others. I will, instead, leave you with a few pictures from the place, which was fabulous.
We next came to "home" for the next two days, a place called the Dera Village Retreat. It is fairly far off the beaten track, in the village of Kalakho in Rajasthan. In fact, we had to transfer from our bus to jeeps in order to get there over a quite rough trail. Once there, we have cabins, some of them with thatched roofs and with cloth-type ceilings.
Following our arrival, we rode camels (or, rather some rode camels) to a nearby village.
All the 100+ people of this village are from the same extended family. While they are equally off the beaten track, they have electricity and many have cell phones. But they live in very rural, basic conditions.
It was interesting to get this glimpse into remote village life although, obviously, many more questions were raised than were answered. But I now have at least a very basic physical experience of the condition in which they live. And I know that our visit to the visit was the source of some funds for the villagers.
In the village at least some of the married women practice purdah, even though they are Hindu rather than Muslim. Our group leader noted that purdah is practiced widely among the more traditional Hindus in Northern India in addition among most Muslims.
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