Tomb of Sufi Saint, Sheikh Salim Chishti

Now everyone enters through these ebony doors: once only men were allowed to and women had a separate entrance on the right side of the tomb.

I would have had to stoop to come in through the women’s entrance though I think it is quite lovely.

Inside the center of the tomb where the Sufi Saint is buried.

For my ten rupee donation I was blessed with the peacock feather and didn’t feel guilty for taking a photo. But one had to rush through rather than take time to really look around.

Details of the decorative stone inlay.

The ebony doors.

Mughal Emperor Akbar had constructed Fatehpur Sikri in honor of the Sufi Saint, Sheikh Salim Chishti, who had predicted the birth of Jehangir, the son of Akbar. Now, women wishing to get pregnant tie red and yellow threads to the marble walls hoping that the Sufi Saint will help them conceive.

Pilgrims circumambulate around the central chamber of the tomb.

It was a huge complex.

Looking back to the main gate.

Only when exiting the main gate did I notice the hundreds of horse shoes nailed, for good luck, to the doors. Some, on the lowest rows, were nailed upside down so the luck will run out. Actually, the luck did run out. The town couldn’t provide enough water for all of the residents so Akbar moved his seat of power to Agra and abandoned the complex in Fatehpur.

Souvenir sellers had come while we were inside.

It really was a lovely, lively scene.

Then it was time to walk back to the car. Along the way I noticed a very young barber.

The barber chair was set up on the busy, crowded sidewalk, and this young boy was using a straight razor to shave his customer!

Serious but then a smile! I gave the boy a 20 rupee note, just because I was so impressed.

Then came the trained monkey. Periodically along the roadways, rather than paying tolls, people have to stop and pay taxes if they have a license plate from outside the state. While Sandeep was off paying the tax and having a cigarette, the monkey man brought his monkey to perform for us in exchange for some rupees. We didn’t give him any rupees, but Sandeep asked us to help the man and exchange his 3 US dollars for Rupees. Someone had given the man three $1 bills and he really couldn’t use them and it was too small an amount for a money changer. So Michael traded him rupees for the dollars and the man was very happy. Michael and Linda also had some old bananas from the hotel and the monkey got those.

Monkey balancing on a stick.

Monkey happily eating the bananas.

The monkey man, with very hennaed hair, was very happy with his rupees.

A marching band on a truck.

When they saw me taking photos, they all smiled and waved. From this point it was a short drive to the river side of the Taj Mahal where we watched the sun set.

Ru

DoraMac