The city that was sure of itself
Fatehpur Sikri was built to last forever. Akbar chose the site personally, commissioned sandstone palaces that still stand without a crack, and moved the Mughal capital there in 1571. Fourteen years later, the city was empty. The reasons historians give, water scarcity, a shift in military strategy, feel inadequate when you are standing inside the Diwan-i-Khas, a room designed for an emperor to receive the world, and the only sound is wind moving through the latticed stone. The room was not abandoned in panic. It was abandoned in order. That is the part that stays with you.
