The mausoleum of the Sufi saint Sheikh Salim Chishti stands in the middle of the courtyard of the Jami Masjid in Fatehpur Sikri. It is a marble tomb that glows like a jewel in the heart of the complex of red sandstone arches, domes and minarets and has a fascinating story to tell.
In the 16th century the Mughal emperor Akbar had built a giant empire and its boundaries ranged from Kabul and Kashmir to the Deccan. However he was a worried man as he had no living heir and thus he began a yearly pilgrimage to the dargah of Sheikh Muinuddin Chishti at Ajmer. Legends say that he would walk from Agra to Ajmer to lay his prayers before the shrine of the Sufi saint.
It was while returning from a trip to Ajmer that his companions mentioned the seminary, a khanqua, of a living pir, Sheikh Salim Chishti at the village of Sikri. Villagers told him of a recluse who lived in a hut on the top of a nearby hill and Akbar climbed up to meet the mystic to seek his blessings.
Akbar believed it was the prayers of Sheikh Salim Chishti that led to the birth of three sons who lived to adulthood. The eldest was the child of the Hindu princess of the Rajput kingdom of Amber, Jodh Bai and Akbar named the child Salim in gratitude to the saint.
An emperor’s gratitude is a wonderful thing. When Akbar decided to build a new capital city in 1571 he chose the site of Sikri and named his new city Fatehpur Sikri. With typical Mughal extravagance the top of the hill was sliced off and palaces, gateways, a mosque and a dargah came up within a few years.
Today the royal palaces lie silent, only visited by tourists but the dargah of Sheikh Salim Chishti sees thousands of pilgrims of every faith coming to pray. Many are women praying for children who tie a red thread on the marble screens that surround the shrine and they come back to untie them once their prayers are answered.
To read more click on A Saint and An Emperor
