Ibadat Khana in Fatehpur Sikri
Fatehpur Sikri, a place of heritage classics encompasses a striking and beautifully engraved architecture, named the Ibadat Khana. Built by Akbar during Mughal period in his palace, this structure also known as “House of Worship” was a room for offering prayers or conducting meetings. It was originally built to congregate only Sunni Muslims and discuss different economical issues. Gradually when these racial and religious differences were abolished, this room became open to one and all having all kinds of faith. The debates and discussions that were held in the presence of Akbar invited an open participation from the locals and tourists in the city. Thursday evenings were meant for religious leaders and philosophers of the empire as well as those who were visiting, to come and discuss their opinions on various views. Troubled by the religious differences, the emperor tried to square off the differences between them by bringing a new belief known as the “Din-i-Ilahi” or ‘Faith of the Divine’ but only a few masses and a few privileged courtesans from Akbar’s court subscribed to this thought.
This red stone heritage classic offers you a lot of historical buildings and structures, amongst which Ibadat Khana is one of the most intriguing structures. Many scholars have tried to identify this building but have yet not confirmed its presence. During Mughal period, Akbar had ordered many skilled architects and builders to lay its foundation near his fine palace. This building was completed with four corridors in 1576 for the daily discussions and debates. Used to arrange private meetings in the room, the emperor sat on chahar suffa i.e. four benches portraying his purity as portrayed in Akbarnama. Even after so many decades, identification of this structure is uncertain.
There are many architectural buildings in Fatehpur Sikri that were once termed as Akbar’s Ibadat Khana like the Lotus Pillar known as Diwan-i-Khas, Girls' Madrasa, Abdarkhana or the quandrangle that is the doorway to Daulat khana. The first site that was identified as Ibadat Khana lies to the east of the Badshahi Darwaza. This structure is near the decrepit Qanati mosque with three platforms on top of one another and three existing arches with unidentified cells. Since this structure is close to the miniature painting of Akbarnama, it has been accepted and projected as the historical structure Ibadat Khana.
As the site and the painting has some inclination of the emperor sitting on a chahr suffa with other scholars seated beside him on a carpet facing the emperor, it has been identified as Ibadat Khana but has yet not been confirmed as the same. It was also seen that the spacious historical building has four aiwans for different sects – with eastern wing occupied by the Sayyids, western wing was for the descendants of Prophet Mohammad, south was taken by the Ulemas and Sheikhs and men of ecstasy took the north wing to participate in different discussions. Many scholars and archeologists fancied Diwan-i-khas as Ibadat Khana.
It has an inquisitive structure of 13 metres square in dimension, a single towering assembly room and a flamboyant stone pillar flaring into an gigantic round capital in the center of the hall. To connect the gallery to the walls, tapered stone walkways having low lattice-work parapets stretched diagonally from the center to the four corners of the hall. Balconies on the outside ran all along the ornate brackets. This building seemed to be like a crystallized structure made of red stone to fulfill Akbar’s pursuit to draw knowledge from all aiwans. Though not proved, this historical building was considered as Ibadat Khana by many.