India Guide
Uttar Pradesh
Akbar's mausoleum: Sikandra
Address: 10km northwest of Agra, alongside the main highway to Mathura at Sikandra
Price: Rs110
Opening time: Daily sunrise to sunset
Given the Mughal tradition of magnificent tombs, the mausoleum of the most distinguished Mughal ruler comes as no surprise. Akbar's mausoleum complex is entered via its huge Buland Darwaza (Great Gate), surmounted by four tapering marble minarets, and overlaid with marble and coloured tiles in repetitive geometrical patterns. Through the gateway, extensive, park-like gardens are divided by raised sandstone walkways into the four equal quadrants of the typical Mughal charbagh design. Langur monkeys may be seen along the path, while deer roam through the tall grasses, lending the whole place a magically peaceful and rural atmosphere.
The mausoleum itself sits in the middle of the gardens, at the centre of the charbagh and directly in front of Buland Darwaza. The entire structure is one of the strangest in Mughal Agra, its huge square base topped not by the usual dome but by a three-storey open-sided sandstone construction crowned with a solid-looking marble pavilion. The mishmash design may be attributable to Jahangir, who ordered changes in the mausoleum's design halfway through its construction, Akbar himself having neglected to leave finished plans for his mausoleum. By the standards of India's other Mughal buildings, it's architecturally a failure, but not without a certain whimsical charm, and much of the inlay work around the lower storey is exquisite.
A high marble gateway in the mausoleum's southern facade frames an elaborate lattice screen shielding a small vestibule painted with rich sea-blue frescoes and Koranic verses. From here a ramp leads down into a large, echoing and absolutely plain subterranean crypt, lit by a single skylight, in the centre of which stands Akbar's grave, decorated with the pen-box motif, the symbol of a male ruler, which can also be seen on Shah Jahan's tomb in the Taj Mahal.