Posted:
Ye Zahide tang nazar ne mujhe kaafir jaana
Kaafir ye samajhte hain ki musalman main
The nursery of Indian secularism*, the House of Worship, or the Ibadat Khana built by Akbar has been finally located in Fatehpur Sikri, without any doubt whatsoever. After 450 years, we know where that place actually stood.
{ I am talking of secularism in true sense. Not that secularism which has established its roots in our country in present times in the form of appeasement of certain sections. }
The Ibadat Khana of Akbar has been excavated & found near the palace of Jodha Bai in Fatehpur Sikri. To be precise, it is excavated between palace of Jodha Bai & Jama Masjid in Fatehpur Sikri. Archaeologists have taken help from the description given in contemporary Persian texts of Akbar's era & a contemporary painting drawn 2 years before death of Akbar in 1603 by his painter Nar Singh. That painting was taken to Persia by Nadir Shah in 1739 when he attacked, ransacked and looted Delhi. At present, the painting is in Chester Beaty Library, Dublin, Ireland.
The man behind this discovery is Mr. Karingamannu Kuzhiyil Muhammad, renowned Indian archaeologist, who also served as the Regional Director (North) of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and is currently serving as Project Archaeological Director in Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
The discovery is also important for the reason that it has unsettled some of the "most big names" among the historians of India. Some of these "topmost historians" who had been teaching otherwise about the location of Ibadat Khana took it "personally" & in no time it turned into an ego issue. For those interested in knowing about these historians, read this link : https://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/former-asi-official-cries-foul-over-akbars-ibadat-khana-facts.html
These excavations and attempts to establish the exact location of Ibadat Khana of Akbar were continuing since 1980s !! But lot of politics and ego battles were fought, before a stamp could be given to this discovery. The ones who did not like this new discovery or the change in the old theory about Ibadat Khana, wrote books, tried to prove Mr. KK Muhammed wrong. But they could not nullify the archaeological evidence backed by contemporary painting and descriptions which were strongly in favor of Mr. Muhammed's stand. Learned people, despite all their scholarship, get blinded by ego, refusing to accept anything new which is found on basis of new evidence, if it goes against their point of view. In his autobiography, published in Malayalam, Mr. KK Muhammed has leveled some huge allegations on these established historians, including their attempts to create hindrance in careers of those young researchers who did not toe to their established version of history. This has to change and hounding of folks who attempt to "deviate from the line", has to stop.
Let us come back. Mughal Emperor Akbar, despite any of few of his shortcomings is remembered as someone who talked of tolerance in times of utter intolerance. For the reasons, now known to all of us & need not be repeated here, we all hold him in great regard. It has been almost 4 years now and all of us know much more about him than we had known before 2013.
We all have heard about Ibadat Khana. Many have visited Fatehpur Sikri also. But none knew where this place was ? It was lost. But now archaeologists have excavated and found it. This video made me little emotional. I can not explain in words what i went through in my mind, when i was watching this. I watched and re watched. I have read the proceedings of the religious debates given in a contemporary Mughal chronicle & seen all those paintings too. But it is an entirely differently feeling when you see that place, where these debates took place in reality, 450 years ago.
The editor has made this video so beautifully. There are animations in this video which show how the real Ibadat Khana looked like. Then, there is side by side comparison of original Ibadat Khana with its Mughal painting in one half of the screen & the archaeological remains in the other half. Such was their hard work and dedication, that they have even excavated the three platforms on which the priests used to sit. 2 platforms were used by the priests and on the top platform Akbar used to sit.
This is the painting, Mr. KK Muhammed made use of. I also posted this in some of my blogs. This shows Christian missionaries interacting with Akbar. Azu'l Fazl and his brother Faizi are sitting near Akbar. The scene is from Ibadat Khana.
I would like to pay tributes to the painter Nar Singh also for creating this painting so finely. When you see the video below, try to compare the detailing of actual Ibadat Khana with this painting. :)
This 10 minutes video is also a tribute to Akbar.
Such was Akbar's ways that Muslims thought he was an apostate from Islam, and for the Hindus he was a Muslim. None can describe these thoughts more beautifully than the following lines of Akbar Allahabadi -
Ye Zahide tang nazar ne mujhe kaafir jaana
Kaafir ye samajhte hain ki musalman main
Kaafir ye samajhte hain ki musalman main
Almost similar argument i also made last year, in my detailed blogs (a 3 part series) on death of Akbar. Here is the link to that IF thread : Rise of Orthodoxy, Jesuit obituary, Reaction of People on Akbar's death Part3 .
{ Though, these days i am writing in Peshwa Bajirao forum. Link1 Link2 }
I found this video appealing to me, as i like doing this kind of comparison, by trying to find similarities between onscreen and real life events. Check out this video. I have said everything from my end. :)
[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ6DZCztpSQ[/YOUTUBE]
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