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Lower Haramsara

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Amanda
Amanda
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4 out of 5
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Lower Haramsara

  • October 26, 2001
  • Rated 4 of 5 by Amanda from London, United Kingdom
Lower Haramsara

Walking through the gate into the city, you go along a path with rather dry-looking gardens to the left and right. About 100 yards along the path, the reddish buildings of the city line your way. The first main set of buildings (the Lower Haramsara) you come to as you walk into the living area of the city is probably the stables. I say "probably", because there is now some dispute about what the largest building was actually for. On the right are two rooms, each some 100 feet by 25 feet, which were stables for Akbar’s 30 camels. The floor slopes slightly towards a drainage hole, and is fairly dark even in the bright Indian afternoon sun. Passing by the camel stables, you go under an arch and out into an immense room. It is open in the middle, and around the 4 sides of the rectangle is a roofed-in section, open towards the middle but for the columns holding up the roof. There are large stone loops, near the ground, with holes in the middle – either for tying Akbar’s horses to (if you think it’s a stable) or for tying a giant silk canopy to (if you think it was living quarters for Akbar’s wives’ maidservants). Our guide was quite convinced it had been a stable, and it does look like one, with the exercise yard in the centre. There are also stone niches set into the outside walls, which the guide said convinced him the building had been the stables, as the niches are perfectly set to be the feeding and watering holes for horses.

The other reason it is likely to be a stables is the location – if you arrived in the city on horseback, it would be sensible to have the stables at the edge of the city, rather than dragging horses through the streets, and past the palaces. Whatever the building’s function once was, it’s a spectacular sight, with the sand of the open area contrasting beautifully with the red of the stone. There is also a great view of the Birbal Bhavan at the far end of the open area.

From journal Fatehpur Sikri - the 16th century city

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