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Ibadat Khana at Fatehpur Sikri was
Explanation
The IbÄdat KhÄna (House of Worship) was a meeting house built in 1575 CE by the Mughal Emperor Akbar at Fatehpur Sikri to gather spiritual/religious leaders of different religious grounds[1]. Ibadat Khana at Fatehpur Sikri was the hall in which Akbar held discussions with scholars of various religions on every Thursday[2]. Akbar had established an Ibadat Khana (1575), a hall of worship in which initially Muslim clerics gathered to discuss spiritual issues[3]. The place was originally prepared for Islamic scholars, but later it was opened for Hinduism, Jainism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and others[4]. It was not a royal family mosque, nor Akbar's private prayer chamber, nor exclusively for noblesâit was specifically a venue where Akbar himself held interfaith discussions with religious scholars. In 1582, he discontinued the debates in the Ibadat Khana as it led to bitterness among different religions[3].
Sources- [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibadat_Khana
- [3] History , class XI (Tamilnadu state board 2024 ed.) > Chapter 14: The Mughal Empire > Akbar's Religious Policy > p. 207
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Guest previewThis is a textbook 'Sitter'. It appears directly in standard sources like TN Board Class XI and Spectrum. If you missed this, it indicates a gap in your core Medieval History preparation, specifically regarding Akbar's cultural and religious institutions.
This question can be broken into the following sub-statements. Tap a statement sentence to jump into its detailed analysis.
- Statement 1: Was Ibadat Khana at Fatehpur Sikri the mosque for the use of the royal family?
- Statement 2: Was Ibadat Khana at Fatehpur Sikri Akbar's private prayer chamber?
- Statement 3: Was Ibadat Khana at Fatehpur Sikri the hall in which Emperor Akbar held discussions with scholars of various religions?
- Statement 4: Was Ibadat Khana at Fatehpur Sikri the room where nobles of different religions gathered to discuss religious affairs?
- Explicitly describes the Ibadat Khana as a 'meeting house' and 'House of Worship' built to gather spiritual/religious leaders for discussion.
- Shows its primary purpose was interfaith debate and inquiry, not a private royal family mosque.
- Calls Ibadat Khana a 'hall' where Akbar held discussions with scholars of various religions.
- Implies a public/intellectual function rather than a private royal prayer mosque.
- Describes Ibadat Khana as 'a place for interfaith dialogue' established at Fatehpur Sikri.
- States it was prepared for scholars of various religions and opened to multiple faiths, indicating a forum rather than a royal-family-only mosque.
States Akbar established an Ibadat Khana (1575) at Fatehpur Sikri as a 'hall of worship' where religious clerics gathered and debates were held.
A student could combine this with the fact that Akbar founded the building to infer it had a direct royal patronage/function rather than being an ordinary congregational mosque.
Describes a jama'at khana in a Chishti khanqah as a hall where inmates, family members and visitors lived and prayedâshowing such halls served a mixed residential/ritual role rather than only public congregational worship.
One could extend that an Ibadat Khana (literally 'house of worship') in a royal khanqah-like setting might have been intended for private or restricted use (e.g., royal family and guests) rather than a large public mosque.
Notes the dargah of Shaikh Salim Chishti at Fatehpur Sikri symbolised the bond between the Chishtis and the Mughal state.
A student might infer Fatehpur Sikri contained religious sites closely tied to the court, making it plausible that an Ibadat Khana there served courtly/royal religious activities.
Records that Jesuit priests were invited to and received at Fatehpur Sikri, indicating the court used Fatehpur Sikri buildings to host high-profile religious encounters.
One could reason that structures used for such elite inter-religious debates (like the Ibadat Khana) were likely oriented to royal/private use rather than ordinary parishioners.
States Fatehpur Sikri was a new capital enclosing 'several inspiring buildings', implying religious/palatial structures within the royal complex.
Combining this with the Ibadat Khana being established there supports checking whether it was part of the royal precinct and thus served the court/royal family.
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