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| Hiran Minar, Fatehpur Sikri World Tour |
Hiran Minar is located close to Caravanserai in Fatehpur Sikri Fort, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is a simple and cylindrical tower and was built by Mogul Emperor Akbar in memory of his favorite elephant, Hiren. The tower is above the remains of the elephant. Though it was built as a memorial, this tower was put to some other use. In those days, night travel was a strenuous one, in particular, for the large number of pilgrims who used to visit Delhi for payer at various Muslim shrines. The 21. 34 meter tall tower with a small dome on top served as a lighthouse and helped the night travelers find their way to the town. A lamp used to be lit atop the tower.
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| Hiran Minar, Fatehpur Sikri Wikimedia Commons |
Hiran Minar is octagonal at the ground level and rest of the tower is circular, gradually tapering at higher level. It's platform is octagonal but stands on a square base. This exterior wall of the tower is covered with stone images of elephant tusks which, from a distance, look like long iron spikes projecting from the tower wall all around.
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| Hiran Minar, Fatehpur Sikri Fatehpur Sikr |
The entrance to the tower is through a flat-topped door and there are 53 steps in the spiral stairway leading to the top inside the tower. One can get a glimpse of Fatehpur Sikri from the top of the tower.
The tower was used as a watch tower by the royal women to watch sports events like wrestling going on the ground below and, it is believed, that this tower was connected with the palaces through secret passages. It is located in Fatehpur Sikiri Fort and is close to Fatehpur Sikiri railway station.
http://www.agraindia.org.uk/fatehpur-sikri/hiran-minar.html
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