The triumphal gateway, called the BALAND DARWAZA (Plate XIII.), is really a building in itself. It must be seen from the outside of the quadrangle, for, magnificent as it is there, it certainly does not harmonize with the mosque viewed from the quadrangle. This mighty portal, 176 feet in height from the roadway, is a landmark for miles around. From the top of it the Taj, twenty-five miles away, and the distant Fort of Bharatpur are visible.
There are three doors recessed in the immense alcove on the front of the gate. One is the horseshoe door, so called from the numerous votive offerings of owners of sick horses, donkeys, and bullocks, which were nailed on in the hope of obtaining the favour of the saint. The doorway on the right of this has the following inscription carved over it in Arabic:—
"His Majesty, King of kings, Heaven of the Court, Shadow of God, Jalâl-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, Emperor. He conquered the kingdom of the South and Dandes, which was formerly called Khandes, in the 46th Divine year [i.e. of his reign] corresponding to the Hijira year, 1010 [A.D. 1602]. Having reached Fatehpur, he proceeded to Agra. Said Jesus, on whom be peace! The world is a bridge, pass over it, but build no house there. He who hopeth for an hour, may hope for eternity; the world is but an hour, spend it in devotion; the rest is worth nothing,"
Over the left doorway is the following:—
"He that standeth up in prayer, and his heart is not in it, does not draw nigh to God, but remaineth far from Him. Thy best possession is what thou givest in the name of God; thy best traffic is selling this world for the next."
Akbar himself died four years after this great sermon in stone was written.
The Stone-Cutters' Mosque.
At the back of the great mosque is a graveyard containing the tomb of an infant son of Sheikh Salîm. The legend concerning him is, that at the age of six months he addressed his father, telling him that all of Akbar's children must die in infancy, unless some child died for them. He therefore had resolved to sacrifice himself for the Emperor's sake, and immediately after this miraculous speech he died. Jahangir was born nine months afterwards. Sceptics have suggested that he was really a son of the Sheikh, substituted for a still-born child of Mariam Zâmâni.
Some distance beyond this tomb there is a small mosque, built in honour of the saint by the quarrymen of Fatehpur, before he had attracted the notice of the great Emperor. It is called the Stone-Cutters' Mosque, and is supposed to have been erected on the site of the cave where he lived the life of a hermit It is an unpretending little building; the brackets which support the cornice are the only noticeable architectural features. They are direct imitations of wooden construction, and are copied, with greater elaboration of carving, in the marble shrine inside the Jâmi Masjid. The cell where the saint is said to have lived is on the right-hand corner of the mosque.
The birthplace of Jahangir is pointed out in a dilapidated palace not far from this mosque. It is occupied by a lineal descendant of Salîm Chishti, and is only rarely shown to visitors.