T

Although Pachisi is a game similar to chess which is played on a black and white chequered board with mohras or chess pieces. Akbar used his innovation and imagination to make this interesting game even more entertaining.

He built a huge courtyard which was designed with black and white checks like a pachisi board and he used human beings instead of mohras in order to play this game.

The Fatehpur Sikri - pachisi court is located very close to the Diwan-e-am in Fatehpur Sikri and was constructed during the period between 1572 and 1575. The courtyard was paved using large red sandstone slabs and was set in black and white. Here the emperor Akbar often sat on a royal seat and played the game of pacchisi with his queen and important members of his court.

This pacchisi court is a specimen of the intelligence of the emperor Akbar and his affinity towards grandeur. Although the courtyard is quite simple and does not have much in the form or carvings or ornamentation, it is still a specimen of the grandeur that the Mughal emperor preferred in everything that he constructed or did.