About Daftar Khana:
Much like modern offices, Daftarkhana was built in 1574 as a record room for the king, where files and important documents were kept. Abul Fazl has mentioned it in his work, Ain-i-Akbari. The rectangular building stands on a high platform and has façades on all four sides. The northern façade is most outstanding with six pair of tall double columns with bracketed and a merlon pattern surrounding its roof. There is a room inside with three doorways to its north and beautiful tracery work in red sand stone in the arched windows above the lintels to its south. The walls of the room have three deeply recessed arches surrounded by two superimposed single arches on the other two sides. There is a small projecting balcony in front of the central window supported by corbelled brackets. Near Daftar khana, one can also see the remnants of cloisters and buildings that were also used as offices such as those of Makhtabkhana or ‘palace of writing’. The Makhtab khana was used as the translation bureau and various texts were translated here into Hindi, Persian and Sanskrit languages.
General Information about Daftar Khana:
Location: Fatehpur Sikri
State: Uttar Pradesh
Capital: Lucknow
Language: Hindi, English
Temperature: Max 42˚C, Min 27˚C (summer), Max 26˚C, Min 14˚C (winter)
Best Season: October to February
How to Reach Daftar Khana:
By Air:
Kheria airport in Agra is the nearest airport from Fatehpur Sikri. Domestic flights are available to Agra from important places of India. From the airport, you have to reach Fatehpur Sikri via road route.
By Train:
Nearest major railway station is located in Agra. Agra railway is served by large number of express trains from important places of the country. Taj Express, Shatabdi express and several other trains are available from Delhi to Agra. Trains are available at regular intervals between Agra and Fatehpur Sikri.
By Bus:
UPSTDC, ITDC and other private operators arrange conducted tours to Fatehpur Sikri, but the tour buses stop only for an hour. If you want to spend longer time at Fatehpur Sikri it is better you take a regular bus from the Idgah Bus Stand.