New Delhi, June 1 -- If you stand at the ramparts of Fatehpur Sikri, you will notice the howling winds rising from the arid land echoing subdued moans of history. Emperor of India Jalaluddin Mohammed Akbar's new capital city was inaugurated with a lot of fanfare.

A little distance from here is the plains of Kanvah where Akbar's grandfather Zahiruddin Mohammad Babur defeated Rana Sanga to establish the Mughal empire.

What better site could he have chosen to establish a new capital of the nascent empire? But what went wrong? The emperor defied nature. The place was devoid of a perineal river like the Yamuna that fed Agra and Delhi. As a result, within 14 years Akbar had to shift the capital back to Agra. If we leave aside Daulatabad, Fate...