Our trip to India
Fall 2005

[Start] [Delhi] [Agra] [Taj Mahal] [Fatehpur Sikri] [Jaipur] [Wrap Up]

Taj Mahal

While I would have been totally content to come to Agra and only see the Red Fort, the real reason one comes to Agra in the first place is the Taj. You've heard it say it is one of the 7 wonders of the modern world. That doesn't do it justice. Many poets and writers have tried to describe it's beauty but all have failed. Because there are no words nor pictures to describe what we saw. Like those that have tried before, I will fail, but perhaps if nothing else, it will put a small seed of desire in you so that someday you will want to see this - and miserably fail like myself as you try & fail to describe what you saw.

Intersting Tidbit: They have banned all motor vehicles within 5km of the Taj to reduce the pollution that can be deposited on the walls. We had to take an electric rickshaw the final distance.

When you first enter the area that contains the Taj Mahal, you are presented with a couple of hundred photographers offering to take pictures for a 100 rupees a piece. You can get three 20 minute rickshaw rides for a 100 rupees. After you negotiate the photographers (by selecting one...it really is the only way to get through the horde), you see the gate. Those 11 small minerats at the top of the gate? There are 11 behind them for a total of 22. Because that is how many years it took to build the Taj Mahal. Those flower patterns & Arabic writing? They are not painted. This is inlaid tile, which we fell in love with & I doubt could tire of telling you about.

The gate was designed so that when you first see the Taj, you believe you are walking into Heaven. I couldn't have agreed more. We couldn't have asked for a better day. It was about 4pm and the skies were pure blue without a cloud in the sky.

Now you know why I picked a black background.

It is a good 200-250m from the gate to the steps leading up to the Taj. Hopefully this measurement begins to put into perspective just how big this thing is. The minerats on the side are for balance only. They serve no purpose other than to balance the Taj artistically. They are set at a 6 degree slant away from the Taj in case of an earthquake. This was began in 1631, so those guys must have been pretty smart.

It is all along a reflecting pool that is just too photogenic for it's own good.

The obligatory picture of the couple in front.

As you approach the huge base, things begin to take on a different perspective. An no, I did not photochop those birds into the picture. You can begin to make out all the intricate inlaid tile. The boarder around the arch is actually some famous line from the Koran. What makes this particularly interesting is that the letters are stretched to match your perspective so that if you could read Arabic, you could read the topmost row as easily as you could the lowest character.

As you climb the stairs, and finally get up close & personal, the detail of the inlaid designs begin to pop out.

This is a slab of marble about 4' high by 10' long. A single piece. And just one of hundreds surrounding the base.

Walking around the front gives yet another perspective of it's base and immense size.

The corners show the symmetry and also further accentuates the extent of the inlaid detail.

The punchline? It was built for a single person, the Shah Jahan's wife, who died in childbirth during her 14th child. He loved her so much, he decided to build this to remember her by. We'll pause as all the women reading that take a deep breath and sigh. 

The twist? The Shah, after spending 22 years and untold bullion in gold, decided to build a matching one across the river, but this time in Black marble. That is when his own son overthrew him for wasting so much money & imprisoned him in Agra Fort. After eight years, the Shah died and his son placed him in the Taj next to his wife, thus creating the sole imbalance in the entire Taj Mahal. This was because his wife's casket was placed at the epicenter of the interior and when his son laid him to rest, Shah Jahan was placed beside his casket.

Interesting factoid: The caskets you see when you enter are actually duplicates. By Islamic belief, the body must be on the ground, which they are, directly beneath the ones you see.

The fable? In Lonely planet & undoubtedly told and retold my many people is that the Shah had the artists fingers chopped off so they could never duplicate this. All guides say this is just a fable and may have started because to inlay tile in that day & age (and even today as some say), they literally had to scrape it out with what amounted to a screwdriver and their hands became useless after doing this for many years.

Next up is Fatehpur Sikri.

[Start] [Delhi] [Agra] [Taj Mahal] [Fatehpur Sikri] [Jaipur] [Wrap Up]