The Taj

Its big, and its built on love.

A few friends and I rose before the masses to experience the tourist emblem of India at first light. Massive red-pink gateways at N, E, S, W guard the jewel inside. And then there it was, framed by the entrance archway, the Taj Mahal, described as the most extravagant monument ever built for love, stood in an ambient veil of morning mist. The waterways and imaculate garden lead the eye to the dark entrance to the pure white Mausoleum, built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his second wife who died in childbirth in 1631.

The eastern side was lit in a pale yellow hue, framed by the famous marble minarets. Just spending some time sitting here, the historical power of the Taj melded with my personal appreciation of its beauty and unparalled craftsmanship. It took 22 years and 20,000 people, including some of the finest architects to build. As the story goes, the master architect suffered the murder of his daughter at the hands of the emperor so that he would know the emperors suffering and could translate this into the Taj Mahal. When the Taj was finally complete, he and other master craftsmen had their hands amputated to ensure the perfection of the Taj could never be repeated.

The outer walls of the marble sanctum are inlaid with verses of the Koran in black onyx. Beautiful carvings grace the sanctums entrance and inside ornate designs from thousands of semi-precious stones continue the perfect symmentry of the Taj. Swirling sounds right down to the last persons whisper reverberate, created by the acoutics of the bulb shaped ceiling.

Back outside, and with the tour groups now really arriving, we had some fun shooting each other taking the ‘lid’ off the Taj. Its unofficial status as a wonder of the modern world is deserved. You simply must see it if you’re in India, even though foreigners are made to pay 750 rupees entry while Indians pay only 20.

The Taj aside, the city is Agra-vating. Touts and vendors of every description, along with the smog and smells wear you down. My first day in Agra I met Solange and Dan (Fr Canadian), and a japanese girl whose name I could never pronounce or remember. They had a car and driver so I jumped in too. Fatepur Sikri was designed as the perfect city of the Mugal Empire by Emperor Akbar, 40km from Agra, in the late 16th Century. Its only failing was its water shortages and so was abandoned shortly after his death. What is preserved (and well restored) is a beautiful ghost city in red-pink stone.

I was really mad when we hit a dog on the way back into Agra. With so many unpredictable elements on indian roads anyway I didn’t want to be driving with another one. And I dont care if because we have 5 souls in the car God will protect us well, a bus has more souls. He then packed a sad with me when I unravelled his intention to take us to see ‘traditional Indian craft making’ or translated, shopping at a factory for a fat drivers commission. Agra Fort and the Itimad-ud-Daulah were well worth a look, the later a mausoleum with fine laticework that forshadowed the Taj.

With no other pleasureable reason to stay in Agra, I put a big tick in the box that says ‘the Taj’ and moved onwards to Orcha – off the beaten track and with a population only 8500.

***

ps Photos to come. I must be on the worlds worst cpu’s

This entry was posted on Monday, March 28th, 2005 at 10:25 am and is filed under India. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.