If there's a
building which evokes a country
like the Eiffel Tower does for
France, the Sydney Opera House
for Australia then it has to be
the Taj Mahal for India. So much
so that the Indian tourist
office has centred an
advertising campaign around the
theme that there's more to India
than just the Taj.
This most famous Moghul monument
was constructed by the Emperor
Shah Jahan in memory of his wife
Mumtaz Mahal, the 'lady of the
Taj'. It has been described as
the most extravagant monument
ever built for love for the
emperor was heartbroken ' when
Mumtaz, to whom he had been
married for 17 years, died in
1629, in childbirth, after
producing 14 children.
Construction of the Taj
commenced in 1632 and was not
completed until 1653.
Workers were recruited not only
from all over India but also
from Central Asia and in total
20,000 people worked on the
building. Experts were even
brought from as far as away as
Europe the Frenchman Austin de
Bordeaux and the Italian Veroneo
of Venice had a hand in its
decoration.
The most unusual story about the
Taj is that there might well
have been two of them. Shah
Jahan, it is said, had intended
to build a second Taj as his own
tomb, and this second Taj would
have been in black marble, a
negative image of the white Taj
of Mumtaz Mahal. Before he could
embark on this second
masterpiece Aurangzeb deposed
and imprisoned his father. Shah
Jahan spent the rest of his life
in the Agr a Fort, looking out
along the river to the final
resting place of his favourite
wife.
The Taj Mahal stands on a raised
marble platform with tall white
minarets at each comer of the
platform. The central structure
has four smaller domes
surrounding the huge, bulbous,
central dome. The tombs of
Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan are
in a basement room, above them
in the main chamber are false
tombs, a common practise in
Indian mausoleums of this type.
Light is admitted into the
central chamber by finely cut
marble screens. The echo in this
high chamber, under the soaring
marble dome, is superb and there
is always somebody there to
demonstrate it. Although the Taj
is amazingly graceful from
almost any angle it's the close
up detail which is really
astounding. Semi-precious stones
are inlaid into the marble in
beautiful patterns and with
superb craftsmanship in a
process known as pietra durn.
The precision and care which
went into the Taj Mahal's design
and construction is just as
impressive whether you view it
from across the river or From
arm's length. The building,
which stands right beside the
Yamuna river, is in a large and
formally laid out garden. Twin
red sandstone mosques frame the
building when viewed from the
rivervcr. You enter the Taj
grounds through a high red
sanstone gateway inscribed with
verses from the Koran in Arabic
paths lead to the Taj, divided
bya a long water course, in
which the Taj would be
beautifully reflected. If there
were water in it more often as
is so often repeated the Taj is
worth more then a single visit.
It's one building under the
light of dawn, another at
sunset, still another under
moonlight.
dawn, another at sunset HUH mini
her under moonlight, Full moons
bring people flocking to Agra in
their thousands. Opening hours
are from sunrise to 10 pm but on
full moon nights and the four
nights around the full moon it
stays open until midnight. A
final sad note about the Taj
scientists fear that after
centuries of undiminished glory
the modern world may finally be
shortening its life. In dustrial
pollution, particularly a prop
osed chemical plant, could cause
irreparable damage to the marble
before the turn of the century.
Not that man hasn't damaged it
in the past — in 1764 silver
doors at the entrance were
ripped off and carted away and
raiders have also made off with
the gold sheets that once lined
the subterranean vault.
Agra Fort
Construction of the massive Agra
Fort commenced with the Emperor
in 1565 and Additions were made
right through to tin1 time of
his grandson, Shah Jahan. While
in Akbar's time the fort was
principally a military structure
by the time of Shah Jahan the
emphasis had shifted and the
fort has become partially a
palace. There are many
fascinating buildings inside the
massive walls, 20 metres high
with a moat over 10 metres wide,
which stretch for 2.5 km. The
fort on the banks of the Yamuna
River and only the Amar Singh
Gate to the south is open.
Inside the fort it is really a
city within the city. The fort
is open from sunrise to sunset.
There's an entertaining sound &
light show at the fort.
Motif Masjid
The
'Pearl Mosque' was built by Shah
Jahan between 1646 and 1653. The
marble mosque is considered to
be perfectly proportioned and a
Persian inscription inside the
building compares it to a
precious pearl. The mosque's
courtyard is surrounded by
arcaded cloisters and a marble
tank stands in the centre.
Diwan-i-Am
The 'Hall of
Public Audiences' was also built
by Shah Jahan and replaced an
earlier wooden structure. Shah
Jahan's predecessors also had a
hand in the hall's construction
but the throne room, with its
typical inlaid marble work, is
indisputably from Shah Jahan.
Here he sat to meet officials or
listen to petitioners. Beside
the Diwan-i-Am is the small
Nagina Masjid or 'Gem Mosque'
and the ladies' bazaar' where
merchants would come to display
and sell goods to the ladies of
the Moghul court.
Diwani-Khas
The 'Hall of
Private Audiences' was also
built by Shah Jahan, in 1636-37.
Here the emperor would meet
important dignitaries or foreign
ambassadors. The hall consists
of two rooms, connected by three
arches.
Octagonal Tower
The
Musamman Burj or Octagonal Tower
stands close to the Diwan-i-Khas
and the small, private Mina
Masjid. Also known as the Saman
Burj, this tower was built by
Shah Jahan for Mumtaz Mahal and
is another of his finely
designed and executed buildings.
It was here, with its views
along the Yamuna to thjj Taj,
that Shah Jahan died in 1666,
after seven years' imprisonment.
Unfortunately the tower has been
much damaged over the years.
Jehangir's Palace
Akbar is believed to have built
this palace for his son, it is
the largest private residence in
the fort. This was one of the
first constructions within the
fort where the emphasis started
to change from purely military
to the fort's later role as a
luxurious palace. It is also
interesting for its blend of
Hindu and central Asian
architectural styles a contrast
to the unique Moghul style which
had developed by the time of
Shah Jahan.
Other Shah Jahan's Khas Mahal is
a beautiful white marble
structure used as a private
palace. The rooms underneath it
were intended as a cool retreat
in the summer heat. The Shish
Mahal or Mirror Palace' was
supposed to have been the harem
dressing room and its walls are
inlaid with tiny mirrors. The
Anguri Bagh or 'Grape Garden'
probably never had any
grapevines but was simply a
small, formal Moghul garden. It
stood m front of the Khas Mahal.
The Delhi (late and Hathi Pol or
'Elephant Gate' are now closed.
In front of the Jehangir Palace
is the Hauz-i-Jehangri, a huge
'bath' carved out of a single
block of stpne by whom and for
what purpose is a subject of
conjecture. The Amar Singh Gate
takes its name from a Maharaja
of Jodhpur who was killed by the
gate, along with his followers,
after a brawl in the Diwan-i-am
in 1644! Justice tended to be
summary in those days, there is
a shaft leading down to the
river into which those who made
themselves unpopular with the
great Moghuls could be summarily
hurled.
Itmad-ud-daulah
There are a
number of interesting sights on
the opposite bank of the Yamuna
and north of the fort. You cross
the river on a narrow two level
bridge carrying pedestrians,
bicycles, rickshaws and bullock
carts. The first place of
interest along the riverside is
the Itmad-ud-daulah the tomb of
Mirza Ghiyas Beg. This Persian
gentleman's beautiful daughter
married the Emperor Jehangir and
became known as Nur Jahan, the
light of the world'. In turn her
daughter was Mumtaz Mahal, the
lady of the Taj. The tomb was
constructed betwwen Nur Jahan
between 1622 arid 1028 and is
very similar to the tomb the
also constructed for her husband
Jehangir near Lahore in
Pakistan. The tomb is of
particular interest since ninny
of Its design elements
foreshadow the Taj, construction
of which commenced only a few
years later.
The
Itmad-uil daulah was the first
Moghul strucluni totally
constructed of marble and the
find, to make extensive use of
the pin In dura inlay work of
marble which In no much a part
of the Taj. The mausoleum is
small and squat compared to the
soaring Taj but the smaller,
more human scale, somehow makes
it more attractive and the
beautifully patterned surface of
the tomb is superb. There are
also extremely fine marble
lattice-work passages admitting
light to the interior. It's well
worth a visit. The
Itmad-ud-daulah is open sunrise
to sunset
China-ka-Rauza
The
'china tomb' is a km north of
the Itmad-ud-daulah. The squat,
square tomb, surmounted by a
single huge dome, was
constructed in his own lifetime
by Afzal Khan who died in Lahore
in 1639. He was a high official
in the court of Shah Jahan. The
exterior was covered in brightly
coloured enamelled tiles and the
whole building clearly displayed
its Persian influence. Today it
is much decayed and neglected
and the remaining tilework only
hints at the building's former
glory.
Ram Bagh
Laid out by the
Emperor Babur, first of the
Moghuls, in 1528 this is the
earliest Moghul garden. It is
said that Babur was temporarily
buried here before being
permanently interred at Kabul in
Afghanistan. The Ram Bagh is two
to three km further north of the
China ka-Rauza on the riverside
and is open from sunrise to
sunset, admission is free.
Jami Masjid
Across the
railway tracks from the Delhi
Gate of Agra Fort the Jami
Masjid was built by Shah Jahan
in 1648. An inscription over the
main gate indicates that it was
built in the name of Jahanara,
Shah Jahan's daughter, who was
imprisoned with Shah Jahan by
Aurangzeb. Large though it is
the mosque is not as impressive
as Shah Jahan's Jami Masjid in
Delhi.
Akbar's Mausoleum
At
Sikandra, 10 km north of Agra,
is the tomb of Akbar. The tomb
is situated in the centre of a
large garden and four identical
red sandstone gates lead to the
tomb complex. Akbar commenced
the construction of his tomb
himself but it was completed by
his son, Jehangir, in 1613. The
tomb is a combination of Moslem
and Hindu architectural styles.
The building, with three-storey
minarets at each comer, is built
of red sandstone with white
marble polygonal patterns
inlaid. like Humay-un's Tomb in
New Delhi it is an interesting
place to visit to study the
gradual evolution in design that
culminated in the Taj Mahal.
Akbar's Mausoleum is open from
sunrise to sunset Sikandra is
named after Sultan Sikandar
Lodi, the Delhi ruler who was in
power from 1488-1517,
immediately preceding the rise
of Moghul power on the
sub-continent. The baradi
Palace, in the mausoleum gardens
was built by Sikandar Lodi.
Across the road from the
mausoleum is the delhi gate and
between Sikandra and agra are
several tombs and two minars
milestones
Other
The
Kinari Bazaar or old market
place is an interesting place to
wander around. It's in the old
part of Agra, near the fort, and
the narrow alleys of the market
start near the Jami masjit girls
beckon to single neni from
upsatirs balconies of the Malka
Bazaar in the old city city.
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