Taj Mahal: Week 6 / Day 42 / Feb 21
Agra, India: Despite my best attempts to end up missing it, I am off to see the Taj Mahal today. Since I imagine most people are fairly familiar with the story behind this monument I won’t spend a lot of time discussing it. Also, due to missing the last two day’s opportunities, I will not be able to visit it at night. Although it would normally be open tonight (second night after a full moon), the complex is closed tonight. It is normally closed on Friday’s for worship services at the mosque onsite and will be closed today at sundown.
Arriving at the complex was a bit tricky as the tuk-tuk that I rode dropped me off about a half mile from the entrance at a traffic circle with no clear directions on where to go. After wandering through some neighborhoods with the help of Google Maps, I arrived to purchase my ticket.
After walking through a small gate I was in a large courtyard. This courtyard had three entrances from the outside. The gates to the east and the west are in honor of the second and third place wives of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (the first place wife had 14 children with the Emperor while the others had none). The south gate was the workers’ gate through which the builders would come in each day. The building of the Taj Mahal employed 20,000 workers for 22 years. Expressed in today’s USD it would have cost about $870 million to build. As fanciful as those numbers sound, seeing it in person makes them plausible.
To the north of this courtyard is the main gate that leads into the Taj Mahal complex proper.
Throughout the entirety of the Taj Mahal’s design and construction is an overriding element of symmetry. There is a mirror plane that begins outside the large gate and runs through the entire complex bisecting the Taj Mahal itself. The beginning of this line is marked on the ground outside the main gate and, when extended, this line runs directly through the queen’s tomb within the Taj Mahal.
Entering through this gate I was then in the main gardens of the complex.
A view back towards the gate I just passed through reveals that it is also symmetrical front to back.
Flanking the massive, white marble mausoleum are a mosque and a guest house.
Having a guest house at what is essentially an enormous mausoleum may seem like an odd design choice. However, this guest house was never intended for people to stay there. It is simply a design element to mirror the mosque on the other side. And, when you have the kind of money and resources that Shah Jahan had, what’s the big deal about building a sandstone and marble building that would be one of the largest you have ever seen if built somewhere else, just to preserve symmetry? As to the obvious question of: why not build a second mosque? Well, the mirhab would then be pointing directly away from Mecca if symmetry were to be preserved – kind of a bad design choice for a mosque.
Walking closer to the Taj Mahal itself the nature of the white marble is quite striking. Claimed to be the hardest marble in the world, this hardness is due to the crystalline structure of the rock. Because of this, it seems to sparkle in the sunshine when viewed up close.
Getting closer to the structure itself on the upper platform, it is possible to see the detailed work carved into the marble and the inlaid stones creating flowers and other patterns.
The precision and detail of this work is amazing. It is possible to run your hand over the inlaid stonework and feel how completely smooth the surface is. Also, the precious stones laid into the marble capture and reflect light in unique ways adding an element to the patterns.
Unfortunately, it is not allowed to take pictures from within the mausoleum itself. In fact, it is not possible to see the actual tombs of the queen and Shah Jahan. These are located in the basement and visitors instead see faux-tombs that are on the upper level.
Exiting through the back of the structure leads to the Yamuna river.
Across the river is the alleged site of the Black Taj Mahal. Although this story appears to have been invented at a later date and has little basis in fact. What is true, is that Shah Jahan was overthrown by his son some years after completing the Taj Mahal (something about wasting the country’s money and not spending it on the people) and imprisoned for 8 years up the river at Fort Agra.
One of the interesting features that was pointed out to me when viewing the exterior up close was the use of inlay and illusion to create extra design elements.
Shown above are two different views of the same column. This column only has three sides, however, due to the onyx inlay and the patterning, it appears to be half of an eight pointed star column.
At this point, I headed back towards the main gate and took a couple of pictures along the way as I left.
As I left I also saw the tomb of one of the less favored wives (white dome building).
I took a tuk-tuk to a nearby restaurant before heading back to the apartment. Since it was only about a mile and a half back to the apartment, I decided to walk back. Along the way I passed a number of pups out playing on the ground.
After looking through and sorting / deleting my pictures later, I came to the sad realization that I had taken almost as many pictures of the puppies as I had of the Taj Mahal. Be glad I did not post them all.
The neighborhoods I walked through on my way back were some of the poorest I have seen on this trip. But, I was still yelled to from almost every house or business. Usually just “hello!”, but also wanting to know where I was from. I have come to the definitive conclusion that I could never get away with a crime in India. I think every single person in this area would be able to account for my whereabouts and tell the police exactly where I was and when. Blend in, I do not.
After walking back to the apartment, I called it a day and stayed in for the night.
