Taj Mahal
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
On Tuesday we grabbed a morning bus from Khajuraho to Jhansi. After a greasy lunch of fried samosas and kichoris and excited questioning from several engineering students we boarded a crowded train to Agra. In Agra a friendly mototaxi driver named Bobby took us to the Taj Ganj neighborhood and offered to give us a day tour of Agra on the following day for Rs500. We agreed.
In the early evening we climbed to the roof of our hotel (avoiding an angry looking rhesus macaque) to catch our first glimpse of the Taj Mahal. Even in the waning light the building was impressive. For dinner we made our way past numerous rickshaw touts to Joney’s Place restaurant where I tried mughal biryani and Beth Ann went with the old standby malai kafta. Joney’s banana lassi was one of the best I’ve had in India. Back at our hotel we chatted with a friendly hotel staffer who had emigrated from an area near Nepal to India in 1991. He had learned English over the years from visiting tourists.
Lodging: Hotel Siddarth
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Agra Fort entrance gate
We got up early and ate breakfast at Joney’s Place with a German woman who is spending six months (!) in India. By 6am we had passed through the security checkpoint into the Taj Mahal grounds. We entered the inner compound through the impressive red sandstone gateway building and were instantly awestruck by the classic postcard view of the Taj Mahal reflected in the narrow pools of the ornamental gardens. Beth Ann and I both agreed that this is one world landmark that lives up to the hype.
The Taj was built by Shah Jahan as a memorial and mausoleum for his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their fourteenth child in 1631. The complex was not completed until 1653. Shortly thereafter Shah Jahan was overthrown by his son Aurangzeb and imprisoned in nearby Agra Fort where he could only gaze out at the memorial until his death in 1666 when he was interred here alongside Mumtaz. The Taj is noted for its finely carved jali (detailed marble screens) and ornate pietra dura (marble inlay work) made with thousands of semiprecious stones. Twenty thousand people from India and Central Asia worked on the building.
We toured the interior of the Taj and viewed the cenotaphs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan (the actual tombs are in a locked room below the main chamber). Outside we noted that the main building is identical from all four sides. We also took in the four white minarets, the red sandstone mosque to the west, and the symmetrical jawab to the east. In the small museum we viewed celadon plates which supposedly split into pieces or change color if the food served on them is poisoned. Strolling the grounds we spotted a mongoose.
After visiting the Taj Mahal we began our whirlwind tour of Agra. Bobby wasn’t feeling well so he passed us off to the decidedly less friendly and more toutish Bubaloo (Beth Ann thinks we were suckered into another scam). The first stop was Agra Fort, which was constructed by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1565. The fort was built primarily as a military structure, but Shah Jahan used it as a palace, and later it became his prison after his son seized power in 1658. The fort was crowded with domestic and international tourists and we were warmly greeted by a group of Bangladeshi students.
Next stop – lunch! Fending off Bubaloo’s commission seeking restaurant recommendations we headed it to the Lakshmi Vilas restaurant for South Indian dosas (large savoury crepe) and idli (spongy, round, fermented rice cake).
Following lunch we headed to Akbar’s Mausoleum. Emperor Akbar is buried in a sprawling sandstone and marble tomb 10km northwest of the city center. The gateway building, with its large minarets and inlaid white-marble patterns, is almost more impressive the mausoleum itself.
Ignoring Bubaloo’s suggestions to visit various shops and bazaars we returned to Agra proper and continued across the river to the riverside tomb of Afzal Khan known as Chini-ka-Rauza. Khan was a poet who served as Shah Jahan’s chief minister. The building is in disrepair and there wasn’t a lot to see except groups of children playing on the grounds.
Marble inlay work (pietra dura) at the Baby Taj
Itimad-ud-Daulah was one of my favorite sites in Agra. Nicknamed the Baby Taj, this building is the tomb of Mizra Ghiyas Beg, a Persian nobleman who was Mumtaz Mahal’s grandfather. His daughter Nur Jahan built the tomb between 1622 and 1628. The building is noted for its finely carved jali (marble lattice screens), is constructed entirely from marble and makes extensive use of pietra dura. The site was much more peaceful and less crowded than the Taj.
On the way to our last stop Bubaloo stopped for a cigarette and our mototaxi was besieged by a group of children chanting “Hi” in English and trying to shake our hands. Continuing on we visited the Mehtab Bagh park on the east bank of the Yamuna river, originally built by Emperor Babur. From the park, also known as the Moon Garden, one can see across the river to the Taj Mahal, which by this point was swarming with hundreds of tourists.
Beth Ann wasn’t feeling well in the evening so I grabbed dinner by myself at Joney’s Place. On the way back to the hotel I stopped by one of several marble inlay workshops and was amazed at the exquisitely detailed items for sale, including handmade jewelry boxes, plates, and table tops inlaid with various semiprecious stones in the identical style as the Taj Mahal.
Lodging: Hotel Siddarth