Today we took a car from Delhi to Agra because we heard there was a mcdonalds there. And because we were there, we decided to see this other thing called the Taj Mahal.
When we sat down to plan this trip, we very nearly did not work this into the itinerary. We knew we wanted to see Goa and Kerala in the south, and the three hour flight from chennai to Delhi to spend two days there, a total of 8 hours of which would be spent in a car driving to and from Agra just didn't seem worth it.
Then again, we were worried that we wouldn't be taken seriously by anyone from back home if we went to India for 6 weeks and didn't get a picture of the two of us standing in front of the Taj Mahal. And since neither of us are particularly good with photoshop, we decided to make the trip.
False sarcasm above aside, it was a very exciting trip. Moriah and I went to a bazaar last evening, where if I may say so we did our haggling ancestors proud. I got a pair of shoes for ten dollars, talking the merchant down from 36. I had talked him down to 15 and he was nearly shouting at me, and actually grabbed my arm as I left the shop. He then ran out after me and offered me 10. He gave me a truly disgusted glare as I handed him the money and took the shoes. Moriah was equally successful, though did not have to resort to leaving the store. She got a nice pair of earrings for a buck fifty, down from five, and a bag for four, down from 15, and in both cases she paid exactly what she had decided before starting to barter. We celebrated with nice dinner at a place called united coffee house, which had a British imperial ambience. First time I've eaten at a restaurant with chandeliers while wearing shorts (I think).
The road to Agra was almost as good as going to the zoo; elephants, camels, and deer were abundant, though all except the deer were heading to work. The lazy deer were just hanging out eating in the fields. At a rest area we saw a monkey on a leash wearing makeup (sorry, no pictures, and its a good thing, because it was easily the creepiest thing I've seen in india).
We picked up our tour guide just outside of the gates of the taj, a nice man by the name of Aslam. He grew up in Agra, lived here his entire life, and had been a tour guide for the last year. He was relatively quiet until we walked through the main entrance, when he became a well of information about the monument, it's construction, the architects and countries involved, the perfect symmetry, and the workmen who were forced to live in Agra after its construction.
The Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal emporer Shahjahan as a memorial to his second, and favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died during the birth of her 14th child at the age of 39. On her deathbed, Mumtaz made three requests of her husband: that he not remarry, that he take care of their children, and that he build something for her that was so unique that it could not be found anywhere else in the world. Construction of the monument, initially named Mumtaz Mahal in her honor (much later shortened to Taj by the British) began in 1631, and took 22 years. The structure is a blend of Iranian, Turkish, and Arabic designs, which the emperor chose on purpose to meet the demand that the structure be unique. Black, green, and most of all white marble was used from a quary in Rajasthan, though it had to be moved by camels several hundred miles. One of the most impressive features of the structure is it's perfect symmetry, even more impressive when you consider how long ago it was built.
When it was finished, Emperor Shahjahan was very pleased by the beauty, and felt it was a perfect monument to the woman he loved. However, his advisors alerted him of a problem. All of the workers, whom he had "hired" (or captured) were now finished, and there was little work for them to do in Agra. They feared that if they simply let them go, they would return home to Iran, turkey, or the Arabian peninsula and build other Taj Mahals, thus breaking one of his late wife's last requests.
Most stories like this from the 17th century regarding "hired" labor didn't exactly work out so well for the workers, and if Aslam had told me Shahjahan had all of the workers "taken care of," I certainly would have believed him. A popular myth maintains that the Emperor made sure that the chief mason didnt work again by cutting his hand off, but our guide rejected this as pure fantasy (morbid fantasy).
The truth is still pretty interesting, however. Emperor Shahjahan had the workers begin to build another Taj Mahal across the river from the first, this time out of black marble. He was hoping that this would take another 22 years or so, thereby keeping the workers properly entertained until they could retire, thereby preventing him from having to make all 20000 of them sleep with the fishes. The foundation for this structure was started, but was put to a halt by Shahjahan's third son. This was a son of Mumtaz, and he was a bit peeved that he had two older brothers who were standing in the way of him becoming Emperor. He did the only logical thing, murdered his two brothers and imprisoned his father, and put an end to his silly monument construction hobby. He wasn't all bad, however, because he imprisoned the workers, kept them from returning to their homes to prevent them from making other monuments that would break his mother's death wish. Ok, so I guess he was all bad. On a side note, if I were Shahjahan, I would have hired fewer advisors to worry about which of my wife's last wishes I was in danger of possibly breaking, and a few more to warn me when my son was going to kill two of his brothers and imprison me.
The Taj Mahal is encircled by a large red sandstone gate that prevents you from seeing it as you walk onto the grounds. The beauty of the Taj Mahal has been the subject of many poets and writers over the years. Rudyard Kipling called it "The embodiment of all things pure." An Indian poet, Rabindranath Tagore described it as "A teardrop on the face of eternity." I am no poet, and my description will not be able to do the experience of seeing the Taj Mahal for the first time justice. But the shock of seeing this glowing white building in the distance as you walk through the gate immediately stopped our breath. Though we were entirely surrounded by the noise of an immense crowd, in that moment there was powerful solitude. I've never had such an intense reaction to a building before. Sadly, as we approached and walked the grounds, this magical feeling disapated as the building became more firmly founded in my mind. I sincerely hope that one of two things happens: either I remember exactly how seeing the Taj Mahal for the first time felt, or I completely forget it, so that the next time I see it I will have just as powerful a reaction.
The rest of the tour was more typical of India. We were taken to a marble shop, which claims to be run by descendants of the actually artisans who built the Taj Mahal. They showed us how they made the beautiful marble inlay before trying to sell us enourmous marble tables the size of our living room. Aslam took us to a jewelry store which had an assortment of earings and necklaces made with the jewels found in the Taj Mahal, where we were also given the hard sell on rubies and sapphires. We then hopped back into the car to return to Delhi, bu not before stopping one last time to see the Taj Mahal in the distance. Its beauty remained bewitching, but I am grateful the guide did not take us that route the way there, and instead allowed us to see the Taj Mahal for the first time up close. Coming to Delhi for two days was by no means convenient, but you really cannot come to India without seeing the Taj Mahal.
Dave
When we sat down to plan this trip, we very nearly did not work this into the itinerary. We knew we wanted to see Goa and Kerala in the south, and the three hour flight from chennai to Delhi to spend two days there, a total of 8 hours of which would be spent in a car driving to and from Agra just didn't seem worth it.
Then again, we were worried that we wouldn't be taken seriously by anyone from back home if we went to India for 6 weeks and didn't get a picture of the two of us standing in front of the Taj Mahal. And since neither of us are particularly good with photoshop, we decided to make the trip.
The road to Agra was almost as good as going to the zoo; elephants, camels, and deer were abundant, though all except the deer were heading to work. The lazy deer were just hanging out eating in the fields. At a rest area we saw a monkey on a leash wearing makeup (sorry, no pictures, and its a good thing, because it was easily the creepiest thing I've seen in india).
We picked up our tour guide just outside of the gates of the taj, a nice man by the name of Aslam. He grew up in Agra, lived here his entire life, and had been a tour guide for the last year. He was relatively quiet until we walked through the main entrance, when he became a well of information about the monument, it's construction, the architects and countries involved, the perfect symmetry, and the workmen who were forced to live in Agra after its construction.
The Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal emporer Shahjahan as a memorial to his second, and favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died during the birth of her 14th child at the age of 39. On her deathbed, Mumtaz made three requests of her husband: that he not remarry, that he take care of their children, and that he build something for her that was so unique that it could not be found anywhere else in the world. Construction of the monument, initially named Mumtaz Mahal in her honor (much later shortened to Taj by the British) began in 1631, and took 22 years. The structure is a blend of Iranian, Turkish, and Arabic designs, which the emperor chose on purpose to meet the demand that the structure be unique. Black, green, and most of all white marble was used from a quary in Rajasthan, though it had to be moved by camels several hundred miles. One of the most impressive features of the structure is it's perfect symmetry, even more impressive when you consider how long ago it was built. When it was finished, Emperor Shahjahan was very pleased by the beauty, and felt it was a perfect monument to the woman he loved. However, his advisors alerted him of a problem. All of the workers, whom he had "hired" (or captured) were now finished, and there was little work for them to do in Agra. They feared that if they simply let them go, they would return home to Iran, turkey, or the Arabian peninsula and build other Taj Mahals, thus breaking one of his late wife's last requests.
The truth is still pretty interesting, however. Emperor Shahjahan had the workers begin to build another Taj Mahal across the river from the first, this time out of black marble. He was hoping that this would take another 22 years or so, thereby keeping the workers properly entertained until they could retire, thereby preventing him from having to make all 20000 of them sleep with the fishes. The foundation for this structure was started, but was put to a halt by Shahjahan's third son. This was a son of Mumtaz, and he was a bit peeved that he had two older brothers who were standing in the way of him becoming Emperor. He did the only logical thing, murdered his two brothers and imprisoned his father, and put an end to his silly monument construction hobby. He wasn't all bad, however, because he imprisoned the workers, kept them from returning to their homes to prevent them from making other monuments that would break his mother's death wish. Ok, so I guess he was all bad. On a side note, if I were Shahjahan, I would have hired fewer advisors to worry about which of my wife's last wishes I was in danger of possibly breaking, and a few more to warn me when my son was going to kill two of his brothers and imprison me.
The Taj Mahal is encircled by a large red sandstone gate that prevents you from seeing it as you walk onto the grounds. The beauty of the Taj Mahal has been the subject of many poets and writers over the years. Rudyard Kipling called it "The embodiment of all things pure." An Indian poet, Rabindranath Tagore described it as "A teardrop on the face of eternity." I am no poet, and my description will not be able to do the experience of seeing the Taj Mahal for the first time justice. But the shock of seeing this glowing white building in the distance as you walk through the gate immediately stopped our breath. Though we were entirely surrounded by the noise of an immense crowd, in that moment there was powerful solitude. I've never had such an intense reaction to a building before. Sadly, as we approached and walked the grounds, this magical feeling disapated as the building became more firmly founded in my mind. I sincerely hope that one of two things happens: either I remember exactly how seeing the Taj Mahal for the first time felt, or I completely forget it, so that the next time I see it I will have just as powerful a reaction. 
Dave
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