The Wonderful Taj Mahal!

---

26th December 2006, Agra, Rajasthan

We were up at 5:30am after staying up until almost 1am uploading photos to the blog. We took the "Taj Express" train from Delhi to Agra, sleeping most of the way.

At midday we took cycle rickshaws to the Agra Fort, which is very close to the Taj Mahal. The Fort was built by Emperor Akbar, the 3rd Mughal (Muslim) emperor, and grandfather of Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal. For the last 8 years of his life, Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his own son, who wanted the throne, in the Agra Fort - but luckily he had a view of the Taj Mahal.

The fort is made mainly of red sandstone and was begun in 1565. Emperor Akbar, though not exactly pure as driven snow, is famous for his tolerance of all religions - and for this reason, there is symbology from many religions in the fort: Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism and there is even gothic symbolism.

Although the fort is referred to as such, it was more accurately a "fortified castle"; i.e. people resided permanently here but with extra security, including a wet and dry moat.

Swastikas are present throughout the fort because they represented the fact that the Mughals were Aryans (note this is all from the tour guide and not substantiated).

While most of the red fort is made, as its name suggests, from red sandstone, Shah Jahan added parts in his favourite material - white marble (of which the Taj is entirely constructed). On the marble there is beautiful inlay work called "pietra dura", which is where precious and semi-precious stones are worked into the marble. Unfortunately people had been stealing the gems and now the marble section is viewed from behind a screen.

The Mughals certainly knew how to live in wondrous splendour. Although the red fort is now a decaying representation of former glory, the past extravagances are still clear. For example, there are numerous "perfume fountains" within the castle, which gave off a beautiful scent, and which created optical illusions.

On the side of one wall there is an area of destruction which is from the British launching a canon into the side of the castle.

Agra Fort is said to have "saved the Taj Mahal" according to recently-recovered documents showing that the British eventually intended to pull up and sell off the marble of the Taj Mahal. Luckily the British took the marble from A.F. first and had left India before they got around to destroying the Taj.

Agra Fort has suffered a lot from people engraving their names, which is very frustrating.

In the afternoon we finally made it to the red sandstone gates of the Taj Mahal. When I stepped through the second red sandstone barrier, and the Taj Mahal panned out before me, I had tears in my eyes!

The Taj Mahal, as I have already said, was built by Shah Jahan. It was built between 1631 and 1653, in memory of his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who had died giving birth to their fourteenth child. Shah loved Mumtaz so much that it said his hair turned grey within weeks after her death.

A crucial part of the Taj Mahal is its complete, obsessive symmetry. Where a red sandstone mosque exists on one side of the white marble part, an identical red sandstone building is built on the other, though it is not a mosque.

However, there is one unique part which is not symmetrical. When you enter the mausoleum, you immediately Mumtaz's false grave in the centre. Strangely though, Shah Jahan's grave is seemingly crammed in next to it.

When Shah Jahan died, his son (who had imprisoned him) would not give funds for his burial - and so his false tomb was placed next to Mumtaz's. How ironic and tragic that Shah Jahan's tomb is the one element destroying the perfect symmetry about which he was so passionate!

27th December 2006, Agra, Fatepur Sikri, Bharatpur

Perhaps in a mad moment, we decided to get up at 4:30am in the freezing cold and wet and go back to the Taj Mahal. Bleary eyed and headachey, we stepped out of the hotel into the starry night (yes, the stars were still very clear!), and caught a cycle-rickshaw to the entry gates.

While it had been very busy the day before, we were delighted to find that for about fifteen minutes it was just the four of us and the Taj Mahal! While we hadn't been able to get near the "Princess Diana" seat the day before, now we were able to fumble around in the dark to it and watch the sun rise. It was worth all the trouble! Out of the night came the beautiful silhouette of the Taj, and slowly as the sun rose the marble changed colour from pink to orange to white.

After breakfast we were on to Fatepur Sikri - the afore mentioned Akbar's abandoned city. It was abandoned shortly after Akbar's death due to the lack of water.

To give you an idea, Fatepur Sikri was not really a city as much as a large palace for the king, his queens and 326 concubines! As with the Agra Fort, it is made from red sandstone.

In Fatepur Sikri, capital punishment was carried out by an elephant crushing the offender's skull. For each person killed, a stake was placed on a special monument. There were 78 stakes present.

Akbar employed many eunuchs to do his work, in order that the young men did not do ALL his work.

In fact, A LOT of the palace seemed to be dedicated to women and fornicating with them. A large chess-like board was painted on the ground and Akbar would move the young, colourfully dressed women around on the board as though they were chess pieces.

After all our work touring Fatepur Sikri, we ate a wonderful lunch of "thali": you are served with many stainless steel bowls of all kinds of food, including home-made goat curd, dhal, chappathi and saag (in this instance). For desert we had lovely rice puddings.

I decided to go for a walk by myself down the street and I came across an elderly man and his grandson making something mysterious with large green leaves. When I asked what they were making, a local man interpreted, and told me that the elderly man was making a kind of sweet called "paan". The basic idea of paan is that a large green betel leaf is washed and dried on a cloth. Then spices such as anise and cardomom and rose seeds are placed inside. The leaf is then folded into a triangular shape.

Although it really defied any common sense, I quickly rammed the spice filled leaf, dripping in Ganesh-knows-what-water, into my mouth. This was much to the amusement of the village men, who watched as my face turned from white to red and tears poured out of my eyes. I then got the giggles, which they thought was even funnier. I hurried back to the restaurant to find a serviette and I spat it out. The Indian group leader was horrified that I tried pan at all, and even more horrified that I tried to chew it in the centre of my mouth (apparently it is much more bearable in the side of your mouth).

Anyhow I am still here, now that I have a cast-iron stomach! Hehe.

Later in the afternoon, we headed to Bharatpur and its Keoladeo National Park, famous for birds. We took a relaxing cycle rickshaw ride through the national park and saw many animals and birds including herons, which were much larger than I realised.

28th December 2006

In the morning we set off to a very rural part of Rajasthan not in the Lonely Planet - Madogargh. We were fortunate enough to stay in a very special place - the Madogargh Fort, which is over 500 years old. It was absolutely enchanting and has been very well preserved. The view from the top was spectacular (as you might expect of a fort) and we watched the sun set over the local village and surrounding Rajasthani desert. The Rajasthani children love to play with kites and it was fun to watch them wrestle with them. Camels and goats and peacocks and piglets abound. You could watch the ladies in their vibrant attire go about their business like little dots in a maze.

At night we had a lovely buffet dinner dressed up in Rajasthani clothing. The young, dazzling wife of the house, who could be no older than 18, dressed me very efficiently - tucking and pulling and stretching in a most professional manner. She told me most matter-of-factly: "The skirt has a drawstring so that when you get pregnant or fat you do not have to bother your husband for more clothing."

29th December 2006

Today we drove to Jaipur, or the "pink city" because all its buildings are painted pink. On the way we stopped at the beautiful Amber fort, set atop a hill surrounded by a large fence which rivals the Great Wall of China. Jaipur was painted pink in 1876 to welcome the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII). The old pink city is encircled by a large pink "fence" (which is probably 15m high!)

This afternoon we wanted around the Old Pink City and through its various bazaars. The colours and sounds were amazing - the smells less amazing due to the on-street urinals.

Now we are back at the hotel and are seeing "Dhoom-2" - a Bollywood equivalent of Mission Impossible (I think).

---

Photos

Coca Cola in Damage Control
After some Coke-related health scares, Coke enlists a major Bollywood star to repair their reputation.

Jalebi Vendor, Old Delhi
This man is making a sweet called Jalebi, which tastes a bit like deep fried sugar. Wait a minute...

In Rajasthani dress at Madogargh
Andrew and Cliff were making jokes that Lauren and I had to do what they said in those clothes. Hmph!