Taj Mahal

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We arrived in Agra in the late afternoon for our first visit to the Taj Mahal in the evening. The Taj was built in 1631 by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan for the love of his wife. She died that year giving birth to his 14th child. He was so heartbroken by her death that he had this extravagant structure built in her honor and to act as her tomb. It took over 22 years and more than 20,000 workers to complete the building process. The main mausoleum is a massive marble structure with thousands of semi-precious stones inlayed that were imported from all over Asia. Soon after being built, Shah Jahan was deposed and put under house arrest in Agra Fort by his son. Agra Fort is positioned on a hill overlooking the Taj Mahal, so the former emperor could gaze out at his masterpiece where his wife was buried.

The Taj was pretty crowded in the evening, and we only got to stay for an hour. But seeing the shadows created by the setting sun was pretty amazing. To get into the entrance you were not allowed to bring in any food, gum, or tripods. One person in our group got caught with a little 3 inch mini tripod. But luckily our bus driver was nearby to take it back to the bus, so it didn’t get confiscated.

Getting on and off our tour bus we were barraged by vendors selling souvenirs. When we got on the bus they still banged on the windows trying to make that last minute sale. If you’re going to buy something from them, you can get the best prices if you wait until you get on the bus. Since they know you’re about to get carted away, they’re a little more desperate to make the sale. Some of them were quite pushy and would even open the windows on the bus.

Early the next morning we got to the Taj just before sunrise. Again we only stayed an hour at the huge complex. But it was much less crowded and the rising sun gave a whole new set of lighting and shadows.

After returning to the hotel a couple of us went for a walk around the neighborhood. We walked into an area where they were setting up for a big wedding. There was a man with a rather large gun guarding the wedding site. He was really friendly though and gave us a tour. Going back to the hotel we passed a man holding a python around his neck outside the hotel. He was trying to get us to have our photo taken with the snake around our neck. I passed.

Later that afternoon we went for a tour of Agra Fort where the former emperor was held captive. It is a massive red-sandstone military fort built in 1565. Besides the sections used for tourism, much of the fort is still used as a military installation for the Indian army. We were then taken to a shop where they were making souvenirs out of marble and semi-precious stones just like the Taj Mahal. We were told that they are the ancestors of the people who actually built the Taj and used much the same methods for carving and inserting the stones.

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Photos

Socks over the shoes
To enter the platform around the Taj Mahal, they gave us these socks to put over our shoes.

Comments

[EricaRidley]

Wow!
Looks amazing!