Perhaps because the image of the Taj is so familiar, seeing it for the first time felt surreal. As I stepped through the main gate the Taj seemed afloat in mid-air, shimmering like a chimera with its lily-white minarets and domes.

Agra Travel Diary Part 1: The History of the Taj

“You knew, Shah Jahan, (that) life and youth, wealth and glory, they all drift away in the current of time. You strove, therefore, to perpetuate only the sorrow of your heart…Let the splendour of diamonds, pearls, and rubies vanish like the magic shimmer of the rainbow. Only let this one tear-drop, this Tajmahal, glisten spotlessly bright on the cheek of time, forever and ever.

O King, you are no more. Your empire has vanished like a dream, your throne lies shattered…your minstrels sing no more, your musicians no longer mingle their strains with the murmuring (river) Yamuna…Despite all this, the courier of your love, untarnished by time, unwearied, unmoved by the rise and fall of empires, unconcerned with the ebb and flow of life and death, carries the ageless message of your love from age to age: ‘Never shall I forget you, beloved, never.’

– By Rabindranath Tagore (translated by Kshitish Roy) 

You might have heard the story behind the Taj before but just in case you haven’t, here goes. Emperor Shah Jahan (1592-1666 AD) met and fell in love with his third wife in a marketplace called Meena Bazaar where she was a lowly shopgirl hawking her wares. She was just 19 when they were married and he anointed her Mumtaz Mahal or “Jewel of the Palace”. She bore him no less than 14 children in the 19 years they were married. Quite frankly I would have flown into a murderous rage by the end of such an ordeal no matter how much the man claimed to love me! Little surprise then that she died due to complications in childbirth at the age of 38. The disconsolate king ordered the building of a magnificent mausoleum the likes of which the world had never seen.

No expense was spared with the finest quality white marble sourced from Rajasthan and the most renowned architects and craftsmen brought in from all parts of the Mughal empire and as far as Persia. It took 22 years, 22000 workers and 32 million rupees (about $800 million in today’s terms) to build. Some cynics hold the view that the Taj was not so much about a grieving husband memorialising his beloved wife, but rather a self-aggrandising and somewhat foolish emperor nearly bankrupting his treasury for a vanity project.

Well, whatever his motivation if his aim was to create a world-famous monument of outstanding beauty, he certainly succeeded. Apparently when it was being inaugurated someone remarked that it resembled a “votive prayer rising to the sky”. Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Agra Travel Diary Part 2: Visiting the Taj

So what is it about the Taj that makes it so damn pleasing to the eyes? Some say its the meticulous symmetry of its dimensions. Some say it is the translucence of the white marble which causes the monument to take on ever-changing hues – from peachy coral at sunrise, glittering white at noon, to a honeyed haze at sunset. Others believe its the beautiful inlay work (called pietra dura) with precious and semi-precious stones which glint and sparkle when they catch the sun. One thing is clear. A lot of thought and painstaking effort went into designing each aspect of the monument. From building it atop a raised platform so it can be seen in its entirety from a distance, to positioning it at the far end of expansive gardens with a long reflective channel of water in front to produce a mirror-inverted image, every detail seems designed to produce the picture-perfect frame. 

Shah Jahan probably chose the western bank of the river Yamuna as the Taj’s location for aesthetic reasons as well. There were already elaborate Mughal gardens built on the eastern bank which would provide the perfect vantage point to view the Taj and its moonlit reflection in the river. A lesser known fact is that the Taj is built on a subterranean network of wells cased with wood. This was a common engineering technique when building monuments, bridges etc. near water bodies. The digging of deep wells would lower the water table in the area and filling them up with concrete and mortar would provide a strong and stable foundation.

The main gate of the Taj complex, the Darwaza-i-Rauza, is a rectangular passageway made of red sandstone inlaid with white marble. There are narrow collonaded galleries on top with little chhatris (umbrella-like domes common in Hindu-Rajput architecture) – 22 in all for each year it took to build the Taj. There is an interesting optical illusion here. When you’re standing outside the gate and looking through the open doorway, the Taj seems very near. But as you step through the gate, it suddenly appears much smaller and further away! 🤔

Another optical illusion is how the four minarets surrounding the Taj seem upright when they were actually built as slightly tilting outwards. This is so that if ever a natural disaster like an earthquake strikes, the minarets fall away from the main mausoleum and do not damage it.

Once you enter through the main gate, you have to first walk through the gardens which follow the Persian charbagh design. The gardens are divided into four main quadrants which are each subdivided into four smaller quadrants. They are demarcated by water channels to symbolise the four rivers of milk, honey, wine and water that flow in Islamic Paradise. Flowering bushes, cypress and fruit trees and fountains are some of the decorative features which further the “paradisiacal” effect. 

There are two identical buildings made of red sandstone on either side facing the Taj. One is a mosque, the other doesn’t really have a purpose but was built in the interest of maintaining architectural harmony. Under the giant portal arches of the mosque is one of the best spots from where to photograph the Taj. 

The interior of the Taj follows the Hasht-Behesht floor plan with a central chamber surrounded by eight rooms. Hasht-Behesht means “eight heavens” in Persian. Inside the central chamber, the cenotaphs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan are enclosed within an octagonal marble latticework screen inlaid with precious stones in exquisite lotus-shaped designs. Our guide said each lotus flower was made up of 64 delicately cut petal-shaped pieces. Unfortunately, photography is not permitted inside the Taj…

Thankfully, the outer walls also display inlay work with precious stones like jade, coral, carnelian, onyx, amethyst, mother-of-pearl, sapphire, turquoise and lapis lazuli. There are floral arabesque and geometric designs along with Quranic calligraphy in-line with Islamic principles of art. The lettering of the Quranic calligraphy, inscribed in black marble, actually varies in size with the inscriptions that are higher and further away from the observer made larger in size so as to appear uniform and easy to read no matter what the vantage point. The precision and elegance of the inlay work are what I personally found most stunning about the Taj Mahal. 

Agra Travel Diary Part 3: Agra Fort 

Agra Fort was the seat of the Mughal Empire from 1573 to 1638. It is a heavily fortified citadel enclosed by a massive 70-foot wall and a deep moat which was once filled with nasty crocodiles. The sections of the fort built by Emperor Akbar were made primarily of red sandstone while later additions made by his grandson Shah Jahan used his trademark white marble.  

The palace named Jahangir Mahal was originally built by Akbar as the zenana or women’s quarters. The entrance portal has designs in white marble which some have interpreted as being representative of all the major religions. There are six-pointed star-shaped designs which might symbolise the Jewish Star of David or the Hindu “Shatkona”. There are lotus flowers which might be symbolic of Buddhism and arched niches of Islam.

Emperor Akbar advocated a new syncretic religion called Din-i-Illahi which combined elements of all the world’s major religions. He believed this could resolve differences and lead to harmony in his empire. However well-intentioned its origins, the religion ended up morphing into something of a personality cult around Akbar himself. Unsurprisingly, it never quite took off amongst the masses and drew sharp criticism from orthodox clerics.  

Of the parts built by Akbar at Agra Fort, the most beautiful are the quarters built for his wife Jodha Bai. She was a Hindu Rajput princess and so he built a small temple for her with recesses in the walls for placing idols, along with lamps, flowers, incense and other ritual offerings. The palace has many features of Rajput architecture in tribute to her heritage, such as elaborately carved wall brackets, jharokhas (overhanging balconies in which women of the royal family could sit and watch musical performances in the courtyard), and chhatris.

The residential chamber here has perforated stone screens on the inner walls. Apparently, these screens used to be covered with thin nets woven out of perfumed grass and sprinkled with cold water. There is a narrow corridor on the other side of these screens where female attendants used to stand and wave large fans so that a scented breeze cooled the room. A somewhat labour-intensive primitive form of air conditioning! 

Akbar, who had a voracious appetite for knowledge especially when it came to religion and literature, could not read or write himself. He was determined that his son not suffer the same handicap and so built a library for him. The library has recesses in its walls where books used to be stacked. It is also one of the few places where crumbling remnants of painted murals give a sense of how these buildings might have looked in their heyday.  

The palaces and mosques constructed by Shah Jahan are the prettiest parts of the fort complex. The inner chambers of “Khas Mahal” are covered with stone bas-reliefs and gold-flecked murals with Persian-style floral motifs. There are windows covered with stone jalis (latticework screens) and niches carved into the walls which once contained portraits of the royal family. Jalis were very popular in Mughal architecture because they enabled ventilation but also mitigated the harsh glare of the sun during summer and ensured privacy. 

The other striking palace built by Shah Jahan is Musamman Burj. It has an octagonal tower and a bright and airy white marble pavilion with panoramic views across the river Yamuna of the Taj Mahal. The marble pavilion is embellished with inlay work reminiscent of the Taj and has a lotus-shaped sunken fountain in the floor. Ironically, Shah Jahan spent the last years of his life imprisoned here when his son Aurangzeb deposed him to usurp the throne. It is said his eyesight gradually weakened as he spent his days gazing at the Taj through tear-soaked eyes. 

The Diwan-i-Aam, the Hall of Public Audience is a vast open pillared pavilion with rows of multi-foliated arches. There is an alcove where Shah Jahan would sit on his famed Peacock Throne and hold court. The throne was made of gold and encrusted with rubies, emeralds and diamonds including the legendary Kohinoor. It is no longer here as it was stolen by the Persian king Nadir Shah who invaded India in 1739. But the alcove itself is lovely enough with a profusion of delicate wall niches and pietra dura work.

Back in those days, the Diwan-i-Aam was described as being “richly decorated with Gujarat and Persian gold cloth, brocaded velvet, brocades from Constantinople and China and European curtains and screens.” Can you imagine what it must have looked like then? 

Agra Travel Diary Part 4: Baby Taj 

The real name of this monument is the Tomb of Itimad-Ud-Daulah but it is more affectionately referred to as Baby Taj. Some liken it to a “jewel box” and indeed it does look like one with its white marble surfaces embedded with jasper, onyx, lapis lazuli, cornelian and topaz. It is architecturally and aesthetically quite similar to the Taj but is, in fact, an older building and might have served as an inspiration. The tomb was built by Empress Noor Jahan in 1628 for her father.

Almost every inch of the “jewel box” is embellished with geometric and floral mosaics, hand-painted murals and stone latticework screens. To top it all, unlike the Taj there is no jostling sea of tourists to contend with, affording some precious peace and quiet to appreciate the artistry at length.