Agra: The Taj Mahal

The group of ten that we were with in Varanasi split up, with three people heading back to Dehli and the rest of us going towards Agra. Sarika had used her families travel agent to book us a very nice, and expensive hotel in Agra. The name of the hotel was Palace Place and was a 4 star hotel. Even though the last place we stayed was pretty nice this was a significant upgrade and I nice break from the regular pace here. I have never been so happy or surprised at the fact that there was shower curtains in the bathroom. Along with the hotel the travel agent had booked us a car and a guide to show us around Agra. The first place we visited was Fatespur Sikri which was about 40 km outside of Agra. This city/palace was built to replace Agra as the capital but after 8 years it was left behind because there was not enough water to sustain the population there. The city is like you would imagine a planned city anywhere else, with a place and a purpose for each type of activity. The architecture, design, and the palaces mint condition made this a spectacular site. The emperor had three wives (and thousands of concubines), a Hindu wife, and Muslim wife, and a Christian wife and there were complexes built for each of them with the corresponding religious symbols and patterns etched into the sandstone walls. The most elaborate was the complex for his Hindu wife. This was because it was the Hindu wife that gave him his only son.

Another very cool feature of this city was how it was built with a natural AC system. The town was on a ridge next to a lake (that is dried up now) so that the cool air from the lake would flow over the hot stone walls of the town. In the kings bedroom water flowed from the wall and flooded the floor of the room. The huge bed was raised about 8 feet off the ground so that the cooling evaporation from the water below would keep the room cool. Also, everything was designed so that air could flow. Most buildings were almost entirely open designs supported by many arches.
We then left the main complex and walked a little way down a road to a Mosk. This Mosk reminded me of the Jamal Masjid in New Delhi but it was a lot nicer. On one side there was small white marble temple that was the tomb of the emperor. We were there during the pray call so we got so see hundreds of people clean for worship in a small pool in the middle of the complex and then go over and line up along one of the walls where they did their prayers.

Next we visited the Agra Fort. Initially our tour guide tried to convince us that we didn't really want to go inside the fort because there wasn't that much to see. We eventually overruled him and I am glad we did. The inside was very cool and it was ten times better than the Red Fort in New Delhi. This fort was actually designed with the intention of defense. There was a mote and then a guard wall and then a space in between another higher defensive wall where our guide said that the put lions, tigers, and other mean animals. This fort was the place that Shah Jahan was imprisoned after making the Taj Mahal. The story goes that Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son because he was power hungry and wanted to make an identical black Taj Mahal across the river from the one he built for his wife Mumtaz Muhal. You can still see what we were told were the remains of the beginnings of his palace across the river. From the Agra Fort there was a great view of the Taj Mahal.


The amazing Taj Mahal. We woke up early the next morning to view it at sunrise because the white marble is suppose to reflect the colors of the sky and sun so that it is supposed to change colors as the morning progresses. There was tons of people and you had to wait in line at most of the coveted picture stops, but this didn't bother me. Even with all its build up this was truly something special. One picture I took after walking through the arch of the entrance courtyard appears as if the Taj Mahal is photoshoped into the picture, and this is how it feels. Shah Jahan was very much into symmetry and the this palace he built for his wife exemplifies it. The only asymmetrical part is the inside where Mumtaz Mahal is buried in the exact center of the room and Shah Jahan is buried in a bigger tomb off to one side. Of course he had no control over this and I don't think he would have been very happy about it. The inside was the only disappointing thing about the Taj. It was dimly lit and you could only walk around the middle of it. It was not nearly as big as you would imagine from the outside, but we could only see a small part of it. The one cool thing about the inside (it was also on the outside) was the precious gems that were inlaid into the white marble creating beautiful patterns and pictures of flowers. All of this of course was done by hand by some of the 20,000 artisans used to build the Taj Mahal.

The rest of the day we spent eating a luxurious breakfast and packing up our bags. Josh, Sarika, and Roshan would be heading back to Delhi, while me Anna, Chris, Sydni and me would be heading on to Jaipur.