Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal — A Symbol of Love. Love of a man to his wife. An ivory-white marble mausoleum on the south bank of the Yamuna river in the Indian city of Agra. Taj Mahal is built in 17th century by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favorite wife Mumtaz Mahal. It took more than 20 years to build this. It costed around 32 million rupees at that time. Imagine how much that will be now.
As we are growing up everyone always talk about Taj Mahal as India’s Pride. We learned history about this place. Teenage kids talk about this as symbol of Love. Always proud to be part of country’s representation in the Seven wonders of the world.
In 2008, Jan, we planned a day trip to Agra from New Delhi. We started early in the morning. Unfortunately, our taxi tire got punctured and it delayed our trip to reach Agra on time. We took a camel cart from parking lot to the entrance of the Taj Mahal.
First views of the Taj Mahal.
“The Taj Mahal was constructed using materials from all over India and Asia. It is believed over 1,000 elephants were used to transport building materials. The translucent white marble was brought from Makrana, Rajasthan, the jasper from Punjab, jade and crystal from China. The turquoise was from Tibet and the Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, while the sapphire came from Sri Lanka and the carnelian from Arabia. In all, twenty-eight types of precious and semi-precious stones were inlaid into the white marble.”
An amazing view of the Taj Mahal as walking close it it, we are in awwwwhhhhh…
The structure was made of sandstone and then covered in marble and embedded different precious stones on the marble for ornamental look. These precious stones seems to be jasper and jade. The finials were made of solid gold (Read some where that , British Imperialists later replaced these with brass).
Exterior Decorations
Each minaret is about 130 ft tall and the whole building is symmetrical with arch shaped large door way. Plinth area is a huge square and the amazing dome structure at the top. The top is like a lotus design.
Decorations
You will see so much of delicate work in the marble, flowers were hand crafted in the marble. There is so much effort went in to the details every where. This Marble art is still carried by few people in Agra even now.
When the Taj was completed, Mumtaz Mahal was entombed here, just as she wished. Shah Jahan became ill for sometime and his third son Aurangzeb, took his throne. Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son Aurangzeb in Agra Fort, across the Yamuna River, for 18 years. You can see the Taj Mahal from Agra fort. When the Shah Jahan died in prison, he had one last request. Shah Jahan wanted to spend eternity with the woman he loved. He wanted to be buried at the Taj Mahal with Mumtaz. His family honored his dying wish and Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal now lay side by side at the Taj Mahal, the most iconic tribute to love.
Some of the pictures people take at Taj Mahal , holding the top or trying to fit in the fingers..:)
My Family @TajMahal
Things to avoid
- Avoid Shopping : Avoid shopping near the tourist places. That’s what we learned after the visit here. Our Camel cart person cheated us saying entrance is closed until 12PM or so and took us to a shop. That shop owner was not letting us go and we end up buying some saris (After showing to my mom realizes there are not good quality ) and some Marble souvenir ( Taj Mahal and Ganesha) . Same story for Marble stuff, they are made out of powder marble not actual stone. We also lost lot of time there.
- Don’t listen : Do your research and don’t listen to any local people there.
- Crowd : Go early in the morning first thing to avoid crowd and to get good pictures.
Note: If possible go with Guide.
Thank You for reading.
