India Trip: Day 4, Taj Majal

Day 4 got off to an early start.  Our driver told us to be ready to go at 6:00am, so we could be at the Taj Mahal for sunrise.  The Taj Mahal is surrounded by beautiful park grounds, which were PACKED!  We couldn't believe how crowded it was at 6:00 in the morning.  And not with tourists--these were people jogging, reading, having coffee, walking with their kids on hike/bike trails like it was a sunny Saturday afternoon.  Once we approached the actual Taj Mahal grounds, we saw how relatively empty the place was because it was off-season.  We breezed right through rope lanes that were meant to queue thousands of people, thankful that we weren't there a month or two earlier.  

"It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal.  Taj Mahal is regarded by many as the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements from Islamic, Persian, Ottoman Turkish and Indian architectural styles.  While the white domed marble mausoleum is the most familiar component of the Taj Mahal, it is actually an integrated complex of structures. The construction began around 1632 and was completed around 1653, employing thousands of artisans and craftsmen.

The Taj Mahal was constructed using materials from all over India and Asia and 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.  A labour force of twenty thousand workers was recruited across northern India. Sculptors from Bukhara, calligraphers from Syria and Persia, inlayers from southern India, stonecutters from Baluchistan, a specialist in building turrets, another who carved only marble flowers were part of the thirty-seven men who formed the creative unit." (wikipedia)

The main gateway that leads into the complex.  The Taj Mahal is surrounded on three sides by walls and gateways (the fourth side backs up to the river).  

Check out that ceiling!  You can see each individual facet carved into the red sandstone.

Our tour guide was full of facts about how the engineers built everything to line up exactly (this gateway lines up exactly with the dome of the Taj itself).  We marveled at how they could do that with no modern equipment or CAD programs.

And here it is!  Wow.  It was absolutely stunning.  We were afraid that we would be disappointed after already seeing so many buildings that were built of similar materials and in a similar style.  And you always hear about things not living up to their reputation when you finally see them in person.  This was not the case for the Taj Mahal.  It was all that we had expected and more.  Amazing!

Reflecting pool in front.  There were lots of people trying to take pictures, but everyone was very diplomatic about taking turns so that everyone could get their postcard shot.

Here you can see how the four outside towers appear to be leaning slightly out.  This was done on purpose--in case of the towers toppling, they would fall to the outside without damaging the building.

You can see the sunlight from the sun coming up on the right.  It was a beautiful morning.

Now this is why people go to see it at sunrise and sunset.  Can you see the stones glittering?  When the sun hits the inlaid stones at sunrise, the whole building sparkles.  

The chevron pattern on the pillars is all inlay work.  More sparkles.

If you look closely, you can see the metal rings screwed it all over the top of the dome.  These were installed during a war with Pakistan and used to tie down coverings to camouflage and protect the Taj Mahal.  In 1947 (and again in 1965 and 1971), scaffoldings were erected to mislead bomber pilots.

Close-up shot of the inlaid stones.  

Inlay work and intricate stone carvings of flowers and plants.

Another stone screen.  Each section of the screen is carved from one slab of marble.

I love the geometric gardens.  Again, these gardens don't have anything on England, but interesting for sure.

Trent and Jamie through one of the screenholes.  Our tour guide was also a budding photographer and knew all the good shots.

Looking out from the back of the Taj Mahal across the river.  A longstanding myth tells how Shah Jahan planned to build a matching mausoleum for himself out of black marble across the river.  According to his plans, the reflections of the spires of the two would touch in the river.  Unfortunately for him, the cornerstones were the only thing that was completed because his son overthrew him and locked him up.  Recently, it was discovered that the stones were really just darkened white marble and were part of a reflecting pool with an amazing view of the Taj Mahal, showing Shah Jahan's love of symmetry.

More sparkles.

All in all, it was fabulous.  

In all honesty, the experience was dampened only slightly when we were followed (and surrounded) by some shady characters as we were leaving the site.  A couple of guys struck up a "friendly conversation" with Trent and the tour guide, and several others were walking "nonchalantly" around all of us.  This is a common technique of pickpockets (someone provides a distraction while the other one carries out the crime).  I was carrying the camera, so I just hugged it and tried to look mean.  They hounded us for a very stressful 15 minutes as we made our way back to the car.  The tour guides aren't allowed to say run block for us and say "buzz off" because they have to face these guys every day and would be ostracized for siding with the foreigners.  (Often, our tour guides would warn us ahead of time, and then appear "objective" in front of the hawkers/pickpockets).  Our trip was filled with these dichotomies, which made it hard to wholeheartedly LOVE the experience.  But we did love so many things about it!