Sunday, January 25, 2009
Agra (Part 1)
Our first stop before Agra was actually Mathura, the birthplace of Lord Krishna. Hundreds of years ago, Hindus and Muslims were having this architectural showdown where Hindus would build a temple, then Muslims would build a bigger mosque, and the Hindus would build an even bigger temple, and so on and so forth. Sometimes they would destroy each others buildings too. So this is kind of what happened in Mathura. Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed (it's a temple, see), but there was an intact temple, a ruined temple, and a mosque built practically on top of it.
Our next stop was Sikandra, the tomb of Akbar The Great (grandfather of Shah Jahan). Seeing Humayun's tomb and Akbar's, we were blown away by the immensity and beauty of these Mughal mausoleums. They were engineered such such exact proportions and symmetry. And this was before we saw the Taj.
^This is just the gate into Sikandra.
The tomb from the outside.
And the actual burial place itself. Note: the flower garland is a Hindu thing. I don't know who did it.
Sikandra was nice and peaceful since there were relatively few people around. But as drove closer to Agra, where the Taj Mahal is located, traffic increased considerably. It was a good two or three hours before we got out of line and into the front quadrangle before the Taj Mahal's gate. This is what it looks like.
And here, in all its beauty and splendor, is the Taj Mahal itself. I will take credit for this picture.
My brother admires the marble carvings and gem inlay. Later that day, we went to a crafts emporium in Agra which employs the actual descendants of the people who did the semi-precious stone inlay for the Taj Mahal.
See the orange and green flowers? They were actually semi-precious stones fitted into the marble. First, a mold was carved into the marble and then, the stone itself was cut, shaped, and polished so that it would fit exactly into the groove. In the crafts shop, I got to see this being done firsthand. It's very, very delicate and precise work.
Behind the Taj. See that minar (turret)? The way it is built, it is actually angled slightly away from the main building itself so that its center of gravity lies outside the square. In case of an earthquake, it will not fall onto the main building and destroy the tomb.
I am going to make a picasa web album with all the pictures I took of the Taj Mahal and other cool places in this area. You must look at them, because I cannot upload them all here.
I'm going to stop for now, so...next stop! Agra Fort.
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Monkey trainer! That's awesome.
ReplyDeleteI stayed in a hotel that was walking distance from the Taj. It's too bad it was impossible to walk without being thrown into a cycle rickshaw for 5 rupees.
You transported yourself by the physical effort of another human being? Shameful.
ReplyDeleteActually, it beats going in autos which run on diesel.