Agra - January 2001

Agra - Agra Fort and Taj Mahal - 30-31 Jan 2001

At Agra we visited two spectacular examples of Mughal architecture: the gigantic red sandstone Agra Fort, and Shah Jahan's concisely beautiful Taj Mahal.

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   first day: Agra Fort - completed by emperor Akbar in 1562, the year of his marriage to a daughter of the Rajput raja of Amber. A century later, Shah Jahan spent his final years here under house arrest in marble chambers overlooking the river Jamuna, with his beloved Taj Mahal in the distance. His son Aurangzeb had installed him there, partly to prevent him from further draining the royal treasury by building a second Taj, this time from black marble, on the opposite shore of the Jamuna.

gorgeous tile-work, and red sandstone

Joe, Richard, WA, Trish, Sherrie, Gene

curious bystander

Irma, Sonja, Mary L.,
Mary A, Joy & Rick

from the great courtyard

Warren & Mary

Hindu temple

looking out onto the Jamuna R.

Mary

Warren,
with resident

the Taj Mahal,
across the Jamuna River

Warren, Shah Jahan's marble quarters

    From Dream to Dream

    Out of an Emperor's sorrow (for all things done by man
    Dwelt once with dreams and fancies) the Taj Mahal began,
    And all the gazing thousands pass heedless of the woe
    Of Shah Jehan the Emperor, three hundred years ago.

    But seen on azure evenings from over Akbar's tomb,
    Pale pink on the horizon, across the gathering gloom;
One side a floating shadow, the other side a gleam;
    The Taj Mahal at twilight goes home again to dream.

    - Lord Dunsany, from Mirage Water, 1939

second day: Taj Mahal - built by Akbar's grandson Shah Jahan, from 1630 to 1652, by 22,000 craftsmen. Generally understood to be an exercise in grieved devotion to his consort Mumtaz Mahal, who had died during the birth of their fourteenth child, it should probably also be seen as a monument to his dynasty, and to Islam.

dawn

reflected in the reflecting pool

Mary

on the way up to the base

Sharon and Bob

deciphering tilework

entrance

adjacent gatehouse

WA exiting

WA exiting, in samadhi

Paul, WA, Theresa

the whole group

sunrise illumination

departure

prototype minarets, nearby

our Mercury Man in Agra

at the Mughal Sheraton: Phil, Lenore, Thomas Parker, Tom, Mary Ellen