The Taj Mahal is, of course, India's most famous monument, and we would be remiss not to include it in our week. I'd heard a few reports it was an underwhelming sight, so my expectations were low. But then again, I had low expectations for Macchu Picchu and that was one of the most incredible days of my life.
I wanted to go at dawn. Our car, however, did not arrive from Delhi until 2:30am. Light is good enough at sunset anyway, it's just the crowds you have to contend with. Before our visit to the Taj, our guide took us to a place where we learned more about the inlaid stones that cover many parts of the buldings in the complex. Descendants from the original families who constructed it continue to learn and maintain the craft, and the degree of detail in the work they do is astonishing. They scrape designs into the marble and set various stones into the patterns: jade, abalone, lapiz, turquoise, onyx, and more. Some pieces of the stone are so tiny, the look like thin lines drawn with a pencil. Many people have gone blind doing this work.
So the Taj. Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan began construction of the Taj in 1632 as the mausoleum of his favorite wife, Mumataz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child. It was completed 16 years later. His sorrow and love for her is evident not just in the scale and splendor of it, but in details like the downward orientation of the flowers carved into the marble, reflecting his sadness. As anticipated it didn't blow my mind, but sharing it with thousands of others does that to you. It was the work of those inlaid stones that I found the most impressive, especially in the very inner parts of the structue where a single flower could include as many as several hundred stones.
It is still a must see, and I must say if I found a man who loved me enough to build something that remarkable in my honor, I might share him with a couple other women as well. Or maybe not.
I wanted to go at dawn. Our car, however, did not arrive from Delhi until 2:30am. Light is good enough at sunset anyway, it's just the crowds you have to contend with. Before our visit to the Taj, our guide took us to a place where we learned more about the inlaid stones that cover many parts of the buldings in the complex. Descendants from the original families who constructed it continue to learn and maintain the craft, and the degree of detail in the work they do is astonishing. They scrape designs into the marble and set various stones into the patterns: jade, abalone, lapiz, turquoise, onyx, and more. Some pieces of the stone are so tiny, the look like thin lines drawn with a pencil. Many people have gone blind doing this work.
So the Taj. Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan began construction of the Taj in 1632 as the mausoleum of his favorite wife, Mumataz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child. It was completed 16 years later. His sorrow and love for her is evident not just in the scale and splendor of it, but in details like the downward orientation of the flowers carved into the marble, reflecting his sadness. As anticipated it didn't blow my mind, but sharing it with thousands of others does that to you. It was the work of those inlaid stones that I found the most impressive, especially in the very inner parts of the structue where a single flower could include as many as several hundred stones.
It is still a must see, and I must say if I found a man who loved me enough to build something that remarkable in my honor, I might share him with a couple other women as well. Or maybe not.
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