the taj mahal

The Taj Mahal is an extraordinary complex of mausoleum, guest house, mosque and gardens, which is one of the seven wonders of the world. To miss the crowds, I arrived at 6 am by rickshaw as the last two miles surrounding the Taj Mahal is not open to cars. The air pollution here in Agra, as in most congested areas of India, is extreme, but cannot detract for me from the overwhelming and mystic, if also somewhat cryptic beauty of this monument of love for a lost wife.

In the 1630s, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan wanted to build a perfect memorial to his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal after she died giving birth to their 14th child. He employed twenty thousand workers, and a thousand elephants to complete the structure, which still reflects the greatest talents of Persian design.

The main focus is the white marble tomb (photography is prohibited inside) which has a spectacular marble dome. At the corners of the plinth stand four minarets, each more than 40 metres tall, and perfectly symmetrical. Because of the Islamic prohibition on the depiction of human forms, the Taj Mahal is decorated with flower and leaf motifs (inlaid with semi-precious stones), geometric patterns and Arabic calligraphy which depicts passages from the Qur'an.

The garden is meant to symbolize paradise. In contrast to the white marble of the tomb, the mosque, guest house and gatehouse are made of dark, red sandstone.