Mon, Nov 23 - The Taj Mahal

We got up at 5 AM and met the group at the bus at six for the short drive to the Taj Mahal.  It was still dark as we walked along the entry drive and found the queues to the entrance.  Men and woman have to line up separately along metal fences, and we chatted for 30 minutes until the large wooden doors creaked open and we slowly wound our way to pat-down stations.  Our bags were thoroughly searched as one cannot bring in markers, pens, note pads, books (even bird guides!), nail clippers, food.  Most of it makes sense, they want to avoid graffiti, but guide books??

The Taj Mahal was constructed as a memorial for Mumtaz Mahal by her husband, Shan Jahan, after she died giving birth to her fourteenth child in 1631.  It took 22 years to build and involved 20,000 workmen.  The perfect symmetry of the building contributes greatly to its beauty.  She is buried with her head to the north and feet to the south in the exact center of the Taj.  He was buried just to her left - the only unsymmetrical element.

    Egyptian Vultures on the Taj

It was quite misty when we arrived and it gradually lifted a bit.  We entered the west gate and walked through a large red sandstone structure through which you can see the white marble Taj. and its reflection in the long pool leading up to it.  It is such a familiar sight to everyone, but amazingly large and much more beautiful when you can see the details up close.  When we reached the raised marble platform on which it stands, we put on paper booties so as to not scuff or damage the surface.  The Taj backs up onto the Yamuna River and we watched birds fishing and wading in the water before going inside to view the crypts surrounded by large intricately-carved marble screens with inlaided images of flowers made from semi-precious stones.  We slowly made our way back to the east gate, past large crowds of Indian and Japanese tourists.

    White-throated Kingfisher

    Rose-ringed Parakeet

   Taj detail

We found our bus and returned to our hotel for breakfast at 10:30, packed up and set off.  Bryan took us to a marble shop where we saw a demonstration of how the tiny chips of colored stones are cut and polished, by men sitting on the floor and operating a crude devise to whirl a wheel and slowly shape the stone. Another workman cuts precise slits in a slab of marble for the stone to be glued in.   I even tried my hand at it!  We then went into the sales office and saw, and bought some of the beautifully inlayed marble pieces.

                                         Trying my hand at polishing stones!

We then went to yet another World Heritage site,  Fatehpur Sikri, a city built by Akbar of red sandstone in 1571 and abandoned 14 years later after two years of drought.  It is surrounded by an immense red wall and contains a mosque still in use today and three palaces, one for each of his three wives, one a Hindu, one a Muslim, and one a Christian.

He open-mindedly allowed each wife to maintain her own religion. In one room we could see traces of the vividly painted ceiling using crushed semiprecious stones as pigment.

    Fatehpur Sikri

Our terrific history guide left us at this point and we drove for an hour, entering, at last, the state of Rajasthan.  We passed through bustling markets and past artfully arranged piles of patties of straw mixed with cow dung for fuel.

    Cow pie fuel

We drove through an unattractive little village and turned into a leafy long drive,taking us to The Bagh, a wonderful hotel set in an ancient royal mango orchard.  There are several pavilions separated by long paths.  The rooms have marble floors and baths, antique furniture, with a wide marble porch out front.  We got an hour to unpack and relax and walked over to the restaurant at seven for baskets of warm roti, beer and a variety of good dishes.