Agra and the Taj Mahal
Wednesday - December 24, 1997
We arrived in Agra in the mid morning on Christmas eve. We traveled by way of the Shatabdi Express train in the First Class car which included a simple breakfast. We were met by our travel company representative and taken to the Mansingh Palace hotel where we met out tour guide, Punt. Punt was a delightful young man of the Brahmin caste pursuing a Masters degree in Indian literature and history. He was a knowledgable guide; charming, and often quite funny. He showed us the many monuments of Agra in the morning. The fog, however, had us worried that our planned afternoon visit to the Taj Mahal would be disappointing. We were lucky, however, because the fog lifted after noon and the Taj Mahal was devastatingly beautiful. This photograph shows a typical view of the Taj. I also took a nice panoramic landscape photo of the taj which you can view by clicking the button below (Netscape 2.0 or later users only).
The Taj Mahal was built by Emperor Shah Jahan to the memory of his beloved wife, Mumtaj Mahal, who died giving birth to his 14th child. The Taj Mahal was completed in 1648. This photograph depicts my beloved wife with her finger artfully placed to give the illusion that she is touching the tip of the taj. In reality, the Taj is enormous. I took a panoramic landscape photo of one of the minarets of the taj which you can view by clicking the button below (Netscape 2.0 or later users only). This nicely illustrates the scale of the place.
The Taj Mahal is made of translucent white marble inlaid with semi-precious and precious gems. The descendents of the craftsmen who built the Taj Mahal still live in Agra today and still create inlaid marble according to the old traditions. The photograph above shows a small plate inlaid with malachite, coral, and other gems. Below is a photograph of Kathleen observing the marble artisans in the factory in which this plate was created.
