Today another blue sky, hot day. We arrived at the Taj Mahal at 5:15. As it is a world heritage site, security is extremely strong and other than a camera and water, no other items are advised to be brought in. The Taj Mahal was built during the mogul dynasty during the 1600s. It was built for the King's favourite wife of which she was number three. It was said that the King went for a walk in the market and met his wife while she was selling diamonds for her father. The King was taken with her beauty and paid an exorbitant amount for the diamond. Three years later they were married even though she did not come from the right class and against the wishes of the king’s father. The King had 2 earlier wives who were barren. Once married to his third wife, he asked the other two wives to leave the palace and had residences for them at another location.
Taj Mahal
The King and queen were inseparable, as in all fairy tales, she was the most beautiful of women. She bore the King 13 children of which 7 lived. The queen accompanied the King to all political conferences and even to the camp before battles, which was unheard of at that time.
While away at conference, she gave birth to their final child where she perished in childbirth. Upon her death bed she requested 2 promises. The first was that he look after all the children and the second to build a memorial to her that was beyond description.
The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum built along the Yamuna river which is an off shoot of the famously holy, not to mention polluted, Ganges.
The best of marble was found in India which possessed special qualities. Depending upon the weather and time of day, the marble can take on a white, blue or pink colour. The marble is inlaid with precious jewels which have been cut, shaped and inlaid in the marble. Jade, emerald, ruby, gold are just some of them.
It took seven years from start to finish. A mosque which complements the Taj Mahal was built beside it so the craftsman and workers could attend temple. Two minarets are slightly leaning and were specifically built this way. In the event of a disaster where the towers fall, they will not hit the temple.
The dome is a double dome to allow proper distribution of weight as the marble is heavy. After all this time no renovations have been necessary as the marble withstands all the elements.
Taj Mahal gates
Minarets
Mosque
Another mosque which matches the first mosque sits to the right of the temple to balance the three. Symmetry was very important to the King, so although it completed the symmetry, it was never used as a mosque, but rather a summer home for the King. The King neglected his kingdom and nearly emptied the treasury during the 22 years it took to complete the Taj Mahal, so his ambitious 3rd son decided to take matters into his own hands. He had his 3 other brothers killed and ended up jailing his father in order to assume the kingship. The story goes that he was not totally bad as he was able to hold the kingdom together and replenish the coffers of the treasury.
As a couple of us were feeling a little under the weather from the past 2 days of touring around in the extreme heat, and possibly from a bit too much spice in yesterday's lunch, and another long day of travel with dinner at a local family's place this evening, we decided to forego yet another Moghul fort/palace and leave for Delhi earlier. We have one more hour on the new freeway/toll road and we'll be back at the hotel where we can swim, yoga, or spa before we go for dinner at Mahendra's at 7.
We have also wondered why, at a few of the sites we visited, complete strangers would come over and ask if they could take our picture! Leanne in particular. Was it that they realized the presence of greatness or was it that they just wanted a photo of shark-belly white people?!?!?
We leave for dinner which is being hosted with the tour guide’s family for a traditional Indian dinner. Mahendra, our host, enjoys the gift of gab and will be explaining the caste system in India as well as some of the politics.
We hope you have enjoyed our travels of northern India.
Tomorrow we leave for Kathmandu then fly from there to Pokhara. We will be getting in later in the day. Our blog may be more sporadic once we hit Nepal as power outages happen for 12 hours a day and we have no internet access at the home we are staying. We will endeavour to do our best to keep up the blog.
All is well with the 4 camel/elephant-riding wise women of the west (culture that is, not direction.)
Love to all.