India 2015: Taj Mahal

I can't tell you how many times I've seen pictures of the Taj Mahal. I can tell you that all those pictures don't do it justice. The building is breathtaking. It's on such a massive scale it almost defies logic. I guess the pictures I've seen don't have any objects in them that would have given it some scale. Even that famous picture of Princess Diana sitting at the Taj doesn't indicate just how massive that building is.

So today Judith and I got to check out the Taj. But before we did explored The Taj we checked out another World Heritage site called Fatehpur Sikri. Our guide arranged for a tuk-tuk to take us up the hill from the parking lot. We were offered a camel cart, but we opted for the motorized transport. This Fort was completed in 1571 by a Mughal Emperor Akbar. The story goes that The Emporer had consulted with a prophet who correctly predicted a son for the king and when it came true, the Emperor built his Fort at this site. A mosque was built for the prophet. Akbar had 3 favourite wives and he built 3 homes within the Royal complex, one for each of them.

The fortress was very cool. Here are some highlights. This is the Pachisi Courtyard. On the floor of the courtyard just in front of the far building are markings on the sandstone tiles. Apparently Akbar used female slaves dressed in colourful outfits as game pieces to play Pachisi. I don't think this was the precursor to the Parchesi game.

This was the interior of Diwan-I-Khas. The Emperor used this building to hold meetings with his ministers. The central pillar was carved to reference the main religions in the regions -- to signify there was only a single God.

Each of the stone panel lattice work is carved out of single sandstone rock panel. And no two panels are the same. The design was so fine, you could see through them.

Jama Masjid is a mosque and continues to operate. We got to make a donation and received an opportunity to make a special prayer. But the key is to keep that prayer a secret, otherwise it won't work.

We took in more fabulous architecture and history at Fatehpur Sikri. There's so much you can't possibly digest it all.

Then onto the Taj. This is what everyone who comes to India wants to see. It's also what everyone in India wants to see so there is a huge tour trade here. Our guide told us it wasn't busy. Judith and I wondered what busy looked like because it looked pretty busy to us. The cost to get in is by far the most of any of the attractions we've seen to date by about 3x. It's 750 rupees (about $80) for the priority foreign visitor pass and foreign visitors can't by any other type of pass. The priority pass gets you into different queuing lanes so you get through the entry gates much faster than the general ticket holders.

Inside you're not permitted to take pictures. It contains two heavily inlaid crypts to represent Mumtaz Mahal the third wife of the Emperor Shah Jahan and one representing shah Jahan himself. Their bodies are actually interned below the terrance level. There are guards inside who have loud whistles to move the crowd around the crypts and out again. You're not permitted to stop to talk and view the interior but I noticed our guide slipping one of the guards some cash so we were able to view the interior as long as we wanted. One of the cool things he did was to put a flashlight against some of the coloured stones. Since it was much darker inside, you could see that some of the inlay stones were transulscent so that when the light hits them, the almost seem to glow.

It's so spectacular. I took the requisite pics but they don't give you any sense of the grandeur of this building. It's so spectacular. The four pillars are built on an angle to counteract perspective so that they always appear straight no matter what distance you are. The colours of the trim are inlay work using coloured stone. It's not painted. And there is an amazing amount of inlay work in this building. All the designs around the facade are inlay. The writing around the entry doors is larger at the top than the bottom to make it appear as the same size as you look at it from ground level. MAnother interesting factoid is that the center dome was slightly elevated so that it it curves outward slightly before it curves back which is different than then other domes in the complex and on the Taj Mahal itself.

You can check out the scale of the building as those are people standing on the terrace.