Day 20, January 24th - Agra Fort, Taj Mahal and the Agra Marble Emporium
There is definitely a temperature difference from the very moment we landed in Delhi. It is much cooler here. After a four hour bus ride to Agra and a night's rest, our first destination was the Agra Fort. It was a foggy morning, you can just barely make out the silhouette of the structures. This added a mystic feel to the fort which pairs well with the history behind it. Not knowing what to expect of the fort, it came to my surprise how large it was. Each turn revealed a different courtyard, another room, or a secret staircase. It felt like a never ending maze, full of surprises at every corner.
It was so fun to explore.
Now a little about the history of the Agra Fort; Agra was the initial capital during the Mughal Dynasty before it was moved to Delhi in 1638. There is definitely a lot of interesting and rich history behind the Agra Fort that you should further look into if you are interested. It involves fighting for power between different groups, between brothers, and a love story between Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal. A love so grand that Mumtaz Mahal would accompany Shah Jahan to the battlegrounds even when she was pregnant. The Taj Mahal was later built for her when she passed away. (Which we also visited and will be discussed below.)
Throughout this whole trip, from articles about women and their status (Newransky 2014), to the gender lecture in Chennai, and the village visits, we have discussed about gender roles. Where women do not have a lot of power and men are very much above them. Which is visibly present here at the fort, because it used to house hundreds of the Shah Jahan’s concubines. However, this point seems to be overlooked because of his love for Mumtaz Mahal. This could be because of how things worked at that time, during those times having concubines were normal, but I think it is still important to be aware of this, critique it, and reflect on it. Such events are not unique to only India, but occur and exist worldwide.
We also saw one of the wonders of the world today! Upon arrival to the main gated entrance to the Taj Mahal, we excitedly waited in line, shrouded by the early morning fog. Our tour guide comforted us that the dense clouds would clear in the hour or so we would be there, but many of us were feeling a little disappointed that we literally couldn't see more than 100 meters in front of us. We learned a bit about the rich history of the Taj Mahal from our guide, while he showed us a google image of it in clear, broad daylight on his phone so that we had some point of reference besides the white, damp wall that veiled the building itself.
He recounted to us that the Taj Mahal, or the “Crown Palace” after translation from Arabic, was a marble marvel built by the Mughal Emporer Shah Jahan in commemoration of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. After dying giving birth to the couple’s 14th child, Mumtaz’s memory became enshrined in the grandeur of this magnificent structure. Commissioned in 1632, the Taj Mahal stands on the southern bank of the Yamuna River in Agra, across from the other stunning building he designed, the Agra Fort, which we saw earlier this morning!
This mausoleum took over 20 years to build, and combines Mughal, Indian, Persian, and Islamic architecture influence. More than 20,000 workers from India, Persia, Europe, and the Ottoman Empire, as well as 1,000 or so elephants, were brought in to build the mausoleum complex. The white marble is inlaid with semi-precious stones like jade, crystal, amethyst and turquoise, and formed the most beautifully intricate designs along the walls.
Many of us were blown away by the detail of the building - it's so easy to be drawn in by the size and majesty of it, but so much of the beauty is on the smaller scale. The bright floral patterns depicted wilting flowers that we learned “were sad” because of the queen’s death.
The four towers, or minarets stand at the four corners of the complex and have a slight tilt outwards, a precaution taken in case of earthquakes, preventing them to collapse into the building. At the entrance of the mausoleum, verses from the Quran are scrawled in calligraphy across the arch, gradually increasing in size as the height of the building towers toward the sky. This forms a fascinating optical illusion that the letters maintain a steady size throughout the entire design. The false tomb of Mumtaz Mahal lies in the center chamber of the dome, while the real sarcophagus is below, at garden level (no pictures were allowed inside).
After touring the inside of the building, we went back outside, and much to our relief, the fog had lifted! We were so happy we could finally see the Taj in all of its glory, and naturally, a superfluous number of pictures were to follow. I’m sure we will all remember the beauty of this place for the rest of our lives! Thanks to Tracy for the group selfie (sadly missing a few)!
Whew! That was a lot of historical information. I'll give you a quick debrief of the rest of our day. We loaded back on the bus and headed to
the Agra Marble Emporium where the male descendants of the original workers still tirelessly work with precious stones and marble inlay work. We were told by our tour guide earlier that there was a topic that we shouldn't mention to any of them, and that was the fact that their ancestors thumbs had been cut off by the Shah after completion of the Taj in order to prevent it from ever being replicated or built again. Pretty intense, huh? At this emporium, price depends on design, not size. We definitely understood why! The tedious nature of the delicate work was evident in the demonstration we saw, and the designs on the beautiful goods we splurged on were breathtaking. What an awesome, memorable experience!
-Tracy and Britta
There is definitely a temperature difference from the very moment we landed in Delhi. It is much cooler here. After a four hour bus ride to Agra and a night's rest, our first destination was the Agra Fort. It was a foggy morning, you can just barely make out the silhouette of the structures. This added a mystic feel to the fort which pairs well with the history behind it. Not knowing what to expect of the fort, it came to my surprise how large it was. Each turn revealed a different courtyard, another room, or a secret staircase. It felt like a never ending maze, full of surprises at every corner.
It was so fun to explore.
Now a little about the history of the Agra Fort; Agra was the initial capital during the Mughal Dynasty before it was moved to Delhi in 1638. There is definitely a lot of interesting and rich history behind the Agra Fort that you should further look into if you are interested. It involves fighting for power between different groups, between brothers, and a love story between Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal. A love so grand that Mumtaz Mahal would accompany Shah Jahan to the battlegrounds even when she was pregnant. The Taj Mahal was later built for her when she passed away. (Which we also visited and will be discussed below.)
Throughout this whole trip, from articles about women and their status (Newransky 2014), to the gender lecture in Chennai, and the village visits, we have discussed about gender roles. Where women do not have a lot of power and men are very much above them. Which is visibly present here at the fort, because it used to house hundreds of the Shah Jahan’s concubines. However, this point seems to be overlooked because of his love for Mumtaz Mahal. This could be because of how things worked at that time, during those times having concubines were normal, but I think it is still important to be aware of this, critique it, and reflect on it. Such events are not unique to only India, but occur and exist worldwide.
We also saw one of the wonders of the world today! Upon arrival to the main gated entrance to the Taj Mahal, we excitedly waited in line, shrouded by the early morning fog. Our tour guide comforted us that the dense clouds would clear in the hour or so we would be there, but many of us were feeling a little disappointed that we literally couldn't see more than 100 meters in front of us. We learned a bit about the rich history of the Taj Mahal from our guide, while he showed us a google image of it in clear, broad daylight on his phone so that we had some point of reference besides the white, damp wall that veiled the building itself.
He recounted to us that the Taj Mahal, or the “Crown Palace” after translation from Arabic, was a marble marvel built by the Mughal Emporer Shah Jahan in commemoration of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. After dying giving birth to the couple’s 14th child, Mumtaz’s memory became enshrined in the grandeur of this magnificent structure. Commissioned in 1632, the Taj Mahal stands on the southern bank of the Yamuna River in Agra, across from the other stunning building he designed, the Agra Fort, which we saw earlier this morning!
This mausoleum took over 20 years to build, and combines Mughal, Indian, Persian, and Islamic architecture influence. More than 20,000 workers from India, Persia, Europe, and the Ottoman Empire, as well as 1,000 or so elephants, were brought in to build the mausoleum complex. The white marble is inlaid with semi-precious stones like jade, crystal, amethyst and turquoise, and formed the most beautifully intricate designs along the walls.
Many of us were blown away by the detail of the building - it's so easy to be drawn in by the size and majesty of it, but so much of the beauty is on the smaller scale. The bright floral patterns depicted wilting flowers that we learned “were sad” because of the queen’s death.
The four towers, or minarets stand at the four corners of the complex and have a slight tilt outwards, a precaution taken in case of earthquakes, preventing them to collapse into the building. At the entrance of the mausoleum, verses from the Quran are scrawled in calligraphy across the arch, gradually increasing in size as the height of the building towers toward the sky. This forms a fascinating optical illusion that the letters maintain a steady size throughout the entire design. The false tomb of Mumtaz Mahal lies in the center chamber of the dome, while the real sarcophagus is below, at garden level (no pictures were allowed inside).
After touring the inside of the building, we went back outside, and much to our relief, the fog had lifted! We were so happy we could finally see the Taj in all of its glory, and naturally, a superfluous number of pictures were to follow. I’m sure we will all remember the beauty of this place for the rest of our lives! Thanks to Tracy for the group selfie (sadly missing a few)!
Whew! That was a lot of historical information. I'll give you a quick debrief of the rest of our day. We loaded back on the bus and headed to
the Agra Marble Emporium where the male descendants of the original workers still tirelessly work with precious stones and marble inlay work. We were told by our tour guide earlier that there was a topic that we shouldn't mention to any of them, and that was the fact that their ancestors thumbs had been cut off by the Shah after completion of the Taj in order to prevent it from ever being replicated or built again. Pretty intense, huh? At this emporium, price depends on design, not size. We definitely understood why! The tedious nature of the delicate work was evident in the demonstration we saw, and the designs on the beautiful goods we splurged on were breathtaking. What an awesome, memorable experience!
-Tracy and Britta
