I don’t remember seeing an 18-wheeler on my entire trip. There were lots of trucks that were closer in size to a dump truck, but rarely anything much larger, and they were usually on major roads. Nor were there many (if any) box trucks, the type of truck that we would see delivering supplies to small retailers or office buildings. Delivery vehicles within urban areas favored maneuverability over horsepower. Most had only two or three wheels–not 18.
I’m taking a break from reporting about the “tourist sites” to discuss the ambiance of visiting Delhi. Two things stood out, in part because they were so different than DC–noise and pollution. Maybe if I were comparing it to the noise of New York City at rush hour or the pollution of Los Angeles on a hot, summer day, I wouldn’t be so critical. But, both Delhi and Washington are capital cities, even if they differ dramatically in size.
Since I’ve already noted one of the effects of air pollution, namely the lack of a blue-sky, in some of my earlier posts, I’m going to focus on the major cause of noise pollution–humans with access to a vehicle horn. In Delhi, there are many more modes of transport than there are in most American cities, and when drivers of these widely disparate types of vehicles are sharing the same small space, they seem to feel the need to make their presence known. They honk when overtaking, they honk when sitting still, they honk if someone or something is in their path, they honk if they want to change “lanes”, they honk to acknowledge they see someone else wants to move ahead, they honk to inform someone else they are approaching, etc., etc. Hopefully, you’ve got the idea. They like to make a lot of noise. I think the noise has become so ingrained, they have to honk because without all the honking it would be too quiet.
Here is a gallery of photos showing the various types of transport.
In addition to being noisy, traffic in Delhi is chaotic, although probably no more so than most third-world countries. Even if there are lines on the road to indicate lanes, which isn’t often, they are generally ignored. On the major three-lane highway around the city it wasn’t unusual to have four vehicles abreast, plus motorbikes and rickshaws. Traffic lights are scarce and, if there isn’t a traffic cop around, often ignored.
One evening while we were sitting in rush hour traffic going nowhere, I heard a thump. Traffic in the three oncoming lanes thinned to reveal a woman laying in the road. Two men rushed from the curbside, helped her to her feet, and essentially carried her to the sidewalk. The hit-and-run driver never stopped.
Pedestrians cross streets wherever and whenever they want. No one seems to think anything of it. It’s amazing I didn’t see more accidents.
I really did see the Taj Mahal in person, and here are the photos to prove it.
Shah Jahan’s favorite wife Arjumand Banu Begum, to whom he had given the title Mumtaz Mahal (Exhalted of the Palace), died on 17 June 1631 after thirty hours of gruling labor. This was her fourteenth child in nineteen years; on average, one child every 16.3 months. Mumtaz Mahal was just 38 years old.
While her life was short, more than 375 years later the tomb under which she rests has to be on any world traveler’s short list for “Places to See Before I Die.” It was on mine, and it didn’t disappoint. Unfortunately, my photographic abilities do.
Work began on the tomb in 1632 and was essentially complete in 1643. Work continued for another ten years on the remainder of the complex—gardens, mosque, guesthouse, gates, etc. By the end of the 19th century, after years of neglect and looting, the mausoleum was greatly in need of some TLC. Lord Curzon, who became Viceroy of India in 1899, initiated a mammoth restoration project that lasted until 1908. Almost a century later the white marble was covered with grime emitted by vehicles and nearby coal-fired power plants. In 2002, multani mitti, a mixture of soil, cereal, milk and lime that had once been used by Indian women to beautify their skin, was used to wash away the effects of industrial pollution. Moreover, vehicles powered by internal combustion engines were banned from the immediate area.
The tomb is just one component of a large complex that sets the stage for this beautiful structure.
Taj Mahal Site Plan
From the main entrance all one sees is a lawned forecourt surrounded by a red sandstone colonnade, other gates, and the Main Gate or darwaza, which rises to a height of 90 feet.
Darwaza or Main Entrance to Taj Mahal
The surface decorations of the darwaza provide a hint of what is to come.
Calligraphy and Herringbone Stonework on Darwaza
The Darwaza is topped by a line of chhatris.
Chhatris atop Main Gate
Once inside the main gate, the mausoleum sets at the end of a long reflecting pool which is just one of four pools that create the chahar bagh, a four-square garden design symbolizing paradise that originated in Persia. The lawns were added by Lord Curzon, replacing what probably was a more natural assemblage of trees and flowers that after several centuries had been transformed into a jungle.
Center of Chahar Bagh and Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal stands on two bases: a sandstone terrace topped by a 313-square-foot marble plinth. Since the tomb sits on the raised marble platform at the end of the gardens with only the river behind it, the only backdrop is the sky. Unfortunately, when you visit in early April when it’s been months since a pollution-cleansing rain, the sky is not very blue.
Note the red sandstone base beneath the square marble plinth
At each corner of the platform are 137-foot-tall, ornamental minarets, which were built at a slight tilt away from tomb. Some say the tilt was designed to insure the towers would fall away from the tomb in case of an earthquake, but it’s more likely the tilt was intended to compensate for the human eye’s optics. That is, as in railroad tracks, parallel lines viewed from a distance tend to appear as if they are approaching each other.
The central structure is a square with cut-off corners. The four identical faces have a vaulted arch in the center and have been decorated with carved flowers inlaid with semiprecious stones, pietra dura scrollwork, and quotations from the Quran created using jasper inlay.
Corner of Taj Mahal
Chhatri atop Taj Mahal
According to one source there are 22 different Qur’anic quotations on the Taj Mahal.
Calligraphy Inlay
Geometric designs, especially in a herringbone pattern, are used extensively to demarcate space on the exterior.
The main dome is really two domes—an outer shell that is 200-feet high and an inner shell that is only 81-feet high. The four large chattras balance the dome which is higher than the minarets.
The inside of the mausoleum is spectacular. Finely-cut marble screens filter the light. Tiny flowers composed from 43 different types of inlaid semiprecious stones decorate the raised cenotaph. A single one-inch flower has 60 pieces. Some of the gems used are: yellow amber from Burma; lapis lazuli from Afghanistan; jade from Chinese Turkestan; cornelian, agate, amethyst, jasper, green beryl, chalcedony, onyx and coral from different regions of Indian subcontinent. Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed inside mausoleum, so the best I could do is this column.
Flower Inlay
To see and appreciate the stunning artistry of the Taj Mahal’s interior, check your local library for Taj Mahal, photography by Jean-Louis Nou, text by Amina Okada and M. C.Joshi, NY: Abbeville Press, 1993.
At the end of my tour, my guide and I spent some time sitting on the steps to the mosque on the west side of the Taj Mahal. As the sun descended, the sky became bluer, and the marble began to glow. I wished I could stay longer, but the gates would be locked before sunset.
West Face of Taj Mahal in the late afternoon
On the other hand, it was full moon, so the gates reopened after dark to let about 40 people enter each half hour for a 20 minute visit. My travel agent had managed to get one of the coveted tickets in the 9:30 p.m. time slot. Security for these visits was extraordinary, and while you could take a camera in, you could not take a purse, tripod or remote control. At 9:30 the moon was only about 90 degrees above the horizon, so with the atmospheric haze the dome did not shine like in the photographs. This was my best shot.
Now, to return to my initial question: Is the Taj Mahal “the most beautiful building in the world”? As long as symmetry, proportional harmony, grace, and elegance are used to determine architectural beauty, the Taj Mahal will be among the most beautiful buildings in the world. When buildings made of glass and steel are eliminated from the list, the Taj Mahal is THE most beautiful.
At the end of my day and a half of sightseeing in Delhi, we made a brief stop at the India Gate in New Delhi. If you’ve been to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the scene is essentially the same.
India Gate
India Gate is India’s largest war memorial. Built by noted architect Sir Edwin Lutyens to fit into his grand plan for New Delhi, it commemorated the lives of some 90,000 British soldiers who had died during the period of the British Raj, World War I and the Afghan Wars. After India’s independence, a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was added.
Nearby there is a sandstone canopy that once housed a statue of George V.
George V was removed, but he's not been replaced
After independence that statue was moved to Coronation Park, but no agreement could be reached on who should be recognized in the now vacant space.
From the Red Fort we again took a cycle rickshaw into the narrow pathways of Old Delhi for a visit to Jama Masjid. Built on a hillock in Shahjanabad beginning in 1650 at the behest of Shah Jahan, Jama Masjid is India’s largest mosque. It took 5,000 laborers six years to complete.
The royal entrance to the mosque is up a set of 35 steps to a red sandstone gate that leads to a colonnaded courtyard with an ablution tank in the center.
Inside of Main Entrance to Jama Masjid and Courtyard
The covered prayer hall is topped by three onion-shaped domes of white marble with black stripes. Each of the two corner minarets reaches a height of 130 feet.
Jama Masjid, DelhiThe 260 pillars in the main prayer hall support a series of cusped arches and 15 marble domes.
Cusped Archways of Main Prayer Hall
Typical of a Muslim house of worship, there is little ornamentation aside from the relatively simple geometric stucco carvings on the underside of the archways and a few cusped niches in the Mihrab.
Mihrab in Jama Masjid
To enter a mosque, you must remove your shoes and be conservatively dressed. I’m not sure why my guide had me put on this robe as
I'm reaching for my hat which was being blown away
there were other women in the mosque in pants with long-sleeved shirts.
Lal Qila or the Red Fort was built by Shah Jahan, starting in 1639 at the core of his new capital Shahjahanabad. Conceptually, it was no different than the walled cities of Europe with a fortified palace. Built next to the Yamuna River, the remainder of the 1.5-mile perimeter was surrounded by a moat which is, of course, now dry.
Wall and Moat of Delhi's Red Fort
The fort housed the emperor, his family, his soldiers, his administrators, and servants. At one time about 3,000 people lived within the walls of the fortified city.
Lahore Gate
The main entrance is called the Lahore Gate. A barbican was added by Shah Jahan’s son Aurangzeb. After walking through an arcade filled with tourist shops, one reaches the Naubat Khana (Drum House) where musicians use to perform five times a day.
Naubat KhanaNext comes the Diwan-i Am.
In the Diwan-i-Am or Hall of Public Audience, the emperor heard the pleas of his subjects and greeted foreign dignitaries while sitting on a marble canopied raised platform. The throne and the surrounding walls were inlaid with gems (later stolen by British soldiers), and the pillars were painted gold.
The prime minister sat on the lower marble dais.
The hall is noted for its polylobed arches in red sandstone which separate the large rectangular space into three aisles.
Behind the Diwan-i-Am is a large open space ringed by royal palaces.
The most spectacular was the Diwan-I Khas or Hall of Private Audience. Here the emperor sat on his Peacock Throne brought from Agra.
The walls of the Diwan-i Khas are decorated with stylized vines, flowers, and fruits with inlays of yellow marble, jasper and jade.
Marble and Semi-precious Stone Inlay
The emperor’s private palace, the Khas Mahal, had rooms for worship, sleeping and living with carved walls and painted ceilings.
The Rang Mahal or Painted Palace was part of the seraglio. It has a main hall with an arched front and vaulted side chambers.
Marble Screen with Scales of Justice
The Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque) was designed by Aurangzeb for his personal use.
When the British took over the property, they replaced a number of buildings with a row of barracks.
Construction of a new Moghul capital at Fatehpur Sikri (City of Victory) began in 1571 after one of Akbar’s queens gave birth to a son, as predicted by a Sufi saint who lived near the village of Sikri–Salim Chisht. Fatehpur Sikri is today just 23 miles or about a 45-minute drive southwest of Agra. Unlike the fort at Agra which was built along a river, this walled city was built next to a lake, which it turned out tended to dry up in times of drought. Just 14 years after moving his capital to Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar moved his court first to Lahore and eventually back to Agra. It was a period of severe drought, but political factors probably played a larger role in the decision to move the capital. Once abandoned by Akbar, the Moghul capital never returned. That means it was never remodeled to meet another emperor’s tastes.
City Gate
At the Agra Gate, one of the gates in the 7-mile wall surrounding the city, we abandoned the car for a rickshaw. Note the crenellated wall. The rickshaw took us to the triple-arched gate (Naubat Khana) of the royal compound. Musicians sat atop the gate and played during imperial processions. (It’s hard to keep the camera level when riding in a rickshaw!)
Naubat Khana
Along the way we passed buildings in various states of repair.
The following diagram shows the major buildings still standing at the imperial core of the city. Almost all of the buildings were built of local red sandstone. Remember: the addition of marble to the fort at Agra didn’t occur until the next century.
Map of major buildings at Fatehpur Sikri
Like the royal complex at Agra, open pavilions of different designs were arranged around a sequence of courtyards. And, just like at Agra, there was a Diwan-i Am or Hall of Public Audience, a Diwan-i Khas or Hall of Private Audience, palaces for the emperor and his many wives, ornamental pools and gardens, and a small mosque. Most of the service buildings (kitchens, storehouses, laundries, workshops, stables, etc.) were located outside the palace walls.
The Diwan-i Am in this palace was a large courtyard (366 x 181 feet) with colonnades on three sides. The emperor’s throne was located in the following pavilion on the east side of the courtyard.
Diwan-i Am
The emperor’s Hall of Private Audience or Diwan-i Khas looks like a two-story building, but inside there is just one tall room.
Diwan-i Khas
Akbar sat in the middle of the hall on an intricately carved, elevated platform connected to the four corners of the room by walkways.
Akbar would have sat on the platform above my head
Here are some pictures to show the details of the stone carvers’ work.
Chevron-patterned Stone Carving
Stylized Flowers and Vines carved in base of column
From the courtyard behind the Diwan-i Khas, one can see the 70-foot-tall Hiran Minar or Deer Tower. The spiney, stone protrusions represent elephant tusks.
Hiran Minar
Near the Diwan-i Khas is a canopied platform where Akbar’s astrologer supposedly sat. The stone diagonal beams supporting the chhatri roof represent makaras–Hindu mythological sea monsters.
Makaras carved in stone
The five-story Panch Mahal was one of several structures composing the Imperial Harem.
Panch Mahal
In the center of the second courtyard (Daulat Khana) is the Anup Talao or Peerless Pool with a central platform connected by four bridges. The structure on the far side of the pool housed Akbar’s private chambers and the library. The women’s quarters were to the right.
Anup Talao and Akbar's Private Chambers
To my left stands what is called the Turkish Sultana’s Pavilion. The signboard states: “This elegant pavilion consists of a small chamber surrounded by a verandah supported on richly carved columns. Its exterior as well as interior has ornamental relief of geometric and floral designs in red sandstone which give the impression of Timser decoration. The ornamented shelves of the chamber are also remarkable for their attractive design and finish. … It was completed before 1575 when an important religious discussion is recorded to have taken place in this pavilion.”
Turkish Sultana's Pavilion
Some examples of the beautiful stone carving–
Fruit or flowers?
Flowers or Vines?
Stars and Geometric Designs
These niches looked as if the backs of them were covered with mirrors or perhaps some sort of reflective pigment.
Wall of Niches in Turkish Sultana's Pavilion
Most of the surfaces in Akbar’s private chambers are painted rather than carved.
Wall Painting in Akbar's Private Chambers
From his private quarters, Akbar could look out over the Anup Talao and see the Panch Mahal.
The View from Akbar's Private Chambers
The entrance to the Haram Sara or what is called the Jodh Bai Palace was through this eunuch-guarded gate.
Harem Entrance
Three palaces face the inner courtyard.
Palace facing Harem Courtyard
Palace Facade
Column Carvings, Haram Sara
Balconies and Niches
Interior Niche with Makara
As we left the imperial palace by rickshaw we passed the Jama Masjid or Imperial Mosque which was built around 1571 and designed to hold 10,000 worshipers.
Jama Masjid, Fatehpur Sikri
Looking along the fort's exterior wall towards Jahangiri Mahal
Looking towards the Khas Mahal and Mussaman Burj
Taj Mahal from Shahjahani Mahal
When his son usurped the throne and imprisoned him in the octagonal tower of the Mussaman Burj, he could still look out at the Taj Mahal.
The Khas Mahal (1637) and the Musamman Burj were built of white marble.
Khas Mahal
Of the two flanking pavilions built for Shah Jahan’s two daughters Jahanara and Roshanara, one was of white stuccoed red sandstone, the other of marble.
One of two pavilions flanking the Khas Mahal
The Khas Mahal is of classic Mogul design with five arches in front and three on each side.
Archway of Khas Mahal
It has an elaborately carved cornice,
Exterior Cornice of Khas Mahal
numerous niches,
and exquisite paintings with stone inlay.
The Mussaman Burj, originally built of red stone by Akbar, was rebuilt by Shah Jahan in white marble. The signboard describes it as being “profusely ornamented” with “exquisitely inlaid designs.”
The deep blue flowers are lapis lazuli.
In the Diwan-i Khas (or Hall of Private Audiences), the emperor sat on his Peacock Throne of solid gold inlaid with precious and semiprecious stone to meet with courtiers and foreign envoys. The throne was made from over 2,200 lb of gold and studded with 440 lb of precious stones including diamonds, emeralds and rubies. Moved to the Red Fort in Delhi when Shah Jahan moved the capital there, it was looted by Iranian Nadir Shah in 1739 and later destroyed.
The building itself was a masterpiece of stone carving and inlay.
The lines and flowers on the column are all stone inlay.
In the Diwan-i Am or Hall of Public Audiences, the emperor listened to petitioners and conducted other public business.
Built by Shah Jehan (1628-35), the pillared hall measures 208 x 76 feet. It has 9 broad, semi-circular, 9-cusped engrailed arches on the facade and 3 arches on each side, supported on grand double-columns.
It is 3 aisles deep and is composed of 40 symbolic pillar sites, making 27 auspicious astronomical bays. Built of red sandstone, it has been white shell-plastered.
Hall of Public AudienceAs you can see, it was Shah Jahan who completed the conversion of a servicable red sandstone fort into a white marble palace fit for an emperor just one year before Louis XIV was born and more than a generation before the Baroque took hold in Europe. With no gold or jewels left to help the visitor experience the opulence of the palace as it was in its prime, one must do as Ernest Havell suggested:
When the afterglow fills the sky, burnishes the gilded roofs, and turns the marble to rose-colour, imagination may re-people these lovely pavilions with fair Indian women–revel in the feast of colour in saris, brocades, and carpets; in the gold, azure, and crimson of the painted ceilings; and listen to the water splashing in the fountains and gurgling over the carved water-shoots– a scene of voluptuous beauty such as the world has rarely known since the wealth and elegance of Rome filled the palaces and villas of Pompei.
Now that you have some background on the Moguls in Delhi and Agra, I’ll discuss the three “forts” they built in the order in which they were built, which was not the order in which I visited them.
In 1501 the second Lodi sultan Sikander moved the court to Agra from Delhi, and there it stayed for about 150 years. The first Mogul emperors were too busy consolidating their power to make many changes, but in 1565, the Mogul Emperor Akbar began building a new, moated fortress. His successors, especially his grandson Shah Jahan, expanded and remodeled the fort, transforming it into a palace.
Amar Singh Gate into Agra Fort
Entry is via the Amar Singh Gate through the 70-ft high, 1 ½ mile-long wall that encircles the 94-acre site. There used to be a wooden drawbridge over the moat, but, alas, the drawbridge is gone and the moat is dry.
Agra Fort's VERY dry moat
Note the flat-faced rectangular structure in the first photo behind the tower on the right. This second gate set at a right-angle to the first gate and with a long, walled ramp insured the fort was impregnable by attackers on elephants.
Inner Gate to Agra Fort
Inner side of Inner Gate at Agra Fort
Ramp up from Inner Gate into Agra Fort
After passing through the gate at the top of the ramp, one reaches a large open area and the Jahangiri Mahal.
Jahangiri Mahal
This palace was built in the mid 1560s during Akbar’s reign. It is the earliest Mogul palace extant and the largest private residence within Agra Fort, 250 by 300 feet.
Corner tower of Jahangiri Mahal
Entrance to Jahangiri Mahal. Note the balconies more typical of Hindu architecture.
Eunuchs would have been posted in the small entrance hall which has a lotiform dome.
Lotiform Dome of Entrance Hall
A narrow dog-legged passage leads from the entrance hall to a spacious courtyard faced by two large rooms with five entrance arches and several small rooms, most with just a single entrance way.
Entrance to one of the large rooms off of Court A in Jahangiri Mahal
Some of the carvings are quite intriquite.
Doorway Carving, Jahangiri Mahal
These birds haven’t fared as well over the years.
Bird carvings
Most rooms have niches for decoration, but this wall had more than most in an interesting arrangement.
While much of the paint has worn away, what is left gives one an idea of just how sumptuously decorated these harem rooms were.
While the above painting involved stylized floral designs, some of the carved stone screens and stucco work exhibited far more abstract designs.
Abstract stone carving
Court B with fort wall on left, a bit of corner turret, and entrances to harem
From this rear fortress wall, I catch my first good glimpse of the Taj Mahal.
Taj Mahal from the river-side wall of Agra Fort