A Teardrop On The Face Of Eternity - The Magnificent Taj Mahal

Namaste! Where on earth did the last five weeks go? 

With over a thousand photos to trawl through it's hard to know where to start with our travel tales but on the eve of St. Valentine's Day, I thought I'd kick off with our trip to the Taj Mahal in Agra in the Northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, the world's most beautiful building and an enduring monument to everlasting love built by a heartbroken Shah Jahan following the death of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal, in 1631. 

If you're wondering, a teardrop on the face of eternity is how the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore described the Taj Mahal.

Mumtaz Mahal (1592 - 1631)

Prince Khurram, who in 1628 became Shah Jahan (meaning King of the World), was the eldest son of Jehangir, the fourth Mughal emperor of India and grandson of Akbar the Great. As a young prince Khurram was a regular visitor to the royal bazaar where, accompanied by a group of fawning courtiers, he'd flirt with the girls from high-ranking families who staffed the stalls there. In 1607 and aged just 16 years old he caught a glimpse of a girl hawking silk and glass beads. The girl was 15 year-old Arjumand Banu Baygam, a Persian princess and the daughter of the soon-to-be prime minister. It was love at first sight. After speaking with her,  Shah Jahan went back to his father and declared that he wanted to marry her. 

 

Shah Jahan (1591 - 1666)

On March 27, 1612, after a five year wait, Prince Khurram and his beloved, to whom he gave the name Mumtaz Mahal "Chosen One of the Palace", were married. Mumtaz Mahal was not only beautiful, she was also intelligent and kind-hearted. The public was enamoured with her, in part because Mumtaz Mahal cared for the people, diligently making lists of widows and orphans to make sure they received food and money. 

In 1631, three years into Shah Jahan’s reign, a rebellion led by Khan Jahan Lodi was underway. Shah Jahan had taken his military out to the Deccan, about 400 miles from Agra, in order to crush the usurper. As usual, Mumtaz Mahal, who was always by Shah Jahan’s side, accompanied him, despite being heavily pregnant with their 14th child. On June 16, 1631, Mumtaz Mahal, in an elaborately decorated tent, gave birth to a healthy baby girl in the middle of the encampment. At first, all seemed to be well, but it was soon discovered that Mumtaz Mahal was dying. As soon as Shah Jahan received news of his wife’s condition, he rushed to her side. In the early morning hours of June 17, 1631, Mumtaz Mahal died in his arms. Legend has it that she bound him with a deathbed promise to build her the most beautiful tomb ever known. Reports say that in Shah Jahan’s anguish, he went to his own tent and cried for eight days. Upon emerging it was said that his hair had turned completely white from his grief.

 In 1632 Shah Jahan undertook the task of erecting the world's most beautiful monument in the memory of his beloved. It took twenty-two years and the labour of 22,000 workers to construct Mumtaz Mahal's tomb. Marble was brought from Rajasthan and semi-precious stones for decoration - onyx, amethyst, lapis lazuli, turquoise, jade, crystal, coral and mother-of-pearl - were carried to Agra from Persia, Russia, Afghanistan, Tibet, China and the Indian Ocean.

 Eventually Shah Jahan's pious and intolerant son Aurangzeb seized power and the former emperor was interned in Agra Fort (more of that in later post) where, as legend would have it, he lived out his final years gazing wistfully at the Taj Mahal from his prison cell. When he died in 1666, his body was carried across the Yumuna River to lie alongside his beloved wife in his peerless tomb.

There are no words to do the Taj Mahal justice and it's impossible not to be overwhelmed by its beauty. The magic of the monument remains undiminished despite the crowds of tourists who visit (around 3 million a year), as small and insignificant as ants in the face of this immense mausoleum. 

 Taking the advice of the guide books we visited in the early morning, shortly after sunrise (hence the jackets and scarves we're wrapped up in) the mist had just started to clear and the marble was bathed in a soft red glow. As the surfaces fell into shadow and reflected the winter sunshine, the colours changed from a delicate dove grey and pale yellow to pearly cream and dazzling white. This play of light is said to be an important decorative device, implying the presence of Allah, never represented in physical form.

 For most visitors to India the Taj Mahal is the first port of call but it took us twenty years to get round to seeing it. It was worth the wait.

See you soon!

Linking to Patti and the gang for Visible Monday.

For the full album see HERE.