Taj Mahal

No matter how many times I have heard about Taj Mahal, it’s startling how big it really is.

It’s amazing that it is built on top of water wells and special wood because the wet wood makes it resistant to vibrations and hence earthquake-resistant. Of course, Shah Jahan didn’t anticipate that subsequent generations will destroy the river and hence endanger the Taj Mahal.

Thanks to a great guide Raju ( +919917371773 ), we had a fact-filled tour of Taj Mahal and Agra Fort, and his stories made us imagine and visualize the Mughal days vividly, right from the underground 6-floor well structure for the women to bathr children and be cool during summers to the treasure holes where the princesses can store their jewels to the optical illusions to the design of the diwan-i-aam where the emperor sits to interact with the public and one can see everyone from only that spot and nowhere else because of the pillars to why a Mughal emperor’s daughters were never married (so that they never have to bow down before the son-in-law and in-laws) to why only 16 of the 500 palaces within Agra Fort is open to public to how fountains work without electricity and motors to why there are gardens in 4s / squares to why there are only flowers and no animals in the carvings to how much Shah Jahan really loved Mumtaz (he spent 22 years spending a significant portion of the empire’s money on it because he made a promise to her that he will build a memorial for her, but he eventually lost his zest for life and could not focus on the empire’s strength an health, and hence Aurangzeb wanted to take over to keep the empire intact but he was not considered a good man himself) to why there are 14 verses of Quran inscribed on the walls of the Taj Mahal (Mumtaz Mahal died giving birth their 14th child).