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Monday, January 24, 2011

Taj Mahal

2:14 PM Posted by shyamsukh

3 comments:

shyamsukh on January 24, 2011 at 2:27 PM said...

Agra
Taj Mahal, Agra Travel GuideThis sprawling city, 204km south of Delhi, is synonymous with the Taj Mahal, India’s most famous building, which sits on the banks of the Yamuna River. The Mughal emperor Babur established his capital here in 1526, and for the next century Agra witnessed a remarkable spate of architectural activity as each emperor tried to outdo the grandiose monuments built by his predecessors.

Many tourists choose to visit Agra on a whistle-stop day trip – made possible by the excellent train services or a four hour drive from Delhi. However, Agra’s attractions are much more than can be seen in a day, and to do justice to the city one must stay for a couple of days during your travel to India.

Other Useful Information

* History
* Orientation
* Sights
* Around Agra
* Shopping


History
In 1501, Sultan Sikander Lodi established his capital here, but the city fell into Mughal hands in 1526, when Emperor Babur defeated the last Lodi sultan at Panipat, 80km north of Delhi. Agra reached the peak of its magnificence between the mid-16th and mid-17th centuries during the reigns of Akbar, Jehangir and Shah Jahan. During this period the fort, the Taj Mahal and other major mausoleums were built. In 1638 Shah Jahan built a new city in Delhi, and his son Aurangzeb moved the capital there 10 years later.

In 1761 Agra fell to the Jats, who looted its monuments, including the Taj Mahal. The Marathas took over in 1770, but were replaced by the British in 1803. Following the Uprising of 1857, the British shifted the administration of the province to Allahabad. Deprived of its administrative role, Agra developed as a centre for heavy industry, quickly becoming famous for its chemicals industry and atmospheric pollution, before tourism became a major source of income.
Around Agra
FATEHPUR SIKRI
This magnificent fortified 'ghost city', 40km west of Agra, was the short-lived capital of the Mughal empire between 1571 and 1585, during the reign of Emperor Akbar. Although brilliant and unusual from an architectural point of view, Akbar’s city was erected in an area that suffered from water shortages and it was abandoned shortly after Akbar’s death. The well-preserved palace buildings and the still-used mosque are the main points of interest, but you can wander round other ruins that are scattered behind the mosque and the mint.

MATHURA
Braj Bhoomi, the ‘Land of Eternal Love’, existed only in the collective consciousness of Hindus until it was rediscovered by 16th-century scholars in the physical world in and around Mathura, 58km northwest of Agra. Identified from references in early Hindu texts, Mathura is believed to be where Krishna was born and spent his early years.
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Mathura was once a Buddhist centre with 20 monasteries that housed 3000 monks, but during the 8th century Buddhism began to give way to Hinduism. In 1017 most of the Buddhist temples and Hindu shrines were levelled by the Afghan warlord Mahmud of Ghazni. More destruction occurred in the 16th century when Aurangzeb flattened the Kesava Deo Temple during one of his many demolition sprees and built a mosque in its place.

Nowadays the area is a religious centre full of Hindu temples that attract floods of pilgrims, particularly during Janmastami (Krishna’s birthday) in August/September.

shyamsukh on January 24, 2011 at 2:28 PM said...

Orientation
Agra sits on the Ganges plain on the western bank of the Yamuna River. The fort and the main marketplace, Kinari Bazaar, are northeast of Agra Cantonment train station and Idgah bus station, where most long-haul trains and buses arrive. The Taj Mahal is about 1.5km east of the fort on the far side of the spacious British-built cantonment, reached via the road known as the Mall. A few trains also leave from the Agra Fort train station near the Kinari Bazaar. Agra’s Kheria Airport is 7km west of the city centre.

The labourers and artisans who toiled on the Taj set up home immediately south of the mausoleum, creating the congested network of alleys known as Taj Ganj. Here and along Taj East Gate Road are many of Agra’s budget hotels, while most midrange and top-end hotels are located south of the Taj on Fatehabad Road.
Shopping, Agra Travel Guide
Shopping
Agra is well known for marble items inlaid with coloured stones, similar to the pietra dura work on the Taj. Sadar bazaar and the area around the Taj are full of emporiums of one kind or another, but prices here are more expensive than in the bazaars of the old town area. Prices are set according to the quality of detailed workmanship, not the size of the item. Be careful when buying marble, as fake marble (usually soapstone which scratches easily) is common.

Other popular buys include rugs, leather and gemstones, though the latter are imported from Rajasthan and can be bought cheaper in Jaipur.

shyamsukh on January 24, 2011 at 2:28 PM said...

Sights
TAJ MAHAL
Described as the most extravagant monument ever built for love, this sublime Mughal mausoleum ( hrs 6am-7pm, closed Fri) is India’s tourist emblem. Many have tried to sum up its beauty –it is ‘a teardrop on the face of eternity’, according to Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, and ‘the embodiment of all things pure' to British writer Rudyard Kipling. As an architectural masterpiece it stands alone, head and shoulders above any other contender.

The Taj was built by Emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial for his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their fourteenth child in 1631. The death of Mumtaz left the emperor so heartbroken that his hair is said to have turned grey overnight. Construction of the Taj began in the same year and was not completed until 1653. In total, 20,000 people from India and Central Asia worked on the building. Specialists were brought in from as far as Europe to produce the exquisite marble screens and pietra dura (marble inlay work) made with thousands of semiprecious stones. The construction bill is believed to have run to Rs 3 million, equivalent to about US$70 million today.
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The spectacular World Heritage white-marble mausoleum looks as immaculate today as when it was first constructed, although in recent years there has been growing concern about damage from atmospheric pollution. Acid rain, produced by sulphur dioxide from vehicle and industrial emissions, began to discolour the famous white marble and erode the fine carving and inlays. In an attempt to reduce pollution, new industrial developments in Agra were banned in 1994, and only nonpolluting vehicles are allowed in the immediate vicinity of the Taj.

AGRA FORT
Construction of the massive red-sandstone fort and palace (Indian/foreigner Rs 20/300, hrs sunrise-sunset), on the bank of the Yamuna River, was begun by Emperor Akbar in 1565. Further additions were made, particularly by his grandson Shah Jahan, who added buildings using his favourite building material white marble. The fort was built primarily as a military structure, but Shah Jahan upgraded it to a palace, and later it became his gilded prison for eight years after his son Aurangzeb seized power in 1658.

The ear-shaped fort’s colossal double walls rise over 20m in height and measure 2.5km in circumference. They contain a maze of buildings, forming a city within a city. Many of the structures were destroyed over the years by Nadir Shah, the Marathas, the Jats and finally the British who used the fort as a garrison.

SIKANDRA - AKBAR’S MAUSOLEUM
This outstanding sandstone and marble tomb (Indian/foreigner Rs 10/110, hrs sunrise-sunset) commemorates the greatest of the Mughal emperors. The huge courtyard is entered through a stunning gateway. It has three-storey minarets at each corner and is built of red sandstone strikingly inlaid with white-marble geometric patterns.

The tomb itself lies in the centre of a peacefulgarden, where deer graze, monkeys play in the trees and raucous peacocks and parakeets also make their presence felt. Akbar started the construction himself, blending various elements just as his religious and political philosophy.

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