The good, the bad and the ugly sides of the Taj Mahal
Bugs, touts and pollution can’t ruin a visit to the Taj Mahal, the “teardrop on the cheek of eternity” and the world’s loveliest mausoleum.
THE GOOD
Legend has it that when Shah Jahan was overthrown and locked up by his son, Aurangzeb, the only thing he could see from his prison cell was the Taj Mahal. Not a bad view, but a form of torture for the heartbroken Mughal emperor as he had commissioned the monument in memory of his wife, Mumtaz, who had died in childbirth.
As tributes to love go, the ivory-coloured marble mausoleum in the northern Indian city of Agra takes some beating. Even the most jaded traveller gets goosebumps on catching a first glimpse, either through the gateway arch or flawlessly reflected in the Yamuna river. Don’t put away your camera if a breeze stirs the mirror-like surface, though. Camels, water buffalo and boats add foreground interest to what Bill Clinton described as “perhaps the world’s most beautiful structure”.
The former United States president also said there were two kinds of people in the world: those who have seen the Taj Mahal and love it, and those who have not seen the Taj and love it.
Constructed in translucent marble, the mausoleum took 20,000 masons, artists and stone carvers about 20 years to complete. Painstaking attention to detail includes inlays of semi-precious stones and calligraphy verses from the Koran.
To see India’s most photographed attraction at its best, visit in the evening or during the calm of early morning, when the “teardrop on the cheek of eternity” gradually changes colour. Take a taxi or rickshaw to Mehtab Bagh (Moonlight Garden) before dawn for an entirely different perspective from the one most visitors experience. In the company of a dozen or so sightseers, watch the sun burn off clouds of mist over the Yamuna to reveal an exquisite mirage of domes and arches.
