Our entire group met in Delhi, then traveled the next day to our final cultural outing in India – the Taj Mahal.  It was everything you’ve ever heard and even more for me.

I normally don’t see the need for a guide as I usually simply listen to someone else’s guide if I want to know something, but it was definitely a great idea to have one for the Taj (we are friends now, so I can nickname her). I loved listening to the stories about Shah Jahan and his endearing love for his primary wife (yes, he had two others) Arjumand Banu, whom he actually renamed Mumtaz Mahal, because her name meant “jewel of the palace.”  I’m sure that didn’t go well with the other two, but the fact that Mumtaz gave him 13 babies, was extremely intelligent, and protective of him surely helped.  In fact, she traveled to the battlefield with him where she died giving birth to the 13th child.

The Taj is Shah Jahan’s monument to Mumtaz. It is built on the banks of the Jumuna River, which along with the four squared gardens, makes the grounds even more beautiful.  The Red Fort was the living quarters of the royal family and can be seen from the raised platform which the Taj seemingly floats on. It is a good thing considering the fact that Shah Jahan’s son eventually deposed his father and imprisoned him in the Red Fort. This was a sort of Karma considering Shah Jahan did the same exact thing to his own father.   The son’s two acts of graciousness after his betrayal was that he allowed his father to look at the Taj from his prison home, and he allowed him to be buried next to Mumtaz when he died. How nice of him…

the view of the Taj from the red fort (place of Shah Jahan’s imprisonment)

perfect symmetry at every corner and every angle of the grounds. this is taken from the entry building.

Aside from the love stories and the beauty of the Taj and its grounds, the most striking take-away for me was the advanced scientific skills of the Mughal empire.  The architecture was in perfect symmetry. The image above (Taj framed in black) was taken about a quarter mile away in the red entrance building (wing of entrance building seen at the top), yet it looks as if it is the Taj in a picture frame.

Our tour guide eventually did what I abhor, – took us on the “help me get a kickback” merchandise stop at a marble factory. The good part is that we had a chance to watch marble artisans shape and place jewels in marble,. This taught me about the detailed craftsmanship which went into the planning and building of the Taj.  Aside from white marble, the gems used were orange carnelian (which glows with light), jasper, jade, crystal, turquoise, and sapphire.  This project was begun in 1626 A.D., and completed in 1648 A.D.  Every single inch of the monument yells “scientific and mathematical geniuses!”

I knew that the Islamic world was far more advanced than the Europeans were (Europe was just ending the 30 years war in 1648 A.D.) , but this SHOWED me that fact.  I was not reading it from a book, wow there is a huge difference.  I will never teach the Mughal empire in quite the same way again.  The master architect was Ustad ‘Isa, a renowned Islamic architect during that time period. The building was so perfect (according to our guide), that the Shah Jahan cut off Isa’s hand so that he could not create anything better. yikes

orange carnelian, jasper, jade, crystal, turquoise, and sapphire embedded into marble – this is woven throughout the Taj-the process is artisan at its best