Taj Mahal, Baby Taj, the Red Fort of Agra, and the Moon Garden

After a lengthy bus ride, we all arrived safely in Agra, a city in the north of India, and home to the Taj Mahal. Julia, Em and I set out almost immediately for local cuisine. We were given the location of a local marketplace from Shivraj and set out via auto rickshaw to see what we could find. Dinner was had in the first restaurant that we stumbled upon that appeared not to house tourists. We huddled in a corner booth and chatted with the apparent owner (who stated that his family had been running the restaurant for 50 years). Our new friend brought us steaming plates of Saag Paneer, Chana Paneer, Tandoori chicken, fresh buttery naan, and delicious lassis. The food was amazing and we got a kick out of entertaining the locals and staff as we were the only foreigners in the place. 

One cool thing I learned when they brought our lassis (yogurt drink) is that they came is unfired clay mugs. Apparently that is the Indian version of one time use cups and shows that they are clean and hygienic. When you're done drinking you're supposed to smash the mug against an outside wall so that it can't be used again. 

Rising bright and early the next morning, the whole group set out for a busy day of sight seeing. The first stop, the majestic Taj Mahal...just in time for the sunrise.

Take note boys of how you're supposed to declare your love for your woman...behold the Taj Mahal! Unless you've been living under a rock somewhere your whole life, you've probably heard of this magnificent structure and you might even know that it's one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, but did you know that it is essentially a very large and very ornate tomb? Emperor Shah Jahal was grief stricken when his third wife, Persain Princess, Mumtaz Mahal died in childbirth while having the couple's 14th child. Earlier, in life, Mumtaz had asked her husband how he would honor her, the result is the Taj Mahal. 

The mausoleum's construction began in 1632 and took 21 years to complete. The central white Indian marble structure houses the main tombs of both Mumtaz and her husband (although he was not meant to be interred there). The Taj is unique in that the entire thing is symmetrical and the view of the outside of the tomb is the same from all four sides. On the eastern side of the mausoleum, there is a mosque that is still active today and they built an almost identical structure on the western side (there is no nave) just to keep the symmetry. The western structure is not a real mosque because parishioners would be praying the wrong direction if they used it.

Legend states that the Emperor was going to have a black Taj built on the other side of the river that backs the Taj Mahal and connect the two via a marble bridge. This didn't occur because when the Shah Jahan named his oldest son as the new emperor, the four sons created a feud and the third son killed the rest, imprisoned his father and took the crown. Shah Jahal was imprisoned for the last 8 years of his life. When he died, his daughter stole his body and buried him with Mumtaz in the Taj Mahal.

Fresh from having seen the burial place of the beloved emperor and empress, we headed to Arad Fort, the Red Fort of Agra. Arad Fort was the palace of Shah Jahan and later his son, Aurangzeb. This is where the emperor lived with his family and where he met his true love, Mumtaz Mahal. 

Shah Jahan had three wives and a 400 woman harem. Once there was a plaza in the fort that held a women's only market and Shah Jahan used to dress as a women to go visit it. One day he was there and spotted Mumtaz and instantly fell in love, but seeing as he was in disguise, he had to figure out another way to woo her. He arranged a marriage through her father and she agreed on the conditions that she would be his last wife and he would love and honor her above all the other wives and mistresses. The emperor kept his promise and Mumtaz bore him two healthy girls and four healthy boys (they had fourteen children altogether, but eight did not survive).

After Mumtaz passed away and the Emperor decided to give the throne to his eldest son, the third son had his three brothers killed and threw his father in prison in one of the buildings of the fort. The room that he was in only afforded a tiny glimpse of the Taj Mahal and therefore the displaced Shah Jahan couldn't even properly view his wife's tomb from his prison cell. The Emperor's favorite daughter, Jahan Ara, snuck him in a mirror and convex lens so that he could see the Taj better. The Emperor died eight years after his imprisonment.

In the afternoon, we went to visit what is known as the Baby Taj. In reality this is the tomb of Mirza Ghiyas Beg, the I'timad-ud-Daulad and Mumtaz Mahal's grandfather. It is called the Baby Taj because it was used partially as a template for the architecture of the Taj Mahal. The Baby Taj has a similar set up with a symmetrical layout and the center tomb having four identical sides and four minarets, plus intricate detail in the structures. The main building of the Baby Taj resembles a bone jewelry box with intricate stone inlays and carved designs. It's a beautiful final resting place just down the river from the Taj Mahal.

The final destination for the day was the Mehtab Bagh, the Moon Garden. The Moon Garden is just on the opposite side of the Yamuna river from the Taj Mahal it is the site where the Emperor wanted to build his black Taj, but was never able to. We made it to the garden shortly before closing time so only really had time to quickly walk through it on the way to the shoreline to take pictures of the Taj Mahal from the backside in the side lighting of the setting sun.