In the morning, we left Delhi and headed to Agra. We took the elevated expressway driving above the flat agricultural fields. It felt like I was driving on the freeway between Manteca and Tracy; it reminded me so much of California's Central Valley!
There really isn't much in Agra. So, after lunch at the tourist restaurant, we relaxed a bit in our room, then met our guide for the afternoon. He started by taking us to the Agra Fort, very similar to the fort in Delhi. However, this king, who also built the Taj Mahal, loved his marble, so there is a little more marble going on here.
The king's room overlooks the Taj Mahal and is flanked by his two daughters' rooms. However, only the oldest daughter's room is made from marble. The younger daughter's room is sandstone painted white. This is because the king blamed her for the death of his beloved queen who died during childbirth. It is for this queen that he built the Taj Mahal. Apparently, it didn't occur to this somewhat seemingly selfish king, that perhaps if he hadn't dragged the queen out on the battlefield while she was pregnant so he could have her as a good luck charm, she may have survived...
So, he built the Taj Mahal for her to be buried in. It is, therefore, considered a symbol of love. To be honest, the Taj Mahal has always given me the heebie jeebies. I can't explain it. I recently read a book by a traveler who recorded his thoughts while visiting the Taj Mahal. He noted that it is designed after a description of heaven in the Koran. He wondered if beyond a nice place for his wife, the king wanted to construct a heaven on earth, anticipating his own burial there someday. It's hard not to wonder at ulterior motives.
That being said, the Taj Mahal is spectacular. We planned our visit for sunset and the soft colors illuminated the ornate marble beautifully. It has two identical buildings on each side. One is a mosque, the other was meant for people to stay in. However, in Islam, there is a limit to how close people can sleep to a mausoleum and this is too close, so no one uses it. But it does provide nice symmetry.
One of my favorite things in India are the saris. The majority of women wear them and they are always bright colors and the fabric hangs and flows in the most beautiful way. Any time there are groups of women walking together, I can't look away, it's so stunning.
Our pictures show the crowds of people visiting the Taj Mahal, I think the colorful dress adds to the sunset colors.
India has an interesting history of intertwining religions. The Mughal kings were all influenced by Islam, Hinduism and Christianity. One had a wife from each religion and made up another religion, that is essentially universalism and acknowledged all of them.
We left Agra the next morning, but stopped at Fatehpur Sikri enroute to Jaipur. This is another fort and palace, I believe it was used by the same king who built the Taj Mahal, but it may have been his father (I sometimes got confused about which generation the guide was talking about...) Fatehpur Sikri is considered a holy place. It has rooms for three queens, one was Muslim, one was Christian and the other was Hindu. The Hindu queen was most important. The king had no son, so he came to this place and his teacher prayed and his Hindu queen had a baby boy. The teacher's tomb is here and many visitors (including diplomats) come here just to make a wish at his tomb. You have to buy a piece of fabric to lay on the tomb, then a piece of string to tie three times as you make your wish.
I loved the sandstone buildings. There are no doors, just arches. The man made lake acts as a natural air conditioner to the palace. There were baths that the royalty used with scented water and carpets used to cover the courtyard floors. It was beautiful in its emptiness now, I can only imagine the grandeur during the Mughal empire.
Interesting fact: visitors used to be able to go to the top floor of many of the sites we visited, but it is no longer allowed. Often the reason for the closure was people falling off...
After this, we continued to Jaipur. Here we said goodbye to our driver and moved into our home stay we arranged on AirBnB. It is hosted by a family, but feels like a luxury hotel! We had planned four relaxing days here; it felt like an oasis when we arrived. They arranged a guide for us so we could tour the major sites of Jaipur, thus completing our Golden Triangle tour.
