Taj Mahal

Alas, once again I have fallen hopelessly behind on updating the Paneer Belly. Excuses are cheap -- but things are busy at work, internet connection is spotty at best at home, and weekends come and go in the blink of an eye...BUT I simply can not call this a halfway respectable India Blog and not post anything about my Taj Mahal visit. Unacceptable. So here it is: The Taj is truly an amazing, spectacular sight. One of the most amazing structures I've ever seen.

The Taj also has quite the history behind it as well, which only serves to make it even more captivating. As you probably know, the commonly accepted 'fairytale' behind the Taj Mahal is that it was built by Emperor Shah Jahan as a tribute of love to his recently deceased favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Nice story, right, and it does give the place a special atmosphere (especially when you're visiting w/ that special someone in your life!), but as you get more details the true story starts to take on a little bit different twist. Granted of course I'm no historian and I don't know, but from the bits and pieces I picked up from reading on the internet, listening to our guide, and watching a TV show about the Taj which happened to be on the Discovery Channel while we were in our hotel room looking out the window at the Taj, even more so than a tribute of the Emperor's love, it's more a tribute of his Ego, his own vanity, and the immense wealth and power that he held at the time. Work was begun in 1632 and ended in 1648, and the tour guide said some 25,000 laborers were working on the structure at any one time. Marble was brought from 200 miles away, and the craftsmanship and skilled work involved in building the Taj is even more evident from close up -- the buildings colors dont come from paint, but from precious stones inlaid seamlessly into the marble. It's pretty amazing when you see it up close...and pretty tragic when the tour guide then tells you that the Emperor had the fingers of the designers cut off after the work was completed so that nothing like it could ever be built again! (Whether this is actually true or not, I do not know. But the goverment sanctioned tour guide said it! haha). The story continues that after the Taj was finished, Shah Jahan, getting old, fell ill. Seizing the opportunity his youngest son killed his 3 older brothers, and imprisoned his dad (Geez! Mo' Money Mo' Problems!) in Agra fort, where he stayed, only able to view his masterpiece from a window for 8 years until he died. (Oh yeah, he died of a massive overdose of opium and aphrodesiacs with a bunch of his concubines. Don't feel too sorry for the old man). Quite a story, who knows what is really true or not -- certainly not me! -- but it goes without any debate that the Taj Mahal is truly a breathtaking sight to see and behold with your own eyes, and is a full fledged highly recommended place to visit in India, along with the millions of other people who will be there with you doing the same thing. It's worth it.

Here are a just a few of the many Taj Mahal pics taken on our visit. Again, as always, for the complete gallery (and about 100 more Taj pics, I'm warning you!) go to my Picasa Web Album here. Enjoy!