The drive from Dehli to Aga was pretty uneventful as the fog was so thick we couldn’t see any countryside and the traffic was travelling fairly slowly and carefully (for Indian standards), only a few scooters driving towards us on the same side of the road, and the odd car joining the motorway by driving up the exit road!
Our hotel in Agra, Hotel Elinor, is fairly new and all marble and glass. It’s the first time the tour company we’re with has used them, so the manager is all over us like a rash and has upgraded us to mini suites, thank you👍 Shame the rooms were like sitting in a fridge 🥶(Remind myself not to come to northern India in January)
Having checked in we met the driver and our guide for the day who was taking us to the Taj Mahal. He told us that today was the 137th anniversary of the death of Shah Jahan and on this day visitors are able to view the actual graves of Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal in the monument’s basement (for the rest of the year people walk through the ground floor and only see copies of the sarcophagi.) I didn’t know that!
It took us over half an hour to drive to the East Gate, where he assured us it wouldn’t be so crowded! I have never seen so many people crowding to get in somewhere. It wasn’t frantic or hurried, whole families were enjoying the excitement of the day and making their way to the entrance. Thankfully there’s a separate security entrance for foreigners and as there weren’t hardly any other white people other than us we were through quickly. Buoyed by this we eagerly made our way to the entrance gate.
There was music and chanting and hundreds of young men were carrying what seemed like a never ending multi coloured cloth in their hands above their heads. It signifies deep spiritual reverence, symbolizing a continuous stream of prayers, devotion, and the eternal bond of love for Mumtaz Mahal, with the lengthy fabric representing unending faith and a sacred offering. I joined in and held the cloth and tripped my way into the Taj Mahal, I felt quite exhilarated and found myself flung out onto the rails looking over the fountains in front of the Taj.
No chance of recreating the Lady Di pose as that area was roped off.
The huge crowds already inside were in queues of at least 10 people wide and snaked all the way round the gardens before bottlenecking at some steps just to get on the base platform.
We saw lots of the outside of the Taj as we wound our way round, the crowds got deeper and thicker and you could see lots of abandoned shoes and even scarves underfoot as everyone surged forward.
Stopping to try to pick something up would have meant being trampled on. It became a little scary in some points but when we got to the outer wall and were put into single file lines (in order to not be crowded going up the stairs to the level adjacent to the building) it became easier.
However, we did get a chance to have our photos taken with loads of people, this lady and her daughter were lovely.
No photo of her daughter as she was busy taking a photo of me taking a photo of her mum 😂
At this point we had to put on shoe covers, we’re almost there, I thought but no, we had to queue all the way around the building before being allowed to go down some very steep steps into the bowels of the mausoleum.
When we did get to the door way down to the basement the body heat coming up was hot enough to make you gasp in some fresh air, we were shoved down the steps and were shouted at by guards to keep moving. Some devotees wearing pink scarves were bowing and saying prayers loudly whilst throwing flower petals over the sarcophagi, which had been draped with heavily embroidered red and gold cloth. Once round the room at the bottom of the steps a solder grabbed my upper arm and hauled me up the steps, female guards with sticks almost herded us out of the side door. (I thought she was going to hit us at one point!) After hours and hours of queuing we were in and out in less than 2 minutes! It was an experience .
There were still long queues waiting to get in but it’s wasn’t so frenetic and we got to see the Taj in the sunset, when the sun caught the gem stones the building twinkled like fairy light (shame that the camera didn’t pick it up)
At the end of the following day we drove across the river to a park area where we could see the back of the Taj Mahal, it was said that the plans were to build a black Taj here as a reflection but that never happened.
DAY 2
The following day we visited the Red Fort, home of the Mogul Emperors, an impenetrable building built by Akbar between 1565 and 1573. Straight along three sides and curved on the opposite, it has been added to and refurbed over the years. It ended up being the prison for Shah Jahan, he was imprisoned by his son for the last 14 years of his life. At least he was able to see the Taj Mahal from his suite.
We’ve been to a few Forts now and basically they all contain – a place for the Emperor to address the masses, somewhere for him to meet with his minsters, living chambers for him and seperate ones for the wives and a Mosque.
Afterwards we visited Sikandra, the tomb of Akbar, located on the outskirts of the city. Unfortunately he didn’t live to see it completed.
There are lots of similarities to the Taj as they were all built earlier.
Our final destination was Itimad-ud-Daulah’s Tomb, built in 1622, which is described as a mini Taj, built for Mirza Ghyiyas Beg, who was the Grand Vizier in the Mughal court, his daughter was the favourite wife of the Emperor Jahangir. It took 6 years to complete. It has 4 squat minarettes and the decoration is absolutely beautiful. Shouldn’t say this as it was built for a court official and not an emperor but it is exquisite and was my favourite.
It is built symmetricaly, with running water channels all around and beautiful lawned gardens on each side. At each door (N, S, and W) is a long pathway (with water channels and pool) ending at a huge gate.
The central tomb was so beautifully decorated
This was one of the four rooms at each corner, not as lavishly decorated or as well preserved as the tomb.
The following morning we visited Fatehpur Sikri. This was the palace complex built between 1571 and 1585 by Akbar. It seems despite having 3 wives (a Catholic, a Muslim and a Hindu) and 120 concubines / minor wives at the age of 28 he didn’t have any children!!! He visited a holy man in the hills who predicted he would have a son… and he did by the Hindu wife. Praise be! He build this huge palace over 14 years near to hermits cave. (Which is why it’s so far out from Agra.)
It is the largest palace /fortress complex we’ve been to, it was huge, but it was abandoned after only 4 years of living in it. The general consensus is that there were years of drought and they couldn’t bring enough water in to make it liveable.
Again it has everything needed, a huge courtyard for talking to the masses, a building for the ministers to discuss policy, a huge treasury, both summer and winter suites for the Emperor and his 3 main wives, which faced in different directions to either make the most of the cooling summer breezes off the man-made lake or the autumn sunshine from the mountains, also accommodation for the 120 lesser wives as well as a huge Mosque where the holy man was entombed.
Unlike other Forts where one area leads on to the next, here each area is walled off with guarded entrance doors into the next section. So the Public area leads onto the internal courtyard which includes the Treasury and the Governing building where the Emperor met with his ministers.
This leads to a huge area for relaxation with areas for entertainment and a quadrangle pool complex.
Off from here are the King’s apartment, and the 3 queens apartments.
On from there is the huge quadrangle which was the lesser wives “prison”.
The lesser wives lived trapped in the courtyard you can see through this doorway, with their little shelf /beds cut out all the way around. Quite barbaric but the families were well compensated and had an elevated position in society as their daughter had been chosen by the Emperor.
The Mosque was in a separate complex through this gate but we were warned that there were dozens of hawker there who would bombard us with things to buy. So we opted out and went back to the hotel. It had been a long day! AND there’s more to see tomorrow!
