the TAJ MAHAL
which has lent its goodname to a number of Indian restaurants of varying quality around the world. but, for all of the hype, the taj certainly deserves its own post. now, i've talked to people who were put off by one or another aspect of seeing this building (it costs about 15$ US a head to get in the gate now) or simply weren't that impressed.
not the case here, as asenath and i spent most of our time on the grounds trying to put into words the various feelings that the building stirred in us. asenath felt that it seemed to stand forth as though from a different reality, as if it were not actually fully in this world. i quite liked that, and the more i stared at it the more it seemed to recede. it is certainly the kind of structure one might expect to see marking the portal to another dimension of fabulous wealth, adventure beckoning.
the taj grounds are rectangular and subdivided into two quadrangles. the four walls of the first of the quadrangles are perforated by massive gates, three leading outside the compound and the fourth leading into the second quadrangle, wherein resides the taj. here's a view through the fourth gate, as a visitor receives her first glimpse of the taj.
and a little farther through the gate...
and into the second quadrangle with its reflective pools and the first full view of the taj and its attendant side buildings (peeking out above the trees).
the above shot is taken at quite a distance from the building, which is itself immense (the people on the plinth in the picture above are the tiny smudge of black beneath the main structure). the four minarets at the corners now lean away from the building slightly, but historians are divided on whether or not this is intentional: in case of an earthquake they will fall away from the main building.
as one gets closer the building becomes impossible to capture on photograph. the following photos are from closer to the taj, and seem always only to catch a corner or portion dissonantly cut off from the whole (curiously, just like my brother Matt in a lot of old family photos, in which he can often only be identified by a sleeve or half of his head...or process of elimination).
the taj is identical on all four sides and this is a detail of the front of the building.
the main feature of the inlay work on the gates are verses from the koran. the designers of the building (a story in itself) constructed the gates in such a way that if one stands immediately in front of the center of these gateways, the verses on the wall do not seem to the reader to diminish as they stretch upward and away. that is, the verses are inlaid in such a way that they appear counteract the physics of perspective and, to a viewer on the ground, can be read as if on a flat page directly in front of them. i hope that made sense.
if you look at the picture of the taj above, you will see a main bay on each side flanked by four smaller bays, two horizontally arranged on each side. here is lil' ol' asenath in one of the small bays.
and here's lil'ler ol' me in one of the big bays.
i feel like this picture kind of gets a the imensity of the structure.
now, all of these pictures are dark because we opted for a sunset viewing, which, while very affective for us in person, was perhaps less amenable to our photographic ambitions. but we did get some nice sunset shots.
this one is looking past the taj at one of the two identical attending buildings that flank it. this one is a mosque, the other a guest house.
the inside of the taj houses the sarcophagi of Mumtaz (at the direct center) and Shah Jajan (to her side). no photography is allowed inside, but the taj is basically hollow in the center. it is a cavernous room where the smallest noise is amplified to head-thrumming levels. we were there at dusk and it was eerie and booming inside. the sarcophagi are surrounded by screens carved of individual slabs of marble, no two the same. the detail on them is amazing. actually, the bodies are kept in another room beneath the main room to fool would-be descrators.
so i'll leave you with three more pics, the first is of the taj floating in the murky dusklight of early 2007.
here, in this picture, is for me all of the exotic drama of ancient india. reaching stately and unlikely out from the past; more, it is a reminder to me how far off and unknown to our modern western minds were the people and places and deeds and triumphs and defeats (all the big ones and all the small ones) of those times and how the world has churned and smoldered (and continues to) through an infinite web of personal and imperial histories, most too strange to be truly believed unless we can experience them for ourselves.
and, second, a view of the taj in broad daylight. its shape seems to shift with the quality of the light, and here under the winter sun of the yamuna river valley in north india, its mountain of white marble flares out like cold flame.
finally, i couldn't resist throwing in a picture of the sign for a restaurant at which we did not opt to dine. 
much love! next up, rajasthan!
which has lent its goodname to a number of Indian restaurants of varying quality around the world. but, for all of the hype, the taj certainly deserves its own post. now, i've talked to people who were put off by one or another aspect of seeing this building (it costs about 15$ US a head to get in the gate now) or simply weren't that impressed.
not the case here, as asenath and i spent most of our time on the grounds trying to put into words the various feelings that the building stirred in us. asenath felt that it seemed to stand forth as though from a different reality, as if it were not actually fully in this world. i quite liked that, and the more i stared at it the more it seemed to recede. it is certainly the kind of structure one might expect to see marking the portal to another dimension of fabulous wealth, adventure beckoning.
the taj grounds are rectangular and subdivided into two quadrangles. the four walls of the first of the quadrangles are perforated by massive gates, three leading outside the compound and the fourth leading into the second quadrangle, wherein resides the taj. here's a view through the fourth gate, as a visitor receives her first glimpse of the taj.
and a little farther through the gate...
and into the second quadrangle with its reflective pools and the first full view of the taj and its attendant side buildings (peeking out above the trees).
the above shot is taken at quite a distance from the building, which is itself immense (the people on the plinth in the picture above are the tiny smudge of black beneath the main structure). the four minarets at the corners now lean away from the building slightly, but historians are divided on whether or not this is intentional: in case of an earthquake they will fall away from the main building. as one gets closer the building becomes impossible to capture on photograph. the following photos are from closer to the taj, and seem always only to catch a corner or portion dissonantly cut off from the whole (curiously, just like my brother Matt in a lot of old family photos, in which he can often only be identified by a sleeve or half of his head...or process of elimination).
the taj is identical on all four sides and this is a detail of the front of the building.
the main feature of the inlay work on the gates are verses from the koran. the designers of the building (a story in itself) constructed the gates in such a way that if one stands immediately in front of the center of these gateways, the verses on the wall do not seem to the reader to diminish as they stretch upward and away. that is, the verses are inlaid in such a way that they appear counteract the physics of perspective and, to a viewer on the ground, can be read as if on a flat page directly in front of them. i hope that made sense.if you look at the picture of the taj above, you will see a main bay on each side flanked by four smaller bays, two horizontally arranged on each side. here is lil' ol' asenath in one of the small bays.
and here's lil'ler ol' me in one of the big bays.
i feel like this picture kind of gets a the imensity of the structure.now, all of these pictures are dark because we opted for a sunset viewing, which, while very affective for us in person, was perhaps less amenable to our photographic ambitions. but we did get some nice sunset shots.
this one is looking past the taj at one of the two identical attending buildings that flank it. this one is a mosque, the other a guest house.the inside of the taj houses the sarcophagi of Mumtaz (at the direct center) and Shah Jajan (to her side). no photography is allowed inside, but the taj is basically hollow in the center. it is a cavernous room where the smallest noise is amplified to head-thrumming levels. we were there at dusk and it was eerie and booming inside. the sarcophagi are surrounded by screens carved of individual slabs of marble, no two the same. the detail on them is amazing. actually, the bodies are kept in another room beneath the main room to fool would-be descrators.
so i'll leave you with three more pics, the first is of the taj floating in the murky dusklight of early 2007.
here, in this picture, is for me all of the exotic drama of ancient india. reaching stately and unlikely out from the past; more, it is a reminder to me how far off and unknown to our modern western minds were the people and places and deeds and triumphs and defeats (all the big ones and all the small ones) of those times and how the world has churned and smoldered (and continues to) through an infinite web of personal and imperial histories, most too strange to be truly believed unless we can experience them for ourselves.and, second, a view of the taj in broad daylight. its shape seems to shift with the quality of the light, and here under the winter sun of the yamuna river valley in north india, its mountain of white marble flares out like cold flame.
finally, i couldn't resist throwing in a picture of the sign for a restaurant at which we did not opt to dine. 
much love! next up, rajasthan!