Agra, India

T.R.S…
Up at 4am. on Friday, 29 February, on arrival at Agra, and drove out five miles in the dark to see the Taj Mahal at daybreak. A great monument and a beautiful sight, especially at dawn when the early morning mist lends an extra exotic atmosphere to the spot, and sounds echo as in a canyon.

Building of the Taj Mahal was started in 1631, completed in 15 years at a cost of $20,000,000 - and that was in the days of slave labour and cheap materials! The fact that it still stands, practically flawless after more than three centuries, attests the character of its architecture and the quality of workmanship and material employed.

Standing at a river edge on a block of solid masonry 60 feet high that has not bulged an inch, the Taj is of pure white marble, surrounded by a wide terrace or verandah walkway paved with white marble blocks. To prevent wear on stairs and floors, visitors are required to remove their shoes or have feet encased in flannel cloths.

Inside the structure are the tombs of Emperor Moghul Jenan, who built it, and his third wife, who is said to have borne him 13 children, although the old reprobate also maintained a harem of 30 concubines, imprisoned in his armed fortress two miles in the opposite direction from Agra. He must have burned up the roads keeping in touch with all his ladies!

Around the tombs in the Taj are marble panels cut in uniform lacy patterns which form a background like lattice work around an outhouse. These panels alone represent millions of man hours of labour by skilled artisans.

Centred above is the great turnip-shaped dome, at least 100 feet in diameter, supported only by its own shape and weight, nesting on tall pilasters that are the structural centre of the building. Masons are constantly at work repointing mortar joints and replacing marble pieces broken by stresses. The Taj is maintained by the government purely as an attraction for sightseers.

My own personal reaction upon visiting the Taj Mahal was that, while it is a magnificent monument and must have a sweet romantic story connected with it about a love remembrance to an admirable woman, it represents an insane and monstrous expenditure of life and wealth for no good helpful or practical purpose - a relic of the barbarism and supreme egotism of a dictator.

The great red fortress where this Moghul Jenan had his harem further attests this conclusion. Behind eight miles of high stone walls was his city of palaces, mosques, baths, courtyards, parade grounds, elephant stables, servant quarters, and every conceivable provision for luxury-living, in total seclusion.

The one entrance to the fortress is by an arched bridge across a moat, with guard towers and turrets overlooking the highway. Today on this highway are magic-trick artists and hawkers, all preying on the visitors who come to view the medieval grandeur of the great Red Fort.

Like Banaras, Agra is a city of needless filth and squalor, through which we were obliged to drive to the Laurie Hotel for breakfast. The Laurie, a fine tourist hotel, is back off the highway for privacy.

On the streets and highways are dozens of “Untouchables” who sweep the streets and clean the “rest rooms” as did their fathers and grandfathers and as their children and grandchildren will likewise be obliged to do. They are no different in appearance from other natives, but there is some badge of identity that causes them to be shunned and denies them access to the holy places.

On the fine cool verandah of the hotel, many wares of local merchants are on display and there were also several magic and trick artists. One quiet-mannered old man - who might have been a white-whiskered Eugene Lippincott from looks - squatted on the verandah and took a little yellow canary from a small cage.

He then threw a celluloid ring into the air, and the bird flew up and caught the ring in mid-air, flew back down and dropped it in Gene's hand. From the hand of an onlooker the bird retrieved a cigarette and placed it in Gene's mouth, then flew to a nearby matchbox and returned with a match.

Next Gene placed some beads and a threaded needle on a mat, and the bird picked up the needle in its little beak and ran the needle through each bead singly until they were all strung on the thread, then flew up and dropped the string in Gene's hand.