Taj Mahal, the monument of love <3

note the inlay work of art - taj mahal

finally dear, taj mahal is here. i visited the famous taj mahal on 31st of december 08, the last day of the year. taj mahal really does wonders to me. i'm not trying to exaggerate things but really, taj mahal has mesmerized me with its bewitching beauty! it is simply fascinating. so what makes taj mahal one of the seven wonders of the world? if u ask me, i would say, the combination of its great architecture and the love story that lies within taj mahal makes it stand as the wonder of the world.

i super love mummy :)

let's start off with some basic facts of taj mahal. as told by my tourist guide, taj mahal was built by Shah Jahan (the 5th Mughal emperor) in 1631 and it was completed 22 years later. Taj mahal was built in memory of his 3rd wife, Mumtaz Mahal. yes, he had 3 wives altogether and Mumtaz Mahal was his favourite (biase la kot, kate bini muda kan? ;p) Mumtaz Mahal died while giving birth to their 14th child and during her last moments, Shah Jahan promised to build a love monument as a tribute to his beloved wife. and so, taj mahal is the monument in which the tomb of Mumtaz is placed.

love it when we get together

taj mahal was entirely built by white marble with inlay works of semi-precious and precious stones. in a glance, people might think the decorations on the wall of taj mahal was painted to give its colours, but the truth is, they are the semi-precious and precious stones that give out the colours of the decorations. no wonder taj mahal took 22 years to complete. it was a wonderful work of art, truly magnificent.

my 3 annoying but adorable sisters - agra fort

opposite taj mahal is Yamuna River. it is believed that on the other side of the river, black taj was to be built there. now what the hell is black taj kan? i'm sure most of us have not heard anything about black taj. black taj is another monument that resembles Taj Mahal, this time for Shah Jahan. instead of using white marble, black taj was made up by black marble and so its name. however, the mausoleum failed to be completed because Shah Jahan was then toppled by his own son, Aurangzeb.

picking up taj mahal?

since Shah Jahan's attempt of building his own mausoleum (black taj) failed, he was then buried next to his wife's tomb in taj mahal which is already centrally placed, by his son Aurangzeb. that explains the asymmetric nature inside the taj mahal. the position of his tomb is such that it looks a little offset from the center. meaning, both tombs are now placed in taj mahal.

the jewellery shop in agra. bye bye money.

now about the mutilation myth of the craftsmen that involved in the construction of taj mahal. it is famously believed that Shah Jahan got the hands of all his craftsmen cut off and mutilated so that they can never build any other monument as beautiful as taj mahal. gila kan? again, this is what the tourist guide told me.

very foggy and very cold - morning hours in taj mahal

i wrote enough about taj mahal. from the basic facts till the myths about taj mahal, maybe i left out some other facts. well, i can't managed to remember every single fact because my attention was more on seeing taj mahal rather than digesting everything that has been told by my tourist guide. but still, i never knew such details about the story behind taj mahal. i must say that the story really is interesting. mumtaz mahal sure was lucky to have someone who loves her entirely!

taj mahal the love monument, i want one!!

after visiting taj mahal, my tourist guide brought us all to this one marble shop. they make souvenirs like plates, frames etc etc from marbles with inlay work of various stones. yeah, just like what we've seen in taj mahal. they even make tables etc etc from that. the price? u dun wanna know. mahal gile. and they said the craftsmen who made all the souvenirs are the descendants of those in past(those who constructed taj mahal) we stucked in there for hours, and my mom bought quite a number of things. bravo again. my dad? he was praying hard that my mom doesn't get into anymore shops after this. hahahah.

at the agra fort, the ancient palace

done with shopping, we headed to agra fort. agra fort is an ancient palace in which the great Mughal emperors used to lived (Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jehangir, Shah Jahan and his son, Aurangzeb) the fort was extremely huge and i must say, it looks really strong too! lots of things i can tell about this fort, but without the right pictures to accompany my story, i'm sure it'll be a boring one. so let's just skip the details of this fort. just one really interesting thing to be highlighted is ; there's a tower with marble balcony in this fort, where Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son. the tower has a clear and excellent view of taj mahal. according to history, Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son because his son did not agree with his father's act of using public money to build taj mahal and also black taj. initially, i thought Aurangzeb was being mean and cruel for prisoning his own father, but as a king that follows islamic law, i now think that Aurangzeb did the right thing. moreover, considering the nice tower that overlook taj mahal, the punishment doesn't seem that harsh anyway. it was more like a house-arrest, rather than being in the prison.

side view of taj mahal

finally baby, had our lunch in the nearby muslim restaurant. its mutton and chicken biryani was the best best best i ever had! rasa nak order another plate but the price was ridiculously expensive so abaikan. the video below is captured in that restaurant, these 2 performers gave a welcome and goodbye performance as the customers walk past the restaurant. yeah, u can see me and my sisters joined the dancing. hahahha. next, i thought we were going straight back to delhi but nope, got stucked in jewellery shop. hahaahahaha. i can't believe my mother turned into such a shopaholic during her stay in india. oh yes kerugian besar di situ. luckily, my dad refused to get into this carpet shop in agra, but not in delhi, they finally bought a carpet in delhi! hahahahaha. and sila imagine, angkut carpet bawak masuk flight. ye, sila imagine.

i hope u gain something from this entry. more pictures are available in my facebook. i've shared almost everything that i know about taj mahal. overall, my visit to taj mahal is gonna be a memorable one because i've never seen any building as beautiful as taj mahal. and i do believe there's something very mystical about taj mahal ahahaha yes i may sound ridiculous now but i dun care. seeing taj mahal from afar is like seeing another world full of fairy tales, take my words! oh am so gonna miss this monument of love. now, enjoy this video :)

rajashtan dance