October 24 - More sights in Agra

This morning we got up and got ready to meet Gupta and head off to see more of Agra.  I must apologize if I get names mixed up or misspelled or some of my history wrong.  My brain is getting information overload and I don’t have time to confirm what I think I know online.

Anyway, our first stop this morning was Agra Fort.  This is a massive red sandstone fort that encompasses 2.5  sq. kilometers  along the bank of the Yamuna River. It dominates old Agra and is a very masculine looking structure as opposed to the ethereal and almost feminine beauty of the Taj.  It was built in the 16^th century and enlarged by several of the Mughal emperors in succession.  It’s surrounded by a double moat.  The outer had water and had crocodiles and poisonous snakes in it to repel attackers. The inner was dry and had tigers for the same reason.  It was attacked several times but was not taken until the British came in the 19^th century with their gunpowder and cannons.  Today 25 % of the fort is open to the public and the remainder is used by the Indian army.

The fort combines Mughal Indian and Persian/Islamic architecture.  Within the walls are several palaces.  The most beautiful was built by Shah Jehan, the builder of the Taj Mahal, and he used the same white marble that he used in the latter building.  Once again the walls are beautifully inlaid and painted and have lovely marble screens which look like lace or filigree.  One area was the reception area where the Emperor would receive petitioners who came from all over his empire hoping to get his favor for their petitions.  He was the ultimate authority and there was no recourse from his decisions.  This building reminded us a lot of the Alhambra in Granada with its beautiful arched colonnade with Moorish style arches and intricate piedra stone work.  The red sandstone buildings within the walls were also beautifully decorated.  In places the carving looked like wood.

Front view of the Reception Room Colonnade which is very reminiscent of Granada

Side view of the colonnade 

The Emperor's private rooms.  Imagine them draped in colorful silks and with plush carpets on the floors.

The Emperor's many concubines lived around this courtyard, sometimes as many as 400.  Try to imagine them standing on the balconies in their finest clothing trying to catch the Emperor's eye. IN the foreground was a fountain.

Shah Jehan's jail where  he could still see the Taj

One of the rooms we visited was where Shah Jehan spent his last years jailed by his son who had taken the crown.  One of the Shah’s daughters intervened with her brother on her father’s behalf and the rooms he was confined in gave him a view of the Taj Mahal so he could always see his beloved wife’s mausoleum.  Following his death he was buried next to her in the Taj and in fact, his tomb is the only thing in the whole complex which is not perfectly symmetrical.  His wife’s tomb is in the exact center of the building and his is next to her off-center.

Beautiful carving on the sandstone part of the fort

 

It's not wood but a lot sure looks like it!

From the fort we stopped at a place where the descendants of the artisans who did the wonderful inlay work on the Taj continue to do the same inlay using the same tools.  Semi-precious stones are cut using a hand powered emery wheel into various shapes to create flowers and animals.  Once the pieces are precisely cut they are placed into hand chiseled spaces on the same white marble used for the Taj.  From these materials beautiful tables, vases, boxes and other objets d’art are created and sold. The man who explained the workmanship to us told us this a dying art since the next generation doesn’t want to do the painstaking and physically difficult work.  It’s very sad.

Inlay work still being done as it was 400 years ago

Next stop was the “Baby Taj.”  Across the river from Agra Fort sits the mausoleum of  I'timād-ud-Daulah.  He was a Persian Amir who also happened to be the grandfather of MumTaz mahal.  On his death his daughter commissioned the tomb.  The building is much smaller that the Taj but combined many of the same ingredients and materials. It was constructed  between 1622 and 1628 and many people see it as a test run for the Taj.  Something we found interesting about it’s inlaid work is that in addition to using semi-precious gems in the designs petrified wood was also used giving some of the flowers an added interest. The interior has some lovely frescoes , some of them depicting ordinary household items. It’s another quiet and beautiful sight where you can forget the hustle and bustle of old Agra.

Baby Taj

Detail of inlaid flower made with petrified wood. You can see it granular

 

Ordinary items in frescoes in the Bay Taj

This fresco is on the ceiling. Doesn't it look like the central medallion of a carpet?

We two old folks in the tomb room of the Baby Taj

We were on a roll so off we went to a showroom displaying Sham’s embroidery http://shamsembroidery.com/main1.html.  This is a special kind of embroidery using silver and gold threads and silk to create three dimensional designs with no padding..  Shams was an artisan born in 1917 who perfected this work.  In a special gallery there are several pieces of his work which have been exhibited around the world in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, Victoria and Albert Museum in London and others.  They are truly spectacular!  Shams was a Muslim but he did one life size work of Jesus with a flock of lambs and sheep. The realism of his subjects was so incredible that one could imagine the lambs coming out of the picture .  No photos were allowed to preserve the pieces.

On the floor above the embroidery showroom is the Kohinoor Jewelry shop.  Once again this is a family who have been jewelers to the Moghuls for several generations – six I think.  The assortment of handcrafted pieces both old and antique is incredible.  Indians have very elaborate weddings and much jewelry is purchased to be part of the dowry.  Later on families may exchange pieces for something that suits them more.  Somehow they had acquired an exquisite suite of emerald jewelry which had belonged to an empress.  I got to try it all on.  I’ve never had more than 1200 carats hanging around my neck before!

 

A queen's suite of emerald jewelry.  Now all I need is several 100 million dollars and I can wear it to Costco!

Next stop a rug shop to see how Agra rugs are made.  We have several Indian rugs at home and it was interesting to see the method used.  We’d seen them made in Turkey, but Indians use a different technique.  They don’t really use knots but rather more of a figure eight around the warp threads.  The workmanship is beautiful.

Weaving as it has been done for generations

Our last stop for the day was the Mehta Bagh gardens directly across the river from the Taj. While the latter was under construction he would go there often to watch the beautiful monument being built.  Some stories say that it was his intention to build a duplicate tomb for himself on the opposite side of the Yamuna.  That one was to be of black marble and be connected with the white Taj via a silver bridge.  What a sight that would have been!

 

The Taj from the other side of the Yamuna River. It's beautiful from every angle!

So after a very full day we were driven back to our hotel where we sat on the lovely terrace for a while watching the fireworks all around for the second day of Diwali and watching the Indian dancers perform.  We made it a pretty early night because we had to get up at 5 AM next morning to be at the Taj for a sunrise viewing.