Agra Day 2
Our first excursion of the day was to The Taj Mahal. Sometimes referred to as “The Sky, The End, The Everything.” The Taj is identical from every angle. It is built on an octagonal plan and is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is classified as modern architecture. The Taj is made of Indian white marble which was quarried 360 km north of Agra. In 1731, moving that amount of stone requires the use of horses, camels, elephants, and great effort. It took two years to haul all the marble to the construction site. Indian marble is the best marble in the world. That means it is the most pure and hardest in the world. The only thing harder is diamond.
India annually experiences temperature swings from 1 degree to 120 degrees. That causes enormous stress on structures. Even under that kind of stress the Taj has not suffered any structural damage over the millenniums. In order to provide a solid foundation it was built on copper clad teak timbers. As odd as that may sound, that combination provides a remarkably stable foundation, even to this day.
The Taj is the treasure of India. It receives eight million visitors a year. The Taj is 240 feet tall and is designed to reflect the same perspective from every angle. Perspective was taken into account in every aspect of design. The Sanskrit writing inlaid on the exterior is larger as inlay moves up the facade. This allows the writing to appear the sam size to the human eye regardless of where the eye is looking. The four minarets (one at each corner) are tilted outward at a 2.7 degree angle so when one is viewed straight the view of the one directly behind it is not obstructed. This also insures the minarets will fall away from the central dome in the event of an earthquake. That precaution was taken even though the Taj was constructed in an earthquake free zone.
No paint was used in the decoration of the Taj. All the decoration is created by artisans working precious stones into the facade by hand. It took hundreds of artists, cutting millions of precious stones to complete all the filigree work. To adhere the cut stones into the recesses that held them, a special glue was used. The glue was melted and poured into the relief cuts and then the finely cut stones were inserted. A unique property of this stone glue is its strength, another is that it can only be melted once.
One note that must be shared here by way of correction, our guide pointed out that the story of the Emperor wanting to build a black marble Taj was a myth. I stand corrected.
My visit to the Taj Mahal was awe inspiring. It is without question a wonder of the world, and a wonder to experience first hand as well.
Our second excursion of the day was to a visit to a Hare Kirshner temple. As you might guess, this was my first visit to a Kirshner temple. The drive there took us longer than we planned so we missed the devotional portion of the evening but we arrived in time for the chanting. Oh my, was that fun! Some people refer to that experience as a Hare Kirshner Rave. That comes pretty close to describing it! We danced, chanted and clapped in rhythmic movement. The experience can only be described as joyful. It made you feel happy and in touch with everyone in the room, and there were LOTS of people in the room!
We were the only westerners in the room that evening, I soon realized that made us celebrities of sorts. Almost as soon as I began moving and clapping to the chanting I felt a very light tapping on my leg… I looked down and there was a small Indian girl, maybe not 5 years old. She was smiling and looking up at me with stretched out arms! I reached down and we clapped hands together. It was a sweet moment of non-verbal genuine sharing. It wasn’t long before her family wanted a picture with us. That wasn’t the end of the picture taking. We ended up standing in for pictures every few minutes throughout the evening! I will never forget the generosity of spirit that was shared by everyone that evening.