The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-10-11
THE TAI MAHAI.-


purposely postponed my visit to the Tai
Mahal-the most renowned monument OF
Agra-until had seen everything else in the
city and its vicinity. The distant view of this
matchless edfce satisfied me that its fame was
well deserved. So pure, so gloriously perfect
did 1t appear, that / almost feared to approach
1t, lest the charm should be broken. 1t is seer
to best advantage from the tomb of Itmun e
Dowlah, the Prime Minister of Shah Jehan
which stands in a garden on the northern banl
OF the Jumna, directly opposite to the city.
! X
To return to the Taj-for the reader expects
me to describe it, and l must comply, although
reluctantly, for am aware of the difficulty OF
giving an Ineligible picture of building
which has no counterpart in Europe, or even in
the East. The mosques and palaces of Con-
stantinople, the domed tent of Omar at Jeru.
salem, and the structures of the Saracens and
Memlooks at Cairo, have nothing in common
! with it. The remains of Moorish art in Spain
approach nearest to its spirit, but are only the
scattered limbs, the torso, of which the Tai is
the perfect type. 1t occupies that place in
Saracenic art, which, during my visit to Con.
stantinople, l mistakenly gave to the Solymanye
Mosque, and which, in respect to Grecian art,
is represented by the Parthenon. If there were
nothing else in India, this alone would repay
the journey.
The history and associations of the Tai are
entirely poetic. 1t is a work inspired by Love,
and consecrated to Beauty. Shah Jehan, the
Selim Of Moore's poem, erected = as a man
c csIssr nU Over ns o inc Moor
or more properly, palace" She is reputed
to have been a woman of surprising beauty,
and of great wit and intelligence. Shah Jehan
was inconsolable for her loss, and has immor-
tslized her memory in a poem, the tablets of
which are marble, and the letters Jewels for
the Tai is poetry transmitted into form; and
hence, when a poet sees it, he halls it with the
rapture Of a realized dream. Few persons, of
the thousands who sigh over the pages of Lalla
Rookh, are aware that the "Light of the
Harem' was real parsonage, and that her
tomb is one Of the wonders of the world. The
native miniature painters in Delhi show you her
portrait painted on ivory-a small, rather del
icate face, with large, dark, piercing eyes, and
black hair flowing from under scarf adorned
with peacock's feathers.
| The Tai is built on the bank of the Jumna,
rather more than mile to the eastward of the
Fort of Agra. 1t is approached by handsome
road, cut through the mounds left by the ruins
of ancient palaces. Like the tomb of Akbar,
it stands in large garden, enclosed by lofty
wall of red sandstone, with arched galleries
around the interior. The entrance is a superb
gateway of sandstone, inlaid with ornaments
and inscriptions from the Koran, in white
marble. Outside of this grand portal, however,
is a spacious quadrangle of solid masonry, with
an elegant structure intended as a caravanserai,
on the opposite side. Whatever may be the
visitors Impotence he cannot help pausing to
notice the fine proportions Of these structures,
and the rich and massive style of their architec-
ture. The gate to the garden of the Tai is not
so large as that of Akbar's tomb, but quite as
beautiful in design. Passing under the open
demivault, whose arch hangs high above you,
an avenue of dark Italian expresses appears
| before you. Down its centre sparkles a long
row Of fountains, each casting up single slen-
der Jet On both sides, the palm, the banyan,
and the feathery bamboo, mingle their foliage ;
the song of birds meets your ear, and the odor
| of roses and lemon-fowers sweetens the air.
Down such vista, and over such a foreground,
rises the Tai.
tits an octagonal building, or rather square
with the corners truncated, and each side pre-
cisely similar. 1t stands upon a lofty platform,
OF pedestal, with minaret at each corner and
this, again, is lifted on vast terrace of solid
masonry. An Oriental dome, swelling out bold
| ly from the base into nearly two-thirds of
sphere, and tapering at the top into crescent
| tipped spre, crowns the edifce, rising from its
centre, with four similar, though much smaller
domes, at the corners. On each side there is
q grand entrance, formed by single pointed
arch, rising nearly to the cornice, and two small
er arches Zone placed above the other) on
either hand. The height of the building, from
its base to the top Of the dome, is 262 feet, and
of the minarets, about 200 feet. But no words
can convey an idea of the exquisite harmony
of the different parts, and the grand and glori-
Gus effect of the whole structure, with its at
tendsnt minarets.
The material is of the purest white marble,
little inferior to that of Carrara. 1t shines so
dazzlingly in the sun, that you can scarcely look
| at it near at hand, except in the morning and
evening. Every part-even the basement, the
dome, and the upper galleries of the minarets-
is inlsid with ornamental designs in marble of
| different colors, principally pale brown and
a blush violet variety. Great as are the dimen-
sions of the Tai, it is as laboriously finished as
one of those Chinese csskets of ivory and ebony,
which are now so common in Europe Bishop
| Heber truly said 1.-THE Pathans designed like
Titans, and finished like jewellers" Around
all the arches of the portals and the windows,
around the cornice and the domes, on the
walls and in the passages, are inlaid chapters
of the Koran, the letters being exauisitely form.
| ed of black marble. 1t is asserted that the
whole of the Koran is thus inlaid, in the Tai,
and can readily believe it to be true. The
building is perfect in every part Any dilapida.
tons it may have suffered are so well restored
that all traces of them have disappeared.
| assembled to the base of the building-a
| cleaning marble rlatform almOst on a Level