The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1872-03-21

: NUN 1uulis ItCSDtAJ PuOliolICV !
our columns, she speaks of visitin
the 1Gj. or mausoleum, erected b
Shah Jehan for his favorite wifi
Moor Mahal. The following NOR
detailed description of this magnif
cent tstructure, which well deserve
to be called one of the wonders of tn
: world, viii be read with Interest
1t is from DR.. Primes new book c
travels, just published by Harper
Brothers, entitled "Around th
World" u -t-'.. tt I@l@.t9.
pa The Tai at Agra.
All that we had seen ia the fort
of Akbar and the palace of ShaI
Jehan was eclipsed by anothe
structure, the most sublime ant
beautiful that now stands upon tn,
face of the earth. This, l believe, il
the unqualified testimony of every
one who has seen the Tai.
About mile to the South of tht
\ fort at Agra, upon the right banE
iof the river Jumna, lies beautiful
park, quarter of a mile square
planted with the choicest trees, anG
shrubs, and flowers of the East
More than eighty fountains, scatter
ed along the avenues of this park
throw their jets into the air, which
sparkles with the falling drops as
| with shower of diamonds. It is
surrounded by high wall, and
guarded by magnificent gate way,
ia building fifty or sixty feet in
height, which, with any other sur.
Iroundings, would be studied and
Iadmired for its architectural grand.
eur, and the beauty of its carving
and mosaic ornamentation. No
one would imagine it to be simply
the portal to greater beauty and
grandeur, but such 1t is.
We enter beneath this majestic
lsrch, and find ourselves within the
park. A broad avenue, skirted
with lofty expresses, acacias, and
other Oriental trees, and tanks OF
aquatic plants and jets deau, reveals,
! at its extremity, an object which at
once rivets the eye, and steals over
the heart like a strain of delicious
music, or like the melody of sub
lime poetry. 1t is the Tai, the
peerless Tsj, the mausoleum erected
by the Emperor Shah Jehan as the
tomb of his favorite begun, Moor
Mahal, in which they now sleep side
by side. She died before him in
giving birth to a child, and it is
stated that, as she felt her life ebb-
ing away, she sent for the emperor,
and told him she had only two re-
quests to make: first, that he would
not take another wife and have
children 20 contend with hers for
his favor and dominions; and Sec
ond, that he would build for her the
tomb he had promised, to perpetuate
her memory. The emperor sum-
mOned the medical counselors OF
the city TO do everything that was
in their power to save her life, but
all in vain.
Shah Jehan, who was devotedly
attached to her, at once set about
complying with her last request.
The tomb was commenced immed-
lately, and according to Tavernier,
who saw its first and last stones laid,
it was twenty-five years in building,
with twenty thousand men con-
stantly occupied upon it. 1t cost,
in actual expense, in addition to the
forced labor of the men, more than
three hundred lacs Of rupees, or
about fifteen millions of dollars.
Such a building, including the cost
of materials, could scarcely be erect
ed by paid labor at the present time,
even in India, for S5G, 100000 As
this building is acknowledged by
every traveller to be unrivaled, and
the sight of it declared by many to
be worth journey round the world,
l will give a more minute descrip.
ton of its situation and its promi-
nent features.
at the extremity of the beautiful
park or Oriental garden of which l
have spoken, on the river side, rises
a terrace of red sandstone twenty
feet in height, and a thousand feet
broad. The walls of the terrace on
all sides are of hewn stone, and its
surface is paved with the same ma
terial. At the extreme left of this
terrace stands magnificent mosque,
an appendage to the main structure,
the Tai. 1t is the place of prayer
for the faithful, who come to visit
the tomb of the favorite of the Mogul
emperor. This building must have
been very costly, but as it would
destroy the symmetry of the grand
mausoleum by occupying one side
of the central building, the emperor
had another mosque, perfect count
erpart, erected on the opposite ex-
tremity of the terrace, thousand
feet distant, of no use excepting as a
jowa6, or answer to the first. The
one is held as a sacred place; the
other, in the eyes of a Mohamme-
dan, has nothing sacred about it;
it is simply the complement of the
first. --t r.r-r mra--.a-
On the lofty terrace of sandstone
rises another terrace of pure white
marble, its walls of cut stone laid as