The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1895-11-21
THE TAI MAHAL
The Most Wonderful and Beautiful Build
ing Ever Erected.
THnrn.r'e u,eetLlf

ing Ever Erected.
Tfdrper'S Ueekty.l
The central point of attraction to the
stranger at Agra must always be the wonder
full building known as the Tai Mahal, at
once the tomb and the monument of the
Empress of Shah Jehan. 1t is said that on
the spot where the tomb now stands there
was once a sort of Summer palace, where the
great Mogul and his family spent part at
least of the year, as it was the favorite resi-
deDce of his wife, to whom he was deyotedly
attached. Here, the story goes, she had asked
him to build her the most beautiful palace
ever yet constructed as a memorial of his
affection for her and of their happiness to-
gether. Before any thing was done to carry out
this design, however, the beloved Empress
died, leaving the Emperor inconsolable for
his loss What he could not do for the iiv
ing wife he determined still to do for her
memory, and the result was the erection Of
the famous tomb, which remains sill the
most beautiful example of its class in the
world. The building stands on the opposite
bank of the Jumna from the palace aud city
of Agra, and its domes of white marble ris-
ing from among the luxuriant vegetation of
the surrounding garden form the most daz-
zling object that can well be conceived as
especially from the palace itself.
No estimate has ever been formed of the
wealth lavished or, the building, but that it
must have been enormous no one who ex-
amines the almost incredible beauty and
elabOrateness of the workmanship, and the
rare and, in some cases almost priceless
character of the material used in its con-
struction, can possibly doubt. The actual
execution of the work employed host of
the most skilled laborerS obtainable in the
Eastern world for % years, and when it is
remembered that the building is small COM
pared with most Of those on which Emperors
have lavished their treasures some idea of
the intricacy Of its design and the beauty Of
its execution may be formed.
The gateway by, which we entered the
enclosure itself prepared US somewhat for
the splehdor OF the building within. Like
every part of the building and its surround
ings, this gateway is constructed of the
purest white marble polished to the highest
perfection OF which the stone is capable
while the carving and designs embossed on
the surface are remarkable for the elegance
and grace of their conception as well as for
the perfection of their execution. 1t is no
easy matter 10 accust0m the mind to the
idea that this work, hardly less perfect to-
day than it was 250 years ago, can have stood
exposed to the weather all those years.
Something, no doubt, is due to the climate
and more, perhaps, to the exquisite polish of
the surface, which has fitted it to resist the
weather to the best advantage. 1t is, how
ever, on the interior of the mausoleum that
Eastern art, with all its wealth of patient
industry, has lavished the best of all it had
to offer. The whole interior blazes to-day
exactly az it did when first erected, with the
perfect reproduction in polished stone of
every leaf and flower with which nature has
adorned the Indian peninsula. And not
one shade OF all the exquisite color is pro-
duced by any pigment. If a single flower
demanded a score of tints to reproduce its
perfect beauty, the effect was obtained by
the use of score of different stones without
regard to their rarity or value Nor IS the
effect injured by marks Of joining. Hardly
anything short of microscope would in
most instances disclose the fact that art and
not nature had produced the dazzling effect.
But it is hopeless to attempt TO give any
adequate idea of this consummate work of
art, which stands, and no doubt will stand,
unrivalled as the highest exlmple of un-
wearied art supported by unbounded re-
sources.