The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-06-17

Scribed. 1t was too tempting a prize
for greedy cOnquerers to leave undis-
turbed, and was carried of some two
centuries ago by a Persian, Nadir
Shah Shah Jehan, after contemplating
this audience chamber and throne, had
inscribed upon the wall in Persian
characters a verse which has been free
~ translated to read.
IF on earth be an Eden of bliss,
1t is this, it is this, it is this
And yet, in view of his sad fate there
seems as much irony i'm the lines as
there was in the delicately poised scales
Of justice which he had inlaid on one of
the walls of his palace after he had put
his relatives out of the way.
But of all the works of art that can
be traced to his genius. nothing COM
pares with the tomb. the Tai Mahal,
which he reared in honor! Of the best
beloved of his wives. Numtaj Mahal,
the Chosen of the Palace" This build
ing, unique among buildings and alone
in its class. has been described so often
that / know not how to speak of it
without employing language already
haCkneyed. When I was a student at
college, ] heard a lecturer describe this
wonderful tomb, and it was one of the
objective points in our visit to India
Since I heard of it, I had read so much
of it and had received such glowing &C
counts from those who had seen it
that I feared lest the expectations
aroused might be disappointed. We
reached Agra toward midnight and, as
the moon was waning. drove at once to
/ the Tai that we might see it under the
most favorable conditions, for in the
| opinion of many it is most beautiful by
moonlight There is something fasci-
mating in the view which it presents,
and we Toasted our eyes upon it.
/ ShroUded in the mellow light, the veins
of the marble and the stains of more
/ than two and a half centuries are in
visible, and il stands forth an appari-
/ ton. We visited it again in the day
/ time, and yet again, and found that the
I sunlight increased rather than dimin-
ished its grandeur. I incIOse with this
article a photograph. but am aware
! that the camera cannot reproduce its
/ loneliness. I am bringing an alabaSteT
miniature home with me. but I am con-
( sciOUs that the Tai must be seen full
/ size and silhOuetted against the sky to
/ be appreciated.
! Imagine a garden with flowers and
/ lawn, walks and marble water basins
and fountains; in this garden build q
platform of white marble IS feet high
and 300 feet square, with an Orna-
mented minaret 49, feet high at each
/ corner: in the center of this platform
rear a building $50 feet square and 1OC
/ feet high, with its corners beveled of
and, like the sides, recessed into bays;
| sUTmOunt 1t with a large central dome
and four smaller ones; cover it inside
and out with inlaid work of many col
I Ored marbles and carvings of amazing
! delicacy; beneath the central dome
! place two marble centetaphs, inlai6
/ with precious stones, the tOmbS OF
Shah Jehan and his wife, and incIost
them in exquisitely carved marble
screens-ima CINE all this, if you can
/ and then your conception of this world
famed structure will fall far below the
Tai MahaI itself. 1t is. indeed. 90
dream in marble" And yet. when one
looks upon it and then surveys the pow
erty and ignorance within its shadow
he is tempted to ask whether the build
7 er of the Tai might not have hOnoreC
his wife more had the Sc, 600, 600 invested
in this tomb been expended on the eIe
walton of wOmanhOOd. The contrast be
/ tween this artistic pile and the isera
BILE tenements of the people about i
rObs the structure of half its charms.
Copyright. 1906. by Joseph B BowIes
Copyright in Great Britain. All right
/ TnCnryrp6 !