El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-07-23

4 prayers, Tor the rest Is uuSoeu
! Inside the Tai
] But let US enter this mighty monu
| ment and stand under the dome. W.
take off our hats and bow low, and oul
| Mphammedan guide removes his shoes
| The floor upon which we are STANDING
is holy ground. It is a church andSs
| tomb, the most beautiful of the kline
I known to man. The walls and floors
/ are of the purest of marble There are
many alcOveS and everything is won
derfully carved. Right under the dome
! surrounded by a great fence of marble
screens, lie the sarcOphagi, below which
rest shah Jehan, one of the most famous
Mohammedan sultans of the past, and
his wife, the beautiful MuntaZ Mahal
| in whose honor this structure was built
Above these tOmbs, hanging down by q
! gold chain, is q lamp of bronze inlaid
| throughout with silver and gold. 1t was
! hung only few months ago. and was a
present from Lord Curzon to Agra. II
cost thousands of dollars and took two
years to make. When it was sent here
| it was accompanied by letter from
/ Lord Curzon, in which he said:
Il would beg that this lamp may al
| ways hang in the tomb as my last trib-
ute Of respect to the glories Of Agra,
which float like vision of eternal
beauty in my memory, and to the grave
| dAQ POLcHl
which is protested by so many millions
of our fellow subjects in India
The tombs Of shah Jehan and MuntaZ
Mahal are exquisitely beautiful and the
screen surrounding them is a mass of
lacework cut out Of marble and set
| in posts as exQuisitely made as the
! most beautiful Of Florentine mosaics.
There is enough of this marble lace
work inside the Tai to fence in a gar
den If would faEn 10 ~
the Capitol at Washington and make it
OF ivory of the purest white instead of
iron, as now, and inlay it with flow
ers, wreaths and other decorations all
made Of stones more or less precious,
you might have an idea of the work,
but you could not appreciate the beau
ty- The SarcOphagi are inlaid with
jade, lapiS lazui- and other semi-pre-
ciOus stones, while below are others
with actual jewels. The whole struc-
ture is a marvel well fitting the de-
scription of Bishop Heber who said that
these Mohammedan artists designed
like Titians and finished like jewellers,
adding that "it would be as easy to
tell how the birds sing or the ulacs
smell as to describe the Tai" I feel
the same and also much like the Rus
sion artist, who remarked when he look
ed upon the building: The Tai is like a
lovely woman. You may abuse her as
you please, but the moment you come
into her presence you submir TO her
fascination"
In Honor of Woman.
Even more wonderful than the Tai it
self is the reason for it's erection. We
Christians are apt TO think Of Moham-
medan wives as unloved OF at best only
the sensual playthingS of their hus-
bands They may be divorced at will
and cast aside at the least pretense for
others more beautiful. The Tai Mahal
was built by the sultan Shah Jehan as
a monument to his wife. This shah was
a mighty monarch and his subjects were
millions. His income was something
like million dollars a day and he had
palaces of great extent decorated with
carvings and inlaid with jewels He
had one of the most gorgeous courts
ever known and in his harem were
ninety nine wives Of all these, how
eyer, he loved only the bride of his
b6yhood, the fair Muntaz Mahal. for
whom this building was made. He
married her before he came to the
throne and his relations with her were
the ideal ones of the Christian husband
and wife. He was true TO her and they
lived happily together for seventeen
years At the end of that time Muntaz
died andSskah Jehan went into mourn
ing His grief was such that his hair
oCCdAle !" h4te WIInlI a Few weeks. Dur
ing that time he denied himself to
courtiers and for two years refused all
the pleasures Of life. Every FRIDAY.
which is the Mohammedan Sunday, he
visited his wife's grave and over 1t
read the prayers for the dead
A little later he began the construc- |
ton of this temple and tomb, EMPLOYING
an Italian architect to make the de- |
signs The work was begun within two |
years after the death Of Muntaz MahsI.
and Tor twenty-five years 10000 work
men were daily employed upon it's con-
Struction. Their labor was forced and |
they received only their food for their |
pay and of that they were cheated by |
the grafters of their times. The mate |
rlals used were marble and sandstone, /
which came from the state quarries, !
and the precious stones, gold and silver |
and mother Of pearl used for the inlay !
ng We're gifts of rajahs and others. |
nevertheless the structure cost all told |
something like $4,000, 900, or four
lines as much as our most beautiful |
government building, the National Lii !
orary at Washington. The marble |
screen which 1 have described cost |
$4,000 and it took ten years to make
t. Originally it had a door of jasper,
he work upon which cost $4,000, but
MS was changed to a screen of pure
gold set with gems which cost more |
han 100000.
After the structure was completed |
shah Jehan set aside the revenue of
hlrty villages to keep it in order, and |
lie covered his wifes sarcophagus with
pail embroidered with pearls The
ecords say that he mourned for this
woman to the day of his death and that |
he had a great influence upon his life.
he was his companion and friend. He
onsulted with her on state affairs and
rusted her with the royal seal and
ook her along with him on one of his
Military campaigns. She was noted
or her beauty and charity and it is
aid that she was religious and a spe-
ial patron of INDECENT orphans. Upon
er tomb are now engraved the ninety
line Rames of God from the Koran and
arious Mohampedan texts. She is
erhaps best REMEMBERED of all Mo-
ammedan women, and of al her sex
ne has the greatest monument. A
amous traveller who passed through
ere in writing of the Tai, said:
asked my wife at the close of our
ls1t what she thought of the build
ng- Il cannot" said she tell you
That L think, for l know not how to
irticize such a building, but l can tell