The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-07-26
MOMAN'S GREATEST MONUMENT
By Frank G. Carpenter

D1o you ever see such workmanship
IL IS a mass of decoration. The wan.
are covered with beautiful carvings
ana are lnfaid with stones of many
colors. Every angle has its precious
s.oneS ana these are combined in
siealhs' scrolls and frets of exquisite
Design. The TIA flower, as it is called.
Is cut in base relief here and there
out or the marble. Some of the dec
orat1ons have fifty different colored
stones in a single setting, and before
the IaJ was robbed of its beauues
some 1--WE contained a hundred or
more. The jewels with which the
building was inlaid cost more than
!o,oOo,eO0 rupees, and rajahs and
Kings sent gems and pearls and pre-
clous stones as we'll as silver and gold
10 aid in Its decoration. Some of the
stands are the Arabic inscriptions
which u around the door and here
and there owe the walls They are Of
characters Of black marble inlaid upon
the white. Most Of them are from
the Koran or Mohammedan Bible;
most but not all. / find one which
reads as follows:
Saith Jesus, on whom be peace:
This world is a bridge. Pass
thou over it, but build thy soul not
upon 1T. The world is one hour. Give
It's minutes to thy prayers, for the rest
Is unseen"
Inside the Tai.
But let US enter this mighty monu-
ment and stand under the dome. We
take off u hats and bow low, and
our Mohammedan guide removes his
shoes. The floor upon which we are
standing is holy ground. 1t is a church
and a tomb, the most beautiful Of the
kind known to man. The walls and
floors are Of the purest of marble
There ara MANY alnnNoc nnG
thing Is wonderfully carved. Right
under the dome by a great
fence Of marble screens, lie the sar-
cOphagi, below which rest Shall 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 a gold
chain, is a lamp of bronze. inlaid with
silver and gold. 1t was hung only a
few months ago, and was a present
from Lord Curzon to Agra. 1t cost
thousands Of dollars and took two
years to make. When it was sent here
it was accompanied by a letter from
Lord Curzon, IN which he said:
II would beg hat this lamp may
always hang in the tomb as my last
tribute Of respect to the glories OF
Agra, which float like a vision of eter-
nal beauty in memory, and to the
grave LIP pOlCil re-
ligion which is professed by so many
millions of our fellow-subjects in
India"
The tombs of Shah Jehan and Nun
taZ Mahal are exquisitely beautiful
and the screen surrounding them is a
mass of laceWOrk cut out of marble
set in posts as exQuisitely made as the
most beautiful of FIorentine mosaics,
There is enough of this marble lace
work inside the Tai to fence in a gar
den. If you WOul take the dome OF
the Capitol at Washington and make
it Of ivory of the purest White instead
Of iron, as now, and inlay it with
flowers, Wreaths and other decorations
all made of stones, more or less pre-
cious, you might have an idea Oh the
work, but you could not appreciate
the beauty. The sarcophagi are inlaid
with jade, apis, laZuli and other semi
precious stones, while below are 9TH
ers with actual jewels. The whole
structure is a marvel we'll fitting the
description of Bishop Heber, who said
that these Mohammedan artists de
signed like Titans and finished like
jewelers., adding that be as
easy to tell how the birds sing, or the
lilacs smell as to describe the Tai. I
feel the same and also much like the
Russian artist, who remarked, When
he looked upon the building: THE Tai
is like a lovely Woman You may
abuse her as you please, but the mo-
ment you come into her presence you
submit to her f~ascination.'
In Honor of a Woman.
Even more wonderful than the Tai
itself is the reason for its erection. we
Christians are apt to think of
medan wives as unloved or at least
only the sensual plaything OF their
husbands. They may be divorced at
will and cast aside at the least pre-
~O~o - ~ 1 Nh
Tai Mahal was built by the Sultan
Shah Jehan as a to his
wife. This Shah was a mighty mon
arch. and his subjects were millions.
His income was something like a mil
lion dollars a day, and he had palaces
of great extent decorated with cary,
ings 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, however, ne