The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1914-01-07
THE DREAM GAR
Den In MARBLE
A Visit to india's Beauty Spot, Re-
corded World Tourists, who Have
Written for the Review.
BUILT THREE HUNDRED YEARS
Pearl Mosque, Spotless Beauty Of Pure
Marble. Its Simplicity Com
n1ands Attention.


Who has not heard of the Tai No
"The Dream Garden in Marble;" In
dia's Beauty Spot?
1t was bright clear day. We were
glad that it was so for it was the da!
tia we were to see Agra, that ancien
capital Of imperial power.
Ihe drought was on. The motion O
the train coupled with strong vino
sifted the dust through the car win
doWs in very disagreeable manner
Hal we been planning OH taking up 8
permanent abode in that section of the
country we might have heSitated after
hearing the remarks of a Britishel
that il had not rained for three months
and thtt it WouIt be as long before the
showers appeared. We were not there
to soy but we were there to see the
greasr.s marble building in the world
And stranger still, erected by Mo
hammedan in honor of woman whom
he loved
Inus before we reached the city
the ia,nes and minarets of the Tai
coutt he seen. This but increased our
easarucsS to see more. We could
Scarcely wait long enough, after leav-
ing the train al the station. to bargain
witt :, carriage man. And why won
De- 1t ,ur enthusiasm? We were in
the city CT Agra built by the great
Akh,r The prince of Mogul emperors,
who ntAde this city the center Of Mo-
gul p,we:.
Two places we wished to see before
turning our faces toward the Pride
DOT ti,e Fast" The Mausoieum of
Prince itmad-ud -Daulat, the father-in
law Of Jahangir, the son of Akbar,
and tie Fort of Mogul Palace of the
emparars.
Tue unfortunate thing about the
maus1leum of Prince Itmad-ud-D aulat
is that it is built in the same city
where stands the Tai Mahal. Other
wise ii would be considered one of the
finest buildings in the world. In some
respects it rivals the Tai in the deli
cacy Of the marble screens; and in
carvings and mosaics, with flowers
set tet jewels that never fade, it
spe4GS language not heard in other
lands
The Fort stands on the banks of
the Jumna enclosed with massive
red sandstone wall seventy feet high
and nearly two miles in circumference.
Here the Mogul emperors fortified
themselves against their enemies and
lived in regal splendcr. Perhaps the
finest building within this enclosure is
the Pearl Mosque. Its simplicity is
its. attraction. No paintings, no imag-
es, only the spotless beauty of it's pure
~ do =, FL
all along the aisles are places marked
for the faithful to kneel in prayer
to the one God and Mohamet his pro-
phet Near by is the place of the en-
perors with the marble walls inlaid
with precious stones. 1t was here
that Shah Jahan, the builder of the
palace, lived for fourteen years with
his favorite wife, the beautiful Mumtaz
j. Mahal, and loved as few men of In
dia love, the mother of his children.
Six times she walked "the ancient way"
of motherhood. down through the dark
valley and each time she brought back
a little life. But the seventh time she
came not back although little daugh-
ter was given to the emperor. Shah
Jahan declared that the finest tomb in
lIlC WIZ III SlOuAu NC ilCl lCoJIIS pldCc.
He was as good as his word for that
day as we stood in the palace room
and looked over the river to the place
where the mountain of alabaster"
reared it's lofty dome, we saw the pro-
duct of this mans devotion that three
hundred years had not seemed to in
jure.
The site was selected SO that the
Shah Jahan might have constantly be-
fore his vision the building that con-
tanned the body of her whom he loved.
And beautiful as it is from this van
tage ground, you are not satisfied I'M
til you stand within the enclosure and
have the nearer view In fact it pulls
you on until you have seen within and
without out and then you linger just
to look again.
We left the Fort and hurried along
the smooth road that leads TO the main
entrance to the forty acre park in
which the Tai is located Our driver
halted before magnificent gateway
of red sandstone more than hundred
feet high and about seventy feet in
width. richly decorated with mosaics |
in white marble. We passed through |
the archway and at last the Mauso-
leum was before US Not near at hand
but at the farther end of long stretch |
of marble paving in the center of |
which a water way carried the over
flow from numbers of little fountains |
that seem glad to add their part to the |
beauty of the surroundings. On either |
side stately cypress trees led the way |
to the very base of the marble struc-
ture. and beautifully laid out grounds
stretched away until they reached the
the high wall that encloses the area.
On each of the four corners of the
base that supports this mass of mar
BILE stands a minaret one hundred and
forty feet high with spiral stairway
that reaches to the top. Five times a
day from these minarets the muez-
Yin calls to the faithful "Allah is great
There Is no God but Allah" TO the
east and to the west stand red sand
stone mosques that inhance the sur
roundings by contrast. Like the Pearl
Mosque the construction of the Tai is
not complicated and in this lies its
glory.