Taking a Step into Agra’s History

The Great Gate
Finally the time I had been waiting for came! We met up with our tour guide and we headed off to the Taj Mahal! It was not a long walk before we reached the ticket counter and finally after what felt like forever, we were in the courtyard in the gates of Taj Mahal. We still could not see the Taj Mahal but surrounding us was an amazing red stone wall known as the Great Gate. I can not believe that I had never heard of it, it was so gorgeous yet I had only ever heard of the Taj Mahal, never the gate in front of it. We noticed lots of small rooms along the stone walls that our tour guide informed us used to be for people that did not have homes. He told us that it was because the King at the time was very fond of helping people, each person that wanted to stay there would be provided food and would be able to stay for a couple of days. The walls also had detailed patterns and calligraphy which is Arabic writing, it’s a very beautiful form of writing.

Taj Mahal
When we entered the Taj Mahal’s courtyard, it blew my mind! It was even prettier than any picture I have seen of it, even the garden was really nice with plants like hibiscus and jasmine. We slowly made our way closer to the Taj Mahal, taking stops to look at the monkeys swinging overhead and beautiful rose-ringed parakeets. When we were next to the Taj Mahal, our guide stopped us to take really cool photos. Then he left us and came back with shoe covers that we had to put over our shoes because they are trying to preserve the building the best they can. We got really close and noticed there were many more colours than just white and we were informed that it is because there are lapis lazuli, jade, turquoise, jade, onyx, carnelian, and jasper stones inlaid in the white marble.

Taj Mahal’s History
It was built by a king called Shah Jahan who created it for one of his four wives that had recently passed away. It was created as a tomb and the building process took from 1632 to 1653. It was called the Taj Mahal because his wife was named Mumtaz Mahal meaning chosen one of the palace while Taj Mahal means crown of the palace. Shah Jahan had plans to create a black Taj Mahal made of onyx for himself across the river from Taj Mahal and to connect them with a bridge. That is where he was planning on being buried but his son did not want to spend that much money so he arrested his father. 8 years later, Shah Jahan died before the black Taj Mahal could be built and was buried next to his wife in the Taj Mahal.

Taj Mahal at Sunset
When we finished at the Taj Mahal we hurried to a tuk tuk and squashed in it with the wheelchair, it was very uncomfortable. We took the tuk tuk to a parking lot where our driver was waiting for us. We jumped in to get to a good view of the Taj Mahal at sunset for what I thought was going to be a short drive. I was wrong, 40 minutes later we arrived at our destination across the river where the black Taj Mahal was going to be built. We took another tuk tuk to get closer to the river. When we arrived, to our disappointment, the sun was setting but it was so foggy we could barley tell. We still got good a view of the Taj Mahal and we saw a start of a building behind us which our guide explained was the start of the black Taj Mahal.

Parchin Kari
We started on our drive to our next stop but we came to a problem. There was a crazy amount of traffic that went on forever and no one was moving. We stayed in the same spot for around two hours with nothing to do but sit there so my dad started a game of charades that made it go by a lot faster. When we finally reached our destination, it was almost 9pm but we went any way. We went to a place that they were doing a form of art called Parchin Kari which is the artform that was used on the Taj Mahal. It’s when some one takes small stones and grinds them to a shape to create an intricate art peace. The art was amazing and we got to see how the used a tool to grind the semi precious stone. After that we headed back to our hotel for a very late dinner.

Agra Fort
This morning we went to a large fort known as the Agra Fort made of the same red stone as the Great Gate. It was huge and the buildings inside of the Fort walls were intricate and beautiful. We saw a moat outside of it and learned that it was because royalty used the fort so it had to be carefully protected. Animals like tigers, panthers and elephants would be in the dry moat, so anyone wanting to get into the fort had to get through them. In the moat filled with water there used to be crocodiles and alligators.

How these places connect
The Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort connect because they were both built around the same time period. Another reason is because when Shah Jahan the founder of the Taj Mahal and the King was arrested by his son he was held prisoner in one of the towers in the Agra Fort. That is also where he died after 8 years being held prisoner.