09.12.2004

Agra

Posted by justin

Click to enlargePosters around Agra by the local tourism commission try hard to convince visitors it's a three day destination, but like most people we did the one day whistle-stop tour to see the Taj Mahal.

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It is an astounding architectural work, but if I came to India and didn't see the Taj it wouldn't have really concerned me. It is the most visible icon of Indian tourism, and we've seen it so many times in documentaries, books, and films that I wasn't as taken aback as I thought I would be.

Our Crowded Planet states: "[It is] described as the most extravagant monument ever built for love." It was constructed by Emperor Shah Jahan, a man who apparently could not accept the reality of his second wife's death during childbirth.

After our recent Buddhist immersion we viewed it less as a monument to love and more as a monument to attachment and suffering. Many of the 20 000 people who worked on the building apparently had their hands or thumbs amputated after construction was finished. The results of adoration gone a little awry.

I think I am being a little harsh on this grand complex however. It ia still justifiably one of the wonders of the world - and I think my take on it is more an example of how jaded you can get after so much sight-seeing, than on anything lacking in this iconic construction.

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