The Taj Mahal and Beyond

Agra is relatively small for Indian standards. With its 1.3 million inhabitants it is only the third city in the state of Uttar Pradesh after Kanpur and the provincial capital of Lucknow and ten times smaller than India's largest city Mumbai. Nevertheless it is probably the most visited place in the whole country due to the presence of one of the most beautiful buildings of the world, the Taj Mahal, and no visit of Northern India, be it to Rajasthan, Varanasi or the Himalayan provinces, is complete without a visit to Agra.

The city is located on the banks of the Yamuna river that also runs in Delhi. The river is now heavily polluted with industrial and domestic waste but Agra owes its prosperity to the river. Due to regular floodings of the river, the area became very fertile and even today it is still known as India's food basket.

The city was probably founded by the Afghan ruler Sikander Lodhi of the Delhi Sultanate in 1503. He constructed a mud and brick defensive fort a few years later. Moghul emperor Akbar greatly enhanced and fortified it with almost impregnable thick sandstone walls a century later. He also made Agra the capital city of his empire. Fifty years later his grandson Shah Jahan beautified the interior of the fort with magnificent white marble and red sandstone buildings like the Diwan-i-Khas or Mussaman Burj, making it one of the most beautiful forts in India.

After his favourite wife Mumtaz Mahal died, the Shah was reportedly inconsolable and he mourned for one year. He ordered the construction of a magnificent mausoleum for her, to be unsurpassed by any other edifice in the world. This resulted in what is considered as the most beautiful building in India and maybe in the whole world, the famous Taj Mahal with its magnificent white marble walls and minarets laid in with semi-precious stones in gorgeous flower designs.

There are a few other great sights in Agra. A few km north of Agra fort is Itmad-Ud-Daulah's Tomb, older and smaller than the Taj, but even more exquisitely decorated than its larger counterpart. One km more north is another nice tomb, the partly ruined Chini ka Rauza, and the Ram Bagh Moghul gardens. Near the fort is the Jama Masjid, the nicest mosque of Agra.

Quick Tips:

Roughly 90% of the population of Agra are Hindus, almost entirely Hindi speaking, safe 1% speaking other Indian languages like Bengali, Tamil, or Kannada. The remaining 10% are mainly Muslims speaking Urdu, a language closely related to Hindu, but written in Arabic script instead of Devanagari. As a big tourist destination, many people, especially workers in the tourist industry, have a good knowledge of English.

The Indian Rupee (INR or Rs) is the currency of India, with an exchange rate around Rs 60 to a euro or Rs 45 to a US. India is a cheap place, but do take care in Agra as some locals may ask augmented prices for their services to tourists not accustomed to the sometimes extremely low fares. The entrance tickets for Agra's magnificent sights are a big budget eater, especially for foreigners. The ticket for the Taj Mahal is a whopping Rs 750 or Rs 20 for Indians and the other sights are priced between Rs 100 and 250 (5 to 20 for Indians).

Taj Ganj, a busy and unclean area just south of the Taj Mahal, is Agra's variant of Delhi's Paharganj. The streets are littered with garbage, beggars congregate near the squares and shopkeepers will try hard to make you buy their overpriced tourist items (keep your shopping spree for elsewhere as even Delhi has better quality items for cheaper prices). Welcome to the backpacker's heaven of Agra, the place to find cheap accommodation and quick eats. This is also the place to watch yourself and your belongings. Petty thieves, con artists and hostel frauds are some of the nice people you might bump into. Don't let them spoil your holiday though as even in this quarter most locals are friendly and honest. For people who are not on a tight budget and who can spend Rs500 for a room for the night, may head to the area around Fatehabad Road just south of Taj Ganj, where you can find better hotels in cleaner streets.

The best time to visit Agra is during the dry and cold period, ranging from September until March. In January however temperatures can drop to just above 0° C. In April temperatures rise steadily to over 40° in May and June, making the heat almost unbearable. The monsoon months July and August bring relief from the heat, but the at times heavy rainfall can ruin your trip.

Best Way To Get Around:

As a major stop on the North-Indian tourist trail, it will come as no surprise that many modes of transport are available. The small Agra airport is owned by the military but there are irregular passenger flights with Alliance Air, the domestic air carrier of Indian Airlines, to Delhi and Varanasi. There is no bus service from the airport to the town, so if you arrive by air make sure you have arranged transportation or take a taxi.

Many people visit Agra on a package tour, mostly combined with other sights near the city, like the abandoned Moghul capital city Fatehpur Sikri. They sometimes include all transport, accommodation, meals, and even entrance tickets but do ask in advance what is included. A day trip from Delhi (200km north) can already be done for around Rs 500-1000 including meals and transportation, but not the entrance tickets. A 3-day trip to Agra will cost around Rs 1500-5000 depending on where you stay. Just shop around Connaught Place for these trips or other options. Reputable travel agencies are the government owned Delhi Tourist and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) or the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC).

If you stick to public transport, buses and trains arrive from the whole country. Buses travel faster than trains and they are more regular, but they are less comfortable. They are not for the faint-hearted as they tend to run too fast and they seem to ignore any traffic rule that may exist in India (unsure if they do ;-). I found 3rd class train travel good value for money, costing roughly Rs 1 per km (including a berth in a six-bed coupé). If you want to take trains in India, please check out this excellent train site.

Local transport comes mainly in the form of taxis or rickshaws. You can rent them for a day or a half day for around Rs 100-500, depending on the distance covered and time spent. You can also take a few short rides between the sights, costing around Rs 10-20 per km. So if you take a rickshaw from Agra Cantt Train Station (for Delhi), it will cost around Rs 50-100. The area between the Taj Mahal and the Agra fort is forbidden for fuel-powered vehicles, so you should walk the 2km, take the electric shuttle bus or go with a bicycle rickshaw.

Open a box of superlatives and you can be sure that the Taj Mahal (in Hindi ताज महल) has been named it. The most beautiful architectural masterpiece of all times, the world's most famous building, the greatest Islamic monument or the most loved structure in Asia are a few of its ambitious nicknames. And indeed, these names are not something an over-enthusiastic tourist office made up, but they are perhaps even an understatement as the beauty of the Taj cannot possibly be caught in words.

Built by Moghul emperor Shah Jahan in the 17th century as a mausoleum for his favourite wife Arjumand Banu Begum, nicknamed Mumtaz Mahal or "beautiful ornament of the palace", the Taj Mahal is considered by many as a magnificent symbol for the Shah's eternal love of his wife. Less poetic people may see it as the culminating point of the wonderful Moghul architecture, supplying us with world-class constructional delights as the Red Fort or Humayun's Tomb in Delhi, emperor Akbar's deserted capital city Fatehpur Sikri 40km from Agra or the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan.

The name Taj Mahal (pronounced approximately as "Taadj Me'el", aa like in Shah, e like in yes) comes from the Persian language and means "Crown Palace". Contrary to popular belief the world-famous domed white marble monument is only part of the Taj Mahal and is not synonymous to it. The Taj in fact is the name of the whole complex of buildings surrounding Begum's grave, even extending towards the other bank of the Yamuna river, flowing behind the complex.

Entrance to the complex is through a side gate in the north of the Taj Ganj tourist area, boosting many hotels, restaurants and shops but also beggars and local "guides" who will offer to bring you to the gate and get your ticket for a tip. The entrance ticket is currently Rs 750 (12 €) or Rs 20 for locals. This must be the most expensive ticket for an Indian sight, but it is still reasonable for one of the wonders of the world and definitely worth every rupee. The ticket will give you discount in the other sights in and around Agra. Please note that the complex is closed on Friday, except for Muslims that want to pray at the compound's mosque. They get in for free at their religious day.

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The entrance ticket to the Taj Mahal must be bought at the entrance gate in the west of the complex. There is one booth for Indians, who pay Rs 20, and one for foreigners paying a whopping Rs 750. When you have bought your entrance ticket you can enter the complex after a thorough security check. A number of items are forbidden on the Taj Grounds, like knives, lighters, or mobile phones, but they can be checked in for a small fee. Behind the huge entrance gate lays a small square. You may catch a first glimpse of the white marble mausoleum behind the wall on your left side. The square is surrounded by magnificent red sandstone buildings with marble inlays, distinctive for Moghul architecture. The beautiful northern gate will bring you to the most famous building of the complex, the white marble mausoleum of Shah Jahan's favourite wife Arjumand Banu Begum, nicknamed Mumtaz Mahal or "Beautiful ornament of the palace".

The grave building is set in a so-called charbagh or Moghul-style garden. It is almost a square of 300mx320m, with a central raised water tank reflecting the tomb. The garden design is highly symmetrical, with trees, lawns, and water courses. Standard charbagh layouts placed the tomb or mosque central, but this seems not the case with the Taj Mahal. However, recent excavations on the north bank of the Yamuna river, flowing behind the building, show that this other side and the river itself may have been included in the garden.

Begum's mausoleum is flanked by two rectangular sandstone buildings who are almost exactly a mirror image of the other. The left building is a mosque (masjid) and the other one is called a jawab, meaning "answer". This difference expresses itself in an architectural difference: the jawab is lacking the mihrab, a niche facing Mecca in the mosque, and the mosque has ground outlines for prayer rugs.

What is generally known as the Taj Mahal, the exquisite white marble mausoleum, is strictly speaking only a part of it. The grave is placed on a marble 7m high platform. The beautiful symmetrical onion-domed structure has marble and jade inlays with floral motifs and Quranic calligraphy and rises for 60m above the platform. The walls have beautiful floral carvings as well. The octagonal interior of the tomb is decorated with precious and semi-precious gemstones. Shah Jahan and his wife lay in a plain room beneath the mausoleum, but both have a cenotaph in the mausoleum. Begum's cenotaph is centrally located in the octagonal room, while Shah Jahan's one is placed asymmetrically just next to the first one. The Shah's body was added later by his son, who supposedly did not want to spend much money to build a complete mausoleum for his father. The tomb is flanked by four 40m high marble minarets.

The Taj Ganj quarter is located immediately south of the Taj Mahal. It may thus come as no surprise that it is Agra's tourist mecca. The village was established as a residence for the workforce, supposedly 20.000 people strong, which built the Taj Mahal for almost 20 years long. Originally it was called "Mumtazabad", after the deceased wife of Shah Jahan, Mumtaz Mahal, for whom the white marble mausoleum was built.

Nowadays, the area caters solely to tourism, mostly geared towards the budget minded people. The narrow and dirty streets are lined with souvenir shops and small hotels. The mainly very basic rooms may vary in price between Rs 100-500 (2-10 €), depending on their state and the availability of air-conditioner or an attached bathroom. Decent hotels in the area are Hotel Sikander and Hotel Siddharta, both with excellent Taj Mahal views from their roof. Be sure, however, to check out the rooms in advance as even the best places may have some grubby or tiny rooms or they may switch owners over time.

More demanding people can go to the southern end of the Taj Ganj area, around Fatehabad Road. The rooms here are more expensive, but they are mostly of better quality and more spacious. Still, be sure to check out the rooms in advance. Good places here include the Mayur Tourist Complex, with a/c cottages for around Rs 1000, or the Hotel Atithi, with similar priced a/c rooms. Western-style luxury hotels, like the Oberoi Novotel or The Trident, are also located in this area, but they charge western-style prices as well.

Don't forget that Taj Ganj is one of the most touristy places in the whole of India, so be prepared as it comes with scam and scum. Some souvenir sellers will bluntly ask maybe 10 times the price you would pay in other places, and if you buy a bus tour then maybe the bus never shows up. The area may also have the highest pickpocket rate in India. If you ask a taxi or rickshaw rider to bring you to a certain hotel, they may simply bring you to another place where they get more commission. Nevertheless, most Indian people, even in Agra, are honest and friendly, so don't get your holiday spoiled by these stories, but just be a little careful.

The easiest way to get to Taj Ganj from other parts of the city is by taxi or rickshaw. Count on Rs 10 per km for rickshaws. The Agra Cantt train station is 5km to the west, so it will cost you around Rs 50 to bring you there. The Taj Mahal is within walking distance. Please note that fuel-powered vehicles are not allowed within 500m from the Taj, so the last part you will have to walk, take a bicycle or the electrified shuttle bus running between the marble building and Agra Fort.

To start this article, a little family story is in the right place. Itmad-ud-Daulah is the nickname of Mirza Giyas Beg, an important official in the Moghul empire of the 16th and 17th century. It means "pillar of the state." The daughter of his son, Arjumand Banu Begum or later known as Mumtaz Mahal, was the favourite wife of Shah Jahan. Upon her death, the Shah constructed a mausoleum for here, known as the Taj Mahal.

Itmad's daughter Mehrunissa married in 1594 with Persian nobleman Sher Afghan Ali Quli Khan, who fled from Persia after the murder of the Shah over there. Ali Quli was killed after a quarrel with Governor Qutubbin Koka of Bengal, leaving both death. Koka was the foster brother of Moghul emperor Nuruddin Salim Jahangir, so the family of Mehrunissa fell into disgrace with the emperor, father of Shah Jahan and son of Akbar the Great. Are you still with me? Because what will happen next would determine the rest of Mehrunissa's life. The story goes that she met Jahangir at the palace and that he immediately fell in love with the supposedly extremely handsome woman. He immediately proposed and took her as his 20th but also his most favourite wife. After her marriage she was nicknamed "Nur Jahan" or "Light of the World" and she had great influence on her husband's decisions.

I am telling this story just to come to the point. After the death of her father Itmad, she commissioned a beautiful mausoleum for him, the first Moghul-style edifice to be built almost entirely in white marble. Her design would ultimately be of great influence on Shah Jahan's magnificent mausoleum for his wife, better known as the Taj Mahal.

Although Itmad-ud-Daulah's tomb is not as great and overwhelming as his larger neighbour, its decoration is probably even more beautiful. The Rajasthani marble has gorgeous inlays made of semi-precious stones as lapis lazuli or onyx and depicting flowers, vases, fruits and wine bottles. The cenotaphs of her father and later her mother are placed asymmetrically inside the building, a thing later repeated in the Taj Mahal. The surrounding buildings including a mosque and a splendid entrance gate were made with contrasting red sandstone and white marble, which was also copied in the Taj design. Due to its resemblance to the Taj Mahal, locals and tourists sometimes call it the "Baby Taj" although it is in fact the elder of the two.

The mausoleum lies on the left bank of the Yamuna river, some 5km north of the Taj Mahal and 4km of the Agra Fort. A taxi or rickshaw from them should not cost more than Rs 50. To the north of it lie a few other rather interesting sights, like Chini-ka-Rauza, another mausoleum 1km north, and Rambagh, nice Moghul gardens 2km further away.

The Red Fort (Hindi: लाल किला or Lal Qila) of Agra is slightly smaller than its counterpart in Delhi but at least as interesting and beautiful. It is Agra's second sight to be included on the UNESCO World Heritage list, next to the city's main claim to fame, the Taj Mahal. Although the beauty of the white marble mausoleum is unrivalled, the fort is definitely an edifice that should not be missed when you are visiting Agra, even if you are only here for a day.

The probable founder of Agra, the Afghan ruler Sikander Lodhi, built a mud and brick fort at the site of the present-day fort. His son Ibrahim was defeated by the first Mughal ruler in India, Babur, and his son and future emperor Humayun, who soon took Delhi and Agra. After the death of Humayun, his 13-year old son Akbar, later named "The Great," became an emperor who extended the Mughal empire as far as Kabul in the west and the Bengal in the east. He rebuilt and fortified the Lodhi fort with the present-day almost impregnable red sandstone walls. He beautified the interior of the fort with many palaces and mosques, most notably the dark red palace with marble inlay for his son and successor Salim, named Jehangiri Mahal after his offspring's nickname.

Jehangir's son Prince Khurram, better known as Shah Jahan or "Lord of the World" in the Persian language of the Mughal court, extended the fort to its current grandeur and splendour. The Shah is regarded as the greatest builder of the Mughal empire, with the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort of Delhi or the Moti Masjid in Lahore, only to name the most famous, accredited to him. The next emperor Aurangzeb, son of Shah Jahan, was a harsh and strict ruler, leading to lots of local resentment. This ultimately resulted to the crumbling of the Mughal empire under his weak successor and son Bahadur. Agra was then ruled by the Marathas, a group of Hindu warriors, and afterwards by the British. Under these last rulers the fort was used as a military base, leading to decay or even destruction of many buildings inside the fort. It was only at the end of the colonial rule and the start of Indian self-governance that large restoration plans were finally put in place. Even now a portion of the fort is still under Indian military occupation.

The fort is 2km west of Agra's world-famous Taj Mahal and a visit is easy to combine. The boulevard between the two monuments is completely free of fuel-powered vehicles because exhaust fumes were damaging the white marble. However, many alternatives are available to get to the fort, including walking, battery-powered buses, bicycle rickshaws and even camel-drawn carts.

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When you are nearing the fort, you will notice its massive 2.5km long red sandstone walls, extending next to the Yamuna river. To see the size of the fort, Google maps features a satellite view of it. There are two entrance gates in the walls, the grand Delhi gate and the smaller but still magnificent red sandstone Lahore gate, facing towards the cities they refer to. The western Delhi gate is currently owned by the Indian military and thus off limits to the general public. The foreigners entrance ticket to the fort costs currently Rs 250 (around 4€), 12 times the Indian price. If you visit the Taj Mahal on the same day you can get a Rs 50 discount however!

The first thing you will see when you go inside the fort through the Lahore gate, is an inclining pathway leading towards the partly ruined but nevertheless magnificent Jehangiri Mahal. This palace for Akbar's son Salim, nicknamed Jehangir or "World Conqueror" in the Persian language of the court, is constructed with red sandstone and white marble, characteristic of many Mughal edifices. Behind the palace is the magnificent Khas Mahal, completely clad in splendid white marble, with a small fish pond and a beautiful view on the Taj Mahal.

If you go north through the Anjun Bagh garden you will come to another marble jewel, the Mussaman Burj. This is the presumed residence of Shah Jahan where he was kept under house arrest by his cruel third son Aurangzeb, who disposed of or even killed his other brothers to be the only heir to the Mughal throne. Aurangzeb's extremely harsh regime, especially for the Hindu majority, finally led to the crumbling of the great Mughal empire under his son and successor Muazzam Bahadur Shah. One can think of worse places to be exiled to in their old days. Imagine the wonderful marble house to be filled with servants all complying with your wishes. And last but not least, Shah Jahan had a first-class view on the mausoleum he built for his favourite wife Mumtaz, better known as the Taj Mahal, a vista you can still enjoy today.

East of Mussaman Burj are the large Diwan-i-Am or Hall of Public Audience where the emperor could receive the general public and the much smaller, but more exquisite marble Diwan-i-Khas or Hall of Private Audience, for officials and honoured guests. Inside the Diwan-i-Am one can see a small domed mosque, the Mina Masjid, which is closed to the public. North of it, the last part of the fort that can be visited, were the private quarters of the emperor. It includes the emperor's own mosque, the domed Moti Masjid or Pearl Mosque, but unfortunately this was off limits during my visit due to restoration works.