Mughal | Mark Simms Photography

The Lantern Seller

This chap sold beautifully carved soapstone lanterns in Fatehpur Sikri (more of which later)……..and yes we bought one…….and yes we haggled…….but not very successfully:

© Mark Simms Photography (2015)

Agra’s third main tourist attraction after the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort is the tomb of I’timad-ud-Daulah, more commonly know as the “Baby Taj”. The first Mughal building to be faced with white marble inlaid with contrasting semi-precious stones – it set the architectural precedent for the Taj Mahal built a couple of decades later.

The “Baby Taj” is a perfectly proportioned gem of a building, highly decorated with complex geometric patterns set in serene gardens on the banks of the Yamuna River:

© Mark Simms Photography (2014)

Agra Fort View

The view from Agra Fort across the Yamuna River to the Taj Mahal:

© Mark Simms Photography (2014)

Agra Fort

Although the Taj Mahal is the main reason why so many tourists visit Agra, the city does have a couple of other attractions worth passing an hour or so. The first of these is the Agra Fort, also known as the Red Fort – not to be confused with Delhi’s Mughal palace of the same name.

In fact Agra’s Red Fort, built by Akbar the third (Mughal Emperor from 1556 to his death in 1605) is earlier than Shah Jahan’s Delhi fortress, for which it served as a model.

© Mark Simms Photography (2014)

Taj Mahal Revisted

Before I leave the magnificent Taj Mahal behind, to move on to the next part of our India journey, here is a look back at the images I’ve posted over the past few weeks:

Taj Mahal, Mehtab Bagh, Moon Garden, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

Contre-jour Taj Mahal, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

Taj Mahal Reflected, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

Taj Mahal: The Great Gate, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

First View of the Taj Mahal, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

Taj Mahal: The Mosque, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

Golden Taj Mahal, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

Taj Mahal: Charbagh & Great Gate, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

Taj Mahal: The Jawab, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

Taj Mahal: Watch-tower, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

© Mark Simms Photography (2014)

Taj Mahal: Mehtab Bagh

Across the Yamuna River lies the Mehtab Bagh (or Moon Garden). From here you get an excellent view of the Taj Mahal from a totally different angle:

The Moon Garden is supposed to have been the location for the “mythical” black Taj – had it ever been built. Excavations have apparently uncovered footings/foundations, but the latest thinking is that these were for a large pool in which the Taj would have been reflected in the moonlight.

© Mark Simms Photography (2014)

Candid Taj

A few street/candid portrait style shots from around the Taj Mahal:

Taj Mahal: Other Buildings

The Taj Mahal complex is bounded on three sides by crenellated red sandstone walls, with the fourth side, facing the Yamuna river, left open. These walls are cornered by ornate watch-towers and accessed through the huge great gate.

Within these walls lie the 300m square charbagh or Mughal garden and, on either side of the main tomb, the mosque and the jawab (a building almost identical to the mosque that exists almost exclusively to provide architectural balance and symmetry – although it may also have been used as a guesthouse).

Contre-jour Taj

A few shots of the Taj Mahal shot contre-jour (French for “against the light”) – in other words backlit and silhouetted to various degrees:

Golden Taj

In my last post I mentioned that the luminosity of the Taj Mahal’s white marble was such that it changed colour depending on the light conditions. I think the set below, which were all taken in the early morning “Golden Hour”, perfectly demonstrate this fact: