P386

'The Taje Mahal, Agra. Taken in the Garden'. Aquatint, drawn and engraved by Thomas and William Daniell. Published T. Daniell, London, 1801.

53.5 by 87.5 cm.

GARDEN VIEW.

The garden view of the Taje Mahel was taken immediately on entering it by the principal gate marked M. in the plan, and which is the subject of the eighteenth plate of the first series of Oriental Scenery, whence the Mausoleum, being seen down an avenue of trees, has on first entering a most impressive effect on the spectator. The large marble bason H. in the centre of the garden with fountains, and those rising out of the watery channel I. with paved walks on each side, add to the variety and richness of the scene, and give to it that coolness which is so luxurious an improvement to an Oriental garden. The still broader paved walks G. through avenues of trees afford shade during the heat of the day. From the great area or court yard O. the gate W. leads to the Bazar or market place X.

The Taje Mahel, when these views were taken in the year 1789, was in very good repair, but in the year following the cullice which decorated the top of the principal dome was struck down by lightning, and the dome at the same time received material injury. The Bazar, from disuse, had suffered greatly; and some of the other parts within the grand enclosure exhibited strong marks of the destructive hand of Time; and it is much to be feared, that in these days, this edifice, so strongly characteristic of the former greatness of the Empire, will find no master disposed to restore and preserve it, either, for the honour of Indian art, as an ornament to the country, or a memorial of one of its most illustrious monarchs. This Mausoleum was begun to be built in the fifth year of the Emperor Shah Jchan, and the whole completed in sixteen years, four months, and twenty-one days, at the expence of 9,815 Rupees, 13A 3P. The Emperor, it is said, intended also to have erected a Mausoleum of corresponding magnificence for himself on the opposite side of the river, which is here more than a quarter of a mile wide, and to have connected them by a bridge of white marble.