P395

'The Taje Mahel, Agra'. Aquatint, drawn and engraved by Thomas and William Daniell. Published T. Daniell, London, 1801.

53.5 by 87.5 cm.

THE TAJE MAHEL AT AGRA.

This majestic edifice stands on the southern bank of the River Jumna, and was erected by the Emperor Shah Jehan as a Mausoleum for his favourite wife Mumtaza Zemani. The Taje Mahel has always been considered as the first example of Mahomedan architecture in India, and consequently, being a spectacle of the highest celebrity, is visited by persons of all rank, and from all parts. This high admiration is however not confined to the partial eye of the native Indian; it is beheld with no less wonder and delight by those who have seen the productions of art in various parts of the globe. Stretched on an immense basement 40 feet high and 900 in length, its prodigious mass of polished marble rises proudly over a river, that not only adds to its majesty, but, by reflection, multiplies its splendor: in truth, exclusive of its magnitude, extent, and variety, whatever may be our architectural predilections, we are overwhelmed with its effect, and compelled to acknowledge it a most extraordinary assemblage of beauty and magnificence.

On the northern side of the Mausoleum and attached to it, is a garden planned evidently by the same genius that conceived this princely edifice. It is intersected with canals, paved walks, and avenues of large umbrageous trees of various kinds; embellished likewise with alcoves, fountains, pavilions, &c. and interspersed with all the beauties of Flora. This garden is entered by a very magnificent gate connecting it with an extensive court, which also has its enrichments of tombs and other buildings; beyond this court is another division consisting of a spacious quadrangular Bazar, occupying the south end of the parallelogram, as the Mausoleum does that of the north; the dimensions of which are about 3000 feet in length, and 900 in width, and its whole area is inclosed by a strong wall.

The tomb of the Sultana, composed of white marble richly carved, is placed in the centre of the principal apartment immediately under the great dome, within an octagonal screen of lattice work curiously inwrought; and near to it is that also which contains the body of the Emperor Shah Jehan.

The principal dome is enriched on the outside with a frieze inlaid with stones of various colours; other parts are also decorated in the same manner. The whole interior of the Mausoleum is elegantly finished with white marble; the carved ornaments are, as usual in Mahomedan edifices, limited to the representation of flowers and foliage, and are executed with delicacy and taste, particularly those which cover the pannels of the sur-base: indeed the decorations in general are in the best style of Oriental art, and the more substantial parts consist of excellent masonry. All those parts of the building which appear white in these views are of marble, brought by land carriage from Kandahar, a distance of nearly six hundred miles; those which are red are composed of a stone obtained from the neighbouring Mewat hills.

The ornamented wall of red stone which is the facing to the general basement next the river, is about forty feet high, and nearly two hundred from the bottom to the crescent which terminates the ‘cullice’ of the great dome. The building on the right with three marble domes is a Mosque; the one on the left, though similar in its general form, differs in its internal arrangement and decorations, having been appropriated to the accommodation of visitors of distinction.