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Agra

Uttar Pradesh, India

By Altaaf Khan

February 16^th, 2020

December 2019

Have you actually been to India if you haven't been to Agra to see the Taj Mahal? I had seen numerous pictures but seeing it in person is something else, even if it meant waking up really early in freezing cold weather to try and beat the crowd. But I guess a lot of people had the same idea.

Taj Mahal

You know the story, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (King of the World), had Taj Mahal built in memory of his wife Mumtaz, who died while giving birth to their 14th child.

What I learnt coming here was that Mumtaz was from a family of Persian nobility. So Shah Jahan had Persian architecture incorporated into the design. Calligraphy of verses from the Quran and Persian poems, flowers carved in marble, archways, domes, minarets, all in perfect symmetry. It may not have colourful tile work as you see on Persian structures but it is as equally beautiful.