, Pig-Sticking 5 



to darkness and oblivion long and stepped through 

 the heavy, fretted and carved, marble doors, into the 

 cool, solemn vastness of the great tomb. Through 

 the dim, green light the marble screen, pierced and 

 modelled like the finest lace, gleamed round the two 

 sarcophagi of the wife and her husband. Nur Mahal 

 lies in the centre beneath the dome, Shah Jehan on one 

 side. The voice of a Mohammedan worshipper formed 

 an indescribable and never-to-be-forgotten echo, 

 rolling up to the vaulted roof of the great dome : 

 "Allah ho Akbar La ilaha Illallah." 



The secret of the fascination of the Taj lies in its 

 extraordinary simplicity and dignity. Complexity is 

 the curse of this age, and nothing is so hard in art or 

 in life as to be simple and yet not insipid. The solemn 

 Taj embodies repose its size almost seems to vary 

 with one's own imagination ; something of movement 

 is imparted to the structure a huge phantom about 

 to pass away, not of this earth earthly. The sight 

 of it translates one into indefinite regions . . . ; it is 

 seen with the heart, before the eyes have time to take 

 it in ; and with all its faults its appealing beauty 

 casts a spell like an imperfect human being, whose 

 presence scatters every prejudice in its overwhelming 

 fascination. 



In those days voluntary contributions to public 

 buildings were non-existent. Great men built their 

 own memorials. " Who," said an intelligent Hindu, 

 pointing us out an unfinished mausoleum near Agra 

 " who would have built this monument to his memory 



