AGRA 63 



the city, and from it can be seen the domes and 

 minarets of the Taj. Like the Taj it is built of the 

 purest white marble, almost every square inch of 

 which is inlaid with colored stones. The towers 

 which rise at the four corners are of the most grace- 

 ful design, and around the top of the tomb, inclos- 

 ing the towers and the central pavilion, runs a 

 perforated marble screen of the most delicate lace- 

 like structure. Inside are the tombs of Itimad-ud- 

 Daulah and his wife, and in chambers opening from 

 the central one repose the remains of five members 

 of his family. 



But let us turn to the supreme centrepiece of 

 Agra's architecture. Shah Jehan, as I have said, 

 had one wife whom he loved above them all. This 

 good woman, whose name has come down to us as 

 Mumtaz-i-Mahal, "The Pride of the Palace," made 

 her husband happy for eighteen years, during which 

 time, it is said, he had no other wife, and finally 

 died in giving birth, history tells us, to her four- 

 teenth baby. The following year Shah Jehan began 

 the building of the Taj Mahal, which means "The 

 Crown of the Palaces," and for eighteen years kept 

 twenty thousand unpaid workmen employed upon 

 his wife's memorial. The original architect is not 

 known, but among the designers were a Frenchman, 

 an Italian, and a Persian, showing that the best 



