Touring Northern India

Our Golden Triangle tour in northern India was a whirlwind experience filled with the breathtaking, the unusual, the transition of the unusual becoming the mundane. Yet despite the familiarity, every step outside our doorway was an assault on our senses.

In Delhi, we had the comfortable choice to lunch on a Chicken Maharaja Mac (McDonalds) or sit in the sunlit dining area of the Delhi Marriott overlooking the pool with sculptures of water-spouting dolphins.

Delhi is a thriving metropolis that is erected on roots held in place by monuments built in the 10^th century by people who could never imagine motorized traffic filling broad avenues around the Indian Gate or a bearded Sikh driving a dilapidated city bus. Traveling outside the metropolitan area of Delhi, choices become more limited and the sights more challenging. We have found that a personal guide brings to life the spirit and history of a tour stop. There are two prices to pay for this service. One is the tour guide fee and other is the “end of the tour” emporium stop. These stops are anticipated, but typically cloaked in the gentle Indian communication style, by saying something like, “Would you like to see a demonstration of hand knotted Indian rug making?”

There are sights of great beauty and sights of things you just would not expect. There is just no doubting the achievements of the energy and vision of people who lived so long ago and so far away. We saw the effort of everyday people doing everyday things. There are people who bring entertainment to an evening’s dinner. Then Helen entertained herself, making the Indian bread called naan that is made in a clay tandoor oven.

When you come to India, make sure to bring cash…plenty of rupees. There is a two-tier pricing system at many tourist attractions. Domestic visitors pay 10 rupees, foreigners…250 rupees ($5 USD). Jay felt a bit like an ATM machine on our tour. Another Indian travel custom we rather enjoy is being invited by a family to become part of their adventure. It is a status symbol to know or be seen with Westerners. We are featured in a number of Indian family photos.

The Taj

Much has been written and much has been said about the beauty of the Taj Mahal. It's all true! The Taj Mahal constructed from 1632 to 1654 as a mausoleum for the wife of Shah Jahan, Mumtaz Mahal, is breathtaking.

Prior to our visit, we would only imagine the white marble mausoleum of Mumtaz Mahal when the Taj Mahal was mentioned. Actually, the Taj Mahal is just one building in a sprawling complex of gates, buildings and formal gardens. The front gate is nearly 1,000 feet from the Taj Mahal. In keeping with the Persian style of the ruling Moghul emperors, everything is symmetrical. The two grand red sandstone outlying buildings to the left and right of the mausoleum are mirror images. The western building (below) is a mosque. Our guide referred to the building to the east as the “guesthouse.” We were surprised by the relatively small enclosed area offered by the guesthouse. More studied views of the Taj Mahal say the eastern building was constructed for architectural balance.

There is much lore about the Taj Mahal. Our guide shared the often-repeated myth that Shah Jahan was planning to build a mausoleum for himself in black marble across the river from his wife’s resting place. Scholars believe that the foundations of the second Taj are actually the enclosing wall of a garden founded by Babur. It is said that Shah Jahan, following the death of his wife Mumtaz, shut himself up in his room. When he emerged the next morning, his hair had turned white. Ah…romance. Mumtaz died in Burhanpur giving birth to Shah Jahan’s 14th child while accompanying him, as a trusted advisor, on one of his military campaigns. Regardless of the sharp edges of history, Shah Jahan’s dedication to build his wife a lasting memorial was achieved.

We arrived at the Taj Mahal very early to avoid the heat, crowds and the many beggars that line the approachway to the Taj. We were greeted by the morning sunlight reflecting off the eastern side of the Islamic-inspired onion-shaped dome. Capping this dome is a gilded spire or finial that integrates traditional Islamic and Hindu styles. Shah Jahan was near the end of a long line of Moghul emperors who had ruled India through a balance of imposition of Islamic will and adoption of Hindu ways.

Many traditions are subject to the realities of the times. In a departure from the symmetrical custom of the time, Shah Jahan joined his wife in the Taj Mahal. His stone casket is offset from the center point of the mausoleum that is occupied by his wife. It's the only asymmetrical feature of the whole site.

The Moghuls had no clear set of rules regarding succession to the throne. God would choose the most worthy successor. The selection process won by one of Shah Jahan's sons, Aurangzeb, included the murder of his older brothers and imprisonment of his father in 1658.

Maybe more lore…our guide shared that Shah Jahan sat imprisoned for eight years in his palace across the river from the Taj Mahal where he gazed upon his beloved wife’s tomb every day until his own death. Ah romance…

Golden Triangle Jaipur – Got Time?

Among our stops in Jaipur was the Astronomical Observatory. Those anticipating a glimpse into the deep depths of the universe from some high tech telescope would be disappointed. Rather, we visited the astronomical garden built in the early 1700’s by the Maharaja Jai Singh II of Amber, a contemporary of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

Maharaja (meaning King) Jai Singh II was also known as Sawai Jai Singh II. The term sawai means “one and a quarter man,” meaning Sawai Jai Singh II had the power and intellect of 1 ¼ men. This tradition of being a cut above the ordinary man continues today in the Palace City of Jaipur. Whenever the current maharaja is in residence, two flags fly above the palace; one a full size flag and the other a quarter-sized flag.

Sawai Jai Singh II built a yantra mandir (temple of instruments) in Delhi and a larger one in Jaipur. We visited the Jaipur “temple.” The astronomical garden is filled with large stone and metal instruments created for the purpose of telling time and indicating the movements of the sun, moon and planets. India is a land where important events are scheduled at “auspicious” times. Without access to accurate time or the correct position of the planets, one might marry, start a military campaign or lay the corner stone to a temple at an inauspicious time and disaster may follow. Sawai Jai Singh II would have none of that!

The observatory consists of fourteen major geometric structures. The Samrat Jantar, the largest instrument, is a 90 ft. high sundial that casts a shadow that carefully and accurately plots the time of day. A smaller version of the sundial was earlier constructed to work out design considerations. Its time keeping is equally accurate, even in this day of expensive digital wristwatches. Amazing!

The Jaya Prakas, used to predict the location of the sun, has two concave bowls in pits “working” alternate hours. The complementary bowls are designed so a missing section in one bowl is matched with a fully scribed stone slab in the other bowl. The design of the bowls (dug into the ground) was rooted in the simple and pragmatic need to allow someone to get close enough to accurately read the shadows cast on the instrumentation etched in the stone slab. Astounding!

Our guide told us the cylindrical Ram Yantra masonry instrument, designed to make local coordinate measurements of objects in the sky, was a bust. He indicated that something in design or construction rendered it a non-functioning instrument.

Regardless of the accuracy of our tour guide, there is no doubt that Sawai Jai Singh II was, indeed, a man of unusual and uncanny intellect.

Amber Fort
On the way from Delhi to Jaipur was our first experience of seeing camels and elephants replacing water buffalo as work animals. Of course we had to take a few photos of that!


Our first stop was at the Amber Fort, which was initially a palace complex. What a spectacular place! The complex which stands to this date was begun under the reign of Raja Man Singh, Commander in Chief of Akbar’s army in 1592. It was modified by successive rulers over the next 150 years. The fort still bears much of the beauty with which it was built. A huge wall that protected the city still stands along the ridge tops and is reminiscent of The Great Wall of China. The paint in the entranceways and halls is the original paint made with organic materials. The most magnificent sight of all is the hall of mirrors. When they needed lighting at night they would take a single candle, and because of all of the tiny intricate mirrors, the entire room would light up.

The central courtyard is filled with greenery, watered from the tank (artificial lake) that was created just outside the fort. Tanks are located near every fort and large temple in India. Not wanting to lose a single tourist dollar, elephant rides were also available.

A Short History of the Golden Triangle

No trip to India is complete without experiencing the Golden Triangle tour of northern India. The Golden Triangle is comprised of Delhi, the capital of India, Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, and Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal. Our daughter Karen was finishing her fourth week visit to India and we wanted her to see the Taj Mahal while in India. We had not seen the Taj either, so we were keen to make the journey north as well.

But first a bit of northern India history to put the whole Golden Triangle in context. The Taj Mahal, for example, is a mausoleum built by the Mughal ruler Shah Jahan to honor his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died at the age of 39 while giving birth to her fourteenth child in 1631.

Invasion of northern India from outsiders had been ongoing for centuries. Our story starts with the Afghani, Muhammad of Ghur, who ousted the last Hindu king Prithviraj Chauhan in 1192. Muhammad of Ghur then headed home and left the keys of the kingdom to his viceroy Qutbuddin Aibak. It was Qutbuddin Aibak who in 1199 laid the foundation of the Qutab Minar, a 239 ft. sandstone tower of Indo-Islamic architectural wonder of ancient India which now is a must see tourist stop in Delhi.

The Sultans of Delhi had a long run ruling India until 1526, when the last Sultan of Delhi was defeated by Babar (picture left) of the Mughal Empire. Babar moved the capital from Delhi to Agra. After Babar’s death in 1530, his son Humayun took over as ruler. Humayun's son Akbar succeeded his father and substantially expanded the empire and ruled in many enlightened ways.

Akbar was succeeded by his favorite son, Jahangir, who ruled the empire from 1605 to 1628. Jahangir was succeeded by Shah Jahan, who ruled from 1628 to 1658. Shah Jahan moved the capital from Agra back to Delhi before building the Taj Mahal.

A succession crises occurred near the end of Shah Jahan's reign. The conflict between Shah Jahan's sons ended with the victory of Aurangzeb, who executed his three older brothers and imprisoned his father for the last eight years of his life.

Aurangzeb, who ruled from 1658 to 1707, watched his empire expand and then finally fall apart because of internal rebellion and the appearance of a new ruler in India, Great Britain.