A Memorable Vacation : India's Golden Triangle
Recently, I had been to Northern India for the first time in my life. I visited Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur - some of the most historical places in Northern India and an area known as Golden Triangle.
We arrived in Delhi late on December 10th, and totally crashed at the hotel room. The next day, we explored New and Old Delhi.
Stop 1 : Delhi, India's capital
In Delhi, we visited a very recently built temple called Akshardham. This temple is devoted to a saint called Swaminarayan. He was a supreme devotee to Lord Krishna, an incarnation of the God of Protection, Vishnu. This structure is totally amazing. Absolutely no metal was used around the shrine. The only metal that was used was pure gold, which was used to carve out the idol of Saint Swaminarayan. Every single God in the Hindu religion has been carved out around the shrine, which is over 3 million gods! And the most amazing fact is that everything, EVERYTHING, was hand carved!!
Our next tourist spot was the Red Fort, one of the many forts belonging to the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan. Shah Jahan was the builder of the Taj Mahal as well. The fort, obviously, was for protection and was in the color red. What amazed me was that there was a moat, back then, filled with crocodiles and poisonous snakes. All there is now is long, long weeds. All the structures in the fort were absolutely grand, especially the private quarters of the king. Under the quarters of the king, there used to be fights between animals for the king's entertainment and amusement. Pretty cool!
Stop 2 : Agra
In Agra, we visited one of the spectacular wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal is a tomb for Shah Jahan’s wife. Just like in the pictures you see often, the Taj Mahal is grand and really, really shiny white. I learned a bit of history on this amazing structure:
1. There are two mosques on either side of the Taj. The weight of the two mosques is equivalent to the weight of the Taj Mahal by itself. All three structures are all built on one single beam underground. So to balance, the weights are both equal.
2. The 4 minarets around the Taj Mahal are placed slightly (like one degree) away from the structure, just in case when a earthquake hits, the structure won’t get destroyed by the minarets.
3. Ever since Shah Jahan had built the structure, the real corpse has been “stored” under the Taj, and what all the tourists see are replicas.
4. Once the Taj was fully built, Shah Jahan had planned to build a replica of the Taj in Black Marble. But he died before the plans could get finalized and no one fulfilled his plan.
Well that’s quite a bit of history for one structure.
Stop 3 : Jaipur
The next day, in our last tourist city, Jaipur, we visited the Amer Fort, nowadays called Amber Fort. To get to this fort, we were taken on an elephant! It was a great experience. That place was a great maze. Anyone there could get lost. Thankfully we had a tour guide. There were so many staircases leading to somewhere amazing. We didn’t have the time to stop and go up them, but if we did, I would go up every single one. But that Fort was above amazing. Absolutely wonderful!
Well that concluded our trip to Northern India. I consider myself fortunate enough to take a trip with as much fun and history as Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur.
I always wanted to go to the Taj Mahal. Maybe one day I will.
this golden triangle must have been fun,
right?
thats awesome
Thats a good pic
Great article! Very powerful!
that was a really good article
Building on my last comment, he had lots of power, though. Who can resist that? Nobody, that's who.
The reason Shah Jahan wanted a black Taj Mahal is so that his wife Mumtaz Mahal would be laid to rest in the white one, and he would be laid to rest in the black one. Also, when Shah Jahan's son, Aurangzeb put him under house arrest, Shah Jahan's only wish was to be in a room in the Red Fort where he would have a clear view of the Taj Mahal at all times. Isn't that sweet? Aurangzeb is such a JERK!!!
I know! He destroyed many of the famous Hindu temples including the famous Shiva temple and broke the bond between Hindus and Muslims that Akbar had created.
I agree. Aurangzeb is the cause of Hindu-Muslim rivalry. He forced people to follow Islam and killed those who refused to change religions.
Yeah, Aurangzeb's period was not a proud moment in India's history.
Yeah, I watched the Story of India that talks about Aurangzeb and Akbar and other rulers of India. Aurangzeb was definitely not a good man. Putting his father in jail?!!!
Not jail, house arrest. Akbar was by far the best, as he cultured good relations between Hindus and Muslims by doing away with many pro-Muslim laws. He also banned child pre-determined marrige and I think a wife burning herself alive on her husband's funeral pyre (both Hindu traditions).
Before Akbar became the emperor, all his ancestors like Humayun and Babar were treated like foreign tyrants, by the people. After Akbar succeeded to the throne, he felt like one of us. But, we can't omit the fact, that the Mughal dynasty consisted of foreign rulers from the Central Asia and had taken over India, even though they were Indian in many ways.
This may not be directly related, but I like Birbal stories (Akbar's minister)
There is a 200 km distance between Taj Mahal and Red Fort. Leave alone a clear view, you can't get a view of Taj Mahal at all! I think you are talking about the Agra fort, not the Red fort.
Good job Jyotsna! Your writing skills are great; lots of personality.
Sounds fun! I would want to go there, but I have never been to a part of India outside Tamil Nadu. great article!
Amazing Article! Grade: A+!
I went to Akshardham a few years ago, and it was amazing! The only things I remember are the hedges and the statues, though...=(. I also went to Hyderabad, and there are a few things there, like the linked Charminar and the Gol Konda Fort. In the Gol Konda Fort, the acoustics are so good, you can hear a hand-clap coming from the other side of the castle! It is so amazing!
I've been there too, in the summer of 2010. We tested the acoustics out, and the hand clap story was true!
I know right? So, anyway, we went to the other side of the fort with a guide and clapped, then we could hear handclaps as clearly as if he was 100 feet away from us! Crazy, huh?
How does that work? And yes, it's totally crazy!
I have no idea... I think it is some sort of sound travel science that was to be employed by the guards to get news quickly around the fort.
I agree. Also been to Hyderabad some years ago an the hand clap mechanism was cool. Did you see the place in the fort where you can whisper in one corner of the room and the whisper is heard very loudly on the other corner?
Yeah. I tried to do that to send my mom a message... too short to reach the crack.
I've also done the Golden Triangle, and it was an amazing experience. We visited all the places you did, and no doubt it was one of my favorite trips.
Must have been fun!
Great article. The only Indian monument I knew before this article was the Taj Mahal.
Are you sure Taj Mahal was as white? I mean, I've heard that acid rain has caused it to blacken.
There's a big restoration project going on to clean up the Taj. Of course, longer-term issues around industrial pollution in the area remain..