Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/368

 INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE. BOOK VII. occupied by the principal dome, 58 ft. in diameter and rising 74 ft. above the roof or 191 from the platform, under which is an enclosure formed by a screen of trellis-work of white marble, a chef-d'ceuvre of elegance in Indian art. 1 Within this stand the tombs that of Arjumand Bano Begam, styled Mumtaz Mahall, in the centre, and that of her husband Shah Jahan on one side. These, however, as is usual in Indian supulchres, are not the true tombs the bodies rest in a vault, level with the surface of the ground (as seen in the section) beneath plainer tombstones, placed exactly underneath those in the hall above. In every angle of the building is a small domical apartment of two storeys in height, 26 ft. 8 in. in diameter, and these are connected, as shown in the plan, by various passages and halls. The light to the central apartment is admitted only through double screens of white marble trellis - work of the most exquisite design, one on the outer, and one on the inner face of the walls. In our climate this would produce nearly complete darkness ; but in India, and in a building wholly composed of white marble, this was required to temper the glare that other- wise would have been intolerable. As it is, no words can express the chastened beauty of that central chamber, seen in the soft gloom of the subdued light that reaches it through the distant and half-closed openings that surround it. When used as a Barahdari, or pleasure palace, it must always have been the coolest and loveliest of garden retreats, and now that it is sacred to the dead it is the most graceful and the most impressive of the sepulchres of the world. This building, too, is an exquisite example of that system of inlaying with precious stones which became the great characteristic of the style of the Mughals after the death of Akbar. All the spandrils of the Taj, all the angles and more important architectural details, are heightened by being inlaid with precious stones, such as agates, bloodstones, jaspers, and the like. These are combined in wreaths, scrolls, and frets, as exquisite in design as beautiful in colour ; and, relieved by the pure white marble in which they are inlaid, they form the most beautiful and precious style of ornament ever adopted in architecture ; though, of course, not to be compared with the intellectual beauty of Greek ornament, it certainly stands first 1 From its design I cannot help fancy- ing that this screen was erected after Shah Jahan's death. It is not mentioned in Bernier's account ( 'Travels,' Constable's ed. p. 298). It certainly looks more modern, and is reported to be so. It is said that the sarcophagus of the empress was originally surrounded by a screen of gold, studded with gems. The apartment had two silver doors, said to have cost 127,000 rupees, which were carried off and melted by Surajmall's Jats when they sacked Agra in 1761.