Book Online travel india, the land offering diverse travel opportunities, ranging from travelling through the himalayas to the kanyakumari. taj mahal, khajuraho, goa and kerala backwaters are some favourite rendezvous for travelling in india. opt for cultural, heritage or an adventure travel of india and make your travel experience in india a lifelong memory. |
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Taj :: Garden of Taj Mahal
Taj Garden A green carpet of garden, a Persian garden, runs from the main gateway to the
foot of the Taj Mahal. Such gardens were introduced to India by Babur, the first
Mughal emperor, who also brought with him the Persian infatuation with flowers
and fruit, birds and leaves, symmetry and delicacy. Unlike other Oriental gardens
- especially those of the Japanese, who learned to accentuate existing resources
rather than formalise them - the Persian garden was artificially contrived,
unbashedly man-made, based on geometric arrangements of nature without any attempt
at a "natural" look. Like Persian gardeners, landscape artists at the Taj Mahal attempted to translate the perfection of heaven into terrestrial terms by following certain formulas. In Islam, four is the holiest of all numbers - most arrangements of the Taj Mahal are based on that number or its multiples - and the gardens were thus laid out in the quadrate plan. Two marble canals studded with fountains and lined with cypress trees (symbolising death) cross in the centre of the garden dividing it into four equal squares. The mausoleum, instead of occupying the central point (like most mughal mausoleums), stands majestically at the north end just above the river. Each of the four quarters of the garden has been sub-divided into 16 flower beds by stone-paved raised pathways. At the centre of the garden, halfway between the tomb and the gateway, stands a raised marble lotus-tank with a cusped border. The tank has been arranged to perfectly reflect the Taj in its waters. A clear, unobstructed view of the mausoleum is available from any spot in the garden. Fountains and solemn rows of cypress trees only adorn the north-south water canal, lest the attention of the viewer would be diverted to the sides !! This shows how carefully the aesthetic effect of the water devices and the garden were calculated. The deep green cypress trees with their slender rising shapes and curving topmost crests are mirrored in the water while between their dark reflections shines the beauty of the immortal Taj Mahal. |