Two weeks ago I came back from a trip to Sri-Lanka and India with my sister and took hundreds of pictures of the beautiful places we visited. WE visited the olden Triangle in India.; Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. They are referred to as the Golden Triangle because they are approximately the same distance from each other and form a triangular shape on a map.
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| The Amber Fort |
The architecture of the places in India was breathtaking and I every time we visited another kept wondering, "How in the world did they build such magnificent structures with limited technology?" Hundreds of laborers were used to put together the jigsaw puzzle of building blocks without a cementing factor to glue them together. They relied on the weight and pressure of one block on top of the other to hold them in place and these structures survived hundreds of years against the forces of nature.
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| Jama Masjed |
The Art on the walls, which were painted in natural colors and filled with precious and semi precious stones, must have taken them years to complete as they were intricate and life looking. Each wall was a masterpiece in its own right. Each carved marble was spectacular as if no man has touched it. If they had made one mistake, they had to throw the slab away and start over.
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| Th silver looking pieces are actual mirrors and is was cad the Mirror Palace at the Amber Fort. |
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| The marble designs at the Taj Mahal which was ordered to be built by Shah Jahan for his deceased wife, Mumtaz Mahal. |
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| The was Shah Jahan's "prison" at the Red Fort |
Each flower animal or bird design was a specialty of one family and the secrets of how the are made were never shared with anyone else except the sons for fear that the girls could divulge this mystery to her husband's family when she gets married. These families exist to this day and their art has passed from father to son over hundreds of years.
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| Qutub Minar |
Oh the number of stories we heard about the beautiful historical sites. Oh the questions these triggered in my head on how humanity has evolved and how many of us, in many ways, are leading a much more fulfilling life.
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| The Taj Mahal |
The treatment of women and how she was seen as a , baby factory, caregiver and pleasure object puzzled me. Each of the maharajas, kings or princes had several wives and hundreds of concubines to keep them busy and happy and since I was not born during that time, could not fathom how first, men had time for all these women and second, how the woman accepted such treatment.
Another being how poor people were expected to build these majestic structures and then, at the end of the day, go home to their humble abodes and yet, still be loyal to the royal family after having had seen such luxury and over spending on decorations.
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| The Amber Fort |
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| The Red Fort |
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| The Red Fort |
Still those questions did not dampen my sense of awe and fascination.
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| Qutub Minar |
I hope you enjoyed the pictures!
