by William Butler

“ The Kootub Mosque stands deserted; snakes and lizards now crawl in its ruins, amid which the Mazinah yet stands, solitary, grand, and majestic, as though heaven spurned the attempt to rear up and perpetuate a peerless sanctuary, where Moslem blasphemy against the Christ of God might be continually uttered in a grand center toward which all Oriental Islamites might turn, and in which they might glory. God dashed their hopes to pieces like a
potter's vessel, and changed their ambition and glory into a tomb and a ruin. ”

“ About six miles before the traveler reaches the city of Agra the dome and minarets of the world-renowned Taj Mahal burst upon his view from behind a grove of fruit-trees near the road. The effect is wonderful! The long-anticipated pleasure of beholding earth's most beautiful shrine is now within his reach, and the gratified and delighted sight rests upon this first view of its harmony of parts, its faultless congregation of architectural beauties, with a kind of ecstasy. ”

“ True religion was the only thing this guilty but magnificent race needed for perpetuity. No dynasty ever had a grander opportunity than they—a rich land, the sixth of the world's population, boundless wealth, almost a millennium of time for the trial, with a civilization all their own, and a splendid cultivated taste, which they had the will and the ability to gratify to the utmost, as its memorials in Agra, and Delhi, and elsewhere, attest, to the surprise and delight of the traveler and tourist from many lands. ”

“ But in the Taj we fall upon a new and separate creation, which never can become a style, since it can never be imitated. It is like some bright and newly discovered winged thing, all beauteous in a beauty peculiar to itself, and referable to no class or order on the roll of zoology, which the whole world flocks to gaze upon with solemn delight, none presuming to designate the lovely stranger, nor to conjecture a kindred for it with the winged things of the earth. ”

“ But the richest work of all is on the cenotaph of the Empress within the screen. Upon her tomb—according to universal Mohammedan usage—is a slate or tablet of marble, while on the Emperor's is a small box representing a pen-holder. These always distinguish a man's or a woman's grave among these people; the idea being that a woman's heart is a tablet on which lordly man can write whatever pleases him best. And this mark of feminine inferiority was not spared even the beloved occupant of the Taj Mahal. ”

“ They are Heaven's maledictions upon the fearful crime of false religions, which, while they defy God, degrade and dishonor men—cursing their conditions by poverty, miserable homes, and wretched compensation for their toil; wasting their revenues, sinking them in ignorance, destroying their morals, depriving them of liberty, and ruining their souls; till at length, when they have filled up their measure of iniquity, it turns the very centers and cradles of their faiths into the abodes of material or moral ruin, “the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” ”

“ Here is no need to place the beholder in a particular spot to cast a partial light upon the performance; the work which dazzles with its elegance at the coup d'œil will bear the scrutiny of the miscroscope; the sculpture of the panels, the fretwork and mosaic of the screen, the elegance of the marble pavement, the perfect finish of every jot and iota, are as if the meanest architect had been one of those potent genii who were of yore compelled to adorn the palaces of necromancers and kings. ”

“ The Kootub forms the left of two minars of a mosque, which, in size and splendor, was to be peerless on the earth as a place of worship, and from the character of this single shaft it is evident that, had the design been completed, it would have been all that its imperial founder intended in that respect. But death, war, and human vacillation make sad havoc of men's hopes and intentions, and this great memorial stands in attestation of the fact.
For nearly a century a controversy has existed in India as to the architectural honors of the wonderful Kootub. ”

“ Before entering the central hall we descend to the vault below, where the real sarcophagi are, in which lie the remains of the Emperor and Empress. Her tomb occupies the very center, and his is by her side. The light is made to fall directly upon her tomb, which is of white marble and beautifully decorated. But the especial splendor is reserved for the tombs in the rotunda above, directly over these, and which, as it were, officially represent them.
We ascend to them, and stand amid a scene of architectural glory which has no equal on earth. ”

“ The writer's earnest desire is, that his description may in some measure be worthy of the pictures; yet, though conscious of having done his best, and venturing to assert that he has here brought together the most complete account of the Taj that has yet appeared, still he realizes to himself how tame and imperfect is any effort to convey to those who never had the privilege of seeing it an adequate idea of what its beauty really is, or of the effect it produces upon the mind of the beholder as he stands within its sacred inclosure and realizes its loveliness as fully displayed before him. ”

“ It is situated in the midst of a garden of vast extent and beauty, three miles from Agra. The entrance to the garden is through the gateway here shown. This superb entrance is of red sandstone, inlaid with ornaments and with texts from the Koran in white marble, and is itself a palace, both as regards its magnitude and its decoration. The lofty walls that surround the garden are of the same material, having arched colonnades running around the interior, and giving an air of magnificence to the whole inclosure. The garden is laid out with rich taste. ”

“ But it grows upon you in all the harmony of its proportions, in all the exquisite delicacy of its adornment, and at each glance some fresh beauty or grace is developed. And, besides, it stands so much alone in the world of beauty. Imagination has never conceived a second Taj, nor had any thing similar ever before occurred to it. ”

“ What is needed in India is a Christianity independent of the emoluments of office—one that shall take root in the soil, and be self-sustaining. But Romanism failed, and not from this cause alone, or even chiefly; its weak point was the fearful charge of idolatry which the Moulvies triumphantly urged against its priests on all occasions. The skeptical but honest Akbar—the Oriental head of a faith iconoclastic to the core—was confused, as well he might be, when he saw his own Moulvies able to quote the Christian Bible against professed Christian ministers to sustain this terrible charge. ”

“ She seems to have left God and humanity entirely out of her calculations. In all the tombs and palaces built by her and for her, personal glory and selfish ends—for self and family—alone appear. On these the revenues of a whole people were squandered, and their hard earnings demanded to enable her to exhibit, on this lavish scale, her magnificent caprices. But no hospitals, or schools, or asylums for suffering humanity, exist to call her blessed, or to hand down her name as a pattern or promoter of purity and goodness. ”

“ In or near Persia was the region of Paradise, and the fame of the first garden, planted by God, near the banks of the Euphrates, lingered as a tradition in its own vicinity for four thousand years, and led to those imitations of it in the “paradises of Oriental despots.” Most of the invasions of India were from the regions of the ancient Eden, and the invaders carried with them their ideas of paradise to the land of the Ganges, and tried to reproduce them there. This Dewan Khass was the central object of the most costly one ever planted in India, or perhaps anywhere else. ”

“ The character and cruelties of Popery recorded in Motley's recent histories are equaled in India's records by those Moslem scourges, Hyder Ali, Tippoo, Tamerlane, Nadir Shah, and Aurungzebe. The creed of the Koran is utterly unfit for civil government. It is a system of moral and political bondage, sustained only by military power and despotic rule, naturally corrupting those who administer it, while it has ever pauperized and demoralized the people who have been subjected to its sway. The Moguls have done in India what the Turks have accomplished in Asia Minor ”

“ Above us rises the lofty dome, far up into the dim distance. The floor on which we tread is of polished marble and jasper, ornamented with a wainscoating of sculptured marble tablets inlaid with flowers formed of precious stones. ”

“ Antiquarians have tried very earnestly to solve the mystery of this metallic monument. The most probable conclusion is, that it marked the center of the great Rajah's city, and stood in a splendid temple. But on the invasion and conquest of Delhi by the Mohammedan power the Emperor chose that center for his own purposes, and threw his great mosque across the very site of that temple, taking its marble columns for his colonnades, permitting the Iron Pillar to remain, but erecting the Minar near it, forever to dwarf its proportions and interest. ”

“ The Taj, especially, seemed as though self-protected by its own purity and loveliness; even ravaging war respected it, friend and foe alike agreeing that its beauty should remain unsullied forever.
The first permanent conquest by a Mohammedan sovereign in India was that made by Mahmoud of Ghuznee in the year 1001. Sixty-five rulers of that faith, during the following eight centuries, tried to maintain their authority over the great Hindoo nations. ”

“ The one to the right is used for the accommodation of visitors who come from various parts of the world to enjoy this great sight, and who here receive free quarters as long as they choose to remain.
From the center of this great platform springs up the Taj itself. A detailed description of its general appearance is rendered unnecessary, as our readers have that before them in the beautiful engraving here given. The mausoleum itself, the terrace upon which it stands, and the minarets, are all formed of the finest white marble, inlaid with precious stones. ”

“ Few men have visited the East who possessed so highly as did Bishop Heber the capacity to appreciate the taste and skill exhib- ited in the gorgeous buildings of India. Truly and appropriately does he exclaim, while contemplating their wondrous works, “These Patans built like giants, and finished their work like jewelers.” The highest illustration of this eulogium is found in the matchless Taj Mahal.
We present one more evidence of their taste and skill in the wonderful Kootub Minar. ”

“ Under the softened light of the moon the beautiful structure develops fresh beauties. The dazzling effect has ceased, and you gaze upon every part of it as it appears bathed in a soft amber light that seems to enter your own soul and impart its peace and serenity till you wonder that outside these walls there can be a world of sin, and strife, and sorrow. ”

“ It is difficult to determine whether the exterior or the interior is the more fascinating; each has its own matchless claim, and each is perfect in its loveliness. Externally, the best times to see the Taj are by sunrise or by moonlight. ”

“ Prior to the days of Shah Jehan and his wife, the Portuguese, attracted by the fame and the wealth of the great Akbar and his sons, had found their way to India, establishing themselves as traders and merchants, on the west coast at Goa and on the east at Hooghly, near the present Calcutta. Some, who were artisans, reached Agra, the imperial city, where they were employed by the Government chiefly in the duties of the artillery, the arsenals and founderies, and a few as artists. ”

“ On the other hand, the holy, living faith of a divine Jesus regenerates the hearts and the communities which yield themselves to its influence—confers freedom, light, education, equal rights, temporal prosperity, moral purity, domestic joy, and every thing lovely, virtuous, and of good report—rears up the temples of a true Christianity, and, without a stain of decadence upon its bright prospects of final universality, presents no ruins or desolations amid its evangelical conquests or their results. ”

“ The building to the right of the Taj is a Mosque for religious services, and that to the left is a Travelers' Rest House, where visitors can be accommodated. We next go around to the gate of entrance on the other side. The inclosure, including the gardens and outer court, is a parallelogram of one thousand eight hundred and sixty feet by more than one thousand feet, with a system of fountains, eighty-four in number, along the central avenue, and a marble reservoir in the middle about forty feet square, in which are five additional fountains, one in the center, and one at each corner. ”

“ Bayard Taylor, for instance, in his India, China, and Japan, informs his readers that “Shah Jehan—the ‘Selim’ of Moore's poem—erected it as a mausoleum to his Queen Noor Jehan, the ‘Light of the World,’ ” and he several times repeats this blunder. Mr. Taylor is not profound in Indian history. Every statement in the above quotation is incorrect. The Selim of Moore's poem was not Shah Jehan, but his father; Noor Jehan was not Shah Jehan's wife, but his stepmother; and Noor Jehan was not buried in the Taj, but beyond the Attock, in the North-west, where her tomb is to-day a mere ruin. ”

“ Has the world ever witnessed a ruin more prompt, more complete, more amazing than this?
For seven hundred years the Mohammedan dynasties—of whom this wretched old man was the last representative—had tried to hold the reins of power over India, alien alike in race, language, and religion from the people whom they ruled. Mahmoud of Ghuznee—a contemporary for five years of William the Conqueror—was the founder of this line of monarchs ”