MAGNIFICENT MONUMENTS

TAJ MAHAL

Taj on the right bank of River Yamuna, about 1.5km from the Agra fort, was built to enshrine the remains of Arjumand Banu Begam entitled Mumtaj Mahal, the queen of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. lts construction commenced in AD 1631 and completed seventeen years later at an enormous cost and labour. The intricate carvings and inlay work in marble enhance the beauty of Taj in which the emperor was also buried by the side of his queen after his death. Unlike other Mughal garden tombs, the mausoleum is situated at the northern end of a large rectangular area with its central portion divided into a square garden. The Taj is entered through a majestic gateway in the centre of the southern side where there is a spacious quadrangle. The monument is considered to be an epitome of love and one of the most flawless architectural creations of the world.

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AJANTA CAVES 

The world famous Ajanta Caves including the unfinished ones are thirty in number, of which five (9, 10, 19, 26 and 29) are chaitya-grihas and the rest are viharas (monasteries). After centuries of oblivion, these caves were discovered in AD 1819. They fall into two distinct phases with a break of nearly four centuries between them. All the caves of the earlier phase date between second century BC-AD. The caves of the second phase were excavated during the supremacy of the Vakatakas and Guptas.

A few paintings, which survive on the walls of Caves 9 and 10date back to the second century BC-AD. The second group of the paintings started in about the fifth century AD and continued for the next two centuries as noticeable in later Caves. Caves 1, 2, 16 and 17 have remarkable paintings with themes intensely religious in tone and centre around Buddha, Bodhisattvas, incidents from the life of Buddha and the jatakas. The paintings are executed on a ground of mud-plaster in the tempera technique.

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 SUN TEMPLE

Konark is the Kainapara of the Periplus (first century AD) - an important port of the Orissan coast. The most notable marvel is the stately Sun Temple, built in c. AD 1250, during the reign of the Eastern Ganga King Narasimhadeva-I (AD 1238-1264), to enshrine an image of Sun (Arka), the patron deity of the place. The entire complex was designed in the form of a huge chariot drawn by seven spirited horses on twelve pairs of exquisitely carved wheels. The sanctum symbolises the majestic stride of the Sun-god and marks the culmination of the Orissan architectural style. The walls of the temple contain superb carvings of divine, semi-divine, human and animal figures amidst floral and geometric ornamentations. The vivacious kanyas, dancers and musicians are remarkable for their sensuous modelling, pulsating with human emotions which are absorbed in a variety of gestures and rhythmic actions. Mighty simha-gajas welcome the visitor at the porches