Marble Artisans of Agra

As I mentioned in the Taj Mahal post, many of the artisans who built the Taj some 400 years ago, remained in Agra and made it their home.  Their descendants remain there today, doing maintenance and ongoing repairs at the Taj, and several run very nice marble shops where they make marble artwork for tourists.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The farthest gentleman is the Uncle of the young man who greeted me at the U. P. Marble Crafts Palace.  There are several fellows who inlay the semi-precious stones into marble at U. P., but "Uncle" is the uber craftsman. 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The grinding wheels are hand-powered, as they would have been 400 years ago, put into motion as the craftsman draws a bow and cord back and forth.  Each of the blue flowers below is made up of 17 pieces of fine inlaid stone, each piece of which is shaped by hand, with hands, on the rotating wheels, piece by painstaking piece.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

First, the marble piece is cut and smoothed, prepared for the inlays.  It is stained with henna, later to be removed, so that the craftsman can see the places on the stone that he has etched, and the places around each inlay where he has marked the inlay, and will later carve out the setting place.  He then carefully glues (with removable, water-based glue) the stone to be inlaid onto the marble, so he can mark around them.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Having marked around the inlay, he removes the temporary glue and the stones.  Using his marks, he uses a fine chisel to cut a space just deep enough to inlay the stones.  Carefully, painstakingly, he takes each of the inlays, piece by piece, and glues it permanently into the depressed areas.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Then, a smooth piece of sandstone is rubbed across the inlays, removing the henna and smoothing the surface, making the inlays nicely flush with the surface of the marble.  The young man showed me a piece of the Uncle's finished work...exceedingly smooth, beautiful !

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 ...a finished piece.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 ...a showroom full of finished pieces...table tops, plates, platters, vases, all sorts of art.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Lights are set up under several items, to show their translucent properties.  As the young man speaks, his younger brother switches on and off the room and product lights in a routine perfectly timed to the young man's description of the various items.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 Of course, it's India, so they must have elephants !

 

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

I brought home a plate, a little smaller than this table top, but of similar color and pattern.  As we saw at the Taj, octagonal symmetry is prized in Muslim art, which governed the design of the Taj.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 So many items, so many shapes and sizes...

  

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 The young man and his younger brother.

 

If you visit the Taj Mahal,
stop in and see my friends at the U. P. Marble Crafts Palace.

Y'all take care,
-Mark

 

 

Taj Mahal !!

 

I was in India for a few days, but then needed to extend my trip by several more...as it happened, that would put me in Delhi over the weekend.  My friend said that the best way for me to spend Saturday, was to ride over to Agra...where the Taj Majal is located !!

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

There are different ways to get from Delhi to Agra, train, bus and car.  Since we organize a car to drive us while in Delhi for business, my partner set up the same driver, who picked me up at 6:00am, and we were off !



Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 

On the next post, I will speak in more detail about the elaborate inlaid marble stone work that makes up the Taj and the gate buildings that surround it.  It took 22 years and 20,000 workers to built the Taj, about 400 years ago.  That tells you about the meticulous detail these artisans built into the Taj.  Many of the original artisans stayed and made the Agra area their home when the Taj was complete, and their descendants today maintain the stone work and operate shops nearby, generating works of art for sale to tourists.

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

It's a cool illusion.  As you approach the archway leading to the Taj, it looks like the Taj is just inside the door.



Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The further you get into the passage, it seems the further the Taj recedes back, increasing it's distance.



Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

...Until just as you emerge into the open, you realize how far away, and how large, the Taj really is.



Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

...and how many people are interested in having their photos taken in front of such a landmark known round the world.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

With respect to the design of the Taj, symmetry is everything.  The Mogul emperor who built the Taj Mahal ("jewel in the crown") as a memorial to his wife, was a Muslim.  In Muslim art, perfect "octagonal symmetry" is the key to heavenly art and the Taj is symmetrical from all vantage points, no matter how you slice it.  And all of that was done with strings and lines and simple tools, not much more complicated that those that built the Great Pyramids.  Beautiful.



Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

And when you finally get up close to the tomb, you realize just how large it is...



Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Looking back toward the entry gate, more folks are arriving.  Lots of people, but the area to walk around is large, so it never felt crowded.



Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The river passes just on the backside of the tomb.  You can see across to an old ruined building, built with material similar to the gate buildings.  I saw what I thought were rocks in the water.  Only after I zoomed in later did I realize that they were water buffalo, cooling off in the afternoon heat.  (My "Little One" said "maybe they are 'hippo-pot-a-muses'...")  



Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Lots of families visit the Taj.  Here people exit the mosque that sits to the west of the Taj.



Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Several fellows were up on some (pretty precarious) scaffolding working on cleaning one of the minarets.  In the 70's and 80's, pollution stained portions of the marble.  They found out that "plastering" the surface with mud made from the local soil will absorb the contaminants and clean the surface without doing harm.  So, continuously, they are working to clean it all and have successfully restored it's beauty (as well as restricting fossil fuel vehicles from the area to prevent such issues in the future).

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The emperor who built the Taj no doubt spent LOTS of his kingdom's money and resources doing it.  Apparently his son, himself anxious to assume the reigns of power, felt that the father's spending was extravagant,  He put his father under "house arrest" in a marble building atop the Red Fort of Agra, which sits just down and across the river from the Taj.  There, sitting where he could clearly view the Taj every day, he spent 8 years until dying of natural causes.  The guide said several times that he died of natural causes, so clearly that was the "party line" put out by the son on news of his eventual demise.

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

And then, after leaving the wonderfully quiet, peaceful grounds of the Taj Mahal, we stepped back out into India, "which was already in progress..."

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

If in India, near Delhi, go see the Taj Mahal.  Do it with a guide, you will experience much more !  The gentleman below will be happy to meet you and show you around for a very reasonable fee.  As well, organize a driver in Delhi.  Mr. Uday Pal will gladly arrange to meet you at your hotel and drop you back there later in the day.  He knows Mr. Vinay Gupta  and will fix a place to meet him, they will see that you get lunch and access to all the sightseeing you can stand.  (The marble palace is covered in the next post...)

Enjoy,
-Mark