Identifier: mylifework00smit (find matches)
Title: My life-work;
Year: 1902 (1900s)
Authors: Smith, Samuel, 1836-1906
Subjects:
Publisher: London : Hodder and Stoughton

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ns as a sort of blood-thirsty savages, because they eat flesh meatand kill animals ! Indeed the mass of Hindoos regard the eating offlesh and drinking of wine as the chief badge of Christianity ! Not veryflattering to us ! But I must now descend from my perch and give some account ofthe interior of the edifice. I seat myself on the tomb erected to ShahJchan in the interior, under the great dome. We have entered by a doorin the central alcove. At first it seems dark, after the bright sunshineoutside. No direct light falls into the interior ; it is like a shell withinan outer case, and the light percolates dimly througii the marble fretwork.The tomb of the Emperor and that of his favourite wife lie side by side.They are of wliite marble, inlaid with ricli gems ; emeralds, turquoises,agates, cornelians, lapis lazuU and coral abound. A railing or screen ofpierced marble, wrought into elegant designs, surrounds the tombs.After remaining some time in the interior it appears quite light, and
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SECOND VISIT TO INDIA 187 one can see that the vaults are covered with inscriptions from tlieKoran. Nothing strikes one in Mohammedan countries more thanthe reverence paid to their sacred book. A dado runs round the wholeinterior, of marble beautifully carved into flowers, and vases done onpanels, each surrounded with a running scroll of inlaid work of preciousstones. A wonderful echo is heard when a chord of music is struck, reverbera-ting round the hall, and dying into stillness. It is said to surpass thatof the famous Baptistry of Pisa. I have once more changed m)- pointof view, and mounted to the top of one of the minarets, 130 feet high,and look into the ver)?- heart of the Taj, as you might do into thesnowy ravines of the Alps from a neighbouring peak. The dome is nowseen to be of an oval shape, not unlike an inflated balloon. Fourminor domes or turrets surround it, and 16 little minarets outflank theturrets. The two mosques and the noble gateway, like a sort oftriumphal arch, l

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