. Wanderings east of Suez in Ceylon, India, China and Japan. platform; and from there the grounds are spreadbefore the visitor in a perfect panorama. Thepaved avenues, all leading to the magnificent pile,miles of marble acqueducts filled with ornamentalfish, playing fountains—all breathe the superla-tive of art, every fluttering leaf whispers of theEast. Not by its size is Arjamands tomb command-ing, for its dimensions are very moderate. Im-agine a plinth of flawless marble, 313 feet square,and rising eighteen feet from the ground—that isthe foundation of the wondrous structure. TheTaj is 186
. Wanderings east of Suez in Ceylon, India, China and Japan. platform; and from there the grounds are spreadbefore the visitor in a perfect panorama. Thepaved avenues, all leading to the magnificent pile,miles of marble acqueducts filled with ornamentalfish, playing fountains—all breathe the superla-tive of art, every fluttering leaf whispers of theEast. Not by its size is Arjamands tomb command-ing, for its dimensions are very moderate. Im-agine a plinth of flawless marble, 313 feet square,and rising eighteen feet from the ground—that isthe foundation of the wondrous structure. TheTaj is 186 feet square, with dome rising to an ex-treme height of 220 feet; that is all. At each cor-ner of the plinth stands a tapering minaret rear-ing its crown 137 feet; —four tall court ladiestending their princess. No building carries the idea of personality fur-ther than the Taj, a feminine personality, as itshould be, for it contains no suggestion of the rug-ged grandeur of a tomb for a great man. The Tajis the antithesis of Akbars mausoleum, of the 174. The Worlds Most Exquisite Building Parthenon, of Napoleons resting-place, ofGrants robust mausoleum on the Hudson. A sep-ulcher fashioned after ordinary architectural ca-nons can only be conventional: the Taj is differentfrom all other buildings in the world; it is symbol-ical of womanly grace and purity—is the jewel,the ideal itself; is Indias noble tribute to thegrace of Indian womanhood, a tribute perhaps tothe Venus de Milo of the East. The grace of the Taj, as do the achievements ofevery form of perfect art, rests in its spectator marvels that so much beauty cancome from so little apparent effort. Yet nothingis wanting, there is nothing in excess; wecannot alter a single stone and claim thatthe result would be better. And Oriental design-ers, working for an Eastern despot, might easilyhave struck a jarring note and rendered the Tajgarish—the wonder is that they did not. The Tajconsequently is the object
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