On entering this portal, lo, a miraculous2 vision! At the end of an avenue of dark cypress3 trees stands the tomb of Mumtaj-Mahal, a dream in marble, its whiteness, crowned by five cupolas that might be pearls, mirrored in a pool edged with pink stone and borders of flowers.
The whole mausoleum, the terrace on which it stands, the four minarets4 as tall as light-towers, are all in dead white marble, the whiteness of milk and opal, glistening5 with nacreous tints6 in the brilliant sunshine under a sky pale with heat and dust.
[Pg 205]
Inside, the walls are panelled with mosaic7 of carnelian and chalcedony, representing poppies and funkias, so fragile-looking, so delicate, that they seem real flowers blooming in front of the marble. And marble screens, carved into lace-work, filling the high doorways8 and the windows, admit a tender amber9-toned light.
Under the central dome10 sleeps Mumtaj-Mahal, the well-beloved sultana, for whom Shah Jehan erected11 the most beautiful mausoleum in the world.
A marble balustrade, of flowing design and astounding12 delicacy13, exquisitely14 harmonious15 and artistic16, encloses the white sarcophagus, which is inlaid with mindi and basilic flowers in costly17 agate18, linked by inscriptions19 looking like lacings of narrow black braid. This balustrade alone, in the Taj, under the marble pile which forms the tomb of the empress, and on which 20,000 craftsmen20 laboured for twenty years, would, in its indescribable beauty of workmanship, have amply fulfilled Shah Jehan's vow21.
On the outside, all round the lower part of the monument, carved borders frame flowers of pale mosaic in the walls; the ornament22 is in such faint relief that at a short distance it is invisible, and the Taj is seen only in the perfect elegance23 of its[Pg 206] proportions. The mausoleum is built on a broad terrace of white marble at a height of 270 feet, overhanging the Jumna; and the impressive, harmonious outline commands the plain from afar.
Legends have gathered round the Taj Mahal as about every old building in India, and this one seems to me not impossible in its barbarity.
When the last stone was placed, Shah Jehan sent for the architect and went with him to the top of the mausoleum.
"Could you design another tomb as beautiful as this?" asked the emperor.
And on the man's replying that he would try, the sultan, who chose that the monument should have no rival, caused the architect to be thrown into the Jumna on the spot, where he was dashed to pieces at the foot of his masterpiece, which remains24 unique.
The fort, rising from a rock wall of rose-red sandstone, is reached by a series of drawbridges and bastions, now no longer needed and open to all comers.
The central square, formerly25 the Sultan Akbar's garden, is now a parade-ground for soldiers, and barracks occupy the site of ruined palaces. Still[Pg 207] some remains of ancient splendour are to be seen that have escaped the vandals.
Here, a white marble mosque26 with three flights of open arcades27, with white domes28 to roof it, is paved with rectangular flags, each bordered with a fillet of black marble ending in an arch-like point, immovable prayer-carpets turned towards Mecca. Behind the marble lattices that form one wall of this mosque, the women of the zenana come to hear the moollah recite prayer.
Under a loggia, flowery with mosaics29 of jasper and carnelian, the emperor, seated on a white marble throne embroidered30 with carving31, administered justice. At his feet, on a raised stone flag, the divan32, his prime minister took down the despot's words, to transmit them to the people who were kept at a respectful distance under a colonnade33, forming a verandah round the imperial palace.
And this morning I had seen in the place of Akbar or Jehangir, a sturdy, blowsy soldier, in his red coatee, his feet raised higher than his head, spread out in his wicker deck-chair, and reading the latest news just brought by the mail from Europe.
The sultana's mosque is quite small, of translucent34 milky-white marble, and close by it is a[Pg 208] red wall, hardly pierced by a narrow window with a stone screen, behind which Shah Jehangir was kept a prisoner for seven years.
Dewani Khas, the great hall of audience, on columns open on all sides to the sky and landscape, overlooks a pit about thirty paces away where tigers and elephants fought to divert the sultan and his court. At the threshold is a large block of black marble—the throne of Akbar the Great. At the time of the incursion of the Jats, who drove the emperor from his palace, as soon as the usurper35 took his seat, the stone, the legend tells, split and shed blood; the iridescent36 stain remains to this day.
Above the throne, in the white marble wall, is a round hole, the mark of a cannon-ball at the time of the Mutiny. Out of this came a parrot, gravely perching to scratch its poll; then, alarmed at seeing us so close, it retired37 into its hole again.
Further on we came to a courtyard surrounded by a cloister38, where the market for precious stones was held. The empress, invisible under her wrappers of gauze as thin as air, and surrounded by her women fanning her, would come out on her high balcony to choose the gems39 that pleased her for a moment by their sparkle, and then disappear into the gardens behind insurmountable walls. In another court, a[Pg 209] pool kept stocked with fish gave Shah Jehangir the pleasure of fancying he was fishing.
At one corner of a bastion of the rampart rises the Jasmine tower, the empress's pavilion, built of amber-toned marble inlaid with gold and mother-of-pearl. A double wall of pierced lattice, as fine as a hand-screen, enclosed the octagon chamber40; the doors, which were of massive silver jewelled with rubies41, have been removed. The golden lilies inlaid in the panels have also disappeared, roughly torn out and leaving the glint of their presence in a warmer hue42, still faintly metallic43. Recesses44 in the wall, like porticoes45, served for hanging dresses in, and low down, holes large enough to admit the hand, were hiding-places for jewels, between two slabs46 of marble. In front of the sultana's kiosk, basins in the form of shells, from which rose-water poured forth47, go down like steps to a tank below.
The subterranean48 passage leading from the empress's rooms to the mosque, has in the roof a thick flagstone that admits a subdued49 glimmer50 as through amber or honey, lighting51 up all one end of the dark corridor.
The sultan's bath is lined with panels of lapis lazuli framed in gold, and inlaid with [Pg 210]mother-of-pearl, or looking-glass, and the walls have little hollow niches52 for lamps, over which the water fell in a shower into a bath with a decoration of scroll-work. And in front of Jehangir's room, again a series of basins hollowed in the steps of a broad marble stair, where a stream of water fell from one to another.
We saw the Jasmine tower from a corner of the garden in the glow of sunset. With its gilt53 cupola blazing in the low beams, its amber-hued walls as transparent54 as melting wax, and its pierced screen-work, it looked so diaphanous55, so fragile, that it might be carried away by the evening breeze. And beyond the pavilion, above the ramparts carved with huge elephants, lies the old Hindoo palace, deserted56 by Jehangir for his house of pale marbles—an endless palace, a labyrinth57 of red buildings loaded to the top with an agglomeration58 of ornament supporting flat roofs. And pagodas59 that have lost their doors, a work of destruction begun by Aurungzeeb. One court is still intact, overhung by seventy-two balconies, where the zenana could look on at the dancing of bayadères. Perfect, too, is the queen's private apartment, with two walls between which an army kept guard by day and by night.
[Pg 211]
A road between ancient trees and green fields which are perpetually irrigated60 leads to Sicandra-Bagh. Here, at the end of a wretched village of huts and hovels, is the magnificence of a stately portal of red stone broadly decorated with white; and then, through a garden where trees and shrubs61 make one huge bouquet62, behold63 the imposing64 mass of the tomb of Akbar the Great. The mausoleum is on the scale of a cathedral. There are two stories of galleries in pink sandstone crowned by a marble pavilion with lace-like walls; and there, high up, is the sarcophagus of white stone, covered with inscriptions setting forth the nineteen names of Allah.
Near this tomb is a stele65 with the dish on the top of it in which the Koh-i-noor was found. In the crypt of the mosque, at the end of a passage, is a vaulted66 room lined with stucco and devoid67 of ornament, and here is the burial place of Akbar, a mound68 covered with lime. The sarcophagus above, at the foot of which the Koh-i-noor once blazed, is but the replica69 of this.
This cell is as dark as a cellar, barbarously squalid. But to all our questions the moollah who was our guide only replied:
"Nothing could be fine enough to be worthy70 of[Pg 212] Akbar, so this was made in a hurry that he might at least rest in peace without delay."
In the heart of Agra towards evening people were busy in the square of the Jumna Musjid stretching pieces of stuff over rather low poles to form a tent. Then in long file came the labourers from a famine-camp, with their sleep-walking gait, their glassy eyes, their teeth showing like those of a grinning skull71. Rags in a thousand holes scarcely covered the horrors of their fleshless bodies.
The children of the bazaar72 watched them pass, holding out in their fingers scraps73 of food—the remains of cakes, green fruit, or handfuls of rice, and the famishing creatures quarrelled for the morsels74, frightening the little ones, who fled. Then they disappeared silently under the awnings75, filling the air with a smell of dust and pepper, scaring the pigeons away from the pool for ablutions, and the birds fluttered up in dismay in the rosy76 sunset glow, seeking some other refuge for the night.
点击收听单词发音
1 portico | |
n.柱廊,门廊 | |
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2 miraculous | |
adj.像奇迹一样的,不可思议的 | |
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3 cypress | |
n.柏树 | |
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4 minarets | |
n.(清真寺旁由报告祈祷时刻的人使用的)光塔( minaret的名词复数 ) | |
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5 glistening | |
adj.闪耀的,反光的v.湿物闪耀,闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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6 tints | |
色彩( tint的名词复数 ); 带白的颜色; (淡色)染发剂; 痕迹 | |
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7 mosaic | |
n./adj.镶嵌细工的,镶嵌工艺品的,嵌花式的 | |
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8 doorways | |
n.门口,门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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9 amber | |
n.琥珀;琥珀色;adj.琥珀制的 | |
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10 dome | |
n.圆屋顶,拱顶 | |
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11 ERECTED | |
adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立 | |
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12 astounding | |
adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊,使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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13 delicacy | |
n.精致,细微,微妙,精良;美味,佳肴 | |
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14 exquisitely | |
adv.精致地;强烈地;剧烈地;异常地 | |
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15 harmonious | |
adj.和睦的,调和的,和谐的,协调的 | |
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16 artistic | |
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的 | |
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17 costly | |
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的 | |
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18 agate | |
n.玛瑙 | |
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19 inscriptions | |
(作者)题词( inscription的名词复数 ); 献词; 碑文; 证劵持有人的登记 | |
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20 craftsmen | |
n. 技工 | |
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21 vow | |
n.誓(言),誓约;v.起誓,立誓 | |
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22 ornament | |
v.装饰,美化;n.装饰,装饰物 | |
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23 elegance | |
n.优雅;优美,雅致;精致,巧妙 | |
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24 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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25 formerly | |
adv.从前,以前 | |
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26 mosque | |
n.清真寺 | |
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27 arcades | |
n.商场( arcade的名词复数 );拱形走道(两旁有商店或娱乐设施);连拱廊;拱形建筑物 | |
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28 domes | |
n.圆屋顶( dome的名词复数 );像圆屋顶一样的东西;圆顶体育场 | |
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29 mosaics | |
n.马赛克( mosaic的名词复数 );镶嵌;镶嵌工艺;镶嵌图案 | |
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30 embroidered | |
adj.绣花的 | |
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31 carving | |
n.雕刻品,雕花 | |
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32 divan | |
n.长沙发;(波斯或其他东方诗人的)诗集 | |
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33 colonnade | |
n.柱廊 | |
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34 translucent | |
adj.半透明的;透明的 | |
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35 usurper | |
n. 篡夺者, 僭取者 | |
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36 iridescent | |
adj.彩虹色的,闪色的 | |
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37 retired | |
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的 | |
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38 cloister | |
n.修道院;v.隐退,使与世隔绝 | |
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39 gems | |
growth; economy; management; and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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40 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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41 rubies | |
红宝石( ruby的名词复数 ); 红宝石色,深红色 | |
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42 hue | |
n.色度;色调;样子 | |
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43 metallic | |
adj.金属的;金属制的;含金属的;产金属的;像金属的 | |
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44 recesses | |
n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 );(工作或业务活动的)中止或暂停期间;学校的课间休息;某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 );将(墙)做成凹形,在(墙)上做壁龛;休息,休会,休庭 | |
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45 porticoes | |
n.柱廊,(有圆柱的)门廊( portico的名词复数 ) | |
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46 slabs | |
n.厚板,平板,厚片( slab的名词复数 );厚胶片 | |
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47 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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48 subterranean | |
adj.地下的,地表下的 | |
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49 subdued | |
adj. 屈服的,柔和的,减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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50 glimmer | |
v.发出闪烁的微光;n.微光,微弱的闪光 | |
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51 lighting | |
n.照明,光线的明暗,舞台灯光 | |
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52 niches | |
壁龛( niche的名词复数 ); 合适的位置[工作等]; (产品的)商机; 生态位(一个生物所占据的生境的最小单位) | |
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53 gilt | |
adj.镀金的;n.金边证券 | |
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54 transparent | |
adj.明显的,无疑的;透明的 | |
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55 diaphanous | |
adj.(布)精致的,半透明的 | |
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56 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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57 labyrinth | |
n.迷宫;难解的事物;迷路 | |
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58 agglomeration | |
n.结聚,一堆 | |
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59 pagodas | |
塔,宝塔( pagoda的名词复数 ) | |
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60 irrigated | |
[医]冲洗的 | |
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61 shrubs | |
灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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62 bouquet | |
n.花束,酒香 | |
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63 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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64 imposing | |
adj.使人难忘的,壮丽的,堂皇的,雄伟的 | |
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65 stele | |
n.石碑,石柱 | |
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66 vaulted | |
adj.拱状的 | |
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67 devoid | |
adj.全无的,缺乏的 | |
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68 mound | |
n.土墩,堤,小山;v.筑堤,用土堆防卫 | |
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69 replica | |
n.复制品 | |
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70 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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71 skull | |
n.头骨;颅骨 | |
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72 bazaar | |
n.集市,商店集中区 | |
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73 scraps | |
油渣 | |
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74 morsels | |
n.一口( morsel的名词复数 );(尤指食物)小块,碎屑 | |
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75 awnings | |
篷帐布 | |
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76 rosy | |
adj.美好的,乐观的,玫瑰色的 | |
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