The Bibi ka Maqbara is the tomb of
one of Aurangzeb's wives. Built by his son Azam Shah - the one who took
over after Aurangzeb - it echoed the Taj Mahal
that had been built for his grandmother. Known today as the Baby Taj Mahal
(or mini TM or poor man's TM depending on the source), it is indeed a much
smaller and less ostentatious building. But it was still beautiful, and
gave us a pleasant afternoon walk around.
Many of the design elements echo the
Taj, albeit on a smaller and less grandiose scale. Prominently missing
is all the inlay work that is in Agra. It doesn't appear that the stones
have been stolen, simply that the building was never designed to include
them.
Instead of semiprecious stones adding
bursts of color to the walls, the baby Taj Mahal is more simply decorated
with plastered designs.
The cool interior was beautiful in its
austerity.
And while there were some strange
four-armed creatures to be seen in the dry fountains and some schoolgroups
wandering the grounds, the relative lack of crowds made it a very pleasant
place to spend some time relaxing
The kids even found some big trees
to climb in the rear gardens, as well as some friends to climb with them.
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