Indian Food

I ate a lot of chicken and lamb. In India the cow is considered sacred and so no beef was available. I also ate a lot of vegetarian dishes for this same reason. A well known staple of Indian cuisine is curry, which is like a type of sauce.  It would be served over meat or sometimes separately so that you could dip your bread in it.

Religion in India

The dominant religion in India is Hinduism. The majority of people identify with this religion, however many others are present. There are millions of Muslims living in India and there are also a great deal of Sikhs.

a mosque in Delhi 

a Hindu festival at a village 

a statue of the Hindu god Vishnu

Jal Mahal

Jal in Hindi means water, mahal means palace. So, Jal Mahal=Water Palace

Elephants

In order to get to the top of a fort I visited, I rode an elephant up the hillside. Elephants have long been used as pack animals and there have even been war elephants. The elephant is a symbol of good luck in Hinduism.

 

 

 

Jaipur-The Pink City

The city gets its nickname because of the color of stone that was used for many of the buildings within the city.  Jaipur is the capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan and was one of the first planned cities in India. Because of this, the streets of the city are laid out in a grid pattern.

some buildings appeared more orange, but there was a rule that the signs on the buildings could only be white with black text

this is the Hawa Mahal, the most famous building in The Pink City

Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his third wife. Construction began in 1631 and was completed 22 years later. The building, which is a UNESCO site and is often considered one of the seven wonders of the world, and its surrounding gardens, are almost perfect in their symmetry, the only piece out of place is the burial site of Shah Jahan, who is placed off center of his wife.

the view through the main gate

the view immediately inside the main gate

the Taj Mahal and I

looking back towards the main gate

the details carved into the marble

notice the shoe covers I was required to wear

Agra Fort

Agra was once the capital of India. Now only with a population of a little over two million people, the city is small compared to the over much more populated cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, and Bangalore to name a few.

Agra Fort is similar to the Red Fort in Delhi, both of which were built for the same purposes and out of the same red sandstone materiel. These forts were where the Mughal emperors of the time would live, govern, and house their armies. There is still a large percentage of Agra Fort that the Indian Army utilizes.

the Taj Mahal can be seen from Agra Fort

the entrance to Agra Fort