Taj Mahal, Agra

Emperor Shah Jahan constructed the Taj Mahal as a symbol of eternal love in 1632, shortly after his third wife died while bearing his 14th child. The Taj Mahal expands on design traditions of Persian and Mughal architecture with the use of a translucent white marble inlaid with semi-precious stones.

White cow

Sacred cows wander many streets at their leisure. Last night I saw one inside a pajama store.

Ghats of Varanasi

Ghats are stairways that lead down to water. The holy city of Varanasi has 84 ghats on the sacred Ganges river which is fed by glaciers from the Himalayas. We toured the ghats by boat, each having a separate purpose such as praying, bathing, washing clothes, cremation and other purposes. As Hindu pilgrims welcomed the sunrise with singing and ceremony, the hazy sun rose bathing the city in a soft glow.

Lama speaking under bodhi tree with high security

Place of Enlightenment, Bodh Gaya

Buddha, the enlightened one, attained his enlightenment under the bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya on the eastern plains of India. This important stupa and garden was filled with monks and followers listening to one of the high Tibetan lamas. A mysterious man handed me two leaves that had fallen from the bodhi tree, fourth generation from the original, and disappeared.

Rickshaw

Imported originally from Shanghai, the man-pulled rickshaw is quickly becoming something of the past. Kolkata is the only city in India to allow man-pulled rickshaws, with the auto rickshaw powered by a small engine much more popular. The men who pull the rickshaws mainly come from one village, and are supposed to now wear shoes but many still prefer bare feet.

Victoria Memorial, Kolkata

Kolkata (Calcutta) was once the British capital of India. With white marble similarly used in the Taj Mahal, the huge dome and building with a surrounding park has a grand statue of Queen Victoria, empress of India (1837-1901) in front.