Excerpt from The Omegan, Vol. 2: Theta Upsilon Omega; October, 1925 Many people in America have heard of the Taj Mahal, but few really know what it is. If built today, it would cost more than the amount spent by the United States on the Panama Canal. The gold used in its construction amounted to about all that the world pro duced during the construction period of seventeen years. The in laid diamonds, pearls and other precious stones, under present day valuation, are worth a huge fortune. The virgin marble, so pure and white, after passing through nearly three hundred monsoons, or rainy seasons, and resisting the terrific heat of the sun for the balance of each year, stands as a wonderful example of the care taken in the selection of the stone. The Taj is one of the big show places of the world, and is emblematic of the architectural age begun by King Akbar and followed up by his descendants during the Mogul occupation of India in the seventeenth century. Situated on the bank of the J umna river just outside the city of Agra, and not far from Delhi, the medieval and present capital Of the country, its massive yet delicate form of snowy whiteness rises to a height of over two hundred feet. It rests upon a checker board platform, three hundred feet square of black and white marble slabs. At each corner rises a sentinel tower or minaret Of similar construction one hundred forty feet high. On either side and parallel to the river bank are two sandstone buildings, the one on the east the J amat Khana, and on the west the Imperial Mosque. They are similar in formation, and follow the usual three dome design for such temples. They are massive in construction, but were carefully planned so as to detract no attention from the main building. The principal entrance is to the north, some nine hun dred feet away, connected by an avenue bordered bytwo magnificent lines of heavy green cypress trees, with a quiet stream of water down the centre. This gate offers an unusual deviation from the general trend of Mogul architecture, in having two rows of short and small domes placed upon the front and rear edges of the large square sandstone building, with a larger watchtower at each corner. The facade is beautifully inlaid with white and colored marble over the mammoth doorways. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.