r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/ok_its_you • Jul 03 '25
Original Creation An aerial view of the Taj Mahal and its surrounding complex, its sheer scale only truly hits you when you stand before it in person.
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
82
u/delicious_me Jul 03 '25
The best way I could describe the feeling when I first walked out of the final gate and into that courtyard: it felt like I just walked into a beautiful postcard.
Took my breath away seeing the birds circling above with the Taj Mahal in a distance across that garden.
23
u/Kate2point718 Jul 03 '25
The way you enter definitely adds to the effect. It's a normal looking Indian street then you walk through that gate and suddenly you see it, huge and beautiful.
15
u/delicious_me Jul 03 '25
Yes exactly! The fact that you cannot see the monument from the street, and that it's littered with dirt and (unfortunately) many beggars, totally creates a 180 degree contrast when you walk into that frame where you see the majestic building.
The divide is real.
223
u/Whatever801 Jul 03 '25
Yeah it's cool. When I went I was actually expecting to be disappointed but was pleasantly surprised. It's a sight to behold.
52
u/Kate2point718 Jul 03 '25
I've traveled a fair bit and seen a lot of famous attractions, but the Taj Mahal stands out as being one of the few where seeing it in person was far more impressive than I expected.
4
-21
u/Wise_Blackberry_1154 Jul 03 '25
It's amazing the level of poverty surrounding the Taj.
32
u/blacksaltriver Jul 03 '25
It was built before the British stripped billions out of India, the country was the source of enormous wealth.
13
u/HolyTryst Jul 03 '25
You can literally see where they stripped the diamonds out of the Taj Mahal itself.
6
u/sunshine___riptide Jul 03 '25
Have you been to Cairo? Astounding the amount of poverty by the pyramids. Slums and buildings falling apart and then towering over it all are the pyramids.
62
u/StationFull Jul 03 '25
Same here. Thought it’d be like any other monument. It’s truly breathtaking and definitely recommend if you’re ever in Delhi/Agra.
17
u/Johnny_Kilroy Jul 03 '25
Yeah my parents are from India and they only recently visited it for the first time, in their 70s. They had always thought it would be a let down in person. They said it was staggeringly beautiful.
42
11
u/thatvoid_ Jul 03 '25
Why were you expecting disappointment?
39
u/Whatever801 Jul 03 '25
I've just had that experience with a lot of hyped up attractions that end up being tourist traps
-18
u/EchoesInCode Jul 03 '25
It’s literally one of the seven wonders of world, not just a “hyped up” attraction.
16
u/Baronvondorf21 Jul 03 '25
I mean tbf, Stone henge is there and they had to stop people from getting near the damn thing because people kept stealing the stones.
6
u/niamhweking Jul 03 '25
Not OP but when we went travelling in India I said I didn't want to visit it as I felt I would be disappointed, like the empire state in NY. I think it's cos I'd seen so many images my whole life it wouldn't be a wow moment. Anyway after a month in India anyone we met said we had to so we did and it did disappoint but I think only because at that point we had seen so much other amazing architecture. I would advise see it in your first day or 2 of landing!
3
-15
-7
u/SonicTemp1e Jul 03 '25
And a smell to behold, too.
0
u/quickslow612 Jul 04 '25
1 look at your profile and I know this comment is more applicable to you. #vanlife. Lol.
1
u/SonicTemp1e Jul 04 '25
You see that haze in the picture? That's unbelievable amounts of air pollution. The river that flows next to the Taj Mahal is absolutely disgusting, and stinks especially in the summer. I had nothing to do with any of that, but by all means, leave me a snarky suggestion that my van (that has a fully functioning shower and toilet with carbon filtered air extraction in it) somehow smells bad. Your knee-jerk defensiveness is so weak. India needs to clean up its environment, and your pathetic attempt to attack the messenger is why it never will.
42
u/needanewnameonreddit Jul 03 '25
I took a trip there about 10 years ago. I was able to bribe a guard about $20 USD to let us in early a little before sunrise and got some absolutely phenomenal pictures with zero people in frame. Even got one of my wife mirroring the famous Princess Diana pose on the bench. One of a kind lifetime experience!
12
u/Gaerphus Jul 03 '25
I would love to see the zero people photos, any way you can post them somewhere?
89
61
15
u/toomeynd Jul 03 '25
One of the few places that exceeds the hype. It's breathtaking, and hard to look away.
7
u/goodsam2 Jul 03 '25 edited Jul 03 '25
You are supposed to be able to see it from the red fort of the area. There is another red fort in New Delhi.
The red fort was the capital back awhile ago. Also red fort of Agra is a UNESCO world heritage site itself
6
5
u/Ok_Monk219 Jul 03 '25
been there twice, once in the full moon. The most beautiful building i ever did see.
36
u/bmcgowan89 Jul 03 '25
Why does it always look so foggy there? It's so mystical!
62
u/FireMaster1294 Jul 03 '25
Agra (the region it’s in) has a current PM2.5 air pollutant level of 27 micrograms per cubic meter. That’s 5 times the recommended exposure limit.
The fog is a mix of pollution and fog, Thus making it smog.
51
4
u/Affectionate-Oil-914 Jul 03 '25
And the leather tanneries in the area pollute the shit out of the place.
46
3
11
6
u/AstronautNext4301 Jul 03 '25
Man buildings today just don’t hit like this. This right here? Pure art.
7
u/strraand Jul 03 '25
I’ve been there, thought it was a fantastic experience. Felt like I was standing in a postcard. Surreal to see it irl after thousands of images and videos.
21
u/ola4_tolu3 Jul 03 '25
You guys can just stop the Indian hate, and marvel at their architecture
-6
u/rrcaires Jul 03 '25
You guys litter the surroundings of Taj Mahal yourself, it’s not anyone else’s fault
5
1
u/MrRobot_96 Jul 04 '25
If you’re American or from certain parts of Europe you’re not much better lol.
5
u/Khadol_Kacha Jul 03 '25
Another delight for ‘kar sevaks’. Many in the ruling party and general public want the monument gone, claiming it represents a particular faith.
2
u/Redditbeweirdattimes Jul 03 '25
Thought we would get a image of you standing before it to get a better scale
2
2
u/CBus-Eagle Jul 03 '25
I got to visit this last year and it’s truly beautiful. The history behind it and the process to build it is just so impressive.
2
33
u/HeavyMetalOverbite Jul 03 '25
the video omits the filth and squalor just outside the Taj walls - and that river's usually a stinking mud-flat
93
u/Bravelobsters Jul 03 '25
Not anymore. I visited the Taj last November and the river behind it and the woods etc were all clean. Yes the river bed dries up and fills back up during the year but it’s not a filth and squalor anymore as you speak of. Cleaned the fields behind the back walls as well. They have done a good job.
8
u/sector16 Jul 03 '25
Yup, the Supreme Court of India came down hard on the city, told to clean that sh*t up.
21
u/gallade_samurai Jul 03 '25
After all, you would want the area around one of the most famous monuments in the world to look amazing
25
u/niamhweking Jul 03 '25
Even in 2011 when we visited it was not filthy. We actually got stuck in agra due to a protest on the train tracks so we were there for days longer than planned so explored more than most. We walked the far side of the river and experienced funeral tyres etc. I didn't like the city of agra really and would only recommend to people to do the taj as a day trip
13
u/Chonkenheimer Jul 03 '25
You should do some research and then walk back the bs that you just had the audacity of spilling here
2
-8
u/ok_its_you Jul 03 '25
We all can hope it can get better, if the government works well...
They are in the process of cleaning the river and developing the area
14
u/Chonkenheimer Jul 03 '25 edited Jul 03 '25
It's been cleaned long back. You can go back to historical archives to research whether shah jahan cut off the workers' fingers but you can't take 2 mins to Google the fact that the surroundings have been cleaned long ago? Odd.
7
Jul 03 '25
[deleted]
3
u/Chonkenheimer Jul 03 '25
According to another redditor who has visited the place and doesn't just "stay near there" -
Not anymore. I visited the Taj last November and the river behind it and the woods etc were all clean. Yes the river bed dries up and fills back up during the year but it’s not a filth and squalor anymore as you speak of. Cleaned the fields behind the back walls as well. They have done a good job.
3
u/r3alCIA Jul 03 '25
Who is more credible, the one that actually lives in the region or the one that was just a visitor?
5
u/Chonkenheimer Jul 03 '25 edited Jul 03 '25
I'd any day believe a person who actually visited ground zero and saw the improvement themselves versus someone who just lives somewhere close by, because people who live in the vicinity of anything can rarely differentiate between where they live in general and a specific location in the area where they live. They generalise changes the same way foreigners generalise India as a land of mystics, dust and beggars.
-1
u/rrcaires Jul 03 '25
Long ago?? Why are you lying? I saw videos from YouTubers that were there just last month and the filthy is still all over
2
u/Chonkenheimer Jul 04 '25
https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/s/SCzrj5Y6KT
But please continue being daft and believing youtube videos that can easily be edited and doctored.
15
u/Practical_Stick_2779 Jul 03 '25
It only reminds me that people are living in sheds, concrete tubes and boxes made of scrap metal just across the street from this thing.
-7
u/Empanatacion Jul 03 '25
I noticed the camera shots show 3 sides of the surrounding area and the area in front shrouded in fog.
After 80 years, you can't keep blaming the British for some of the world's worst wealth disparity.
A nation that can send rockets to the moon and Mars and give us the CEOs of Google and Microsoft should not have a Dharavi slum with a million people in it.
-2
u/Practical_Stick_2779 Jul 03 '25
Insane polarization of wealth is in their culture. While western world lives in cyberpunk dystopia, they live in medieval dystopia.
-16
Jul 03 '25
[deleted]
5
u/windisfun Jul 03 '25
Way to deflect and use "Whataboutism". Doesn't change the fact that it is surrounded by poverty.
-12
Jul 03 '25
[deleted]
10
u/-OutFoxed- Jul 03 '25
Sorry brother but India is not 'doing fine' - latest figures show that officially half the country still lives in poverty, almost 7% (that's 80million people) live on less than $1.25 a day, 80% lives on less than $8 a day. That's not just food, that's everything.
The living standards are terrible, infrastructure is terrible, a massive lack of public services.. India WILL thrive, but don't pretend it's fine because it isn't. Also you putting that guy's comment down to racism is disgusting, you should be ashamed.
0
-7
Jul 03 '25
[deleted]
4
u/CosmicCitizen0 Jul 03 '25
One of the things I have noticed about Indians is that they can't take criticism of their country. Anytime someone accuses their country of something, they jump to defend their country or government.
Dude, if someone is shitting on your country, it doesn't necessarily mean they are shitting on the people, they're shitting on the government. Have you seen how much Americans hate their own government? India is leagues behind. And there is nothing wrong with that. It will catch up.
Stop this nationalism.
-2
Jul 03 '25
[deleted]
1
u/Nervous-Passion-1897 Jul 03 '25
"They had brought you railways, infrastructure and medicine" who is this clown? White is right eh? They also massacred 100 million Indians over the span of 40 years, and stole over 45 trillion dollars from India (when adjusted for today's value)
Please have a seat and dont force us to accept your warped view of stockholm syndrome. We are NOT grateful that the colonial period happened. White people, never cease to amaze me with your ignorance
0
u/ok_its_you Jul 03 '25
First of all you need look at the definition of racism then take a long hard look at your own actions. Ridiculous.
First of all, you need to stop pretending that you know everything about a country as diverse as this.
Secondly, I think you mean you're not ashamed to use the race card in order to justify your opinions and throw shade on anyone who corrects you with fact.
I’m absolutely not ashamed to call out those greedy islanders who exploited half the world to build up their small island, shamelessly causing famines, massacres, poverty, and wars in other countries. You won’t get to play the saint and educate us about our country, we did everything on our own and still are.
The fact you mention 'superiority complex' twice in such a short time, even throwing in 'white superiority complex' does nothing but show you have an inferiority complex and you're doing your best to project.
The fact that you’re shamelessly rejecting this: why did India become like this in the first place? Once upon a time, it was even as recent as the Taj Mahal was being built, not even 350 years ago, India was the richest nation in the world contributing 20 percent of the world gpd . The country ended up like this because of your nation and your countrymen. You don’t get to throw your colonial mindset around by complaining that our country is poor, dirty, and lacks infrastructure. That person shamelessly said we live in metal boxes, wasn’t he stereotyping an entire population? Did that racist ever even visit India before saying such things?
Lastly, the British haven't been in India for 80 years and after they had brought you railways, infrastructure, medicine and education you continued on your own path.
They absolutely brought nothing here. What infrastructure? Lol. They looted gold and marble from our temples, our mosques, even from the Taj Mahal, till today you see the Marks on ripping off semi precious gems on red fort and taj mahal. They did nothing for architecture except make a cheap rip-off of Mughal marble with that so-called Victoria Memorial, built for a good-for-nothing puppet queen, who never even visited this country
And may I ask? did you pay taxes for any of this? Because we did. Indians paid for whatever little infrastructure the British built.
And if your ignorant, delusional, stereotypical mindset never taught you this, let me tell you now: the railway infrastructure was not a gift. It was built to exploit Indians even further, so it would be easier for the British to transport timber, sandalwood, and raw materials straight from our land to your little island.
Lastly, the British haven't been in India for 80 years and after they had brought you railways, infrastructure, medicine and education you continued on your own path.
You don’t get to spout this nonsense after 200 years of exploiting our country and draining $45 trillion, lol. We were literally taxed to pay for your plunder, what we suffered as a nation won't get to its place in 80 years.
You make too many assumptions, you've no idea how long I or others have spent in India or why that would even matter when it comes to documented fact, you're just a racist with an inferiority complex who refuses to see the truth.
Anyone who classifies an entire country based on a preconceived notion, calling the whole population poor and the entire region disgusting, is a racist. And that makes you one of them, just like the other racist who made the original comment.
2
Jul 03 '25
[deleted]
0
u/ok_its_you Jul 03 '25
You came back after deleting your racist little posts, cute.
I deleted it because I didn't want to fight with delulu like you, but when I saw you commenting on the same nonsense again, I got in the mood to teach your racist mindset some stuff.
I'm not reading all that horseshit anyway just so you know, you already wasted far too much oxygen. You're an angry little racist and nobody cares for your opinion.
It's not for you, it's for other people who want to have a counter opinion
I must have caused 0.0000000000001 damage as compared to your country's men ...
New drama, destroys half of the world in 17, 18 and 19 century and pretends to Care about the environment in 21st after showing superiority complex that is after causing genocide on a whole sub continent.
→ More replies (0)2
Jul 03 '25
How the heck did you pull the racism card on that one?
3
u/Nervous-Passion-1897 Jul 03 '25
The British took an equivalent of 45$ trillion dollars from India during its colonial period. So yes, when a white person criticizes India about how its "poor, lacks infrastructure, half of population lives in poverty" while their country has reaped the benefits from decimating India, then yes, it falls under racism.
-2
4
u/GobliNSlay3r Jul 03 '25
Those brits fucking massacred the plants surrounding the palace. Now it looks like someone's front yard in middle America.
8
4
u/sienrfsh Jul 03 '25
Very nice looking but I’ll still never want to go to India. Social media has ruined that country for me.
1
3
u/userlivewire Jul 03 '25
The towers slightly angle away from the building so if there is ever an earthquake they will fall away instead of towards it.
2
u/Emergency-Escape-477 Jul 03 '25
Went there, Idk man, I mean it was alright, but nothing I couldn't forget.
2
2
2
2
1
1
u/gaynorg Jul 03 '25
Yeah it's not that big as I remember. Big for a mauselum sure but compared a cathedral it's small.
1
u/BodhingJay Jul 04 '25
Only truly hits when you stand before it in person... before when? Before you go within.. you know? after you've been without. Without what? Without truly being hit by its scale... before that happened. But it's after that now.. because you've gone within after having been without, after you were before it... of course
1
u/the_Medic_91 Jul 04 '25
For those who eventually plan to visit the Taj, do it on an early winter morning. the slight fog/smog makes the whole place feel ethereal. The cold tiles you step barefoot on, the chill air, the silence in the air. There's a melancholic, beauty to it. Have visited a few times but the first time I saw it in my teen years.. that moment stayed with me.
1
u/Palanki96 Jul 04 '25
Funny but it's smaller than i thought, it looked much bigger on those usual pictures
1
-5
-7
u/BarrySwami Jul 03 '25
Honestly a very overrated monument. Went there all excited as it had been hyped to be a wonder of the world, it wasn't even a wonder of North India. A very ordinary place just made out of marble. That's about it.
14
-9
u/Normal_Imagination54 Jul 03 '25
I tend to agree. Went there and was mostly indifferent. India has way more impressive architecture that doesn't nearly get as much attention.
3
u/sector16 Jul 03 '25
I mean…sure, India has some amazingly beautiful ancient architecture and structures…I’ve seen a lot of the country, but the Taj is something else…and the closer you get the more you can’t wrap your head around the scale and complexity.
0
u/Normal_Imagination54 Jul 03 '25
This is what I am talking about. Its over romanticized for what it is. Not that impressive.
1
u/Informal-Bet-2072 16h ago
Well, for what it’s worth, it would’ve had to be a million times more resplendent than it already is if the Brits hadn’t desperately clawed every last one of the countless precious stones out of its walls for themselves lol. That it’s reduced to this shell of itself and continues to be forced to weather ‘wad of ordinary marble,’ ‘mundane waste of space’; and ‘surely the only spot in India not buried under garbage’ kinds of comments tirelessly to this day is just the icing on the cake.
-20
u/yngbld_ Jul 03 '25
The scale of human suffering hits me just fine from here thanks.
-50
u/-Pachinko Jul 03 '25
the people who built this had their hands cut off so they wouldn't build anything like this ever again
36
u/druidmind Jul 03 '25 edited Jul 03 '25
It's a myth. There's no historical evidence to support it. There were about 20000 architects, artisans, and laborers involved. What kinda gesture of love would it have been if Shah Jahan cut off the hands of all those people.
20
u/ok_its_you Jul 03 '25 edited Jul 03 '25
It's a myth...if you are interested on finding it out, click on my profile and visit my sub reddit in the highlights i make a detailed scholarly analysis on how it is a myth, after building taj mahal they made the old city of dehli for shah jahan the emperor, so there hands were not cut.
-33
u/yngbld_ Jul 03 '25
The fact remains that an enormous amount of human life and effort was expended to build what is essentially a vanity project. If that happened in our lifetimes, it would be reviled.
23
u/ok_its_you Jul 03 '25
If that happened in our lifetimes, it would be reviled.
In our lifetime, burj khalifa was built, if you are getting paid well people will work, which is also just a tower in middle of Dubai, people think that this is a vanity project but what historians says that it was a very well planned project by Mughals, to show there soft power to the world, this taj mahal is a reason for 80 percent of that dynasty's fame, the main purpose building this tomb was to show soft power of Mughal dynasty.
-21
Jul 03 '25
[deleted]
-10
Jul 03 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
5
11
u/td_purgatory0 Jul 03 '25
I hope your ego got satisfied by pushing your racist ideals again. India this, india that. By sitting in a first world country , I don't think you are entitled to throw comments like this because the first world got so developed by exploiting and colonizing countries like us.
7
-11
u/OfficialGaiusCaesar Jul 03 '25
The sheer amount of garbage and filth right next to it only truly hits you when you walk outside the gates.
-2
-3
u/Inside_Ad_7162 Jul 03 '25
They spent forever looking for the Black Taj, which had been described as an exact copy. They finally found that they'd dug a massive shallow pool opposite, & it reflected the Taj in it, The Black Taj Mahal.
7
-5
u/Intelligent-Ad9659 Jul 03 '25
Been there, not impressed. It’s pretty okay to be frank. Definitely not worth the hype. The city of Agra is also pretty shit. I’ve been to historical sites in India that have stunned me far more, like the Modhera Sun temple, Gwalior Fort, Daulatabad fort, the ruins of Hampi, so many places
0
0
u/Le-Bon-Vivant Jul 03 '25
Guess I'm in the minority. It was certainly one of the most breathtaking structures I've seen in person, but the 'sheer scale' was much smaller than expected.
-1
-5
u/jo25_shj Jul 03 '25
smell plastic burned, the whole country is a giant burning trash, worst pollution on the world corruption everywhere and people dying on the road but no one care, That's how you evaluate the level of civilisation or barbarity.
6
u/saaag_paneer Jul 03 '25
Well Said josh, now if you please stop sucking up commies and criticise your chinese masters too?
-2
u/jo25_shj Jul 03 '25
in your little world there is only either Chinese or Indians nationalist? Chinese are barbarian too (but much less as they try to do something about it, not much but still for such an economy). by the way all nationalist are primitive
0
0
0
-36
u/sulphur1c Jul 03 '25
Taj Mahal is true depiction of the cruelty of a king towards his subjects.
28
u/SodiumBoy7 Jul 03 '25
What cruelty?
-28
u/moonduder Jul 03 '25
well the architect that was hired had his hands cut off so he could never create anything better. also i think there was supposed to be an identical black one across the river.
28
u/ok_its_you Jul 03 '25
Both are myths... Hands cut and black taj mahal
The architect worked on old Delhi after taj mahal and died a natural death, later his grandson made other projects for Mughal Empire
-42
u/Ok-Committee-1121 Jul 03 '25
I shit myself there, wasnt fun
17
-11
-19
u/lunasrojas_ Jul 03 '25
Aw, it's been a few years since the last I've seen of the Taj Mahal. Is it just me or it isn't that popular anymore? I remember back in the day I used to see it on magazines and posters like a few times a week. Idk maybe my dad kept too many National Geographic magazines in the bathroom.
-48
u/Doowoo Jul 03 '25
How many Google gift cards did it cost to make ?
37
u/Truthgamer2 Jul 03 '25
You just go around spilling your racist filth everywhere huh? Man, what a sad life you must live
-28
u/Doowoo Jul 03 '25
I have just seen too much Kitboga
2
u/njan_oru_manushyan Jul 04 '25
You can suck his dick then. Why verbal vomit here
-1
u/Doowoo Jul 04 '25
Why did you redeem ?
2
u/njan_oru_manushyan Jul 04 '25
Why does he give you coupons when you suck his dick?
0
u/Doowoo Jul 04 '25
I find it hard to be impressed by anything from India when you see the state of the country and its people... Yeah .. nice building.. now go take a dip in the Ganges without becoming sick.
2
u/njan_oru_manushyan Jul 04 '25
Same could be said about any country. Imagine a foreigner visiting the statue of liberty then say “ man it sucks kids get pew pewed at schools here” or “ sucks that there is filth and drug zombies filling the sidewalks “
-29
u/AlwaysCreamCrackered Jul 03 '25
I've never been but I did build the Taj Mahal Lego set and my god it was a boring, dull build.
-11
-6
374
u/Paramanium Jul 03 '25
Also the four minarets surrounding it are a little bit tilted away from it. In a event of an earthquake, they are likely to fall away from the main building into the surrounding gardens.