Chapter 87 The Fairy Tale of Oriental Despotism

Drive more than 200 kilometers southeast from New Delhi to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal is more beautiful than imagined, at least it has something to do with the foreshadowing of the reverse. First of all, the city of Agra is too messy and crowded.The streets are still full of peddlers and beggars, and the floor is full of garbage and dust, making people disturbed by the noise.Those who step in just want to get through the road, and have forgotten what they are here for. Finally, I stopped in front of an old gate, bought a ticket and went in to see that the yard was really nice. After turning a few corners, I saw a beautiful classical building, red and white, which can be called gorgeous, and it should be a big thing in terms of status and layout, so As soon as many tourists saw it, they turned on the camera, posed for poses, and busily took pictures.People are the easiest to follow the crowd in this respect, and soon the crowd of people photographed has become like a heavy wall.

Suddenly, a girl who was being filmed turned her head occasionally while she was stepping back, and saw a crack in the door of this classical building. Call: No, it's inside! All the photographers immediately stopped working and rushed to the crack of the door. After seeing it, they all made a soft noise and remained silent. Where there is red and white, where there is beauty and magnificence, it is just it, the world's first-class building, which only completes all conquests with fairy-tale crystal simplicity. When I saw it through the crack of the door, I had only one thought. The most outstanding elite in the world cannot be described, but it is different at a glance.A little lonely, a little out of gregariousness, it has its own atmosphere, but it can't hide the overflowing brilliance, and no one can imitate it.There are very few such works in human history, and anyone who sees it, regardless of age, nationality or nationality, will immediately cheer up.Now, it's right in front of you.

Walk forward cautiously, take off your shoes carefully when you reach the front, step barefoot on the cool marble steps, and climb up step by step.Finally climbed onto the big platform like a mirror, and then walked through the door, and finally saw two marble coffins.The one in the middle is Taj, and the one on the left is King Shah Jahan. The king was wronged.But there is no way, the entire mausoleum was built for her by you, and her central position is also designed by you, which cannot be changed.Your final entry, but a special favor, can be fulfilled. Return to the platform from the mausoleum, circle around, and see the Zhumuna River behind.Only then did I discover that the Taj Mahal was built on a cliff by the river beach.

According to Shah Jahan's plan, his own mausoleum will be built on the other side of the river with pure black marble, corresponding to the pure white of the Taj Mahal, and connected by a half black and half white bridge in the middle.This plan, which ultimately did not materialize, is more like an adult fairy tale.Judging from the posture on the river bank, the Taj Mahal is indeed calling to the opposite bank. A very realistic and iron-fisted emperor actually built a fairy tale in the world and buried a fairy tale in his heart. What's going on?How could he preserve the charm of fairy tales and put them into practice?This question became even more serious when I arrived at another strange city, Jaipur.

Jaipur, Delhi, and Agra just form a triangle, each of which is more than 200 kilometers apart.For a long time, it was ruled by a maharaja dynasty related to the central government of the Mughal dynasty. In the 18th century, there were some wise monarchs represented by Zhaixin, who simply played the palace building as a luxurious game.Extravagant and extravagant, yet naive. Entering the city is very different. Two rows of two- to three-story hollowed-out balconies and corridors are arranged at the mountain pass outside the city gate. Even if there are enemies coming, let them admire it before attacking the city.

The houses in the whole city are basically pink. This kind of instruction is a bit unimaginable, but it has come true.The most famous one among the pink houses is the so-called Palace of Winds. Each window protrudes from three sides, and the windows are exquisitely carved. Women in the palace can watch the crowds in the city from inside, but people outside can't see them clearly. .The idea itself is pretty playful. What is even more spectacular is of course the Ambar Castle built on the hill.After entering, I can't tell how many passage systems it has, and I don't know how many secret rooms and Huatingxuan windows are connected to each passage system.

That day I went to visit with Mr. Liu Changle, chairman of the board of directors of Phoenix Satellite TV, Duan Min, Zhao Wei, and Wang Zheng, who came to visit us from Hong Kong. It happened that the management personnel were on strike and the door was not opened. We sneaked in of.I didn't expect to fall into the ecstasy array as soon as I entered, and I was surprised and nervous every step of the way, for fear that I wouldn't be able to get out.There are countless times when the road is broken and the wall is blocked, and there are countless times when the willows are dark and the flowers are bright, which is unforgettable.

I have also seen many private courtyards in Europe, but no matter how private they are, I can always find out the close and distant context of these designs and traditions and fashions. It is rarely like this one, which is completely whimsical and does not have much conflict with the past and surrounding connect. Say this is the architectural feature of oriental despotism, and the classical gardens of China and Japan put forward a negation.Even if the Chinese classical gardens are hidden, they still have a very clear aesthetic origin when you look closely, and Japan is the same, which is completely different from the Taj Mahal and Jaipur Castle in front of you.I think this has something to do with the ruling structure of India at that time.

Although a foreign dynasty has ruled for several generations, it still rejects Indian native art and is unfamiliar with its own traditions due to long-term migration. Therefore, the ruler can boldly imagine without various constraints. Their extreme dictatorship made the entire national treasury an economic guarantee to realize this reverie, and sometimes they would call together skilled craftsmen from all over the world to build together, and all kinds of architectural conventions offset each other, leaving only the willful expression of the emperor's will.It just so happened that a certain emperor had a high level of aesthetics, and a miracle similar to a fairy tale appeared.

Such is the mystery of India. December 19, 1999, Agra, Jaipur, India, overnight at Trident Hotel, Agra