The Itimad Ud Daulah in Agra, India

Taj Mahal, Agra, India
Taj Mahal, Agra, India

Agra is, of course, world-famous for that most admired of buildings, the Taj Mahal – the mausoleum built by the fifth Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz.

Agra ought also to be equally famous for what is locally called the Baby Taj, or to give it its proper name, the Itimad-Ud-Daulah.

It lies on the eastern bank of the Yamuna river, away from the center of Agra and the Taj Mahal and is a fine, dainty, inlaid-box of a building set among trees and formal gardens.

Itimad-Ud-Daulah, Agra, India
Itimad-Ud-Daulah, Agra, India

Like the Taj Mahal, it also is a mausoleum. It is older than the Taj Mahal and was built in memory of Mirza Ghiyas Beg, who was the Chief Minister to Jehangir, the emperor who preceded Shah Jahan.

Itimad-Ud-Daulah Viewed From The River
Itimad-Ud-Daulah Viewed From The River

The mausoleum was built by Mirza Ghiyas Beg’s daughter Nur Jahan, who was the wife of Jehangir and it followed the pattern of the period – that of building mausoleums on the banks of a river.

And so I learned that it is not by chance that the Taj Mahal is also built by a river – in this case the western bank of the Yamuna river – where it is flanked by the red sandstone walls and towers, as here in this photo.

The River Behind The Taj Mahal
The River Behind The Taj Mahal

Revisiting Old Photos in 2016

‘Old’ is a relative term, of course. And in the case of photography it is always open to the photographer to go back and reprocess the image, provided the original still exists.

Back in the days of black and white film photography, negatives and prints lasted for many years – and well over a century for well-processed images provided proper care was taken to preserve them. [See Why Black and White Photographs Don’t Fade] The trick of it was to thoroughly neutralise the chemicals.

With digital photography, it’s easy to return to an original image and tweak it.

With this image I processed it as normal and then made a second copy using a technique for making a watercolour version and then blending the two ‘to taste’.

Itimad ud Daulah in Agra, India