desirable, and they are to blame for
its want of grace.[a]] But, on the other hand, the beautiful tracery
of the pierced marble slabs of its Windows, which resemble those of
Salim Chishti's tomb at Fatehpur Sikri, the beauty of its white
marble walls, and the rich colour of its decorations, make up so
beautiful a whole, that it is only on comparing it with the works of
Shah Jahan that we are justified in finding fault.' (_Indian and
Eastern Architecture_, ed. 1910, pp. 305-7.) Further details will be
found in Syad Muhammad Latif, _Agra_ (Calcutta, 1896); _A.S.R._ iv,
pp. 137-41 (Calcutta, 1874); and more satisfactorily, in E. W. Smith,
_Moghul Colour Decoration of Agra_ (Allahabad, 1901), pp. 18-20, pl.
lxv-lxxvii. Mr. E. W. Smith, if he had lived, would have produced a
separate volume descriptive of this unique building.

The building is now carefully guarded and kept in repair. The
restoration of the inlay of precious stones is so enormously
expensive that much progress in that branch of the work is
impracticable. The mausoleum contains seven tombs.

a. This sentence has been deleted by Dr. Burgess in his edition,
1910.

4. This tale is mythical. The alleged circumstances could not be
known to any person besides the father and mother, neither of whom
would be likely to make them public. Blochmann (transl. _Ain_, i.
508) gives a full account of Itimad-ud-daula and his family. The
historians state that Nur Jahan was born at Kandahar, on the way to
India. Her father was the son of a high Persian official, but for
some reason or other was obliged to quit Persia with his family. He
was a native of Teheran, not of 'Western Tartary'. The personal name
of Nur Jahan was Mihr-un-nisa.

5. This story is erroneous, and inconsistent with the correct
statement in the heading of the chapter that Nur Jahan, daughter of
Ghias-ud-din, was aunt of the Lady of the Taj. The author makes out
Ghias-ud-din (whom he corruptly calls Aeeas) to be a distant relation
of Asaf Khan. In reality, Asaf Khan (whose original name was Mirza
Abul Hasan) was the second son of Ghias-ud-din, and was elder brother
of Nur Jahan, The genealogy, so far as relevant, is best shown in a
tabular form, thus:--

Mirza Ghias-ud-din Beg
(alias Itimad-ud-daula).
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