Sikandra par Lanfranch

Sikandra is the tomb of emperor Akbar (1542-1605), built in Agra over 48ha of land, most of it covered by lush gardens inhabited by gazelles, monkeys and other animals. I had a cultural shock coming here - although I felt I was in the very representations of Coleridge's Kubla Khan's Pleasure Dome, I knew I was in a tomb. So great is the difference of perspective towards death between India and the West! "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree : Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea. So twice five miles of fertile ground With walls and towers were girdled round : And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills, Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree ; And here were forests ancient as the hills, Enfolding sunny spots of greenery."