Breath of Fresh Air

We stood in an open archway that had been built hundreds of years ago. It was part of a vast construction housing a tomb built by the wife of Humayan, one of the latter Mughal Emperors, to commemorate her husband's death. At one time the area was known as the hallway of the Mughals because there were so many other Mughal (Muslims, tracing their lineage to the Mongols) tombs.

It was hot, perhaps high nineties, low hundreds, Farenheit. And, with summer time temperatures in Delhi, it was typically quite humid. On this adventure, I actually think Janis was beginning to enter the early stages of heat exhaustion. Her face was uncharacteristically flushed. But, as we stepped into the archway, there was a unexpected current of cool air. It was a welcome relief from the heat.

In this open archway, the cool air was present only in a small space of perhaps five feet by five feet. Take a step in any direction beyond that small area and there was no cool air. I was thinking about this breathe of fresh air in a house of death, wondering, "Is there some correlation between this experience and life in Christ, especially as we go about in this world?" Hmmm....

Below are some photos from the Humayan Tomb complex:



These two young men were very anxious to have their picture taken before this entry to one of the many tombs.



This is an example of one of the other tombs on the Humayan Tomb site.



Here is the previous tomb viewed from outside a surrounding wall. At one time, this entire enclave held a small Islamic village.




Islamic art usually prohibits representations of people or objects, therefore designs are common. This is an interior dome of one of the tombs.



Viewed from the courtyard of the Humayan Tomb, this is a mosque in use today.





Janis and Chuck in front of Humayan's Tomb. This Tomb was built over a 100 years before the Taj Mahal, but was a direct influence on the architecture of the Taj.



Sunneye Phillips, a friend from Mosaic, stayed with us this weekend and visited the Tomb with us.