Word: agra
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Taking off from an air base five miles from the Taj Mahal at Agra, a fleet of Soviet-built Il-76 jet transports streaked southward across the subcontinent and then out over the Indian Ocean. When the planes landed four hours later on one of the 1,200 coral atolls that make up the Republic of Maldives, hundreds of elite Indian troops charged out onto the tarmac, rifles at the ready. But the mere sight of the Indian planes had struck panic among a band of mercenaries trying to bring off a coup d'etat against the government of President...
...inevitably, standards and quality declined. Erwin Gans-Ruedin's Indian Carpets (Rizzoli; 318 pages; $85) is a particolored object lesson in how art is overtaken by commerce. Carpets and rugs from the 16th and 17th centuries demonstrate an imagination all but forgotten in modern examples. An antique Agra is alive with a profusion of delicate figuring; a new Agra is static and merely crowded. Inadvertently or not, Gans-Ruedin's selections give the reader a chance to compare the finest rugs with the run of the mill. It is one's best defense against a dealer...
...survived past threats. In the second half of the 18th century, it was looted of precious stones, gold panels and two silver doors. The elements have also taken their toll. But these earlier assaults may pale beside the damage that could come from the industrialization of Agra (pop. 1,250,000), which creates great clouds of pollutants. Worse still, the Taj is located in the valley of the Yamuna River, where atmospheric inversions trap corrosive agents for days at a time...