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TAJ MAHAL

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  The   Taj Mahal   ' Crown of the Palace ' ) is an ivory-e   marble   mausoleum   on the right bank of the river   Yamuna   in   Agra , Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth   Mughal emperor ,   Shah Jahan   ( r.  1628–1658 ) to house the tomb of his beloved wife,   Mumtaz Mahal ; it also houses the tomb of Shah Jahan himself. The tomb is the centerpiece of a 17-hectare (42-acre) complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house, and is set in formal gardens bounded on three sides by a   crenellated   wall. Construction of the mausoleum was completed in 1648, but work continued on other phases of the project for another five years. The first ceremony held at the mausoleum was an observance by Shah Jahan, on 6 February 1643, of the 12th anniversary of the death of Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj Mahal complex is believed to have been completed in its entirety in 1653 at a cost estimated at the time to be around  ₹ 5 million, which in 2023 would be approximately 

BHUTAN

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  The   subalpine   Himalayan mountains   in the north rise from the country's lush   subtropical   plains in the south. In  the   Bhutanese Himalayas , there are peaks higher than   7,000 metres (23,000 ft)   above   sea level .  Gang Khar  Puensum   is Bhutan's highest peak and is the highest unclimbed mountain in the world. The   wildlife of Bhutan   is notable for its diversity,   including the Himalayan   takin   and   golden langur . The capital and largest city is   Thimphu , holding close to 15% of the population. Bhutan and neighboring Tibet experienced the spread of Buddhism, which originated in the Indian subcontinent during the lifetime of Gautama Buddha. In the first millennium, the Vajrayana school of Buddhism spread to Bhutan from the southern Pala Empire of Bengal. During the 16th century, Ngawang Namgyal unified the valleys of Bhutan into a single state. Namgyal defeated three Tibetan invasions, subjugated rival religious schools, codified the  Tsa Yig  legal s

Travling

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  Paro Taktsang) , also known as the ( Taktsang Pal hug Monastery)  and the ( Tiger's Nest ),  is a sacred  Vajrayana Himalayan Buddhis t  site located in the cliffside of the upper  Paro  valley in  Bhutan . It is one of thirteen Tiger's Nest caves in historical Tibet in which  Padmanabha  practiced and taught Vajrayana. A later monastery complex was built in 1692 by 4th Druk Desi Tenzin Rabey around the  Taktsang Senge Samdhup  cave, where Guru Padmanabha meditated and practiced with students including Yeshe Topgyal before departing the kingdom of Tibet in the early 9th century. Padmanabha is credited with introducing Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan, which was then part of Tibet, and is the tutelary deity of the country. Today, Paro Taktsang is the best known of the thirteen  Taktsang  or "tiger lair" caves in which he and his students meditated. The shrine dedicated to Padmanabha, also known as  Gu-Ru mTshan-brgyad Lhakhang  or "the Shrine of the Guru with Eight