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Aleister Crowley Diary Entry Friday, 14 March 1902
Saw Taj [Mahal]. A dream of beauty, with appalling evil things dwelling therein. I actually had to use H.P.K. [Hoor-Paa-Kraat] formula! The building soon palls, the aura is apparent and disgust succeeds. But the central hall is like a magic circle, and of strained aura, like after the banishing.
Nautch[1]—ugh! One visit alone does not show full badness.
Red elephant—talisman, Aubrey, tobacco, about gates of Binah bought with British gold [illegible] ? dream.
1—Nautch is one of several styles of popular dance performed by girls known as Nautch girls.
The next day was devoted to the Taj Mahal. The first impression is one of extraordinary beauty, though perhaps not of any great fascination. There is no human quality in the building. Very soon indeed, one becomes aware that it is inhabited by loath-some and disgusting larvae. The feeling of deep disgust pervades one, so that whatever beauty there may be in the building (about which I am not at all sure) is entirely discounted.
The central hall, however, containing the sarcophagus, is less objectionable. In the evening I went again to see a nautch, and this time I must confess that the sensation was most unpleasant. Perhaps I was in a different mood. The dancer was certainly far less talented than the one in Benares; but it may be that the novelty of a first visit masks one's critical faculties and prevents the entire badness of the whole thing from appearing.
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