Twain arrived in Agra February 27th and departed on the 29th of 1896. The Taj Mahal and Twain's reaction to it are the main topics of what is written about his visit. Ian Strathcarron, however, goes beyond this by including two additional topics: Agra of today and Twain's relationship with travel writers. There is a particular parallel to The Innocents Abroad in that the Taj Mahal represents an awakening from one's expectations from readings to actually experience. The Innocents Abroad is a long series of such awakenings.

Richard Zacks notes a particular irony about the Taj Mahal: a "predominately Hindu India's most famous building is a Muslim mausoleum with lines of the Qur'an on some walls, a shrine to Mumtaz Mahal, the dead wife of one of India's Moghol conquerors, Shah Jehan. His name in Persian means "Ruler of the World"; a devout Muslim, he was rather intolerant of Hindus."

I have this un-ascribed note from Zacks (page 269-70): "You cannot keep your enthusiasms down, you cannot keep your emotions within bounds when that soaring bubble of marble breaks upon your view. But these are not your enthusiasms and emotions--they are the accumulated emotions and enthusiasms of a thousand fervid writers, who have been slowly and steadily storing them up in your heart day by day and year by year all your life; and now they burst out in a flood and overwhelm you; and you could not be a whit happier if they were your own. By and by you sober down, and then perceive that you have been drunk on the smell of someone else's cork. For ever and ever the memory of my distant first glimpse of the Taj will compensate me for creeping around the globe to have that great privilege."

Ian Strathcarron speaks of modern day Agra and the Taj Mahal: (page 167)
“Yes, but the Taj Mahal is a curse for us, for Agra,” says Dr. Dubeyji, Chief Librarian at Agra University. We had been chatting about the strange phenomenon of being in a relatively uncrowded Indian city, namely Agra. “Relatively” is the word to bear in mind: anywhere else it would be considered uncomfortably full, here it is comfortably empty. It also feels down at heel; all Indian cities could be said to be down at heel but one feels the others are on the up; Agra feels to be on the down. “Why so? Where has everyone gone?” I ask him. “You see, the Taj is a world-renowned monument but the government has over-reacted. Here we used to have a famous tannery business and we made carpets for export all over the world. Also an iron-ore foundry. But the government has shut them all to protect the Taj. No industry of any kind is allowed within thirty miles of the Taj. Without growth from business the city is in decline.” “But the tourists, surely they help compensate for the lost industry?”
“Not really,” he replies, “nowadays they are mostly groups on long day trips from Delhi.”