I found these numbers scratched into the mildew on a wall at I’timād-ud-Daulah’s Tomb, also known as the ‘Baby Taj’, the mausoleum of a persian nobleman in Agra. In many ways this tomb was the prototype for the Taj Mahal… it was the first mausoleum built on the banks of the Yaluma river, the first to use white marble instead of red sandstone, and the first to use precious stone inlays to portray images in the marble.

The numbers ‘786’ are used as a shortcut in Indian & Pakistani muslim culture for the blessing from the Koran “Bismillaah al-Rahmaan al-Raheem”. At least two different sites, think that this is not only incorrect, but it may also be heretical. Nevertheless, mobile numbers or license places containing the numbers ‘786’ are in high demand in both India and Pakistan.

This shortcut is achieved through the same sort of silly numerology that equates both George Bush and Barack Obama with ‘666’.