India's white marble Taj Mahal is turning yellow and green as the 17th century mausoleum weathers filthy air in the world's eighth-most polluted city.

The Taj Mahal flanks a garbage-strewn river and is often enveloped by dust and smog from belching smokestacks and vehicles in the northern city of Agra.

Tiny insects from the drying Yamuna River, into which the city pours its sewage, crawl into the Taj Mahal, their excrement further staining the marble, an environmental lawyer told India's Supreme Court.