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The Taj Mahal is widely considered one of the most beautiful buildings ever created. The exquisite marble structure in Agra, India, is a mausoleum, an enduring monument to the love of a husband for his favorite wife.
Famous poet Rabindranath Tagore portrayed it as ‘a teardrop on the cheek of the universe’ and Rudyard Kipling called it ‘the embodiment of all things pure’. Mughal emperor Shah Jahan famously said – “it made the moon and the sun drop tears on it”. The Taj Mahal of Agra is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, for reasons more than just looking magnificent. It's the history of Taj Mahal that adds a soul to its magnificence: a soul that is filled with love, loss, remorse, and love again. Located on the southern bank of the Yamuna River near Agra, India, the Taj Mahal took 22 years to build and finally reached completion in 1653. A total of 40 thousand labourers and artisans worked on it continuously for twenty years, the culmination of their work now known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World and a dream for every loving couple in the world. Despite the fact that there are thousands of monuments in the world that are contemporary to the Taj Mahal and even centuries older, the Taj is thronged by thousands of tourists every day from across the globe, who all come to see this monument, which is known as an epitome of love.
Regarded as one of the finest illustrations of Mughal architecture in India, Taj Mahal is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. One of the best parts of visiting the Taj Mahal is to appreciate the elegance of aptness of extents and luxuriousness of geometrical prototypes of such gracefully done gardens that enhance the dignity of the Taj Mahal, adding glory to the slenderness of this symbol of love, perseverance and beauty.
History Of Taj Mahal
This exquisite monument, considered one of the New Wonders of the World, astounds visitors for its symmetry, structural beauty, intricate calligraphy, inlaid gemstones, and magnificent garden. More than just a memorial in the name of a spouse, the Taj Mahal was a declaration of lasting love from Shan Jahan to his departed soulmate.
The famous Taj Mahal story always tends to intrigue listeners! The Taj was built by Emperor Shah Jahan in the loving memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who is said to have passed away after giving birth to their 14th child in 1631. An example of how deeply a man loved his wife, that even after she remained but a memory, he made sure that this memory would never fade away. This man was the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, who was head-over-heels in love with Mumtaz Mahal, his dear wife. Call it a symbol of immense love, the emperor was left so heartbroken that his hair turned grey eventually in grief. That’s when he decided to build a memorial in her memory and the construction began the following year, 1632.
The Love Story
It was in 1607 that Shah Jahan, grandson of Akbar the Great, first met his beloved. At the time, he was not yet the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire. Sixteen-year-old Prince Khurram, as he was then called, flitted around the royal bazaar, flirting with the girls from high-ranking families that staffed the booths. At one of these booths, Prince Khurram met Arjumand Banu Begum, the 15-year-old young woman whose father was soon to be the prime minister and whose aunt was married to Prince Khurram’s father. Although it was love at first sight, the two were not allowed to marry right away. Prince Khurram first had to marry Kandahari Begum. He later took a third wife as well. On March 27, 1612, Prince Khurram and his beloved, to whom he gave the name Mumtaz Mahal (“chosen one of the palace”), were married. Mumtaz Mahal was beautiful as well as smart and tender-hearted. The public was enamored with her, in no small part because she cared for the people. She diligently made lists of widows and orphans to ensure that they were given food and money. The couple had 14 children together but only seven lived past infancy. It was the birth of the 14th child that would kill Mumtaz Mahal.
The Death of Mumtaz Mahal
In 1631, three years into Shah Jahan’s reign, a rebellion led by Khan Jahan Lodi was underway. Shah Jahan took his military out to the Deccan, about 400 miles from Agra, in order to crush the usurper. As usual, Mumtaz Mahal accompanied Shah Jahan’s side despite being heavily pregnant. On June 16, 1631, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl in an elaborately decorated tent in the middle of the encampment. At first, all seemed to be well, but Mumtaz Mahal was soon dying. The moment Shah Jahan received word of his wife’s condition, he rushed to her side. Early in the morning on June 17, just one day after the birth of their daughter, Mumtaz Mahal died in her husband's arms. She was buried right away according to Islamic tradition near the encampment at Burbanpur. Her body would not stay there long. Reports say that in Shah Jahan’s anguish, he went to his own tent and cried for eight days without ceasing. When he emerged, he was said to have aged considerably, sporting white hair and glasses. Shah Jahan was so distraught upon Mumtaz's death that he confined himself in a room for a week and when he came out of the room, all his hair had turned grey. Mumtaz's body was interred temporarily in Burhanpur itself and was later on transferred to the Taj Mahal's central hall. Historians believe that there is ample evidence to prove that the land on which the Taj Mahal has been constructed, belonged to Raja Jai Singh and there was an orchard on this land, which was removed to build the Taj Mahal. Jai Singh was compensated for the land in the form of 5 'Havelis' as the tomb for Mumtaz Mahal could not be constructed on donated land according to Islamic tenets.
Plans for the Taj Mahal
Shah Jahan, filled with grief, poured his emotion into designing an elaborate and expensive mausoleum that would bring all those that had come before it to shame. It was also unique in that it was the first large mausoleum dedicated to a woman. Although no primary architect for the Taj Mahal is known, it is believed that Shah Jahan, passionate about architecture himself, worked on the plans directly with the input and aid of a number of the best architects of his time. The intention was for the Taj Mahal, “the crown of the region”, to represent Heaven, Jannah, on Earth. Shah Jahan spared no expense in making this happen.
A Design Of its Time
The Taj Mahal's combination of Indian, Persian, and Islamic influences makes it the most distinctive and outstanding example of Mughal architecture in existence today. The Mughals claimed descendance from Genghis Khan and Tamerlane and established an extremely diverse, religiously tolerant society largely considered to be India's last Golden Age. The Taj Mahal represents a key turning point in the identity of the empire itself. Although the Mughals were proud of their Persian and Timurid roots, the design of the Taj Mahal shows that they now saw themselves as being Indian first, while respecting their Muslim heritage. One of the building's most dominant themes is hierarchy, which played a critical role in Mughal religion and philosophy during the 17th century. The official Mughal histories account for 37 designers and architects who would have been able to contribute to the Taj Mahal commission for Shah Jahan. The person who most likely played the role of the chief architect was Ustad Ahmad from Lahore, an Indian of Persian descent who was credited with designing the Red Fort at Delhi. Modern historians tend to agree that the Taj Mahal was a collaborative effort; for example, the famous Turkish dome-builder Ismaili Afandi probably played a role, along with Amanat Khan from Shiraz, the master calligrapher whose signature graces the Taj Mahal's gateway. With a team like this, it's likely that Shah Jahan acted in the capacity of something like an artistic director, gathering various world-renowned experts and giving them specific tasks to perform according to his own project schedule. More than 20,000 workers from throughout India, Europe, Persia, and the Ottoman Empire contributed to the construction of the Taj Mahal, alongside 1,000 elephants performing heavy lifting duties. Whether or not one person designed it, the final product was certainly a group effort.
The Garden
Islam holds the image of Paradise as a garden. Thus, the garden at the Taj Mahal was an integral part of making it Heaven on Earth.
The Taj Mahal’s garden, which is situated to the south of the mausoleum, has four quadrants. These are divided by four “rivers” of water (another important Islamic image of Paradise) that gather in a central pool. The gardens and rivers were filled by the Yamuna River via a complex underground water system. Unfortunately, no records remain to tell the exact plants in these gardens.
Shah Jahan's Death
Shah Jahan remained in deep mourning for two years and never fully healed after the death of his favorite wife. This gave Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan’s fourth son Aurangzeb the opportunity to successfully kill his three elder brothers and imprison his father. After 30 years as emperor, Shah Jahan was usurped and placed in the luxurious Red Fort in Agra in 1658. Forbidden to leave but with most of his usual luxuries, Shah Jahan spent his final eight years gazing out a window at the Taj Mahal. When Shah Jahan died on January 22, 1666, Aurangzeb had his father buried with Mumtaz Mahal in the crypt beneath the Taj Mahal. On the main floor of the Taj Mahal above the crypt now sits two cenotaphs (empty public tombs). The one in the center of the room belongs to Mumtaz Mahal and the one just to the west is for Shah Jahan. Surrounding the cenotaphs is a delicately-carved, lacy marble screen. Originally it had been a gold screen but Shah Jahan had that replaced so that thieves would not feel tempted to steal it.
It was soon after the completion of Taj Mahal that Shah Jahan was deposed by his own son Aurangzeb and was put under house arrest at nearby Agra Fort. Shah Jahan, himself also, lies entombed in this mausoleum along with his wife. Moving further down the history, it was at the end of the 19th century that British Viceroy Lord Curzon ordered a sweeping restoration project, which was completed in 1908, as a measure to restore what was lost during the Indian rebellion of 1857: Taj being blemished by British soldiers and government officials who also deprived the monument of its immaculate beauty by chiseling out precious stones and lapis lazuli from its walls. Also, the British style lawns that we see today adding on to the beauty of Taj were remodeled around the same time. Despite prevailing controversies, past and present threats from Indo-Pak war and environmental pollution, this epitome of love continuous to shine and attract people from all over the world.
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