Taj Mahal Agra India

Landmark/Monument. By cruisingindia.com on Oct 30, 2006.

Taj Mahal Images

Taj Mahal – The Magnetic and Mythical Tomb of Love

Historians believe the name Taj Mahal is an abbreviated version of the queen’s name – Mumtaz Mahal (the exalted one). Shah Jahan bestowed upon his wife the title of Mumtaz Mahal - “the Chosen One of the Palace”, also translates as “the Distinguished of the Palace.” Sometime after Shah Jahan’s death in 1666, his body too was put to rest beside his beloved queen.

Taj Mahal – The Eternal Love Story

The romanticism of the Taj Mahal dates back to 1607 and within the walls of the royal palace of Agra when the 20 year old Prince Khurram chance met a refined and highborn 19 year old girl down the Meena Bazaar hawking silk and glass beads. A fairytale union, it took the already married prince five years to enter marital bliss with his lady love – Anjumand Banu.
It was a marriage which withstood many a court battles and intrigues and battles for succession leading to the grand coronation of Prince Khurram. It is said that the girl’s beauty charmed and inspired many a royal court poets to pen down verses and couplets in her honor. Mumtaz and Shah Jahan were married in 1612 A.D and had 14 children together.

The Empress often accompanied her husband in his military campaigns. In 1631, heavily pregnant in her third trimester, Mumtaz Mahal escorted Shah Jahan on one of his expeditions to Burhanpur in Southern India. It was here on a warm April evening that the queen gave birth to their fourteenth child, a girl. Soon afterwards she suffered complications and succumbed to death. This ended the nineteen long years of wedded bliss for Shah Jahan and his Begum Mumtaz.

The 39 year old Mumtaz, on her deathbed, pleaded and asked for four assurances from her husband. The first was to build a mausoleum in her honor, a monument which would be beyond all human imagination. While the second wish was for the Emperor to re marry, her third wish urged Shah Jahan to be kind to their children. The fourth promise was that he visit the tomb on her death anniversary.

Shah Jahan kept the first two promises. The loss of his beloved wife compelled him to build one of the most beautiful mausoleums on earth for her, the Taj Mahal – a monumental passion of Shah Jahan and Arjumand Banu.
Poets describe the Emperor’s grief to the raging storm in the ocean. It is understood that Shah Jahan put aside his royal robes and was in mourning for a week following the death of his queen. He secluded himself and neglected affairs of the state. He is said to have aged twice over, his hair turning gray, the constant weeping forced him to use spectacles; such was his lament with the passing away of Mumtaz Mahal.

Shah Jahan grieved for two long years. History says, ‘Shah Jahan never again regained his enthusiasm for state or administration of his realm.’ He is said to have found solace in the world of art and architecture, an obsession with perfection that would last his lifetime. It was six months after the death of his wife that Shah Jahan laid the foundation to the Taj Mahal, a mausoleum built close to his palace in Agra, across the River Yamuna.

Shah Jahan, a follower of the Islamic faith dreamt of Paradise for his beloved Mumtaz. The Mughal period has been largely influenced by images of Paradise in literature and in art. The Taj too obeys this fascination. Accordingly, the Taj complex kind of simulates the heavenly model of the gardens of Paradise on the Day of Resurrection. Spread over forty-two acres, the grounds are divided by four channels of water which represent the four rivers of Paradise as in the holy book, Koran. The boundaries of Paradise are represented by the red sandstone walls, the gazeboes, galleries and towers. In Islamic tradition, a woman who dies in childbirth is a martyr, and therefore her memorial is a place of pilgrimage. Therefore, the two structures, a mosque and the rest house face the Taj from either side. The mosque on the west, and its mirror image, a rest house, on the east, has been built to compliment each other architecturally, also provides shelter to the faithful who come to pay homage to Mumtaz Mahal.

Shah Jahan’s tranquil love was short-lived when his son Aurangzeb assailed the throne in 1658, soon after, imprisoned his father in a tower of the Red Fort in Agra. Sadly for the imprisoned Shah Jahan, the epitome of Mughal grandeur, found his only consolation in the vision of his Paradise – The Taj Mahal.

Shah Jahan spent the rest of his life looking wistfully at his wife’s final resting place. The Taj remains a symbol of eternal love where the heart- broken Shah Jahan was subsequently buried, re-united finally with his beloved Mumtaz. Ironically, the perfect symmetry of Taj Mahal is disrupted by the tomb of the man who built it. When Shah Jahan died in 1666, his son Aurangzeb placed his casket next to that of Mumtaz Mahal. Therefore, from an architectural viewpoint, his presence which was never intended unbalances the mausoleum’s interior.

Legend has it that Shah Jahan desired to construct another Taj Mahal in black marble on the other side of the river Yamuna and connect the two by a bridge. This structure was intended to be his own tomb. Though gazetteers and guide books mention this story, the improper placement of Shah Jahan’s tomb, not centered as that of his wife does prove that his burial was not intended at the Taj.
The Mehtab Burj and the wall adjoining it opposite the Taj Mahal are generally said to be the foundations and remains of the proposed plan. It has been recorded almost contemporarily by a French merchant Tavernier: “Shah Jahan began to build his own tomb on the other side of the river but the war with his sons interrupted his plan and Aurangzeb who reigns at present is not disposed to complete it”.

Taj Mahal – Layout, Architecture and Construction

Constructed over a period of twenty two years at the cost of 32 million rupees (approx USD 68,000), the Taj Mahal is said to have employed over 20,000 workmen and master craftsmen to fulfill Shah Jahan’s passionate dream. The construction began in 1631 and material was procured from all over India and central Asia. And as legend goes, it took a fleet of 1,000 elephants to transport this material to the site.

The beauty of Taj Mahal is also tainted by the gory fact that the hands of some of it’s master craftsmen were amputated on completion of this marble wonder, lest it be replicated. Available construction documents spell Ustad Ahmed Lahori, the renowned Islamic architect of his time as master architect and Ustad Isa, a Persian as the principal architect. Isa is understood to have been brought all the way from Shiraz in Iran.

Expert craftsmen were brought in from Delhi, Qannauj, also from the cities of Lahore and Multan, now in present day Pakistan. Renowned Muslim craftsmen from Baghdad, Shiraz and Bukhara were employed. Sculptors, masons and calligraphers were summoned from Persia, the Ottoman Empire and Europe to work on the Taj. It is possible that the pietra dura work was coordinated by an Italian artist. Myth has it that a goldsmith named Veroneo did come to India and prospered in Agra during the time. Though there is no substantial proof, a theory that Veroneo designed the Taj is intriguing and still finds occasional mention, especially in Italy. The Taj therefore is not the creation of a single mastermind but a glorious consummation of a great epoch of art.

The mausoleum is part of a vast complex comprising five main elements- the Darwaza - main gateway, the Bageecha - garden, the Masjid - mosque, the Naqqar Khana - rest house, and the Rauza - the main mausoleum. The mausoleum stands majestically at the north end just above the river instead of occupying the central point as with most Mughal mausoleums.
 
In the center of the mausoleum lie the remains of the Empress. The tombs of the Emperor Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal are actually located in a shadowy burial crypt. Above them, in the main chamber are false tombs, a common practice in mausoleums built during the Mughal period. The serenity is engulfed by the subdued light that filters through the finely cut marble screens surrounding the cenotaphs whilst mullahs chant verses from the Koran.

The grand structure of the Taj Mahal stands serene on a raised and square marble platform. The platform with four truncated corners is 186 x 186 feet and forms an uneven octagon. The promise of Allah, as written in the Koran, is inscribed in marble on the portal of the main entrance to the Taj Mahal. This symbolizes the gateway through which The Prophet Muhammad entered Paradise - a place of transition between the world of the senses and realm of the spirit.

The Taj reveals an intricate harmony of details in its calligraphy all over the archways. Jewel-studded walls display exquisitely detailed flowers. On closer inspection, the lettering of the Holy Koran verses around the archways appears uniform. The spacing between the letters and density has been customized to give this uniform impression to the viewer.

The architectural design uses the principles of self-replicating geometry and represents symmetry in its architectural elements. The four graceful and slender 162.5 feet minarets are set symmetrically about the tomb and have been scaled down to highlight the dominant nature of the main dome. 58 feet in diameter and about 213 feet high, the central dome is surrounded by four other domed chambers.
The unique Mogul style architecture thus combines elements & styles of Persian, Central Asian, and Islamic architecture. Most striking are the black and white chessboard marble floor, the four tall minarets (40 m high) at the corners of the structure, and the majestic grand dome in the middle.

The Taj Mahal Gardens
The large garden with its four reflecting pools is divided at the center. Like the Taj, the garden elements serve like Arabesque, standing on their own and also constituting the whole. Thus, each of the four garden sections is further subdivided into four other sections which further re divides it self into fours.

The Persian green carpet covers the main gateway to the foot of the Taj Mahal. In its gardens, landscape artists at the Taj once again make an effort to interpret the imaginary yet holy Paradise. In its quadrate garden plan, the artists have followed the formulae of four, the holiest of all numbers in Islam. The mausoleum can be viewed clearly and without any obstruction from any point in the gardens. Two marble canals studded with fountains and lined with cypress trees, symbolizing death cross the centre of the garden dividing it into four equal squares. Raised stone–paved pathways divide each of the four quarters of the garden into 16 flower beds. A raised marble lotus tank which reflects the Taj in its waters stands at the centre of the garden.

The Taj Mahal Water Features
Water for the Taj was obtained through underground pipes by a series of purs (a system in which water was drawn manually from a water body using a rope and a bucket). The tank was raised by a series of thirteen purs worked by bullocks. A copper pot provided under each fountain pipe was connected to the main water supply tank. Water first filled the pot and then rose simultaneously in the fountains. It was this pressure in the pots that controlled the fountains. With the pressure in the pots uniformly distributed, water was supplied equally and at the same rate in all the fountains.

This eight wonder of the world is beyond any kind of rational description. Visitors experience the Taj as if suspended when viewed from across the Yamuna river. The beauty of the monument is understood to have varying aura at dawn, dusk, twilight or on a full moon night. The shades of the Taj Mahal can be described as pure white silver that shimmers in the soft moonlight, exudes a shell-pink glow at dawn, and at the close of the day, takes on the tawny, fiery hue of the majestic sun. With the passing hues of the day, Mumtaz Mahal’s tomb is so delicately ethereal that it threatens to disappear during Agra’s white-heat afternoons.

Visiting the Taj

There is no time limit on visits to the Taj Mahal. Visitors can spend most of the day sitting, reading, dozing or picnicking in the beautifully kept gardens. Official guides are not available on site but is usually provided by hotels. It is advisable to bring in the right amount of money as ticket booth attendants often have no change and tend to pocket the difference.

The Taj Mahotsav

Agra bursts into colorful celebrations for ten days during this annual event which starts around the 18th of February till 27th February at Shilpgram. Organized by the Uttar Pradesh Tourism Department, there is sheer celebration bringing together the rich heritage of arts, crafts, culture, cuisine, dance and music. Shilpgram is next door to the Taj and the Mahotsav, a carnival is a fitting tribute to the legendary skills of master craftsmen and exponents of art, music and cuisine. The festivities begin with a grand parade. The grandeur of the Mughal period is replicated in a procession of bedecked elephants and camels, drum beaters, folk artists and master craftsmen. The Festival also introduces fine crafts like wood carvings, brass and other metal ware, handmade carpets, etc.

Traveller feedback for Taj Mahal Agra India

Review for Taj Mahal Agra India ... on Jan 29, 2008 it was a excellentay place to visit u can have a say so much fun a say ... more

great site ... on Mar 03, 2007 easy to read, good info ... more

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