The iconic Taj Mahal is an ancient relic mausoleum which was commissioned to be built in 1631 by legendary Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the remains of his beloved wife.
Emperor Shah Jahan was madly in love with Mumtaz Mahal, his dear wife to the point of obsession.
She was a Muslim Persian princess (her name Arjumand Banu Begum before marriage).
Shah Jahan was also the son of the Mughal Emperor Jehangir and grandson of Akbar the Great.
Who was Akbar The Great?
Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar, more famously known as Akbar the Great, was the third emperor of the Mughal Empire, after Babur and Humayun.
He was the son of Nasiruddin Humayun and succeeded him as the emperor in the year 1556, at the tender age of just 13.
Succeeding his father Humayun at a critical stage, he slowly enlarged the extent of the Mughal Empire to include almost all of the Indian sub-continent.
He extended his power and influence over the entire country due to his military, political, cultural, and economic dominance.
He established a centralised system of administration and adopted a policy of marriage alliance and diplomacy.
With his religious policies, he won the support of his non-Muslim subjects as well.
He was one of the greatest emperors of the Mughal dynasty and extended his patronage to art and culture.
Being fond of literature, he extended support to literature in several languages.
Akbar, thus, laid the foundations for a multicultural empire during his reign.
Shah Jahan and The Taj Mahal
It was at the age of 14 that Shah Jahan met Mumtaz and fell in love with her.
5 years later in the year 1612, they got married.
Shah Jahan was the fifth ruler of the Mughal dynasty.
During his third regnal year, Mumtaz Mahal, his inseparable companion, died in 1631, while giving birth to their 14th child.
It was in the memory of his beloved wife, who was also his favourite among his 3 queens, that Shah Jahan built the magnificent monument as a tribute to her, which we today know as the “Taj Mahal” or “Crown Palace”.
When Mumtaz Mahal died at age 38 in 1631, the emperor is reported to have refused to engage in court festivities, postponed two of his sons’ weddings, and allegedly made frequent visits to his wife’s temporary resting place (in Burhanpur) during the time it took for the building of the Taj to be completed.
Stories like these have led to the Taj Mahal being referred to as an architectural “symbol of love” in popular literature.
But there are other theories: one suggests that the Taj is not a funeral monument, and that Shah Jahan might have built a similar structure even if his wife had not died.
Based on the metaphoric specificity of Qur’anic and other inscriptions and the emperor’s love of thrones, another theory maintains that the Taj Mahal is a symbolic representation of a Divine Throne—the seat of God—on the Day of Judgment.
A third view holds that the monument was built to represent a replica of a house of paradise.
In the “paradisiacal mansion” theory, the Taj was something of a vanity project, built to glorify Mughal rule and the emperor himself.
Constructed over a 22-year period on the southern bank of the Yamuna River in Agra, India, the famed Mughal architecture combines Indian, Persian and Islamic influences.
The Taj Mahal is built of shimmering white marble that seems to change color depending on the position of the sun!
Designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983, it remains one of the world’s most celebrated structures and a stunning symbol of India’s rich history.
The Taj Mahal is one of the Seven Wonders of the World
The construction of Taj Mahal started in the year 1631.
Masons, stonecutters, inlayers, carvers, painters, calligraphers, dome-builders and other artisans were requisitioned from the whole of the empire and also from Central Asia and Iran, and it took approximately 22 years to build what we see today.
An epitome of love, it made use of the services of 22,000 laborers and 1,000 elephants that helped in the labour work.
The monument was built entirely out of white marble, which was brought in from all over India and central Asia.
The white marble is composed of semi-precious stones (including jade, crystal, lapis lazuli, amethyst and turquoise) forming intricate designs in a technique known as pietra dura.
About 28 types of precious and semi-precious stones were used for adorning the Taj and they were sourced from Tibet, China, Sri Lanka and some parts of India.
Its central dome reaches a height of 240 feet (73 meters) and is surrounded by four smaller domes; four slender towers, or minarets, stood at the corners.
In accordance with the traditions of Islam, verses from the Quran were inscribed in calligraphy on the arched entrances to the mausoleum, in addition to numerous other sections of the complex.
Inside the mausoleum, an octagonal marble chamber adorned with carvings and semi-precious stones housed the cenotaph, or false tomb, of Mumtaz Mahal.
The real sarcophagus containing her actual remains lay below, at garden level.
The rest of the Taj Mahal complex included a main gateway of red sandstone and a square garden divided into quarters by long pools of water, as well as a red sandstone mosque and an identical building called a jawab (or “mirror”) directly across from the mosque.
The foundation of Taj Mahal would have collapsed if it wasn’t on the Yamuna Bank.
Yes, Taj’s foundation is made of timber which is not suppose to last long.
The wood must have weaken over the period of time but it is because of the Yamuna River that the wood is kept strong and moist till date.
Traditional Mughal building practice would allow no future alterations to be made to the complex.
After an expenditure of approximately 32 million rupees, Taj Mahal was finally completed in the year 1653.
The Taj Mahal was initially set to be built in Burhanpur (Madhya Pradesh) where Mumtaz died during the childbirth.
But unfortunately, Burhanpur couldn’t supply enough white marble and so the final decision was taken to build the Taj Mahal in Agra which has now become a popular domestic tourist attraction in Agra.
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:
The Taj was 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.
Who Exactly was Shah Jahan?
Shah Jahan was a member of the Mughal dynasty that ruled most of northern India from the early 16th to the mid 18th-century.
He was born as Prince Shihab-ud-din Muhammad Khurram in the Lahore, Pakistan in 1592.
His name Khurram, which means “joyful” in Persian, was given to him by his grandfather Akbar the Great.
Displaying great military skills at an early age against numerous enemies including Mewar, the Lodi in the Deccan, and Kangra, impressed his father so much that Shah Jahan received the title “Shah Jahan Bahadur” from him.
He wasn’t just a sharp military leader, but also had an exceptional talent for building and proved it by re-designing buildings within the Agra fort.
Among many titles he had earned, “The Builder of the Marvels” was one that was about to be proved the most deserving in the time to come.
After the death of his father, King Jahangir, in 1627, Shah Jahan emerged the victor of a bitter power struggle with his brothers, and crowned himself emperor at Agra in 1628.
The Taj Mahal has over 4-8 million visitors annually.
Sometimes there are over 40-50 thousand visitors on one single day to capture the iconic sight of this magnificent building.
The Taj appears pinkish in the morning, milky white in the evening and golden in the moonlight!
Over the period of time, the white marble of Taj seemed to be turning yellow due to air pollution.
So, only electric vehicles are allowed near the surrounding area in order to conserve its cultural heritage.
Tourists have to take a walk from the parking area to the Taj Mahal.
Also, it is forbidden for an aircraft to fly over the Taj Mahal (so it’s a no-fly zone).
