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Taj Mahal

One of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, Taj Mahal, is one of the most photographed and visited monuments in the world. Situated on the bank of the River Yamuna in the city of Agra, Taj Mahal built by the fifth Mughal king, Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. Shah Jahan and Arjumad Bano Begum, daughter of Asaf Khan and niece of Noor Jahan, were childhood friends and their friendship matured into love and resulted in tying of the knots with each other. When Shah Jahan ascended the throne, he graced Arjumad Bano Begum with the title of Mumtaz Mahal with which she became famous.

The royal couple was so much engrossed in each other's love that Mumtaz Mahal accompanied her husband on all her war campaigns. Mumtaz Mahal died during the childbirth during one such campaign to Burhanpur. Her body was temporarily buried for six months at Zainabadi Garden in Burhanpur and was later shifted to Agra. On her deathbed, the queen extracted four promises from the king. The first promise was to build a marvelous mausoleum for her; the second was about his re-marriage; the third was to be kind to their children and fourth was that he would pay a visit to her mausoleum on her death anniversary. Although immensely in love with Mumtaz, Shah Jahan fulfilled only the first and the last promise.

After mourning for six months, Shah Jahan laid the foundation of the Taj Mahal at its present location in Agra. The land for the mausoleum was purchased from Raja Jai Singh. It was at the advise of Raja Jai Singh, the hard and non-porous white marble quarried from mines of Makarana in Rajasthan was used for the construction of the Taj. The construction of the Taj began in 1631 AD and with the hard labor of 20,000 workers for 22 years resulted in completion of the monument in 1653 AD.

Although Shah Jahan came up with the basic idea for the Taj Mahal, it was team of architects headed by chief architect Muhammad Isa Khan of Shiraz in Iran who turned the idea of the emperor into reality. The chief architect of the Taj Mahal was Muhammad Isa Khan, who was a native of Shiraz in Iran. Specialized and professional laborers, artisans and craftsmen like Calligraphers, Dome Designers, Garden Designers, Inlay Artists, and Masons. Stone Cutters and Sculptors were recruited from Shiraz, Kashmir, Bukhara, Constantinople and Samarkand to work on the Taj Mahal. The body of Mumtaz was buried at the place where later the guesthouse was built. The underground burial chamber along with the surrounding buildings was completed by the end of the first year. The body of Mumtaz Mahal was then ceremoniously buried into the tomb.

The Taj Mahal was built with the basic idea from Islamic theology of the concept of Paradise. It is a belief in Islam that paradise or heaven is place surrounded by landscaped garden of ornamental tree, orchards and flowering plants and drained by four rivers of water, milk, wine and honey. Shah Jahan borrowed this concept but made certain alterations in it. Instead of placing the tomb in the middle of the garden, he shifted it to the end with river Yamuna flowing at the back.

Taj Mahal rests over a huge platform with four tapering minarets guarding the tomb from the four corners. The central structure is an octagonal edifice comprising of one big central hall surrounded by four smaller halls. A bulbous double dome crowns the roof with four chhatris enclosing it. The dome of the Taj Mahal is symbolic of the 'Vault of the Heaven' and is topped a brass finial. The bodies of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan are placed in the basement while their cenotaphs are visible inside the octagonal chamber.

The Taj stands not only for love, romance and passion, it also represents beauty, grace, proportion and synchronization. Made entirely of white marble, with elegant inlay work of precious and semi-precious stones called pietra dura, Taj Mahal is epitome of purity. with delicate work of pietra dura. Taj Mahal was adorned with 43 different varieties of gems including Bloodstone, Corals, Garnet, Mother-of-Pearl, Onyx, Rare Shells, Sapphire and Topaz.

To enter the Taj Mahal, you have to pass through an equally grand arched gateway built of red sandstone and inspired by the Bulund Darwaza. The entrance gates have always had special importance in Islamic architecture as they are also built as beautiful as the main edifice because an entrance gate is a symbolic representation of the gateway to the Paradise.

The well-laid out gardens in front of the Taj Mahal enhances the beauty of the monuments manifold. It is called the Charbagh garden planning and has special significance in Islam. The marvelous water channels running across the garden divide the garden into four equal parts. Each of these gardens is further subdivided into 16 smaller gardens making them in total 64 small different gardens.

Two buildings on each of the sides flank the mausoleum. One is the mosque or the masjid and the other is the guesthouse or the mehmankhana. Both are exactly similar to each other in stylization and architecture. They were probably designed to provide symmetry to the entire complex.

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