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In the year 1612, Prince Khurram (Shah Jahan's name) married a beautiful Persian princess Arjumand Bano. She proved to be his better half and never left her husband's side in any situation. She even followed him on his military expeditions and hunting journeys. She gave him so much love that Shah Jahan was motivated to lead life in a benevolent and compassionate way. He regularly donated money and other necessities to charities and made sure that people in his kingdom never had a complaint.
While accompanying Shah Jahan on one of his camps, Mumtaz Mahal breathed her last while giving birth to their 14th child. Shah Jahan was devastated and was so heart broken that he locked himself up in a room for two years. The whole court and empire went into mourning when Mumtaz Mahal died. It is said that when Shah Jahan finally emerged after two years of mourning, his hair had turned white. Shah Jahan was determined on building the most beautiful monument as a symbol of his undying love for his wife. Thus began the construction of the Taj Mahal.
A council of the finest architects from across continents was appointed to design the Taj Mahal. The chief architect for building the monument was a Persian by the name of Ustad Isa. He alongwith his devoted pupil, Ustad Ahmed started the construction of this monument. Though the credit of designing the monument goes to Ustad Isa, the dome was designed and decorated ornately by Ismail Khan. A workforce of around 20,000 craftsmen from across the country was employed and it took a period of around 22 years to build the monument. When the monument was finally built, the grave of Mumtaz Mahal was shifted to the grave chamber in the lower part of Taj Mahal.
India’s most emblematic monument, the Taj Mahal, is probably one of the best known structures in the world. Built in white marble by Emperor Shah Jahan, in memory of his wife Mumtaz after her death, the Taj Mahal is famous world over as the monument of love. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Taj Mahal is shrouded in myth and there have been many legends which have cropped up over the years. Here are interesting facts about this world famous monument:
Facts About the Taj Mahal
- The construction of the Taj Mahal began in 1632 and was completed in 1653. It took a total of twenty two years to complete the construction of this monument.
- The architecture of the Taj Mahal is a combination of Indian, Persian and Islamic styles of architecture.
- The name of the architect of the Taj Mahal is Ahmed Lahauri.
- The Taj Mahal was Shah Jahan’s imagination of Mumtaz’s home in paradise.
- Around 20,000 people worked day and night for twenty two years to complete construction of the Taj Mahal.
- The cost of construction of the Taj Mahal was around Rs.320 million.
- The Taj Mahal was constructed using the best quality marble from Rajasthan, Tibet, Afghanistan and China.
- At different times of the day the Taj Mahal appears to be in a different colour. Some believe that these changing colours depict the changing moods of a woman.
- The Taj Mahal is one of the wonders of the world and is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- There was a popular myth that Shah Jahan was planning to construct a black Taj Mahal across the Yamuna, this is not true.
- Another popular myth around the Taj Mahal is that after the construction of the Taj Mahal, Shah Jahan cut off the hands of all the workers so that such a structure could not be built again. Fortunately, this is not true.
- The Taj Mahal has a mosque in its premises, which is why the Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays and only those going for customary prayers are permitted inside the Taj Mahal.
- Shah Jahan approached the Taj Mahal on a boat which would sail down the River Yamuna which ran behind the Taj Mahal.
- By the late 19th century, the Taj Mahal had been defaced by the British soldiers who chiseled out precious stones from the walls of the monument. At the end of the 19th century, British Viceroy, Lord Curzon, ordered a restoration of the monument and also gifted a large lamp which hangs in the interior chambers of the Taj Mahal.
- In 2000, an Indian writer P.N. Oak claimed that the Taj Mahal was actually a ShivTemple and filed a petition with the Supreme Court of India to excavate the site of the Taj to look for proof. His petition was rejected by the Supreme Court.
- In 2001, the UNESCO documented more than two million visitors to the Taj Mahal.
- India’s’ Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, referred to the Taj Mahal as a “tear drop on the cheek of time”.
- Calligraphy on the tomb of Mumtaz identifies and praises her.
- The four minarets of the Taj Mahal have been constructed slightly outside of the plinth so that in case the minarets fell, they would fall away and not on the main structure.
- After his death, Shah Jahan was laid to rest in the Taj Mahal besides the tomb of his wife Mumtaz.
More about the Taj Mahal: Free artcam.
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Taj Mahal In History In Tamil
The construction of Taj Mahal is credited to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan who erected this mausoleum in memory of his beloved wife, Arjumarid Bano Begum; popularly known as Mumtaz Mahal, who died in A.H. 1040 (A.D. 1630).
Mumtaz Mahal last wish to her husband was 'to build a tomb in her memory such as the world had never seen before'. Thus emperor Shah Jahan set about building this fairy tale like marvel.
The construction of Taj Mahal was started in A.D. 1632 and completed at the ended in 1648 A.D. For seventeen years, twenty thousand workmen are said to have been employed on it daily, for their accommodation a small town, named after the deceased empress- 'Mumtazabad', now known as Taj Ganj, was built adjacent to it.
Taj Mahal calligrapher was Amanat Khan Shirazi, his name occurs at the end of an inscription on one of the gates of the Taj. Poet Ghiyasuddin had designed the verses on the tombstone, while Ismail Khan Afridi of Turkey was the dome maker. Muhammad Hanif was the superintendent of Masons.
Taj Mahal was designed by Ustad Ahmad Lahauri. The material was brought in from allover India and central Asia and it took a fleet of 1000 elephants to transport it to the site. The central dome is 187 ft. high at the centre.
Red sandstone was brought from Fatehpur Sikri, Jasper from Punjab, Jade and Crystal from China, Turquoise from Tibet, Lapis Lazuli and Sapphire from Sri Lanka, Coal & Comelian from Arabia and Diamonds from Panna. In all 28 kind of rare, semi precious and precious stones were used for inlay work in the Taj Mahal.
The white marble was brought from the quarries of Makrana, in distt. Nagaur, Rajasthan. Copies of orders (farmans) issued to Raja Jai Singh, for the purpose by Shah Jahan, can be seen in the Taj Museum.
Taj Mahal's outer court, also known as Jilo Khana, was formerly used both as a bazar and a caravansarai (Rest house). On the south-east and south-west comers are the tombs of Sirhindi Begum and Satiunnisa Khanum. The Taj has a jewel-like quality.
Some feel the Taj is best seen on a full moon night, others find it ethereal at dawn while some insist that it is sensuous at sunset.
The shadow and light play demonstrates its many moods.
One of the seven wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal inspires everyone with its magnificent proportions and appearance. One of the most intriguing myths surrounding this grand edifice is that of an unfinished second black Taj Mahal. According to this legend, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan planned to construct a replica of the Taj Mahal in black marble on the opposite side of the Yamuna River.
The Taj Mahal was built by Shah Jahan, in memory of his queen Arjumand Bano Begum or Mumtaz Mahal in 1631 AD, and finally completed by 1653 AD. This second Taj was to serve as the emperor’s mausoleum. The story goes that Shah Jahan even began the construction of this tomb, but left it incomplete after he was deposed and imprisoned by his son Aurangzeb in Agra Fort. It is said that he spent the last few years until his death as a prisoner, gazing at the Taj Mahal from a window in the Agra Fort. After his death in 1666 AD, Shah Jahan was buried in the same mausoleum with Mumtaz.
The story has its roots in French traveller Jean Baptiste Tavernier’s travelogue Les Six Voyages De Jean Baptiste Tavernier. Tavernier, who visited the Mughal capital Agra in 1640 and 1655 AD, wrote that Shah Jahan had started constructing his own tomb on the opposite side of the river but was stalled because of wars with his sons. Local legends also add that Shah Jahan intended to connect the two tombs with a bridge across the Yamuna River, possibly made of silver. In the 19th century, a British archaeologist called ACL Carlleyle wrongly identified a pond for the mythical marble twin.
Research has shown that Shah Jahan asked his architects to modify the Mahtab Bagh (Moonlight Garden) built by his great-grandfather emperor Babar, to incorporate it within the Taj Mahal complex. It is suggested that this was the site of the second Taj Mahal. It is also pointed out that while the Taj Mahal was built in perfect symmetry, Shah Jahan’s cenotaph appears to be an exception. It is irregularly positioned on the western side of the burial chamber, while Mumtaz Mahal’s cenotaph lies at the centre. It is also much larger in comparison to Mumtaz Mahal’s and almost seems to be an afterthought. So did Shah Jahan never intend to be buried along with his wife?
It might seem so at first but historians have dismissed the idea of a second Taj because, except Tavernier, there is no reference to it in the other contemporary accounts of the time. Archaeological excavations on the area have also not found any trace of the construction of such a building. While ruins of black marble were found in the Mahtab Bagh, further research led to the conclusion that they were white stones that had discoloured over the years.
Nonetheless, the story has inspired many artists to create sand replicas and miniature versions of the black Taj Mahal. Irrespective of whether Shah Jahan intended to build a black Taj Mahal or not, the image of two Taj Mahals facing each other on either side of the Yamuna River continues to fire the imaginations of many.