THE TAJ MAHAL

 THE TAJ MAHAl

The word Taj Mahal means “crown of palaces” in Urdu. It is a mausoleum made of white marble stone. It is situated at Agra,Uttarpradesh, India. Mughal emperor Shah Jahan built this mausoleum on thebank of mighty Jamuna being grief stricken as Mumtaj Mahal, his third wife, died during the process of birth of their 14^th child in 1631.The child was named later Gauhara Begum.

The death of his most beloved wife inspired Sahajahan to do something remarkable as will make people remind Mumtaj Mahal in the days to come. The Taj Mahal is the very outcome of that thought made true in deed.

The construction of the Taj Mahal started in 1632 and the main construction was completed in 1648. Rest of the portion of its construction took another 5 years to come to a complete perfection. Twenty thousand laborers labored for 22 years under the supervision of Abdul-ul-Karim Mamur Khan, Makramal  Khan and Ustad Ahmed Lahuri. It is considered that Ustad Ahmed Lahuri was the chief designer of the Taj Mahal. The total cost of Taj Mahal has been estimated to be about 32 million Rupees at that time. It was unfortunate that Soon after completion of the Taj Mahal Shah Jahan was deposed by his son Aurangzeb and put under house arrest at nearby Agra Fort. Upon the death of Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb buried him in the mausoleum next to his wife Mumtaj.

Tombs of Saha Jahan and Mumtaj

 The traces of influence of Persian architecture is dominant in the very design of the Taj Mahal. Saha Jahan’s use of white marble was a better innovation as the earlier remarkable Mughal constructions were made of red sand stone.

A tomb centers all the construction which is octagonal in shape having approximately 55 meters (180ft) on each of the four long sides. The shape can be compared with one in the lotus design that tops the dome.

There are eight open arches which rest on a terrace of red sand stone. There are slender towers rising from the corners of the terrace. Four smaller domes surround the large dome at the centre of the building. There is an open corridor just inside the outer walls. Those who come to visit the Taj Mahal can see through marble screens into a central room which is above the two graves where the bodies of Saha Jahan and Mumtaj Mahal ,his wife, lie.

LOTUS DESIGN

A beautiful garden surrounds the Taj Mahal and a long pool stretches out in front of the building. The pool reflects the beautiful Taj Mahl in the water. The peeping of the sweet sun rays at dawn make the Taj Mahal assume a golden color rare in human creation. Words fail to capture the beauty of the the Taj Mahal at moonlit nights as well.

Two to four million visitors visit the Taj Mahal annually. Indian citizens pay lower entrance fee than the foreigners. Taj Ganj also known as Mumtazabad, a small town to the south of the Taj Mahal with bazaars (market) serves the need of the visitors here.

The campus is kept open from 6 am to 7 pm with the exception on Fridays. On Fridays the complex is kept open from 12 pm to 2 pm for prayer on the mosque here.On the previous and following two days on full moons the complex is kept open for visitors at night as the Taj Mahal assumes a superb look in the moon beam. Visitors are allowed to carry 5 things (transparent water bottles, video cameras, still cameras, small lady’s purse and cell phones for security reasons) during night time visit.

Taj Mahal at a moon-lit Night

The Taj Mahal has conquered geographical boundary and racial shortcomings with its spectacular aesthetic beauty and made open a field of cosmopolitan fraternity in diversity and it has been a rare instance of awe striking love from a husband for his wife.

Mumtaj as a wife has been glorified no doubt but the other two wives of Emperor Saha Jahan have remained almost unattended and uncared for. 

The Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1983.

Do Saha Jahan and Mumtaj share the sublimity of their conjugal love with the same gravity still today lying at the center of the Taj Mahal after the lapse of so many years in human history? Be whatever it may, we are indebted to Shah Jahan for the exquisite architectural edifice finished with unprecedented beauty that he dreamt of and made it  come true.After a lot of hardship of 20 thousand labourers for  long 22 years it came to a perfect completion for the generations to come..