What is the history of the Taj Mahal?

Answer 1

Shah Jehan had no wife called Mumtaj Mahal, because it is not possible for any Persian princes ( the favourite queen of Shah Jehan to have a strange name Mumtaj Building ( Mhal is the sanskrit name for a building). Why on earth Shah Jehan who used to speak Persian would cut the name of his wife into half and add a Sanskrit name later?

The name of the most favourite queen of Shah Jehan was Arjumand Zamani. Taj Mhal was not built by Shah Jehan; it was there as a part of a huge palace of Jagat Singh, grandson of Man Singh, the commander in chief of Emperor Akbar, the grandson of Shah Jehan. Shah Jehan took over that palace to bury his queen ( not his second wife, as Shah Jehan had many wives and many more concubines in his harem). It is written in Badshanama, the Chronicle for the reign of Shah Jehan.

The building Taj Mahal used to be a temple of Shiva ( Tejendra is one of his name). The building is Octagonal, facing east, not West ( which should be if the building is Muslim). There are motifs inside Taj Mahal of Lotus flower, a very important flower for the Hindus but Muslims are not allowed to have any flower motifs in their buildings.

It is not a symbol of love either, as six other women of Shah Jehan are also buried in that place; and the verses are not love poems but verses from The Koran, which Shah Jahan has inscribed after he has taken that building from Jagat Singh.

Answer 2

Shah Jahan was an emperor of the Mughal Empire during a period of great prosperity. In 1631, his second wife Mumtaz Mahal died during the birth of their daughter Gauhara Begum, their fourteenth child.

Taj Mahal is situated on the right banks of the yamuna. The Taj Mahal is made of white marble, in the loving memory of the then empress of India - named Mumtaz Mahal, the grand daughter of Mirza Giyas beigh - who was later known as Itmad-Ud-Daula She was Persian by blood and was born on 6th April 1593A.D

Mumtaz Mahal expired on Tuesday 7th June 1631 & transferred the responsibility of Shah Jahan to Jahan Ara, their daughter after death of the lady of Taj , Shah Jahan abstained himself from all kinds of pleasures & functions . the natural remains of Mumtaz Mahal were given a temporary burial in the building at Zainbad , opposite to Burhanpur on the other side of river Tapti in the month of June 1631 .on 15th of June 1631 the emperor reached the grave and shed oceans of tears on the grave of his beloved wife.

The construction work of Taj started in Dec. 1631 & ended in 1648. But the french traveler Gean Baptists, claim to have witnessed the commencement and the completion of it took 22 years & some 20 thousand workers worked on it . it is said that the 22 domes on the main entrance gate represent 22 years spent in the construction of Taj.

Soon after the Taj Mahal's completion, Shah Jahan was deposed by his son Aurangzeb and put under house arrest at nearby Agra Fort. Upon Shah Jahan's death, Aurangzeb buried him in the mausoleum next to his wife. By the late 19th century, parts of the buildings had fallen badly into disrepair. During the time of the Indian rebellion of 1857, the Taj Mahal was defaced by British soldiers and government officials, who chiseled out precious stones and lapis lazuli from its walls. At the end of the 19th century, British viceroy Lord Curzon ordered a massive restoration project, which was completed in 1908. He also commissioned the large lamp in the interior chamber, modeled after one in a Cairo mosque. During this time the garden was remodeled with British-style lawns that are still in place today. In 1942, the government erected a scaffolding in anticipation of an air attack by German Luftwaffe and later by Japanese Air Force. During the India-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971, scaffoldings were again erected to mislead bomber pilots. More recent threats have come from environmental pollution on the banks of Yamuna River including acid rain due to the Mathura oil refinery, which was opposed by Supreme Court of India directives. The pollution has been turning the Taj Mahal yellow. To help control the pollution, the Indian government has set up the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ), a 10,400 square kilometer (4,015 square mile) area around the monument where strict emissions standards are in place. In 1983, the Taj Mahal was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Answer 3

For centuries, the Taj Mahal has inspired poets, painters and musicians to try and capture its elusive magic in word, colour and song. It is one of the most flawless architectural creations of the world. Since the 17th century, travellers have crossed continents to come and see this ultimate memorial to love, and few have been unmoved by its incomparable beauty. Taj Mahal stands in the city of Agra, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, on the banks of the Yamuna River. It was built in the memory of the beautiful Arjumand Bano Begum, who won the heart of a Mughal prince. She was married at 21 to Emperor Jahangir's third son Prince Khurram and stayed loyally by his side through good times and bad: in the luxurious royal palaces of Agra as well as the transient tents of war camps. In AD 1628, Khurram became king after a bloody battle of succession: he took the name Shahjahan or "King of the World" and showered his beloved begum with the highest titles. She became Mumtaz Mahal, the exalted of the palace and Mumtaz-ul-Zamani, the exalted of the Age. But Mumtaz Mahal was not destined to be queen for long. In 1631, Shahjahan went on an expedition to the south and, as always, Mumtaz Mahal accompanied him. But she died in childbirth at Burhanpur. She had borne Shahjahan fourteen children, of whom four sons and three daughters survived. When Mumtaz Mahal died, she was just 39 years old. Shahjahan was inconsolable and contemporary chronicles tell of the royal court mourning for two years. there was no music, no feasting, and no celebration of any kind. Epitome Of Love -Taj Mahal Shahjahan, who was a passionate builder, now decided to erect a memorial to his queen in pristine marble that the world would never forget. The site selected for the tomb was a garden by the Yamuna river, unshadowed by any other structure. The garden had been laid by Raja Man Singh of Amber and now belonged to his grndson, Raja Jai Singh. By a royal firman, Shahjahan gave Jai Singh four havelis in exchange for the garden. The site was also chosen because it was located on a bend in the river, and so could be seen from Shahjahan's personal palace in Agra Fort, further upstream. Construction Of The Mausoleum - Taj Mahal Work on the mausoleum began in 1633 and 20,000 workers laboured for 17 years to build it. The most skilled architects, inlay craftsmen, calligraphers, stone-carvers and masons came from all across Indian and lands as distant as Persia and Turkey. The master mason was from Baghdab, an expert in building the double dome from Persia, and an inlay specialist from Delhi. Yemen sent agates, the corals came from Arabia, the garnets from Bundelkhand, onyx and amethyst from Persia. Mumtaz Mahal's final resting-place was ornamented like a queen's jewel-box.