History of Taj Mahal

The origin of the name "Taj Mahal" is not clear. Court histories from Shah Jehan's reign only call it the rauza (tomb) of Mumtaz Mahal. It is generally believed that "Taj Mahal" (usually translated as either "Crown Palace" or "Crown of the Palace") is an abbreviated version of her name, Mumtaz Mahal. 

The construction of this marble masterpiece is credited to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan who erected this mausoleum in the memory of his beloved wife, Arjumand Bano Begum, popularly known as Mumtaz Mahal, who died in AH 1040 (AD 1630). Her 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 fairytale like marvel. 

The construction of Taj Mahal was started in AD 1631 and completed at the end of 1648 AD. For seventeen years, twenty thousand workmen are said to be 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. Amanat Khan Shirazi was the calligrapher of Taj Mahal, his name occurs at the end of an inscription on one of the gates of the Taj. Poet Ghyasuddin had designed the verses on the tombstone, while Ismail Khan Afridi of Turkey was the dome maker. Muhammad Hanif was the superintendent of Masons. The designer of Taj Mahal was Ustad Ahmad Lahauri. The material was brought in from all over India and central Asia and it took a fleet of 1000 elephants to transport it to the site. The central dome is 187 feet 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 and Cornelian 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 chief building material, the white marble was brought from the quarries of Makrana, in distt. Nagaur, Rajasthan.

Taj Mahal Architecture

The Taj Mahal (Crown Palace) is India's most famous structure, and, perhaps the most beautiful piece of architecture in the world. Photographs cannot truly capture the grandeur of this perfectly proportioned tomb of Mumtaz Mahal and its creator, Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal ruler. 

Mumtaz Mahal was the second, and favorite, wife of Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658). A Persian princess born as Arjuman Banu Begum, she was a significant influence in his life and in his policies. She died at age thirty-nine while giving birth to their fourteenth (some say thirteenth) child in 1631. The ruler went into deep mourning and much of his empire was compelled to do the same. 

Almost immediately there was announced a competition for plans to construct a tomb and shrine worthy of the ruler's beloved. Numerous legends surround the selection of the architect--some even implausibly suggesting that it was a westerner from Italy or France. But although a number of names have been proposed, the architect's name is unknown. It is clear that talent from many parts of the Muslim and western worlds came together in Agra to work on the mausoleum: engineers, carvers, artists, calligraphers, architects, craftsmen of all sorts, and a variety of common laborers. It is estimated that 20,000 people worked on the tomb from 1631 to 1648. Work continued in the adjoining areas until 1653. It should be noted that the Taj Mahal is a total package of tomb, mosque, gardens, gateways and fountains.

The Taj Mahal is set on a raised platform that is 6.6 meters (20 ft) high and covers an area of 93.9 sq. meters (313 sq ft). The corner minarets are 41.1 meters (137 ft) high. The main structure is 62 meters (186 ft) on each side. In contast to the gleaming white marble of the mausoleum, there is a pair of red sandstone buildings flanking the tomb to the west and to the east; the western building is a mosque, while the other, sometimes called the guest house or museum, was built to complete the symmetry of the scene. The water causeway and fountains beautifully join the gateway and the tomb in perfect symmetry. 

There are numerous significant and striking elements in the creation of this masterpiece both inside the taj mahal as well as outside. The marvelously graceful piedra dura (or stone inlay work) that Adorns many surfaces. This ncludes the three major elements of the Muslim decorative arts: the sayings from the Q'uran, geometrical shapes and a variety of plant forms and flowers, often repeated as borders. The marble and precious stone inlays are so skillfully fit together that one can hardly detect a seam, even with close examination. The calligraphy of sayings from the Q'uran on the mausoleum, are in a kind of trompe l'oeil style; the letters gradually increase in size as they go up the side of the structure, so that from the ground all letters appear perfectly uniform. Perhaps, however, the greatest impact is how all of its parts fit together so perfectly, making the entire complex much greater than the sum of its parts. 

In recent years, this great manument is fighting a strange battle - battle with increasing pollution of the area. Several measures have been taken and several projects are under operations to save the world's supreme architectural achievement.