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.
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