One of the Seven Wonders of the World, this amazing piece of architecture was not built to be lived in. It's a Tomb...a very large, beautiful, magnificent, expensive Tomb built by Shah Jahan for his favorite wife. She died while giving birth to their 14th child. Construction was started shortly after her death and took 20,000 people 22 years to complete. When it was built in 1648 it cost a whopping 320 lakhs (or 32 million rupees which is about $640,000). Absolutely AMAZING what could be done with less than a million dollars!
The Taj Mahal is on the banks of the Yamuna River. The complex is set around a large 300-meter square charbagh, a Mughal garden. The garden uses raised pathways that divide each of the four quarters of the garden into 16 sunken parterres or flowerbeds. A raised marble water tank at the center of the garden, halfway between the tomb and gateway, with a reflecting pool on North-South axis reflects the image of the Taj Mahal.
Elsewhere, the garden is laid out with avenues of trees and fountains. The raised marble water tank is called al Hawd al-Kawthar, in reference to "Tank of Abundance". The charbagh garden, a design inspired by Persian gardens, was introduced to India by the first Mughal emperor Babur. It symbolizes four flowing rivers of Paradise and reflects the gardens of Paradise derived from the Persian paridaeza, meaning 'walled garden'. In mystic Islamic texts of Mughal period, paradise is described as an ideal garden of abundance with four rivers flowing from a central spring or mountain, separating the garden into north, west, south and east.
Here's the back story:For Shahjahan and Mumtaz it was a love at first sight, when in the year 1607 when Prince Khurram/Shahjahan of the royal Mughal household was strolling down Meena Bazaar, along with the courtiers, he wedged a glance of a girl Arjumand/Mumtaz Mahal glancing at glass beads. But Shahjahan's stepmother Noorjehan wanted Shah Jahan to marry her daughter Ladli Begum from her first marriage. Shah Jahan had great conflict with Empress Noorjehan on this issue, but his revolution against his father Jahangir, in 1622, was fruitless.Shahjahan, however, ascended the throne on his father's death in 1627. At his juncture he married his dream girl at a time when Princes never married only for love. Other than Mumtaz, Shah Jahan had two wives and out of them Mumtaz was his true love. She gave birth to 14 out of his 16 children. Mumtaz Mahal obsessed immense supremacy authority and self-respect in her etiquette. Until her death, she was Shah Jahan's undividable mate and psychoanalyst.While breathing her last, Mumtaz Mahal took a promise from her beloved to build an structure in reminiscence of their love. This was the cause of work of a monument that still to draw millions of lovers even today.The monument environment eventually became Sha Jahan's prison as his son, Aurangzeb, detained the throne and caged his father for the last eight years of his life. Legend maintains that Shah Jahan spent his final years locked in the Agra Fort, gazing from the Jasmine Tower of his marble palace, down the Yamuna River to the Taj Mahal, the tomb of his dearly loved wife.When Shah Jahan was on his deathbed, his eyes was constantly glancing at Taj Mahal where lied his beloved. After his death, Shah Jahan was buried there beside his dead queen, Mumtaz Mahal. Their love never detached them in life, miseries and ultimately in bereavement. Taj Mahal tantamount with Mumtaz Mahal relics the everlasting gravestone for their never-ending care for each other.
Here are some Taj Mahal images that might not be as familiar:
From the rooftop
The Entrance Gate
Entry Way
Inside the Jawab
The Mosque Guest HouseBut wait! There's more!
And of course we are not complete without our photoshopped Taj from Worth 1000!
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