Hannah Reed

4/7/17

Period 7

Lakshmana Temple and the Taj Mahal

The fifth ruler of the Mughal dynasty, Shah Jahan, was deeply saddened about the death

of his favorite wife and started planning the construction of a suitable, permanent resting place

for his beloved wife almost immediately. The result of his efforts and resources was the creation

of what was called the Luminous Tomb in contemporary Mughal texts and is what the world

knows today as the Taj Mahal. Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal in Agra, where he took the throne

in 1628. Entry to the Taj Mahal complex via the forecourt, which in the sixteenth century housed

shops, and through a monumental gate of inlaid and highly decorated red sandstone made for a

first impression of grand splendor and symmetry: aligned along a long water channel through

this gate is the Tajset majestically on a raised platform on the north end. The marble structure

is topped by a bulbous dome and surrounded by four minarets of equal height. While minarets in

Islamic architecture are usually associated with mosquesfor use by the muezzin who leads the

call to prayerhere, they are not functional, but ornamental. The Tajs entire main structure is

constructed of white marble and the auxiliary buildings are composed of red sandstone. This

white-and-red color scheme of the built complex may correspond with principles laid down in

ancient Hindu textsin which white stood for purity and the priestly class, and red represented

the color of the warrior class.

The Lakshmana temple was the first of several temples built by the Chandella kings in

their newly-created capital of Khajuraho. Between the 10th and 13th centuries, the Chandellas
patronized artists, poets, and performers, and built irrigation systems, palaces, and numerous

temples out of sandstone. The original patron of the Lakshmana temple was a leader of the

Chandella clan, Yashovarman, who gained control over territories in the Bundelkhand region of

central India that was once part of the larger Pratihara Dynasty. Yashovarman sought to build a

temple to legitimize his rule over these territories, though he died before it was finished. His son

Dhanga completed the work and dedicated the temple in 954 C.E. It is dark, windowless, and

designed for intimate, individualized worship of the divine.