Taj Mahal: The Hidden Truth

Location

India, Uttar Pradesh, Agra - Coordinates: 27° 10' 0 N 78° 2' 60 E

 Image Source: Google Earth - Copyright Digital Globe

Introduction

The Taj Mahal (also "the Taj") is considered the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that
combines elements from Persian, Ottoman, Indian, and Islamic architectural styles.
In 1983, the Taj Mahal became a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was cited as "the jewel of Muslim
art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage."

In 1983, the Taj Mahal became a UNESCO World Heritage Site

While the white domed marble mausoleum is its most familiar component, the Taj Mahal is actually an
integrated complex of structures. Building began around 1632 and was completed around 1653, and
employed thousands of artisans and craftsmen. The Persian architect, Ustad Ahmad Lahauri is generally
considered to be the principal designer of the Taj Mahal.
 The mausoleum of the Taj Mahal.
Image Source

Construction

The Taj Mahal was built on a parcel of land to the south of the walled city of Agra. Shah Jahan presented
Maharajah Jai Singh with a large palace in the center of Agra in exchange for the land. An area of
roughly three acres was excavated, filled with dirt to reduce seepage and leveled at 50 meters above
riverbank. In the tomb area, wells were dug and filled with stone and rubble as the footings of the tomb.
Instead of lashed bamboo, workmen constructed a colossal brick scaffold that mirrored the tomb. The
scaffold was so enormous that foremen estimated it would take years to dismantle. According to the
legend, Shah Jahan decreed that anyone could keep the bricks taken from the scaffold, and thus it was
dismantled by peasants overnight. A fifteen kilometer tamped-earth ramp was built to transport marble
and materials to the construction site. Teams of twenty or thirty oxen were strained to pull blocks on
specially constructed wagons. An elaborate post-and-beam pulley system was used to raise the blocks
into desired position. Water was drawn from the river by a series of purs, an animal-powered rope and
bucket mechanism, into a large storage tank and raised to large distribution tank. It was passed into three
subsidiary tanks, from which it was piped to the complex.
 Ground layout of the Taj Mahal
Image Source

The plinth and tomb took roughly 12 years to complete. The remaining parts of the complex took an
additional 10 years and were completed in order of minarets, mosque and jawab and gateway. Since the
complex was built in stages, discrepancies exist in completion dates due to differing opinions on
"completion". For example, the mausoleum itself was essentially complete by 1643, but work continued
on the rest of the complex. Estimates of the cost of the construction of Taj Mahal vary due to difficulties
in estimating construction costs across time. The total cost of construction has been estimated to be about
32 million Rupees at that time which now runs into trillions of Dollars if converted to present currency
rates.

The Taj Mahal was constructed using materials from all over India and Asia. Over 1,000 elephants were
used to transport building materials during the construction. The translucent white marble was brought
from Rajasthan, the jasper from Punjab, jade and crystal from China. The turquoise was from Tibet and
the Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, while the sapphire came from Sri Lanka and the carnelian from
Arabia. In all, twenty eight types of precious and semi-precious stones were inlaid into the white marble.

A labour force of twenty thousand workers was recruited across northern India. Sculptors from Bukhara,
calligraphers from Syria and Persia, inlayers from southern India, stonecutters from Baluchistan, and a
specialist in building turrets, another who carved only marble flowers were part of the thirty-seven men
who formed the creative unit. Some of the builders involved in construction of Taj Mahal are:

• The main dome was designed by Ismail Afandi (a.ka. Ismail Khan), [23] of the Ottoman Empire
and was considered as a premier designer of hemispheres and domes.
• Ustad Isa of Persia (Iran) and Isa Muhammad Effendi of Persia (Iran), trained by Koca Mimar
Sinan Agha of Ottoman Empire, are frequently credited with a key role in the architectural design,
[24][25] but there is little evidence to support this claim.
• 'Puru' from Benarus, Persia (Iran) has been mentioned as a supervising architect.[26]
• Qazim Khan, a native of Lahore, cast the solid gold finial.
• Chiranjilal, a lapidary from Delhi, was chosen as the chief sculptor and mosaicist.
• Amanat Khan from Shiraz, Iran was the chief calligrapher. His name has been inscribed at the end
of the inscription on the Taj Mahal gateway.[27]
• Muhammad Hanif was a supervisor of masons and Mir Abdul Karim and Mukkarimat Khan of
Shiraz, Iran (Persia) handled finances and management of daily production.

The base of the Taj is a large, multi-chambered structure

Image Source

Myths
Ever since its construction, the building has been the source of an admiration transcending culture and
geography, and so personal and emotional responses to the building have consistently eclipsed scholastic
appraisals of the monument.

A longstanding myth holds that Shah Jahan planned a mausoleum to be built in black marble across the
Yamuna river. The idea originates from fanciful writings of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, a European traveller
who visited Agra in 1665. It was suggested that Shah Jahan was overthrown by his son Aurangzeb before
it could be built. Ruins of blackened marble across the river in Moonlight Garden, Mahtab Bagh, seemed
to support this legend. However, excavations carried out in the 1990s found that they were discolored
white stones that had turned black. A more credible theory for the origins of the black mausoleum was
demonstrated in 2006 by archeologists who reconstructed part of the pool in the Moonlight Garden. A
dark reflection of the white mausoleum could clearly be seen, befitting Shah Jahan's obsession with
symmetry and the positioning of the pool itself.

No evidence exists for claims that describe, often in horrific detail, the deaths, dismemberments and
mutilations which Shah Jahan supposedly inflicted on various architects and craftsmen associated with
the tomb. Some stories claim that those involved in construction signed contracts committing themselves
to have no part in any similar design. Similar claims are made for many famous buildings. No evidence
exists for claims that Lord William Bentinck, governor-general of India in the 1830s, supposedly planned
to demolish the Taj Mahal and auction off the marble. Bentinck's biographer John Rosselli says that the
story arose from Bentinck's fund-raising sale of discarded marble from Agra Fort.

In 2000, India's Supreme Court dismissed P.N. Oak's petition to declare that a Hindu king built the Taj
Mahal. Oak claimed that origins of the Taj, together with other historic structures in the country currently
ascribed to Muslim sultans pre-date Muslim occupation of India and thus, have a Hindu origin. A more
poetic story relates that once a year, during the rainy season, a single drop of water falls on the cenotaph,
as inspired by Rabindranath Tagore's description of the tomb as "one tear-drop...upon the cheek of time".
Another myth suggests that beating the silhouette of the finial will cause water to come forth. To this day,
officials find broken bangles surrounding the silhouette.
 Copyright by World-Mysteries.com

The Controversy Surrounding the Origins of the Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal, located near the Indian city of Agra, is one of the world's greatest architectural treasures.
The almost supernatural beauty of the Taj Mahal and its grounds transcends culture and history, and
speaks with a voice of its own to visitors from all over the world of feelings that are common to all
humanity.

There are two stories of how the Taj came to be.

The Taj's Love Story

It has been called the most beautiful temple in the world, despite the fact that it was built at the cost of
much human life. The Taj Mahal is a real monument of one man's love for a woman. The story is a sad
one, told many times. But it never hurts to tell it again.

In 1631, when his wife died in childbirth, the emperor Shah Jahan brought to Agra the most skilled
craftsmen from all Asia and even Europe, to build the white marble mausoleum that is the Taj Mahal. He
intended to build a black marble mausoleum for himself, and the link between the two was to be a silver
bridge. This fantastic plan suffered a dramatic and permanent setback when the Shah himself died.

Its stunning architectural beauty is beyond description, particularly at dawn and at sunset when it seems
to glow in the light. On a foggy morning, it looks as though the Taj is suspended in mid-air when viewed
from across the Jamuna river.

This is, of course, an illusion. The Taj stands on a raised square platform with its four corners truncated,
forming an unequal octagon. The architectural design uses the interlocking arabesque concept, in which
each element stands on its own and perfectly integrates with the main structure. It uses the principles of
self-replicating geometry and symmetry of architectural elements.

If you don't want the huge crowds to distract you from your view, try arriving just as it opens or is about
to close. A few minutes alone in the perpetually echoing inner sanctum will reward you far more than
several hours spent on a guided tour. Especially if your tour guide is Murbat Singh, who makes it his job
to find a new comic slant on the Taj story every time he tells it.

To really do the Taj Mahal justice, you should plan to spend at least a full day in the grounds, to see this
stunning piece of architecture at dawn, midday, and at dusk. The colours and atmosphere of the gardens
and the Taj itself constantly change throughout the day. Under moonlight the marble glows.

The Taj's Other Story

BBC reports:

If you have ever visited the Taj Mahal then your guide probably told you that it was designed by Ustad
Isa of Iran, and built by the Moghul Emperor, Shah Jahan, in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Indian
children are taught that it was built in 22 years (1631 to 1653) by 20,000 artisans brought to India from
all over the world.

This story has been challenged by Professor P.N. Oak, author of Taj Mahal: The True Story, who
believes that the whole world has been duped. He claims that the Taj Mahal is not Queen Mumtaz
Mahal's tomb, but an ancient Hindu temple palace of Lord Shiva (then known as Tejo Mahalaya),
worshipped by the Rajputs of Agra city.

In the course of his research, Oak discovered that the Shiva temple palace had been usurped by Shah
Jahan from then Maharaja of Jaipur, Jai Singh. Shah Jahan then remodelled the palace into his wife's
memorial. In his own court chronicle, Badshahnama, Shah Jahan admits that an exceptionally beautiful
grand mansion in Agra was taken from Jai Singh for Mumtaz's burial. The ex-Maharaja of Jaipur is said
to retain in his secret collection two orders from Shah Jahan for the surrender of the Taj building.

The use of captured temples and mansions as a burial place for dead courtiers and royalty was a common
practice among Muslim rulers. For example, Hamayun, Akbar, Etmud-ud-Daula and Safdarjung are all
buried in such mansions.

Oak's inquiries begin with the name Taj Mahal. He says this term does not occur in any Moghul court
papers or chronicles, even after Shah Jahan's time. The term 'Mahal' has never been used for a building in
any of the Muslim countries, from Afghanistan to Algeria.

'The usual explanation that the term Taj Mahal derives from Mumtaz Mahal is illogical in at least two
respects. Firstly, her name was never Mumtaz Mahal but Mumtaz-ul-Zamani,' he writes. 'Secondly, one
cannot omit the first three letters from a woman's name to derive the remainder as the name for the
building.'

Taj Mahal is, he claims, a corrupt version of Tejo-mahalaya, or the Shiva's Palace. Oak also says that the
love story of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan is a fairy tale created by court sycophants, blundering historians
and sloppy archaeologists. Not a single royal chronicle of Shah Jahan's time corroborates the love story.

Furthermore, Oak cites several documents suggesting that the Taj Mahal predates Shah Jahan's era:

1. Professor Marvin Miller of New York took samples from the riverside doorway of the Taj.
Carbon dating tests revealed that the door was 300 years older than Shah Jahan.
2. European traveller Johan Albert Mandelslo, who visited Agra in 1638 (only seven years after
Mumtaz's death), describes the life of the city in his memoirs, but makes no reference to the Taj
Mahal being built.
3. The writings of Peter Mundy, an English visitor to Agra within a year of Mumtaz's death, also
suggest that the Taj was a noteworthy building long well before Shah Jahan's time.

Oak also points out a number of design and architectural inconsistencies that support the belief that the
Taj Mahal is a typical Hindu temple rather than a mausoleum.

Many rooms in the Taj Mahal have remained sealed since Shah Jahan's time, and are still inaccessible to
the public. Oak asserts they contain a headless statue of Shiva and other objects commonly used for
worship rituals in Hindu temples.

Fearing political backlash, Indira Gandhi's government tried to have Oak's book withdrawn from the
bookstores, and threatened the Indian publisher of the first edition with dire consequences.

The only way to really validate or discredit Oak's research is to open the sealed rooms of the Taj Mahal,
and allow international experts to investigate.

Sources:

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A5220
• http://21centuryindia.blogspot.com/2007/02/taj-mahal-hidden-truth.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Mahal

Links

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Mahal
• http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/taj_mahal/tlevel_2/t3build_design.html
• http://gardenhistorygirl.blogspot.com/
• http://www.world-mysteries.com/mpl_satellite.htm
 • MYSTIC PLACES

Books and Video

http://www.ancientmysteries.eu/outofprintbooks.html

Taj Mahal
by Amina Okada (Author), Mohan C. Joshi (Author), Jean-Louis Nou (Photographer)

The photographs in the book are of a very high standard and have been taken when there is an absence of
visitors - a level the average sightseer can never achieve. The special lighting and techniques used for the
internal photography makes you feel as though you are actually there. Added to this there is a very informative
narrative on the history of and how the Taj Mahal was built. It is certainly a wonderful memento and is sure it
will whet the appetite of future visitors.
Color close-ups of semi-precious stones inlaid in white marble, intricate carvings, decorative patterns, and
calligraphy enchant the readers. These artistically taken pictures draw the reader's attention to detail that a
regular tourist may have easily missed during visit to the Taj. In fact these pictures are such fine quality and
detail as to distract the reader from the well-written text that accompanies them.
International explorer, archaeologist and author Jonathan Gray has traveled the world to gather data on
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Wonders of the World: Taj Mahal, history, construction and controversy