Taj Mahal

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The Taj Mahal.

The Taj Mahal (Hindi: , Persian, Urdu: ), is a monument located in Agra in India, constructed between 1631 and 1654 by a workforce of 20,000. The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned its construction as a mausoleum for his favourite wife, Arjumand Bano Begum, who is better known as Mumtaz Mahal.

The Taj Mahal (sometimes called "the Taj") is generally considered the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements of Islamic architectureBrend, Barbara. Islamic Art. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1991., Indian, Persian architecture and Turkish architectureMarvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture: from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. p223 Goodwin Godfrey, A history of Ottoman Architecture. The Taj Mahal has achieved special note because of the romance of its inspiration. While the white domed marble mausoleum is the most familiar part of the monument, the Taj Mahal is actually an integrated complex of structures.

Origin and inspiration

Location of the Taj Mahal within India

Shah Jahan, who commissioned the monument, was a prolific patron with effectively limitless resources. He had previously created the gardens and palaces of Shalimar in honour of his wife, Mumtaz. After her death in childbirth (she had already borne him fourteen children) Shah Jahan was reportedly inconsolable, and soon after he began construction of the Taj Mahal. His lavish aesthetic and romantic nature is apparent in every aspect of the Taj Mahal. Visiting Agra in 1663, the French traveller François Bernier gave the following description of the Taj Mahal and Shah Jahan's motive for building it:

Influences on Taj Mahal design

The overall design derived inspiration from a number of successful Timurid and Mughal buildings: these include the Gur-e Amir, Humayun's Tomb, Itmad-Ud-Daulah's Tomb (sometimes called the Baby Taj), and his own Jama Masjid. Under Shah Jahan's patronage, Mughal building reached new levels of refinement:, previous Mughal building had primarily been constructed of red sandstone; Shah Jahan promoted the use of white marble inlaid with semi-precious stones.

Interior of masjid dome, showing inlaid geometric decoration

Hindu craftsmen, particularly sculptors and stonecutters, plied trade throughout Asia during this period, and their work was particularly prized by tomb builders. Whilst the rock-cut architecture which characterises much of this construction had little or no influence on the Taj Mahal, other Indian buildings such as the Man Singh palace in Gwalior were an inspiration for much Mughal palace architecture and the source for the chhatris which can be seen on the Taj Mahal.

Design elements

Design elements of the Taj Mahal.

Major design features of the tomb are echoed throughout the complex -- both the tomb and the outlying buildings.

• Finial: decorative crowning element of the Taj Mahal domes
• Lotus decoration: depiction of lotus flower sculpted on tops of domes
• Onion dome: massive outer dome of the tomb (also called an amrud or apple dome)
• Drum: cylindrical base of the onion dome, raising it from the main building
• Guldasta: decorative spire attached to the edge of supporting walls
• Chattri: a domed and columned kiosk
• Spandrel: upper panels of an archway
• Calligraphy: stylised writing of verses from the Qu'ran framing main arches
• Arch: also called pishtaq (Persian word for portal projecting from the facade of a building) and
• Dado: decorative sculpted panels lining lower walls

The garden

Each of the four quarters of the garden is divided into 16 flowerbeds by raised pathways. A raised marble water tank at the centre of the garden, halfway between the tomb and the gateway, reflects the Taj Mahal.

Early accounts of the garden describe its profusion of vegetation, including roses, daffodils, and fruit trees in abundance. As the Mughal Empire declined, the tending of the garden declined as well. When the British took over management of the Taj Mahal, they changed the landscaping to resemble more the formal lawns of London.

Outlying buildings

Gateway to the Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal complex is bounded by a crenellated red sandstone wall on three sides. The river-facing side is unwalled. Outside the wall are several additional mausoleums, including those of many of Shah Jahan's other wives, and a larger tomb for Mumtaz's favourite servant. These structures, composed primarily of red sandstone, are typical of smaller Mughal tombs of the era.

On the inner (garden) side, the wall is fronted by columned arcades, a feature typical of Hindu temples later incorporated into Mughal mosques. The wall is interspersed with domed kiosks (chattris), and small buildings which may have been viewing areas or watch towers (such as the so-called Music House, now used as a museum).

The main gateway (darwaza) is a monumental structure built primarily of red sandstone. The style is reminiscent of that of Mughal architecture of earlier emperors. Its archways mirror the shape of the tomb's archways, and its pishtaq arches incorporate the calligraphy that decorates the tomb. It utilises bas-relief and pietra dura (inlaid) decorations with floral motifs. The vaulted ceilings and walls have elaborate geometric designs, like those found in the other sandstone buildings of the complex.

Interior of jawab

At the far end of the complex, two grand red sandstone buildings open to the sides of the tomb. Their backs parallel the western and eastern walls.

Taj Mahal mosque or masjid

The two buildings are precise mirror images of each other. The western building is a mosque; its opposite is the jawab or "answer", whose primary purpose was architectural balance (and which may have been used as a guesthouse during Mughal times). The distinctions are that the jawab lacks a mihrab, a niche in a mosque's wall facing Mecca, and the floors of the jawab have a geometric design, while the mosque floor was laid out the outlines of 569 prayer rugs in black marble.

The mosque's basic design is similar to others built by Shah Jahan, particularly to his Jama Masjid in Delhi: a long hall surmounted by three domes. Mughal mosques of this period divide the sanctuary hall into three areas: a main sanctuary with slightly smaller sanctuaries to either side. At the Taj Mahal, each sanctuary opens on to an enormous vaulting dome.

The tomb

Base

Simplified diagram of the Taj Mahal floor plan.

Main arch and side pishtaqs

The focus of the Taj Mahal is the white marble tomb. Like most Mughal tombs, the basic elements are Persian in origin: a building with arched entrances, topped by a large dome. In India, and most especially at the Taj Mahal, this simple idea reached its zenith.

The tomb stands on a square plinth. The base structure is a large, multi-chambered structure. The main chamber houses the cenotaphs of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz (the actual graves are a level below).

The base is essentially a cube with chamfered edges, roughly 55 metres on each side (see floor plan, right). On the long sides, a massive pishtaq, or vaulted archway frames an arch-shaped doorway, with a similar arch-shaped balcony above. These main arches extend above the roof the building by use of an integrated facade.

Dome

Base, dome, and minaret

The marble dome that surmounts the tomb is its most spectacular feature. Its height is about the same size as the base building, about 35 m. Its height is accentuated because it sits on a cylindrical "drum" about 7 m high.

Because of its shape, the dome is often called an onion dome (also called an amrud or apple dome). The top of the dome is decorated with a lotus design, which serves to accentuate its height. The dome is topped by a gilded finial, which mixes traditional Islamic and Hindu decorative elements.

Finial

The dome shape is emphasised by four smaller domed chattris (kiosks) placed at its corners. The chattri domes replicate the onion shape of main dome. Their columned bases open through the roof of the tomb, and provide light to the interior. The chattris also are topped by gilded finials.

Finial

Similarly, the spire is made up of a number of bulbous forms. The central form bears a striking resemblance to a Hindu sacred water vessel (kalash or kumbh).

Minarets

The towers are designed as working minarets, a traditional element of mosques, a place for a muezzin to call the Islamic faithful to prayer. Each minaret is effectively divided into three equal parts by two working balconies that ring the tower. At the top of the tower is a final balcony surmounted by a chattri that mirrors the design of those on the tomb.

The minaret chattris share the same finishing touches: a lotus design topped by a gilded finial. Each of the minarets was constructed slightly out of plumb to the outside of the plinth, so that in the event of collapse (a typical occurrence with many such tall constructions of the period) the material would tend to fall away from the tomb.

Decoration

Exterior decoration

Calligraphy on large pishtaq

Nearly every surface of the entire complex has been decorated. The exterior decorations of the Taj Mahal are among the finest to be found in Mughal architecture of any period.

Once again, decoration motifs are repeated throughout the complex. As the surface area changes -- a large pishtaq has more area than a smaller -- the decorations are refined proportionally.

The decorative elements come in basically three categories:

:* Calligraphy

:* Abstract geometric elements

:* Vegetative motifs

The decorative elements were created in three ways:

:* Paint or stucco applied to the wall surface

:* Stone inlay

:* Carvings

Calligraphy

Herringbone

Throughout the complex passages from the Qur'an are used as decorative elements. The calligraphy is a florid and practically illegible thuluth script, created by the Mughal court's Persian calligrapher, Amanat Khan, who was resident at the Mughal court. He has signed several of the panels.

The calligraphy is made by jasper inlaid in white marble panels. Some of the work is extremely detailed and delicate (especially that found on the marble cenotaphs in the tomb). Higher panels are written slightly larger to reduce the skewing effect when viewed from below.

Recent scholarship suggests that Amanat Khan chose the passages as well. The texts refer to themes of judgment: of doom for nonbelievers, and the promise of Paradise for the faithful. The passages include: Surah 91 (The Sun), Surah 112 (The Purity of Faith), Surah 89 (Daybreak), Surah 93 (Morning Light), Surah 95 (The Fig), Surah 94 (The Solace), Surah 36 (Ya Sin), Surah 81 (The Folding Up), Surah 82 (The Cleaving Asunder), Surah 84 (The Rending Asunder), Surah 98 (The Evidence), Surah 67 (Dominion), Surah 48 (Victory), Surah 77 (Those Sent Forth) and Surah 39 (The Crowds).

Abstract geometric decoration

Incised painting

Abstract forms are used especially in the plinth, minarets, gateway, mosque, and jawab, and to a lesser extent on the surfaces of the tomb. The domes and vaults of the sandstone buildings are worked with tracery of incised painting to create elaborate geometric forms. (The incised painting technique is to scratch a channel in the stone, and to then lay a thick paint or stucco plaster across the surface. The paint is then scraped off the surface of the stone, leaving paint in the incision.)

On most joining areas, herringbone inlays define the space between adjoining elements. White inlays are used in the sandstone buildings, dark or black inlays on the white marble of the tomb and minarets. Mortared areas of the marble buildings have been stained or painted dark, creating geometric patterns of considerable complexity.

Floors and walkways throughout use contrasting tiles or blocks in tessellation patterns.

Vegetative motifs

The lower walls of the tomb are white marble dados that have been sculpted with realistic bas relief depictions of flowers and vines. The marble has been polished to emphasise the exquisite detailing of these carvings. The dado frames and archway spandrels have been decorated with pietra dura inlays of highly stylised, almost geometric vines, flowers and fruits. The inlay stones are yellow marble, jasper and jade, levelled and polished to the surface of the walls.

Spandrel detail

Interior decoration

Screen surrounding cenotaphs

Here the inlay work is not pietra dura, but lapidary. The inlay material is not marble or jade but precious and semiprecious gemstones. Every decorative element of the tomb's exterior has been redefined with jeweler's art.

The inner chamber

The inner chamber is an octagon. While the design allows for entry from each face, only the south (garden facing) door is used.

The interior walls are about 25 m high, topped by a "false" interior dome decorated with a sun motif.

Eight pishtaq arches define the space at ground level. As is typical with the exterior, each lower pishtaq is crowned by a second pishtaq about midway up the wall. The four central upper arches form balconies or viewing areas; each balcony's exterior window has an intricate screen or jali cut from marble.

In addition to the light from the balcony screens, light enters through roof openings covered by the chattris at the corners of the exterior dome.

Each of the chamber walls has been highly decorated with dado bas relief, intricate lapidary inlay and refined calligraphy panels, reflecting in miniature detail the design elements seen throughout the exterior of the complex.

The jali

The cenotaphs

Cenotaphs, interior of the Taj Mahal

Muslim tradition forbids elaborate decoration of graves, so the bodies of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan are laid in a relatively plain chamber beneath the inner chamber of the Taj Mahal. They are buried on a north-south axis, with faces turned right (west) toward Mecca.

The Taj Mahal has been raised over their cenotaphs (from Greek keno taphas, empty tomb). The cenotaphs mirror precisely the placement of the two graves, and are exact duplicates of the grave stones in the basement below.

Mumtaz's cenotaph is placed at the precise centre of the inner chamber. On a rectangular marble base about 1.5 by 2.5 m is a smaller marble casket. Both base and casket are elaborately inlaid with precious and semiprecious gems. Calligraphic inscriptions on the casket identify and praise Mumtaz. On the lid of the casket is a raised rectangular lozenge meant to suggest a writing tablet.

Shah Jahan's cenotaph is beside Mumtaz's to the western side. It is the only asymmetric element in the entire complex. His cenotaph is bigger than his wife's, but reflects the same elements: A larger casket on slightly taller base, again decorated with astonishing precision with lapidary and calligraphy which identifies Shah Jahan. On the lid of this casket is a sculpture of a small pen box. (The pen box and writing tablet were traditional Mughal funerary icons decorating men's and women's caskets respectively.)

Details of lapidary

Construction

View from the Agra Fort.

In the tomb area, wells were then dug down to the point that water was encountered. These wells were later filled with stone and rubble, forming the basis for the footings of the tomb. An additional well was built to same depth nearby to provide a visual method to track water level changes over time.

Instead of lashed bamboo, the typical scaffolding method, workmen constructed a colossal brick scaffold that mirrored the inner and outer surfaces of the tomb. The scaffold was so enormous that foremen estimated it would take years to dismantle. According to legend, Shah Jahan decreed that anyone could keep bricks taken from the scaffold, and it was dismantled by peasants overnight.

A fifteen-kilometre tamped-earth ramp was built to transport marble and materials from Agra to the construction site. According to contemporary accounts teams of twenty or thirty oxen strained to pull the blocks on specially constructed wagons.

To raise the blocks into position required an elaborate post-and-beam pulley system. Teams of mules and oxen provided the lifting power.

The order of construction was

• The plinth
• The tomb
• The four minarets
• The mosque and jawab
• The gateway

Water infrastructure

From this distribution tank, water passed into three subsidiary tanks, from which it was piped to the complex. A 0.25 m earthenware pipe lies about 1.5 m below the surface, in line with the main walkway; this filled the main pools of the complex. Additional copper pipes supplied the fountains in the north-south canal. Subsidiary channels were dug to irrigate the entire garden.

The fountain pipes were not connected directly to the feed pipes. Instead, a copper pot was provided under each fountain pipe: water filled the pots allowing equal pressure in each fountain.

The purs no longer remain, but the other parts of the infrastructure have survived.

Craftsmen

The names of many of the builders who participated in the construction of the Taj Mahal in different capacities have come down to us through various sources.

Ustad Isa and Isa Muhammad Effendi trained by the great Ottoman architect Koca Mimar Sinan Agha had a key role in the architectural design of the complex.William J. Hennessey, Ph.D., Director, Univ. of Michigan Museum of Art.IBM 1999 WORLD BOOK Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture: from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. p223

'Puru' from Benarus, Persia (Iran), has been mentioned as the supervising architect in Persian language texts (e.g. see ISBN 964-7483-39-2).

The main dome was designed by Ismail Khan from the Ottoman Empire[Who designed the Taj Mahal], considered to be the premier designer of hemispheres and builder of domes of that age.

Qazim Khan, a native of Lahore, cast the solid gold finial that crowned the Turkish master's dome.

Chiranjilal, a lapidary from Delhi, was chosen as the chief sculptor and mosaicist.

Amanat Khan from Persian Shiraz, Iran was the chief calligrapher (this fact is attested on the Taj Mahal gateway itself, where his name has been inscribed at the end of the inscription).

Muhammad Hanif was the supervisor of masons.

Mir Abdul Karim and Mukkarimat Khan of Shiraz, Iran handled finances and the management of daily production.

The creative team included sculptors from Bukhara, calligraphers from Syria and Persia, inlayers from southern India, stonecutters from Baluchistan, a specialist in building turrets, another who carved only marble flowers — thirty seven men in all formed the creative nucleus. To this core was added a labour force of twenty thousand workers recruited from across northern India.

European commentators, particularly during the early period of the British Raj, suggested that some or all of the Taj Mahal was the work of European artisans. Most of these suggestions were purely speculative, but one dates back to 1640, when a Spanish Friar who visited Agra wrote that Geronimo Veroneo, an Italian adventurer in Shah Jahan's court, was primarily responsible for the design. There is no reliable scholarly evidence to back up this assertion, nor is Veroneo's name mentioned in any surviving documents relating to the construction. E.B. Havell, the principal British scholar of Indian art in the later Raj, dismissed this theory as unsupported by any evidence, and as inconsistent with the known methods employed by the designers.

Materials

Costs

History

Protective wartime scaffolding

Its most recent threats came from environmental pollution on the banks of the Yamuna River including acid rain occurring due to the Mathura oil refinery (something opposed by Supreme Court of India directives). As of 1983 the Taj Mahal was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today it is a major tourist destination. Recently the Taj Mahal was claimed to be Sunni Wakf property, on the grounds that it is the grave of a woman whose husband Emperor Shah Jahan was a Sunni. The Indian government have dismissed claims by the Muslim trust to administer the property, saying their claims are baseless and the Taj Mahal is Indian national property.

The Taj Mahal is often described as one of the seven wonders of the modern world. Millions of tourists have visited the site - more than three million in 2004, according to the BBC - making it one of the most popular international attractions in India.

Legends and theories

Origins of the name

The \"Black Taj\"

Recent scholarship disputes this theory, and throws some interesting light on the design of the Taj Mahal. All other major Mughal tombs were sited in gardens that form a cross, with the tomb at the intersection of the vertical and horizontal pieces. The Taj Mahal gardens, by contrast, form a great 'T', with the tomb at the centre of the crosspiece. But the outline of the ruins on the other river bank would extend the design of the Taj Mahal gardens to form a cross of proportions typical of other Mughal tombs. Further, the marble in the ruins opposite the Taj Mahal, while dark from staining, were originally white. In addition, an octagonal pool in these ruins would have reflected the Taj Mahal. Scholars have called these ruins the Mahtab Bagh or "Moonlight Garden".

Shah Jahan's asymmetric tomb

Note that Shah Jehan's cenotaph is offset from center, as it was added after his death.

Mutilation of the craftsmen

Stolen items

• Gold leaf, supposed to have covered all or part of the dome.
• A golden railing supposed to have circled the cenotaphs (suggested perhaps by a temporary enamel railing that was replaced after completion of the marble jali)
• Diamonds supposedly inlaid in the cenotaphs
• A blanket woven of pearls supposedly covering Mumtaz's cenotaph

• An entrance door of carved jasper
• Gold leaf that adorned the cast iron joints of the jali screen around the cenotaphs
• Numerous rich carpets that covered the interior of the tomb
• Enamelled lamps from the interior of the tomb

British plan to demolish the Taj Mahal

Was the Taj Mahal originally a temple or a palace?

Oak also claims that the tombs of Humayun, Akbar and Itmiad-u-Dallah — as well as the Vatican in Rome[Cities And Regions Since], the Kaaba in Mecca, Stonehenge and "all historic buildings" in India — were also Hindu temples or palaces.

The Taj is only a typical illustration of how all historic buildings and townships from Kashmir to Cape Comorin though of Hindu origin have been ascribed to this or that Muslim ruler or courtier.[The Tajmahal is Tejomahalay—A Hindu Temple]

He further says that if Taj Mahal was not a Shiva temple, that it might then have been the palace of a Rajput king. In any case (he says), the Taj Mahal was Hindu in origin, stolen by Shah Jahan and adapted as a tomb — although Oak also claims that Mumtaz is not buried there.

Oak further states that the numerous eyewitness accounts of Taj Mahal construction, and Shah Jahan's construction orders and voluminous financial records, are elaborate frauds meant to hide its Hindu origin.

His many provocative assertions have gained a lot of popular interest and made Oak a well-known media figure.

He has sued to break open the cenotaphs, and to tear down brick walls in the lower plinth: In these "fake tombs" and "sealed apartments", Oak says Shivalingams or other temple items were hidden by Shah Jahan.

According to Oak, the Indian government's refusal to allow him unfettered access amounts to a conspiracy against Hinduism.

Oak's assertions are not accepted by legitimate scholars. But these stories are widely believed and publicized by some contemporary Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) activists.

In 2000 India's Supreme Court dismissed Oak's petition to declare that a Hindu king built the Taj Mahal and reprimanded him for bringing the action.[Supreme Court Dismisses Oak's Petition] In 2005 a similar petition was dismissed by the Allahabad High Court. This case was brought by Amar Nath Mishra, a social worker and preacher who claims that the Taj Mahal was built by the Hindu King Parmar Dev in 1196.[HC dismisses PIL on Taj]

More information about alternate theories of origin

• The Question of the Taj Mahal by Bhat, P.S.; Athawale, A.L. (1985). Itihas Patrika, vol.5.[Taj Mahal]
• [[Taj Mahal: The True Story]] by P.N. Oak ISBN 0-9611614-4-2
• Was the Taj Mahal a Vedic Temple? The Photographic Evidence! Stephen Knapp.[The True Story of the Taj Mahal]
• "An Architect Looks at the Taj Mahal Legend" by Marvin Mills.[An Architect Looks At The Legend]
• The Letter of Aurangzeb ordering repairs to the Taj Mahal in the year just before it is said to have been completed.[Letters of Aurangzeb]
• The Badshahnama is the history written by the Emperor's own chronicler. Knapp argues that this proves that Shah Jahan had acquired the Taj Mahal from the previous owner, Jai Singh, grandson of Raja Mansingh, after selecting this site for the burial of Queen Mumtaz.[The Badshahnama]Note - the text at this url is so blurred as to be illegible

See also

• Persian architecture
• Humayun's Tomb
• Agra Fort
• Fatehpur Sikri
• Bibi Ka Maqbara

References

World Heritage Sites in India