TAJ MAHAL

              Taj Mahal also called "THE MOST EXTRAVAGANT MONUMENT TO LOVE" located in Agra in the state Uttar Pradesh, India. Now it is considered National symbol of India and one of the most well preserved architecturally beautiful tomb of the world. It also considered as one of the wonders of the world. It is not only a monument of love but purity of design and architectural perfection. It

is created by the Mugal Ruler Shajahan for the memories of his wife Mumthaz Mahal.

The Taj Mahal is a resting place for an Emperor’s Empress. In the year 1607 Prince Khurram, the eldest son of Emperor Jahangir went to the Meena Bazar a privete market attached to the Harem. He was drawn to the vendor, Arjumand Banu daughter of Ashraf Khan, who was hawking her silks and glass beads. The next day he boldly presented his case before his father but had to wait five years before Khurram was to marry his beloved. Meanwhile he was married to Quandari Begum a Persian princes for political reasons.       

The splendid love story begins in 1612, when a Persian princess Arjumand Bano married Shajahan, the fifth Mughal emperor. Arjumand Bano, who later became known as Mumthaz Mahal was the second wife of Shajahan, married in 1612. In her nineteen years of marriage she bore him fourteen children but seven of whom died in infancy. Mumthaz was a strong, charitable woman, she was a well known for her kindness and incredible beauty, and she became famous for her work with the poor and needy. Mumthaz took special interest in widows and orphans.

Mumthaz died in 1629, while giving birth to their fourteenth child. As Mumthaz Mahal lay dying, she asked two promises from the Emperor, first is that he should build the world’s most beautiful mausoleum over her grave and second that he should not marry and beget children on any other wife. After the death of his wife Shajahan locked himself in his room and refused food for eight days. Then Shahjahan decided to express his grief through his passion for architecture vowed to build the most beautiful tomb that ever existed.

The dead body of the queen was brought to Agra and buried in a garden on the banks of river Yamuna. A group of the finest architects was assembled to devise a plan for erecting the tomb. Eventually, Ustad Isa, a Persian architect, was called upon to design the structure. The master architect along with his pupil Ustad Ahmad began the construction of the edifice. The dome, however, was fashioned by Ismail Khan. The Taj Mahal was completed in 1653 after 22 years of construction. More than 20,000 artisans from France, Italy and Turkey were involved in completing ornate mausoleum. The total cost of construction came out to be approximately thirty two million Indian rupees.

The south face of the Tomb is the main entrance, the main gateway, to the interior and the gardens. Detached gateways were long a traditional feature of Muslim architecture. The main gateway is made of red sandstone, with hundred and fifty feet wide and nearly hundred feet high and consists of lofty central arch. Octagonal towers are attached to its corners which are surmounted by broad impressive open domed kiosks.

The most important feature of the gateway is a series of eleven attached chartist with marble cupolas, flanked by pinnacles above the central portal on the north and south sides. A heavy door at the base is made from eight different metals and studded with knobs. White marble has been used on this gateway interspersed for emphasis and also to minimise the too sober and too classical an appearance of red sandstone. Inside are countless rooms with hallways that wind and divide in such apparent abandon that they seem intentionally build to confuse. Within the archway of this majestic entrance, there is a large chamber with a vaulted roof. 

A green carpet of garden runs from main gateway to the foot of the Taj Mahal. In Islam, four is the holiest of all numbers. Most arrangements of the Taj Mahal are based on that number or its multiples and the gardens were laid out in the quadrate plan. Two marble canals studded with fountains and lined with cypress trees cross in the centre of the garden dividing in to four equal squares.         

The Taj Mahal was constructed of brick encased in white marble brought from Rajasthan. Hundreds of elephants were used to transport the marble alone. After the completion of Taj Mahal, when Emperor Shah Jahan viewed the Taj, he ordered his men to cut off the right hand of the master architect Ustad Isa, so the later may not be able to erect such a stately and imposing edifice again in his life.