One of the seven wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal inspires everyone with its magnificent proportions and appearance. One of the most intriguing myths surrounding this grand edifice is that of an unfinished second black Taj Mahal. According to this legend, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan planned to construct a replica of the Taj Mahal in black marble on the opposite side of the Yamuna River.
The Taj Mahal was built by Shah Jahan, in memory of his queen Arjumand Bano Begum or Mumtaz Mahal in 1631 AD, and finally completed by 1653 AD. This second Taj was to serve as the emperor’s mausoleum. The story goes that Shah Jahan even began the construction of this tomb, but left it incomplete after he was deposed and imprisoned by his son Aurangzeb in Agra Fort. It is said that he spent the last few years until his death as a prisoner, gazing at the Taj Mahal from a window in the Agra Fort. After his death in 1666 AD, Shah Jahan was buried in the same mausoleum with Mumtaz.
The story has its roots in French traveller Jean Baptiste Tavernier’s travelogue Les Six Voyages De Jean Baptiste Tavernier. Tavernier, who visited the Mughal capital Agra in 1640 and 1655 AD, wrote that Shah Jahan had started constructing his own tomb on the opposite side of the river but was stalled because of wars with his sons. Local legends also add that Shah Jahan intended to connect the two tombs with a bridge across the Yamuna River, possibly made of silver. In the 19th century, a British archaeologist called ACL Carlleyle wrongly identified a pond for the mythical marble twin.
Research has shown that Shah Jahan asked his architects to modify the Mahtab Bagh (Moonlight Garden) built by his great-grandfather emperor Babar, to incorporate it within the Taj Mahal complex. It is suggested that this was the site of the second Taj Mahal. It is also pointed out that while the Taj Mahal was built in perfect symmetry, Shah Jahan’s cenotaph appears to be an exception. It is irregularly positioned on the western side of the burial chamber, while Mumtaz Mahal’s cenotaph lies at the centre. It is also much larger in comparison to Mumtaz Mahal’s and almost seems to be an afterthought. So did Shah Jahan never intend to be buried along with his wife?
It might seem so at first but historians have dismissed the idea of a second Taj because, except Tavernier, there is no reference to it in the other contemporary accounts of the time. Archaeological excavations on the area have also not found any trace of the construction of such a building. While ruins of black marble were found in the Mahtab Bagh, further research led to the conclusion that they were white stones that had discoloured over the years.
Nonetheless, the story has inspired many artists to create sand replicas and miniature versions of the black Taj Mahal. Irrespective of whether Shah Jahan intended to build a black Taj Mahal or not, the image of two Taj Mahals facing each other on either side of the Yamuna River continues to fire the imaginations of many.
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The Taj Mahal is an enormous mausoleum complex commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the remains of his beloved wife. Constructed over a 20-year period on the southern bank of the Yamuna River in Agra, India, the famed complex is one of the most outstanding examples of Mughal architecture, which combined Indian, Persian and Islamic influences. At its center is the Taj Mahal itself, built of shimmering white marble that seems to change color depending on the daylight. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983, it remains one of the world’s most celebrated structures and a stunning symbol of India’s rich history.
Shah Jahan
Shah Jahan was a member of the Mughal dynasty that ruled most of northern India from the early 16th to the mid 18th-century. After the death of his father, King Jahangir, in 1627, Shah Jahan emerged the victor of a bitter power struggle with his brothers, and crowned himself emperor at Agra in 1628.
At his side was Arjumand Banu Begum, better known as Mumtaz Mahal (“Chosen One of the Palace”), whom he married in 1612 and cherished as the favorite of his three queens.
In 1631, Mumtaz Mahal died after giving birth to the couple’s 14th child. The grieving Shah Jahan, known for commissioning a number of impressive structures throughout his reign, ordered the building of a magnificent mausoleum across the Yamuna River from his own royal palace at Agra.
Construction began around 1632 and would continue for the next two decades. The chief architect was probably Ustad Ahmad Lahouri, an Indian of Persian descent who would later be credited with designing the Red Fort at Delhi.
In all, more than 20,000 workers from India, Persia, Europe and the Ottoman Empire, along with some 1,000 elephants, were brought in to build the mausoleum complex.
Design and Construction of the Taj Mahal
Named the Taj Mahal in honor of Mumtaz Mahal, the mausoleum was constructed of white marble inlaid with semi-precious stones (including jade, crystal, lapis lazuli, amethyst and turquoise) forming intricate designs in a technique known as pietra dura.
Its central dome reaches a height of 240 feet (73 meters) and is surrounded by four smaller domes; four slender towers, or minarets, stood at the corners. In accordance with the traditions of Islam, verses from the Quran were inscribed in calligraphy on the arched entrances to the mausoleum, in addition to numerous other sections of the complex.
Inside the mausoleum, an octagonal marble chamber adorned with carvings and semi-precious stones housed the cenotaph, or false tomb, of Mumtaz Mahal. The real sarcophagus containing her actual remains lay below, at garden level.
History Of Taj Mahal History In English
The rest of the Taj Mahal complex included a main gateway of red sandstone and a square garden divided into quarters by long pools of water, as well as a red sandstone mosque and an identical building called a jawab (or “mirror”) directly across from the mosque. Traditional Mughal building practice would allow no future alterations to be made to the complex.
As the story goes, Shah Jahan intended to build a second grand mausoleum across the Yamuna River from the Taj Mahal, where his own remains would be buried when he died; the two structures were to have been connected by a bridge.
In fact, Aurangzeb (Shah Jahan’s third son with Mumtaz Mahal) deposed his ailing father in 1658 and took power himself. Shah Jahan lived out the last years of his life under house arrest in a tower of the Red Fort at Agra, with a view of the majestic resting place he had constructed for his wife; when he died in 1666, he was buried next to her. Xforce keygen 32 bits.
Did you know? According to one gruesome (and most likely sensational) story, Shah Jahan had his minions cut off the hands of the Taj Mahal's architect and his workers after the structure was completed, ensuring they would never build another of its kind.
Description Of Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal Over the Years
Taj Mahal History In English Video
Under Aurangzeb’s long rule (1658-1707), the Mughal empire reached the height of its strength. However, his militant Muslim policies, including the destruction of many Hindu temples and shrines, undermined the enduring strength of the empire and led to its demise by the mid-18th century.
Even as Mughal power crumbled, the Taj Mahal suffered from neglect and disrepair in the two centuries after Shah Jahan’s death. Near the turn of the 19th century, Lord Curzon, then British viceroy of India, ordered a major restoration of the mausoleum complex as part of a colonial effort to preserve India’s artistic and cultural heritage.
Today, some 3 million people a year (or around 45,000 a day during peak tourist season) visit the Taj Mahal.
Air pollution from nearby factories and automobiles poses a continual threat to the mausoleum’s gleaming white marble façade, and in 1998, India’s Supreme Court ordered a number of anti-pollution measures to protect the building from deterioration. Some factories were closed, while vehicular traffic was banned from the immediate vicinity of the complex.