Taj mahal The doom of love

A visit to the Taj Mahal is worthless unless you are familiar with the history of this monument. Known as the undying symbol of love, the origin and history of Taj Mahal goes back to the early 17th Century. This wonderful piece of art in white marble was built by the fifth Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in the memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. Though Shah Jahan had many wives, Mumtaz Mahal was his favorite wife. She was not only a companion in good and bad times but also a sound advisor to her husband. Read on further to know about Taj Mahal history.

Taj Mahal is as great as its magnificent structure. In fact, poet Rabindra Nath Tagore has described the mausoleum as a “tear on the face of eternity.” Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan started the construction of Taj Mahal in the year 1631, in memory of his favourite wife Arjumand Banu Begum, popular as Mumtaz Mahal. Ustad Ahmad Lahauri was the principal designer of one of world's most marvellous building. Amanat Khan from Iran, was the chief calligrapher, while the main dome was designed by Ismail Afandi of Ottoman Empire. More than 20,000 labourers worked day and night for giving shape to the dream of Shah Jahan. After continuous work for 22 years, Taj Mahal was finally completed in the year 1653.


But in Khurram’s heart, however, Arjmand Banu Begam was always first. Even before Prince Khurram became King Shah Jahan, he had changed her name from Arjmand Banu Begam to Mumtaz Mahal, which intended “the most attractive crown of the palace.” Asper an anecdote- when Shah Jahan was engaged in a war, he missed Mumtaz so much that he wrote a poem to her :- “When my mind and body desired for you, my spirit burned to death, your love reaching from a far Breathed life into my dead remains.” Both were more and more attached with each other for marriage. War had been the only reason of his departure from her. But afterward, even war could not disconnect their heartbeat anymore. She began to go to the battleground with him, even when she was pregnant. She gave birth to 14 children in 19 years of marriage. While giving birth to their last child, Mumtaz Mahal died due to some difficulties. However, the 14th childbirth took her life. She died at Burhanpur, faraway from Agra. Her dead body was brought to Agra after a great effort where it is buried at the current location of Taj Mahal.

In 1663, Francois Bernier, a Frenchman from Angers who spent 10 years in India, wrote about Delhi and Agra, the capital cities of the Empire of the Great Mughals. The Frenchman was very enthusiastic in his description of the Taj Mahal, which he considered far superior to “the shapeless masses of the pyramids of Egypt.” Here is part of his description of the interior of the Taj Mahal:

The inside or concave part of the dome and the entire wall, usually from top to bottom, are covered with white marble. There is not a single spot that is not artistically wrought with its own beauty. Everywhere one perceives yashm or jade, the kind of stones that enrich the walls of the chapel of the Grand Duke in Florence. Everywhere there is jasper and several other rare and costly stones, presented in a hundred different ways, mixed together and set in the marble that covers the wall. Even the black and white marble floor tiles are decorated in like manner, with unimaginable delicacy and taste.

- Francois Bernier in Voyage dans les Etats du Grand Mogol, new ed. 1981

In the 19th century, many artists in Europe, especially Britain and France, made delicate copies of these monuments in watercolor.

Even after the seven days and seven nights after her death, the King didn’t eat. On the eighth day, he lastly walked out of his chamber. The guards and servants were all stunned to see that his hair had turned from black to gray. He put on white grief clothes and ordered the structure of a most beautiful monument. The preferred material was pure white marble, representing his unblemished memory of her.

It was the year 1648 when ultimately the miraculous construction of the mausoleum completed after 17 years of labor by more than 20,000 craftsmen and laborers. Mirrored by a crystal clear artificial pond in front and the slate blue Yamuna River behind, the unrivaled monument was named the Taj Mahal.

One interesting architectural concept, note Okada and Johsi, is that the Taj Mahal, with its picturesque setting, chaste appearance, plastic delicacy, superfine ornamentation, and gentle molding of contours, is a feminine specimen of building art. Scholar E. B. Havell sees in the Taj Mahal an intentional attribute to the 'Lady of the Taj,’ Mumtaz Mahal. Havell writes that the monument’s entire concept and every line of its expression reflect the radiance and beauty of the Emperess. For Havell, the Taj Mahal is India’s tribute to the grace of womanhood, the Venus de Milo of the East. Thus, the Taj Mahal can be interpreted as a glorious and profound symbol of love.