The Taj Mahal: A Monument to Love

T here is a building in India that has been called many things: the most perfect building in the world, the throne of Allah, and the jewel of India. This building, in the city of Agra in northern India, is the Taj Mahal, which means Crown Palace. It was built to be a grand tomb for the remains of Empress Mumtaz Mahal, born The Taj Mahal is a Arjumand Banu Begum. popular tourist destination. In 1632, the empress husband, Shah Jahan, ordered the tomb to be built as an expression of love for his dead wife. With its magnificent architecture and extraordinary beauty, the Taj Mahal has amazed visitors and pilgrims for four centuries and is considered to be a modern wonder of the world. Today, India has many religions, including Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, but the Taj Mahal was built in a time when India was primarily an Islamic country. From 1526 to 1858, India was ruled by the Mughal emperors. The Mughals were Muslims and originally came from Persia, now the country of Iran. They brought Persian culture, architecture, and art to India. The man responsible for the Taj Mahal, Shah Jahan, was born as Prince Khurram. He was well educated, very intelligent, and cultured. When he was fifteen, Prince Khurram met a young woman at the palace. For both, it was love at first sight. This Persian woman was Arjumand Banu Begum, and the couple married five years later. They were inseparable, and Arjumand even accompanied her husband on military campaigns across the Indian empire. Their extraordinary love was documented by court poets and historians. After Prince Khurram s father died, he took over the empire and began to use the name Shah Jahan, which means King of the World. Even with her husband in this new position of power, Arjumand remained his friend, counsel, and lover. Together they had fourteen children. Europeans bring gifts to Shah Jahan. 1 2

In 1631, when Shah Jahan and Arjumand had been married for eighteen years and he had been the emperor of India for three, tragedy struck. Arjumand was in her ninth month of pregnancy. Shah Jahan left the city of Agra to travel with his wife and army to Burhanpur, to put down a rebellion there. While they were away, Arjumand died while giving birth to their fourteenth child. Shah Jahan was devastated. The court historians wrote: The king cried out with grief, like an ocean raging with storm... For the whole week afterward, His Majesty did not appear in public... From constant weeping, he was forced to use glasses, and his hair turned grey. The emperor grieved for two years, and historians recorded that he never showed enthusiasm for administering his empire again. Instead, Shah Jahan found solace in art and architecture. Six months after his wife s death, he began planning a magnificent memorial to his wife, a memorial to love. This memorial would consist of Arjumand s tomb, ornamental gardens, and several other buildings. Set on the banks of the Jamuna River near Shah Jahan s palace in Agra, the complex became the Taj Mahal. At this time, the Mughal Empire was at its peak and India was an extremely wealthy country. Consequently, Shah Jahan spared no expense in planning and building the Taj Mahal. The finest artisans and craftsmen were summoned from all over Asia. The chief architect was a Persian engineer and astrologer, Ustad Ahmad. Sculptors, designers of domes, stone carvers, calligraphers, accountants, and construction supervisors came from Persia, Syria, Turkey, and India. Similarly, building and ornamental materials were sourced from all corners of Asia The Taj Mahal s entrance gate and the Middle East. There was jade from China, turquoise from Tibet, and amber from Myanmar over forty types of gemstones in all. The main building materials were white marble and red sandstone. Twenty thousand workers and one thousand elephants worked for twenty-three years and completed the Taj Mahal in 1653. 3 4

Arjumand s tomb is situated almost three hundred meters from the entrance gate, at the opposite end of the surrounding garden. Four tall towers, or minarets, rise from its corners, and in the middle, there is a massive white dome. The tomb is made of white marble and has eight rooms inside on two floors. The central room is octagonal and contains the remains of Empress Arjumand and Shah Jahan. It was often said that the Taj Mahal was built by Titans and finished by jewelers. The walls, floors, doors, and ceilings of the Taj Mahal and all its buildings are beautifully decorated. In one technique, gemstones are inlaid in the marble to make exquisite glittering patterns. In another technique, red pigment is used to create delicate floral patterns on the white walls. The Taj Mahal s entrance gate is richly decorated with floral patterns made from gemstones and with calligraphy in black marble. When you picture the Taj Mahal, you usually think only of the majestic, white-domed building. But in fact, everything around the tomb was designed to harmonize perfectly with it: the main gateway, the gardens, the mosque, and the rest house. A detached gateway is a feature of Muslim architecture. It is a symbol of the transition between Earth and paradise. A long garden runs from the gate to the tomb. The garden is Persian in style, with patterns based on the Islamic The Taj Mahal s gardens and entrance gate holy number of four. There are two marble canals that cross in the middle and divide the garden into four squares. The canals are lined with cypress trees, which symbolize death. Each of these smaller gardens is also subdivided by pathways into four flower beds. The garden was carefully designed so that there is a clear, unobstructed view of the tomb from any place on the grounds. At the center of the garden, halfway between the tomb and the gate, there is a raised marble tank containing water and lotus flowers. The tank was designed to perfectly reflect the Taj Mahal in its water. On either side of the tomb are red sandstone 5 6

buildings; one is a mosque and the other is a rest house. Like all mosques, the mosque faces toward Mecca and is used for prayer. In front, a small piece of marble is polished so highly that it reflects like The mosque at the Taj Mahal a mirror. The mosque floor sparkles with the color of red velvet and the ceiling is painted in a beautiful, hypnotic pattern. The other sandstone building is the twin of the mosque; it is identical in size and design. Because it faces away from Mecca, it has never been used for prayer. It was built as a rest house and for architectural balance, so that the tomb has two identical buildings on either side. The architects and craftsmen who worked on the Taj Mahal used some very special optical effects to enhance its grandeur and beauty. The first effect was the use of repetition. For example, the arch of the entrance gate is shaped like the tomb, so as you enter, you anticipate seeing its form. A second effect is due to the tomb s location. As you start walking toward it, it seems to grow in size, and the dome seems to slowly inflate. When you finally reach the base, it is colossal and magnificent. The other impressive effect is an optical illusion created by the calligraphers. Holy text from the Koran decorates many buildings, including the tomb itself. However, no matter how high the text is on a wall or ceiling, its size never seems to change! This effect was achieved by gradually increasing the height of the letters. Finally, the designers used nature to enhance the Taj Mahal s beauty. The sky is the background to the white marble building. Of course, this background constantly changes, and as the sky changes, the Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal at sunset changes too. At night, when the sky is dark, the Taj Mahal glistens in the moonlight. At sunset, when the sky is pink, the Taj Mahal softly glows. So, the Taj Mahal is captivating 7 8

for many reasons: it is a monument to love, its architectural and artistic beauty is incomparable, and it has a spiritual quality that sets it apart from other buildings. When you see it you can t help wondering, does it belong to Earth or heaven? 9