Grand Slam 3/Grand Slam 3.iso/029/delhi.arj/TAJMAHAL.TXT

Text File | 1995-08-29 | 14KB | 236 lines

The Taj Mahal
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Mumtaz Mahal, the wife of Emperor Shah Jahan, died 28 June 1631, while Shah
Jahan, then in the third year his reign, was on a military campaign in the
Deccan (Central India). Mumtaz Mahal was bearing her fourteenth child and was
accompanying her royal husband as she had done for the eighteen years of their
married life. Mumtaz died in childbirth with her husband at her side.  Arjunand
Banu Begam was the daughter of Asaf Khan a prime minister of the Mughal Court.
She married Prince Khurram on 27 March 1612 and was given the title Mumtaz
Mahal by her father-in-law, Jahangir. "Mumtaz Mahal" means "The chosen one of
the palace", while Prince Khurram's title "Shah Jahan" means "King of the
world".  It  is  reported  that  during  their married  life Mumtaz Mahal was a
close companion and adviser to her husband.
After her death she was buried in a temporary grave in Burhanpur, where they
were encamped.  It is said that the Emperor was so striken with grief that he
abstained from rich food and wore only the simplest of  clothes, and the whole
court went into mourning for several years.
The remains of Mumtaz Mahal were brought to Agra within six months of her death
and were given another temporary grave at the site where the Taj Mahal was
later built. Work on the Taj Mahal must have begun soon after the first
anniversary of Mumtaz Mahal's death in 1632.
The name Taj is derived from Mumtaz with the omission of the first syllable
(z and j being interchangeable), hence the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal has come to be
known as the Taj Mahal.


Throughout India there are monuments, tombs and pilgrimage centres that have
been constructed for the burial of important people and saints. It is believed
that a visit to such places enables one to share in the richness of the spirit
of the person buried there. The Taj Mahal may have been conceived by Shah Jahan
as an Urs, or pilgrimage place. In more recent times, the Taj has been
eulogised as a monument built in memory of Love, a memorial to years of
companionship between an emperor and his beautiful Wife. To visit the Taj today
is to partake in that spirit and  sentiment.
During the reign of Shah Jahan and his descendants, the Taj Mahal was open to
the public only on rare occasions but never to non-Muslims. Apart from the
annual memorial service for Mumtaz Mahal, the visits to the tomb by  the
nobility were akin to a pilgrimage.  Prayers, devotional music and recitation
of poetry must have filled the air, for it was not a tourist spot but an
extravagant dream of an emperor to sanctify his wife's memory and his own.


The location


The Taj Mahal was constructed within a large enclosed garden on the banks of
the Yamuna river, which flows due west to east past it. The Yarouna, or Jamuna,
is one of five branches that join the sacred river Ganga. It links the cities
of Delhi and Agra, and emperors like Shah Jahan travelled on it in large barges
and boats.
The Mughal emperors had three capitals, Delhi, Agra and Lahore (now in
Pakistan) of equal importance and fame. It is not surprising that Shah Jahan
chose this site in Agra to build the Taj, for he could see it from the royal
chambers of the Agra fort, which also faces the river. With nothing behind the
Taj Mahal, but the river flowing below, the building stands against the sky, as
though in a world all of its own.
The land on which the Taj Mahal stands was once a garden belonging to Raja Jai
Singh of Amber, a princely state of Rajasthan. It was recorded in the farman
(decree) of 18 December 1633 that the Emperor Shah Jahan gave the Raja of Amber
four royal mansions in compensation for the garden.

The plan of the Taj Mahal complex

The Taj Mahal was planned as a ranza (tomb) and an urs (pilgrimage centre) and
hence the complex includes the tomb, garden, bazar and service area, enclosed
by boundary walls.
The whole Taj complex forms a rectangle aligned north to south measuring
approximately 580 (579.12) m. long and 305 (304.80) m. broad (17.7 hectares in
area) (1900 ft by 1000 ft). The northernmost side of the rectangular complex is
occupied by a square raised platform and the tomb  overlooking  the  river.
There  was  a  riverside entrance used by the Emperor when he came by barge
from the Agra Fort. In front of the tomb is a square garden which is subdivided
into four by the water channels to form the charbagh or four-portioned garden
plan. The tomb garden and subsidiary buildings are enclosed by a boundary wall
with octagonal pavilions at each corner and monumental entrance gateway in the
centre of the southern side. In front of this gateway is the enclosed forecourt
of the Jilau Khana or bazar area, servant quarters and  service areas.

The architect of the Taj Mahal

The Emperor Shah Jahan gathered hundreds of master builders and craftsmen from
India and West Asia, both Hindu and Muslim, to build the Taj Mahal.  There were
many who aspired to be acclaimed as the chief architect of the Taj. Amongst
them are Geronimo Veroneo, the Venetian goldsmith, the Turk Ustad Isa, and
Ustad Ahmad Lahori.
From literary and inscriptional evidence it is apparen that various master
craftsmen were assigned specific work such as designing the dome, garden,
inlay, calligraphy and mason work. They worked as a team, following the model
and master plan approved by the Emperor.
Over 20,000 workers were involved in the building activity and temporary
settlements were made for them. Indian craftsmen had over ten generations of
training in the building of Islamic architecture and had perfected every
detail. The closest model for the Taj Mahal had been completed some sixty years
before, at Humayun's Tomb in Delhi (also incuded in the scenery). Therefore the
Taj Mahal is a perfect synthesis of Hindu and Muslim art and expression.


The construction of the Taj


It would be impossible to calculate the cost of building the Taj. Some attempts
have been made. The Badshah Nama of Abdul Hamid Lahori mentions a figure of
Rs.50 lakhs. In 1836 Sleeman was told it cost Rs.3,17,48,028 $83,174,802 at
that time. A local guidebook has priced the priceless Taj at 430 million
pounds.
It is difficult to estimtate how much expenditure was involved, as some
materials were presented, others were brought from the Empire and different
parts of the world. Craftsmen were paid, there may have been many labourers and
others who were not.
In the Tarikh-i-Taj Mahal we are told that the white marble was brought from
Makrana, in Rajasthan, the yellow marble from Central India, crystal from
China, lapis lazuli from Sri Lanka, jasper from Punjab, onyx from Persia,
turquoise from Tibet, coral and mother of pearl from the Indian Ocean.
According to Jean Baptiste Tavernier, a French traveller of that period, to
build the Taj Mahal a huge brick scaf fold was constructed all around with
ramparts on which elephants and oxen hauled the materials.
The entire Taj Mahal took over twenty years to complete. Work began in 1632 and
by 1643 the Taj Mahal was ready for the formal annual memorial ceremony, but
work on subsidiary parts of the complex were not finished before 1653.


The garden


When Shah Jahan built the Taj the garden was full of trees, a mixture of an
orchard along with cypress and palm trees and flowers. The flowers were not
what you see today, but species of narcissus, iris, tulip and rose. Since it
must have been much quieter and greener there would have been more birds and
butterflies. It was conceived as the Garden of Eden or Bagh-i-Adam with trees,
flowers and water flowing in the channels. Today the garden has a few trees,
a lawn and regimented flowerbeds not of Mughal but of nineteenth-century
British origin.  The formal garden today follows the charbagh or four-portioned
garden plan. The central water channel has an elevated pool in the centre
called Haus-i-Kausar. In this axial water channel the reflection of the Taj
Mahal can be seen in its perfect symmetrical proportions. From the central pool
the water channels flow in four directions, dividing the garden area into four.
At the ends of the channel that divides the garden into half, on the east and
west side, are the Naubat Khannas or music halls, where classical music was
played on Thursdays and Urs or pilgrimage days.
The water for the channels was hauled up from the river behind the Taj Mahal,
the inclination and level of the garden being designed to keep the water
constantly flowing. It is suggested that visitors walk around the garden
because every view and angle of the Taj Mahal is worth seeing. There are
benches to sit on and the lawns, to encourage you to do just that.


The Mosque and Mihman Khana

On the western side of the Taj Mahal is the mosque, and on the eastern side a
jawab, or answer".
(A building built with no religious importance but to provide aesthetic
symmetry to the mosque.)
As you enter from the gateway and look ahead, to the north, you will see the
garden, beyond which is the tomb building in the centre and two detached
subsidiary buildings of red sandstone and marble on either side. On the western
side is a mosque and on the opposite side is the Mihman Khana, a building
constructed to provide symmetrical balance or jawab (answer) to the mosque, but
with no religious import. Both these buildings have three domes, of which the
central one is the largest, and faced with marble. The inlay work on white
marble, the painted ceiling and wall panels of the mosyue and jawab complement
the Taj Mahal.


The Taj Mahal

The tomb or mausoleum is perhaps the most beautiful in the world. Its beauty
lies in the architectural simplicity, the perfect balance and proportion of the
structure. The uniqueness of the building is that it has been constructed in
pure white marble. The monotony of the building faced entirely with white
marble is enlivened by highlights of inlay and calligraphy in other coloured
stones.
The gentle white of the building gives it a quality of weightlessness.
It is the excellent crystalline chararter of the marble that captures the
subtle changes of Nature's moods and the play of sun and moonlight.
The tomb building has a very simple plan. It is raised on a square terrace
platform 5.486 m high and 95 m square, with four minarets approximately 42 m
high. Inside, the building has one large octagonal room which houses the tombs
of Mumtaz Mahal and the Emperor Shah Jahan.
Above the room is a large domed roof. Around the octagonal tomb room is a
passage consisting of small rectangular rooms, and this plan is repeated on the
floor above. Yet this simple layout of rooms, the harmony of proportions and
delicate decorations took generations of experimentation to perfect.
There is a symmetry and balance in the mathematical proportions of the
building.
The terrace platform is 95 m square, the tomb is 57 m square with the right
angle chamfered to form an eight-sided structure. The eight faces of the
building are like facets on a gemstone, catching the light in all directions.
The height of the building rises to approximately 75 m with the large bulbous
dome of a height of 25 m and a diameter of 18 m. Therefore the width of the
building is almost equal to its height" and the facade in the centre has the
same height as the dome.
The  dome,  a brilliant architectural  achievement, is raised on a large
truncated drum, so that the form  and volume is never lost, from whichever
angle you view the building. The shape of the dome is Persian or more correctly
Central Asian in origin but had been experimented with in India in other
buildings. The dome emerges from its drum base with a border of inlay design
and culminates with an inverted lotus design. Above this is a tapering Kalasa
or water pot with the crescent moon on the top. This finial was originally
sheathed in pure gold, which was removed by British troops in the nineteenth
century. Below the dome and in line with the drum are placed four cupolas with
domed roofs that are of a different shape to the central one. The apex of the
dome to the two corners of the central facade forms a perfect triangle.
The dome of the Taj Mahal is a double dome, so termed because it has been
constructed with two shells, the inner one forming the roof of the central tomb
room and the outer shell visible from the exterior. The double dome was an
architectural innovation to correct visual distortion of the interior and
exterior appearance of the dome.


If you carefully look at the other side of Yamuna river, you will notice that
another building was planned and even started there. That was to be the copy
of the Taj Mahal made for Shah Jahan. He did not wish to be buried in the Taj
but wanted his own tomb, made exactly simmilar to the Taj but of black marble
instead of white.
The construction begun, but when Shah Jahan was captured by his own son
Aurangzeb, the construction has stopped forever.
You can still see the basic plack marble plateau of the never built second Taj.
Shah Jahan had spent long years in "virtual house arrest" in Agra fort,
(untill his death in 1666).
There is a famous "balcony" in Agra fort, from where Shah Jahan was said to be
continuosly looking at the Taj and thinking of his beloved wife Mumtaz.
35 years after the death of Mumtaz, Shah Jahan was buried in the Taj, besides
his wife and hence the great Shah Jahan became the only and single
"assimetric object" in the Taj Mahal, as his cenotaph was placed beside his
wife's.
Shah Jahan has gone down in history as a great builder and an enormously
wealthy emperor. Not only did he built the Taj Mahal, but he converted the
sandstone palaces of Agra Fort into marble. He built the Delhi Fort (also
called the Red Fort) and the Jama Masjid in Delhi, which can also be seen in
the Delhi scenery.