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Mahal Intoduction Taj
Mahal - History and Legends
Taj Mahal - History and Legends
The Tajmahal or Taj Mahal derives much of its charm from the
sprawling garden laid out in the Persian Char Bagh style. The
fountains and canals provide a grand reflection of the Tajmahal,
accentuating the Paradise imagery. In this death-inspired monument
rows of cypresses lead the eye to the tomb in white marble standing
at the extreme end of the garden, rather than in the center
as at other Mughal tombs.
The Tajmahal mausoleum was nearly completed within ten years
around 1643. Tavernier claimed to have seen the commencement
of work at the Tajmahal- a falsehood. The Tajmahal had started
in 1632. It did not take 22 years and twenty thousands men for
workers. In fact, Tavernier first arrived in Agra in 1641 when
the Taj was nearly finished. Later on the tomb of Satti-ul-Nisa,
chief maid of Mumtaz and later on of Jahanara and the mosques
built by Sirhindi Begam and Fatehpuri Begam were added to the
Tajmahal complex. In 1652, Aurangzeb pointed out the leakage
in the dome on the northern side. The garden also was water
logged during the rains.
These defects were immediately attended to by Shahjahan. There
is no truth in the familiar tale that Shahjahan had the hands
of his chief architect chopped off to prevent building him another
building of Taj's reputation. Before he met his fate, this architect,
it is said, was allowed to take in the last look to ensure perfection.
At this moment he hammered the dome at the point, which caused
leakage. This only adds to the legendary perfection of the Taj
Mahal in all details.
In 1648 Shahjahan had shifted capital to Shahjahanabad. He already
had the Peacock Throne and the Kohinoor. He never remarried
but his lust for life continued unabated.
Bernier,Tavernier, and Niccola Mannuci provide salacious details
about the Mughal Emperors private indulgences. As prisoner in
the Agra fort during his last days, Shahjahan fell terribly
ill. His parched throat could hardly swallow a few drops of
sherbat. Nicola Manucci relates a tale that a faqir in Bijapur
had warned Shahjahan that the day his hands stopped smelling
of apples he would die. Shahjahan recalled the words and smelt
his hands. A sigh escaped his dry lips. He casted his last lingering
glance at the Tajmahal from his bed in the Musamman Burj. His
tired eyelids closed on a shattered heart forever. And so died
on January 31, 1666 "Abu'l Muzaffer Shihab-al-Din Muhammad
Sahib-i-Qiran-Sani, Shahjahan Padshah Ghazi son of Nur-al-Din
Jehangir Padshah, son of Akbar Padshah, son of Humayun Padshah,
son of Babar Padshah, son of Oma Sheikh Mirza, son of Sultan
Abu Sa'id son of Sultan Muhammad Mirza, son of Miraza Shah,
son of Amir Timur Sahib-i-Qiran."
Jahanara planned a funeral procession befitting the grand Mughal.
She was herself a prisoner hence she couldn't order people.
A small number of insignificant menials carried the body through
the small Watergate to the river. Quietly Shahjahan's body left
the fort where he had embellished the magnificent marble palaces
and pavilions. In the early hours of the day his body was entered
into the crypt. A rather poignant end for the fifth Mughal Emperor.
It is said Shahjahan's favorite elephant Khaliqdad sensing the
tragedy also died as the burial was in progress.
Nicola Manucci adds a spicy tale of Aurangzeb's reaction to
Shahjahan's death. Aurangzeb "sent a trusted man to pass
a heated iron over his father's feet, and if the body did not
stir, then to pierce the skull down to the throat to make sure
that he was really dead. Orders were sent to I'tibar Khan not
to allow his burial until the arrival of Aurangzeb in person."
Once Shahjahan had escaped Bijapur in a coffin to reach Agra.
The son remembered the tricks his father could play. But court
chronicles mention that Aurangzeb reached Agra 25 days after
the burial when all he did was to enact a brief scene of simulated
grief, and offer fake condolences to Jahanara as a ploy to snatch
jewels in her possession.
Only Tavernier mentions the beginning of another tomb for Shahjahan,
across the river. Historians and archaeologists dismiss this
idea. However, the foundations of a mammoth building, deep huge
wells on which stood plinth structures now exposed due to erosion
of land under water, and lone cupola at the end of a long boundary
wall replicating the Taj Mahal, are all too evident of the abandoned
enterprises. For once Tavernier could be believed. His Majesty
Firdaus Ashvani, (Shahjahan's posthumous title) was buried beside
the Empress, the only asymmetrical work at the Tajmahal.
Now more than three centuries have passed and the Taj seen by
millions of visitors every year continues to retain a romantic
aura about it "so like a fabric of mist and sunbeams….
a silvery bubble… you almost doubt its reality." Some
women like Mrs. Sleeman would exclaim" I would die tomorrow
to have such another rover me". The Taj Mahal is still
"the grand passion of an Emperor's love," as Edwin
Arnold wrote, or as Tagore said of the Taj" one solitary
tear… on the Cheek of time." The subtle play of light
on the white marble dome creates its own moods to which even
the hardest cynic ultimately succumbs. Millions and millions
of photographs taken fail to capture the quintessence of the
Taj Mahal.
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