Wonder of the world- The Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal is the most famous monument of India. This is a perfect
mausoleum of Arab-Indian architecture, also described as the symbol of love.
The Taj Mahal was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in
1983 for being "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the
universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage". It is situated
on the right bank of the Yamuna River in a vast Mughal garden that encompasses
nearly 17 hectares, in the Agra District in Uttar Pradesh. Mughal Emperor Shah
Jahan built this mosque in memory of his beloved wife MumtazMahal.
Its architectonic beauty has a rhythmic combination of solids and voids,
concave and convex and light shadow, such as arches and domes create the aesthetic aspects of the Taj Mahal. It is the most
touristic place in north India, Millions of visitors come to Agra to visit the
Taj Mahal every year.
The history of the Taj Mahal is the greatest love story in the world. In
1607 when the Mughal Prince Khurram (later known as the Mughal Emperor Shah
Jahan) first laid eyes on the beautiful ArjumandBanu Begum (later known as
MumtazMahal). She was the niece of the Empress NurJahan. Khurram, the son of
the Emperor Jahangir, expressed his desire to marry Arjumand and some years
thereafter their marriage was celebrated with great pomp and splendor.
Khurram, who came to the throne as Emperor Shah Jahan in 1628, after the
death of his father Jahangir, found great strength from MumtazMahal.
MumtajMahal had 14 children (only 7 survived) and MumtazMahaltraveled with Shah
Jahan across the length and breadth of the Mughal Empire, battlegrounds as Shah
Jahan consolidated the frontiers of his empire. As a life partner, MumtazMahal
brought Shah Jahan the comforts of home and family, even when they were far
away from their imperial palaces. MumtazMahal breathed her last, giving birth
to her 14th child in Burhanpur, in 1631. Shah Jahan felt immense grief at the
loss of his beautiful wife and ever-present companion. It is said that he went
into mourning for a year, his hair turned grey and he never remarried.
Mughal emperor Shahjahan started the construction of the Taj Mahal in
1632 AD and completed in 1648 AD. The mosque, the guest house and the main
gateway on the south, the outer courtyard, and its cloisters were built and
completed in 1653 AD.
Twenty-thousand artisans and craftsmen worked for the construction of
the building, lay the lawns and carry out the intricate carvings and inlay
work. More than a thousand elephants were used to lif, carry the blocks of
marble and other material that at the construction site. Ustad Ahmad Lahauri or
Ustad Isa was the chief architect.
The total cost of the construction: The estimated total cost of constructing the Taj Mahal may have been about 32
million Rupees at that time.
The Taj Mahal complex is open to visitors from sunrise to sunset (6 a.m.
to 6 p.m.). The best time to visit the Taj Mahal is in the autumn, winter and
spring months from October to February. The peak summer months of May to July
are best avoided because of the hot weather. On full-moon nights, and one night
before and after a full moon, the Taj Mahal complex is open for the view of the
Taj by moonlight - a truly spectacular sight. The moonlight viewing sessions
are not permitted during the month of Ramadan and on Fridays.
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The Taj Mahal complex can be conveniently divided into 5 sections:
1. The 'moonlight garden' to the north of the river Yamuna.
2. The riverfront terrace, containing the Mausoleum, Mosque, and Jawab.
3. The Charbagh garden containing pavilions.
4. The Jilaukhana containing accommodation for the tomb attendants and
two subsidiary tombs.
5. The Taj Ganji, originally a bazaar and caravanserai only trace of
which is still preserved.
The focus and climax of the Taj Mahal complex is the symmetrical white
marble tomb; a cubic building with chamfered corners, with arched recesses
known as pishtaqs. At the top, a large dome, supported by many pillars, roofed
chhatris. In plan, it has a near-perfect symmetry about 4 axes. It comprises 4
floors; the lower basement storey containing the tombs of Jahan and Mumtaz, the
entrance storey containing identical cenotaphs of the tombs below in a much
more elaborate chamber, an ambulatory storey and a roof terrace.
The mausoleum is cubic with chamfered edges. On the long sides, a
massive pishtaq, or vaulted archway frames an arch-shaped doorway,
with a similar arch-shaped balcony above. These main arches extend above the
roof the building. To either side of the main arch, additional pishtaqs are
stacked above and below. This motif of stacked pishtaqs is replicated in the
chamfered corner areas. Thus design is completely uniform and consistent on all
sides of the building.
Dome is made of the white marble, Its height is about the same size as
the base building, about 35 m. It sits on a cylindrical "drum" about
7 metres high. The dome is often called an onion dome (also called an amrud or
apple dome). The dome is topped by a gilded finial, which mixes traditional
Islamic and Hindu decorative elements. The dome shape is emphasised by four
smaller domed chhatris placed at its corners. The chhatris also are topped by
gilded finials.
Muslim tradition forbids decorating graves, so the bodies of Mumtaz and
Shah Jahan are laid in a relatively plain, marble-faced chamber, beneath the
main chamber of the Taj. They are buried in graves on a north-south axis, with
faces turned right (west) toward Mecca. Calligraphic inscriptions on top of the
casket recite verses from the Koran and on the sides express the Ninety-Nine
beautiful names of Allah.
The hierarchical ordering of the entire complex reaches its crescendo in
the chamber. Mumtaz's cenotaph sits at the geometric center of the building;
Shah Jahan was buried later by her side.
The inner chamber is an octagon but the design allows for entry from
each face, only the south (garden facing) door. The interior walls are about 25
meters high, topped by a "false" interior dome decorated with a sun motif.
Eight pishtaq arches define the space at ground level. As is typical with the
exterior, each lower pishtaq is crowned by a second pishtaq about midway up the
wall. The four central upper arches form balconies or viewing areas; each
balcony's exterior window has an intricate screen or jali cut
from marble.
Marble is used exclusively as the base material for increasingly dense,
expensive and complex parchinkari floral decoration which are inlaid with
semi-precious stones. The ordering of this decoration simultaneously emphasizes
the cardinal points and the center of the chamber with dissipating concentric
octagons. The chamber is an abundant evocation of the garden of paradise with
has flowers, plants and arabesques and the calligraphic inscriptions in both
the Thuluth and the less formal Naskh script.
Shah Jahan's cenotaph is asymmetrically placed beside Mumtaz's to the
western side. His cenotaph is bigger than his wife's but reflects the same
elements.
An octagonal marble screen or jali borders the cenotaphs
and is made from eight marble panels. Intricate pierce work can be seen on the
panels. The rest of the surface has been inlaid with semiprecious stones in
extremely delicate detail, forming twining vines, fruits and flowers.
Plinth and terrace
Towers
Minarets: four large towers, at the corners of the plinth each more than
40 meters tall. Each minaret is effectively divided into three equal parts by
two balconies that ring the tower. At the top of the tower is a final balcony
surmounted by a chhatri similar to the design of the tomb. The minaret chhatris
share the same finishing touches: a lotus design topped by a gilded finial.
Each of the minarets was constructed slightly out of plumb to the outside of
the plinth to avoid damage during the collapse.
The mausoleum is flanked by two almost identical buildings on side of
the platform. To the west is the Mosque, to the east is Jawab. The Jawab,
meaning 'answer' balances the bilateral symmetry of the composition. It doesn't
have mihrab, like a mosque. Mosque floor is laid with the outlines
of 569 prayer rugs in black marble.
Mughal mosques of this period divide the sanctuary hall into three
areas: the main sanctuary with slightly smaller sanctuaries to either
side.
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The large charbagh (a form of Persian garden ) provides
the classic view of the Taj Mahal. The garden's strict and formal planning
employs raised pathways that divide each quarter of the garden into 16 sunken
parterres or flowerbeds. A marble water tank at the center of the garden and
halfway the tomb and the gateway, and a linear reflecting pool on the
North-South axis reflect the Taj Mahal. The charbagh garden is
meant to symbolize the four flowing Rivers of Paradise. The raised marble water
tank (hauz) is called al Hawd al-Kawthar, literally meaning and
named after the "Tank of Abundance".
The original planting of the garden is one of the Taj Mahal's remaining
mysteries. The contemporary accounts mostly deal just with the architecture and
only mention 'various kinds of fruit-bearing trees and rare aromatic herbs' in
relation to the garden. Cypress trees are almost certainly to have been
planted, as in Persian poetry for the slender elegant statue of the beloved.
The British, at the end of the 19th century thinned out a lot of the
increasingly forested trees, replanted the cypresses and laid the gardens to
lawns in their own taste.
Early accounts of the garden describe its profusion of vegetation,
including roses, daffodils, and fruit trees in abundance. As the Mughal Empire
declined, the tending of the garden declined as well.
The great gate is at the north of the entrance forecourt (jilaukhana)
and provides a symbolic transition between the worldly realm of bazaars and
caravanserai and the spiritual realm of the paradise garden, mosque, and the
mausoleum. Its rectangular plan is a variation of the 9-part hashtbihisht plan
found in the mausoleum. The corners are articulated with octagonal towers
giving the structure a defensive appearance. External domes were reserved for
tombs and mosques and so the large central space does not receive any outward
expression of its internal dome. From within the great gate, the Mausoleum is
framed by the pointed arch of the portal.
The jilaukhana (literally meaning 'in front of house') is a rectangular
courtyard. It provided an area where visitors would dismount from their horses
or elephants and assemble in style before entering the main tomb complex.
Two identical streets lead from the east and west gates to the center of
the courtyard. The eastern bazaar streets were ruined by the end of the 19th
century and were restored by Lord Curzon.
Two mirror-image tombs are located at the southern corners of the
jilaukhana. They are miniature replicas of the main complex and stand on raised
platforms accessed by steps. Each octagonal tomb is constructed on a
rectangular platform in front of which is laid a char bagh garden.
A pair of residential elements of courtyards is found in the northern
corners of the jilaukhana which provided quarters (Khawasspuras) for the tombs
attendants and the Hafiz.
The Bazaar and caravanserai were an integral part of the complex,
initially to provide the construction workers with accommodation and facilities
for their wellbeing, and later as a place for trade, the revenue of which
supplemented the expenses of the complex. Later, this area became a small town
in its own right during and after the building of the Taj. Originally known as
'Mumtazabad', today it is called Taj Ganji or 'Taj Market'.
The Taj Mahal complex is bounded on three sides by crenelated red
sandstone walls, with the river-facing side left open. The garden-facing inner
sides of the wall are fronted by columned arcades. The wall is interspersed
with domed chhatris, and small buildings that may have been viewing areas or
watchtowers.
Water for the Taj complex was provided with a complex infrastructure. It
was first drawn from the river by a series of purs – an
animal-powered rope and bucket mechanism. The water then flowed along an arched
aqueduct into a large storage tank, where, by thirteen additional purs, it was
raised to large distribution cistern above the Taj ground level located to the
west of the complex's wall. From here water passed into three subsidiary tanks
and was then piped to the complex. The head of pressure generated by the height
of the tanks (9.5m) was sufficient to supply the fountains and irrigate the
gardens. A 0.25-meter diameter earthenware pipe lies 1.8 meters below the
surface, in line with the main walkway which fills the main pools of the
complex. The fountain pipes were not connected directly to the fountain heads,
instead, a copper pot was provided under each fountainhead: water filled the
pots ensuring equal pressure to each fountain.
It is on the north of the Taj Mahal complex, across the river.
Mahtab Bagh was designed as an integral part of the complex in the riverfront
terrace pattern seen elsewhere in Agra. It has an identical width to that of
the rest of the Taj. The garden historian Elizabeth Moynihan suggests the large
octagonal pool in the center of the terrace would reflect the image of the
Mausoleum and thus the garden would provide a setting to view the Taj Mahal.
Four sandstone towers marked the corners of the garden, only the south-eastward
one remained after the passing through centuries. The garden to the north has
the typical square, cross-axial plan with a square pool in its center.
The Taj Mahal became a
UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. In 2007, it was voted one of the New 7
Wonders of the World in the New 7 Wonders Foundation’s worldwide poll.
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