The Taj Mahal is a tomb. The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan built it in Agra for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died in 1631, and he was later buried there beside her. Work began around 1632. The tomb itself was finished by about 1643, and the full complex of gardens, gateway, mosque and outer buildings by about 1653. UNESCO inscribed it as a World Heritage Site in 1983, describing it as the jewel of Muslim art in India.
Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal
Shah Jahan was born Prince Khurram in 1592, a grandson of the emperor Akbar. In 1612 he married Arjumand Banu Begum, the niece of the empress Nur Jahan. She received the title Mumtaz Mahal, usually translated as "the exalted one of the palace."
Contemporary chroniclers describe a close marriage. Mumtaz traveled with Shah Jahan on campaigns, including after he became emperor in 1628, and they had fourteen children. In 1631, while accompanying him on a military campaign in the Deccan, she died at Burhanpur after giving birth to their fourteenth child. She was buried there at first, and her body was moved to Agra later that year.
Choosing the site
Mughal Agra was a city of gardens along the Yamuna River, with the homes and tombs of nobles lining both banks. Shah Jahan chose a riverside plot that belonged to Raja Jai Singh of Amber, and gave him other properties in exchange.
That setting explains one of the Taj's most unusual features. In most Mughal garden tombs, such as Humayun's Tomb in Delhi, the tomb sits in the center of a square, four-part garden. At the Taj, the tomb stands at the river end, on a raised terrace, with the garden laid out in front of it. Seen from the river, it is the last of a line of riverfront gardens. Seen from the gateway, it sits above and behind the garden, framed by sky.
Building the Taj
Construction started around 1632. The main architect is usually named as Ustad Ahmad Lahori, and the emperor himself followed the design closely. The calligrapher Amanat Khan designed the Quranic inscriptions in black marble that frame the arches, and he signed them, which was rare. The letters are carefully enlarged toward the top of each arch, so that they look the same size from the ground.
The workforce is often put at around 20,000 people, including masons, stone carvers, inlay specialists and calligraphers, as well as laborers. Many came from across the empire and beyond.
The structure is brick faced with stone. The white marble came from Makrana, in present-day Rajasthan. Red sandstone for the gateway, mosque and outer buildings came from quarries near Fatehpur Sikri. The inlay, in a technique often called pietra dura (in India, parchin kari), uses semi-precious stones such as carnelian, jasper, lapis lazuli and jade, cut into thin slices and set into the marble to form flowers and vines.
By around 1643 the tomb was finished. Work on the gardens, the forecourt, the bazaars and the caravanserais outside the walls went on for about another decade.
How the complex is laid out
The plan is strictly symmetrical along a north-south axis:
- A forecourt with subsidiary tombs and quarters for the staff.
- The great gateway in red sandstone, inscribed with Quranic verses.
- The charbagh, a garden divided into four quarters by water channels, with a raised marble tank at the center.
- The tomb on its marble platform, with a minaret at each corner, flanked by a red sandstone mosque on the west and an identical building on the east, kept for symmetry.
- The river.
The four minarets lean very slightly outward, a detail often explained as a way of making sure they would fall away from the tomb in an earthquake.
Inside the tomb, the main chamber holds the cenotaphs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan, surrounded by a carved marble screen. The actual graves lie in a crypt below, which is closed to visitors.
Shah Jahan's last years
In 1658, during a war of succession among his sons, Shah Jahan was deposed by his son Aurangzeb. He spent the last eight years of his life confined in Agra Fort, where tradition says he could see the Taj across the bend of the river. When he died in 1666, he was buried beside Mumtaz.
His cenotaph was placed to one side of hers, which is the only asymmetrical element in the entire complex. It suggests the tomb was designed for her alone.
Later centuries
As Mughal power weakened in the 18th century, the Taj suffered from neglect and looting. Raiders took precious metal and stones from the complex in the decades of fighting around Agra.
Under British rule, the monument went through both damage and repair. The gardens were remodeled in an English style with lawns and trees, which is largely how they look today. In the early 20th century, the viceroy Lord Curzon ordered a large restoration of the complex, and presented the large brass lamp that hangs in the tomb chamber today.
Since independence, the Archaeological Survey of India has looked after the Taj. Pollution has been the main modern threat. In 1996 the Supreme Court of India ruled on restrictions on polluting industries in a zone around the Taj known as the Taj Trapezium Zone, and the ban on polluting vehicles near the monument comes from the same concern. The ASI has periodically cleaned the marble with a clay pack to remove yellow staining.
Myths and claims
A building this famous attracts stories. A few of the common ones:
The black Taj. A second tomb in black marble, planned across the river for Shah Jahan himself, is a popular legend. It traces back to a European traveler's account and has no support in Mughal records. Excavations at Mehtab Bagh in the 1990s found a garden with a large octagonal pool, aligned so that the Taj would reflect in it.
The workers' hands. The story that Shah Jahan had the builders' hands cut off so that nothing like the Taj could be built again has no historical source. Mughal building and inlay work continued for decades afterward, including Shah Jahan's own projects in Delhi.
Earlier temple claims. Claims that the building was originally a Hindu temple or palace have been raised over the years and rejected. The historical record of its construction as a Mughal tomb is detailed and consistent.
A tomb first
The poet Rabindranath Tagore called the Taj "a teardrop on the cheek of time." Visitors often forget that it is still a grave. The long approach through the gateway, the dim chamber and the quiet that staff ask for inside all come from that purpose, and the building is easier to read once you walk it that way.
Questions
Who designed the Taj Mahal?
The chief architect is usually identified as Ustad Ahmad Lahori, working for Shah Jahan, who took a close personal interest in the design. The calligraphy was designed by Amanat Khan, who signed his work on the tomb. Thousands of masons, carvers, inlay workers and laborers did the building.
Is Shah Jahan buried in the Taj Mahal?
Yes. When he died in 1666, he was buried beside Mumtaz Mahal in the crypt. His cenotaph, placed next to hers in the main chamber, is the only element in the whole complex that breaks its symmetry.
Was there going to be a black Taj Mahal across the river?
There is no good evidence for it. The story comes from a European traveler's account written decades later. Excavations at Mehtab Bagh, across the river, found the remains of a Mughal garden with a pool that reflected the Taj, not the foundations of a second tomb.