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The construction of this marble
masterpiece is credited to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan
who erected this mausoleum in memory of his beloved
wife, Arjumarid Bano Begum; popularly known as Mumtaz
Mahal, who died in A.H. 1040 (A.D. 1630).
Her last wish to her husband was "to build a tomb in her
memory such as the world had never seen before". Thus
emperor Shah Jahan set about building this fairy tale
like marvel.
The construction of Taj Mahal was started in A.D. 1632
and completed at the ended in 1648 A.D. For seventeen
years, twenty thousand workmen are said to have been
employed on it daily, for their accommodation a small
town, named after the deceased empress- 'Mumtazabad',
now known as Taj Ganj, was built adjacent to it.
Amanat Khan Shirazi was the calligrapher of Taj Mahal,
his name occurs at the end of an inscription on one of
the gates of the Taj. Poet Ghiyasuddin had designed the
verses on the tombstone, while Ismail Khan Afridi of
Turkey was the dome maker. Muhammad Hanif was the
superintendent of Masons.
The designer of Taj Mahal was Ustad Ahmad Lahauri. The
material was brought in from allover India and central
Asia and it took a fleet of 1000 elephants to transport
it to the site. The central dome is 187 ft. high at the
centre.
Red sandstone was brought from Fatehpur Sikri, Jasper
from Punjab, Jade and Crystal from China, Turquoise from
Tibet, Lapis Lazuli and Sapphire from Sri Lanka, Coal &
Comelian from Arabia and Diamonds from Panna. In all 28
kind of rare, semi precious and precious stones were
used for inlay work in the Taj Mahal.
The chief building material, the white marble was
brought from the quarries of Makrana, in distt. Nagaur,
Rajasthan. Copies of orders (farmans) issued to Raja Jai
Singh, for the purpose by Shah Jahan, can be seen in the
Taj Museum.
Taj Mahal's outer court, also known as Jilo Khana, was
formerly used both as a bazar and a caravansarai (Rest
house). On the south-east and south-west comers are the
tombs of Sirhindi Begum and Satiunnisa Khanum. The Taj
has a jewel-like quality.
The shadow and light play demonstrates its many moods.
Some feel the Taj is best seen on a full moon night,
others find it ethereal at dawn while some insist that
it is sensuous at sunset. |
