Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal.
A monument of love, Symbol of art & beauty, Wonder of architecture.


























Taj Mahal Information
Taj Mahal - Location


The Taj stands proudly on the bank of river Yamuna, in the historic city of Agra in India. The city of Agra is located in Uttar Pradesh, a north Indian state. Agra once used to be capital of Mughal Empire in India.

Today this sixteenth century historical structure is one of the most celebrated monument in the world.

Who built the Taj Mahal?
It was Mughal emperor Shah Jahan who built (actually got it built) the Tajmahal, in the memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. The theory about 'who built the Taj mahal?' has different views. A few people argue that the structure was already there which Shahjahan used later and thus it was not him who built it. But this theory has negligible acceptance and as the literature world over states, it was Shahjahan who built the Taj Mahal.

Taj Mahal Story
The brief story of why TajMahal was contructed is like this.
Mumtaz Mahal (Mum-Taj Mahal) was most beloved wife of Shahjahan, Mughal Emporer who then had rule over most parts of India. As literature states Mumtaz Mahal died while giving birth to their fourteenth child. But before her death she had asked to ShahJahan for three promises



ShahJahan would marry again
Shahjahan would contruct Taj for Her
Shahjahan would visit Tajmahal every year on her dealth anniversary

It is believed that death of Mumtaz Mahal had saddened Shah Jahan so much that his hair turned grey in just a few days. But, he kept his first two promises.

Taj Mahal was bulit and it took 22 years for building it (different literature has mentioned different timespan ranging from 16 year to 22 years). Best architects and artists from different parts of world were used in the construction. The chief architect was believed to be from Iran, we don't know his name (again there many arguments regarding who was architect of Taj Mahal).

Mumtaj Mahal perhaps died in Burhanpur, a city in Central Indian state Madhya Pradesh. It is said that her body was initially kept in this city ( which is on the bank of river Tapti ) , and then body was shifted to her final home - The Taj Mahal, when construction of this monument was complete.

Shahjahan could not keep his third promise, though. He was dethrowned by his son Aurangzeb and was kept under house arrest untill his eventual death.

The story of building of Tajmahal also has a sad note. It is argued that the thumbs of best artists involved in the construction of Taj Mahal were cut to ensure that they could not build such masterpiece again anywhere else. Some people believe hands were cut while some believe that no hands or thumbs were cut but only contract was made for not building such architecture again.