Taj Mahal is one of the architectural wonders of our planet. It is just not another marvel built by humans with a different design. But it has a history, it forces to think how it can be built in the 17th century keeping in mind every miniatures element of Taj. Each stone, design, pillar, structure, curving has a meaning behind it.
Take an example, the front structure has curving on Urdu and script seems of same size from bottom to top. But, it is not. As the script moved from bottom to top the size of script keep increasing so that one can read it easily.
The four pillars around the main dome were built to slant away from the dome slightly. This was done to help protect the tomb if the pillars ever collapsed. The color of Taj Mahal appears to change color depending on the time of day. The color change also depends on whether there is moonlight at night.
History
The Taj Mahal in India was built by a grief-stricken emperor Shah Jahan. His wife Mumtaz Mahal died in 1631 while giving birth to their 14th child. Construction of the Taj Mahal began one year later and it was built to be the final resting place of Mumtaz Mahal. Different types of marble from all over the world were used to build this mausoleum.
Mumtaz Mahal was Shah Jahan’s third wife. Her name was originally Arjumand Bano Begum but when she married Shah Jahan she was christened as Mumtaz Mahal which means ‘Jewel of the Palace’, or ‘Chosen One of the Palace’. The Taj Mahal took approximately 20 years and approximately 20,000 workers to complete. There were also about 1000 elephants used to transport the materials needed for construction. The Taj Mahal stands at 561 feet tall.
There were about 28 different types of precious and semi-precious stones inlaid into the burial tomb of the Taj Mahal. During the Indian Rebellion in 1857, many of the precious stones were stripped from the walls of the tomb
It was rumoured that Shah Jahan had the hands cut off from the people who worked on the Taj Mahal once it was complete. His reasoning was that nobody would ever be able to build such a beautiful building ever again. Nobody has been able to prove that this story is true
How to Visit
TajMahal is located in south bank of the Yamuna river in the Indian city of Agra. TajMahal is around 222km far from New Delhi. The easiest way to reach is, take a taxi from Delhi and it takes around 3-4 hr to reach.
Suggestions
- Avoid visiting between April – July. Summers are very hot in Agar.
- Take a guide. It helps to understand the history behind Taj Mahal.
- Visit Agar fort along with Taj Mahal. It is few km away.
