The Taj Mahal, often known as the “Crown of the Palace,” may be found in India. In Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India, on the Yamuna River’s right bank, there is a tomb made of ivory-white marble referred to as [6]. In order to contain the mausoleum of his cherished wife, Mumtaz Mahal, Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor (reigned 1628–1658), commissioned it in 1631; The grave of Shah Jahan himself is also located there. The mausoleum is the focal point of a 17 hectare (42 acre) complex that also contains a mosque and a guest house. The complex is surrounded on three sides by a crenellated wall and is located in formal gardens.

Although the mausoleum’s construction was substantially finished in 1643, other project phases required a further 10 years of effort. The Taj Mahal complex is thought to have been finished in its entirety in 1653 at a cost that was over 32 million rupees, or around 35 billion in 2023. A board of architects led by Muhammad Ahmad Lahori, the ruler’s court architect, oversaw the building project, which employed some 20,000 craftspeople. The Taj uses a variety of symbols to depict the divine and the beauty of nature.

The Taj Mahal was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 because it was “the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage”. Many people believe it to be the finest example of Mughal architecture and a representation of India’s long history. Every year, 7-8 million people visit the Taj Mahal. Moreover, it was named one of the New 7 Wonders of the World (2000-2007) in 2007, winning the competition.

Etymology:

The Taj Mahal is referred to as rauza-i munawwara (Perso-Arabic: , rawdah-i munawwarah), which means the illuminated or differentiates tomb, by Abdul Hamid Lahori in his book Padshahnama dated 1636.The phrases “tj mahall,” which stand for “crown” (tj) and “palace” (mahall), are of Urdu origin and are thought to have been borrowed from Arabic and Persian. The word “Taj” was created when the second syllable of “Mumtaz” was altered.

Inspiration:

In order to honor his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who passed away on June 17, 1631, while giving birth to their 14th child, Gauhara Begum, Shah Jahan ordered construction of the Taj Mahal.The cemetery was built in 1648, five years after the surrounding structures and garden, which had begun construction in 1632. The love tale seen as the inspiration for the Taj Mahal is illustrated by the imperial court’s records of Shah Jahan’s pain following Mumtaz Mahal’s passing.Muhammad Amin Qazvini, Abdul Hamid Lahori, and Muhammad Saleh Kamboh, three modern historians, claim that he did not show others the same amount of devotion that he had showed her when she was living. Because of his anguish, he avoided royal affairs for a week and gave up fancy clothing and music-listening for two years. Shah Jahan was mesmerized by the natural beauty of the area south of Agra where Raja Jai Singh I’s house was located. Shah Jahan choose this location for Mumtaz’s mausoleum to be built, and Jai Singh consented to give it to the emperor.

Later days:

Shah Jahan was overthrown by his son Aurangzeb not long after the Taj Mahal was finished and placed under house jail time at the adjacent Agra Fort, from where he could see the Taj Mahal. Aurangzeb buried Shah Jahan close to his wife in the tomb after his passing. The Jat kings of Bharatpur conquered Agra in the 18th century and destroyed the Taj Mahal.

They took away the two chandeliers, one of agate and another of silver, which were hung over the main cenotaph; they also took the gold and silver screen. Kanbo, a Mughal historian, said the gold shield which covered the 4.6-metre-high (15 ft) finial at the top of the main dome was also removed during the Jat despoilation.

Parts of the structures were in decay by the late 19th century. British viceroy Lord Curzon commissioned a massive repair effort at the end of the 19th century, and it was finished in 1908.[63] He also ordered the enormous lamp in the interior room, which was fashioned after one in a mosque in Cairo. The garden was redesigned around this period and now-preserved European-style lawns were added.

Tourism:

There are many of visitors that come to see the Taj Mahal. More than 2 million visitors were recorded by UNESCO in 2001, and by 2014, that number had risen to nearly 7-8 million.There is a three-tiered pricing structure in effect, with Indian nationals paying much reduced admission fees and international visitors paying higher ones. As of 2022, the cost was 50 for Indian nationals, 540 for residents of SAARC and BIMSTEC nations, and 1,100 for other foreign visitors.The colder months of October, November, and February are when most visitors come. The facility does not allow polluting vehicles, so visitors must either walk from parking lots or use an electric bus. For use as a new tourist center, the Khawasspuras (northern courtyards) are now being repaired. The facility introduced fees for guests who remained longer than three hours in 2019 to counter overtourism.

Taj Ganji, also known as Mumtazabad, is a little hamlet to the south of the Taj that was originally built with caravanserais, bazaars, and markets to cater to the requirements of employees and tourists. The Taj Mahal frequently appears on lists of suggested vacation locations. It also features on lists of the seven modern global marvels, including the just-announced New Seven looks of the global, which received 100 million votes lately.

Except on Fridays, when the complex is open from 12:00 to 14:00 for mosque prayers, the grounds are open from 6:00 to 19:00 on weekdays. Except on Fridays and during the month of Ramadan, the complex is accessible for nighttime viewing on the day of the full moon and the two days before and following.

Architecture and design:

The Taj Mahal builds on the design traditions of older Mughal and Indo-Islamic buildings. Successful Timurid and Mughal structures, such as the Gur-e Amir (Timur’s mausoleum, the ancestor of the Mughal dynasty, at Samarkand), served as specific inspiration,Humayun’s Tomb, Itmad-Ud-Daulah’s Tomb (also known as the Baby Taj), and Shah Jahan’s own Jama Masjid in Delhi were the inspirations for the Charbagh Gardens and hasht-behesht (architecture) layout of the site. Earlier Mughal structures were mostly made of red sandstone, but Shah Jahan pushed the use of white marble that had semi-precious stones inlaid into it. Buildings he supported developed to a new level of beauty.

Tomb:

The cemetery serves as the focal point of the whole Taj Mahal complex. It is a sizable, white marble edifice with an iwan (an arch-shaped gateway) and a big dome and finial on top that stands on a square foundation. The fundamental components are Indo-Islamic in origin, like most Mughal tombs.

The basic structure is a sizable multi-chambered cube with chamfered corners that forms an irregular eight-sided structure with four long sides that are around 55 meters (180 feet) long each. Two similarly shaped arched balconies are placed on either side of a big pishtaq or vaulted archway that frames either side of the iwan. The chamfered corner portions also include this motif of stacked pishtaqs, making the design symmetrical on all four sides of the structure. The tomb is surrounded by four minarets, one at each corner of the plinth that faces the chamfered corners. Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan’s fictitious sarcophagi are located in the main room, while their actual tombs are down below.

Exterior decorations:

The Taj Mahal’s external decoration rank among the best examples of Mughal architecture. The embellishments are ever more detailed as the surface area changes. In order to construct the ornamental features, paint, stucco, stone inlays, or carvings were used. The ornamental components might be divided into calligraphy, abstract shapes, or vegetal themes in keeping with the Islamic ban on the use of human figures. Qur’anic verses that serve as part of the complex’s aesthetic features may be seen throughout. According to recent study, Amanat Khan selected the texts.

Interior decoration:

The Taj Mahal’s inner chamber goes far beyond conventional artistic decorations. The inlay work is a lapidary of precious and semiprecious gemstones rather than pietra dura.The interior room is shaped like an octagon and may be entered from any of its eight faces, however only the door facing the garden to the south is actually utilized. The inside walls are around 25 meters (82 feet) high, and a “false” inner dome with a sun pattern sits atop them. The bottom floor is defined by eight pishtaq arches, and just like the façade, each lower pishtaq is topped by a second one around halfway up the wall.Balconies or viewing spaces are created by the four higher central arches, and the external windows of each balcony have a marble lattice screen that is extremely detailed. Along with the light that comes through the balcony screens, there is additional light coming in from roof apertures in the corners that are chattris-covered. Eight marble panels that have been intricately pierced together form the octagonal marble screen, or jali, that surrounds the cenotaphs. Semi-precious stones are used to create delicately detailed inlays on the remaining surfaces, including twining vines, fruits, and flowers. Intricate lapidary inlay, dado bas-relief, and exquisite calligraphy panels are used to embellish each chamber’s walls in a lavish manner. These decorations are a subtle nod to the complex’s external architecture.

Garden:

A large charbagh, or Mughal garden, measuring 300 meters (980 feet) in size, surrounds the structure. Each of the garden’s four halves is divided into 16 sunken parterres or flowerbeds by elevated paths. A high marble water tank with a reflecting pool situated on a north-south axis to mirror the image of the mausoleum is located in the middle of the garden halfway between the tomb and the doorway. Al Hawd al-Kawthar, a reference to the “Tank of Abundance” given to Muhammad, is the name of the high marble water tank.

The garden is also built out with fountains and avenues of trees with names both common and scientific. Babur, the first Mughal emperor, brought the charbagh garden, a style influenced by Persian gardens, to India. It reflects the Paradise garden, which is derived from the Persian paridaeza, which means “walled garden,” and represents the four flowing rivers of Jannah (Paradise). Paradise is depicted as a perfect landscape of plenty with four rivers flowing from a central spring or mountain, dividing the garden into the north, west, south, and east in mystic Islamic scriptures from the Mughal era.