Taj Mahal – Agra.
“A tear on the face of eternity” Rabindranath Tagore.
Taj Mahal is the symbol of eternal love, a visitor may often get lost in the memories of the stories he had heard from his child-hood looking at this structure as well as its image reflected in the pool below. The story is that this beautiful structure was built by one of the most powerful emperor in the history of India for the memory of his queen who passed away in her young age. This romantic story along with the rare and beautiful spectacles visible here all combine in to his mind to form a feeling of surprise, nostalgia and a drop of tear for the beautiful queen who passed away early.
20,000 Men; 16 years!
The Taj is an architectural marvel formed of the fusion between Indian, Persian, Turkish and the Islamic styles. Its construction started on 1632 took 16 long years when it was finally completed in 1648! Such a long period was taken not because of any obstruction in the site, but it was such a massive structure involving a lot of precision works that deserved so much man-day involving the service of 20,000 skilled artisans; a good number of them imported from all over Asia. The ramp intended to transport materials for the dome was two mile long!
Mumtaz Mahal.
Shah Jehan (Shahbuddin Mohammed Shah Jehan (5 -1 1502 to 22 -1 1666) the fifth ruler of the Mughal dynasty) wanted was sheer beauty and top class construction. ‘Makrana marble’ (the glittering white marble mined from Rajasthan) silver, gold and the jewels (mostly imported from Persia and Turkey) all were so lavishly used to decorate floral designs. The construction to take place was no ordinary building it was intended for the memory of his dear wife Arjumand Banu Begum popularly known as Mumtaz Mahal. Mumtaz was Shah Jehan’s second wife and she died in child birth.
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