The Taj Mahal - a Dream in Marble
By Don Alney
 A visit to the Taj Mahal is a
pilgrimage, as much for its architectural beauty, as for an emperor’s undying
love and the wondrous monument he raised to perpetuate it.
 Verbal efforts generally fail to convey
the incredible beauty, the sheer poetry, the romance and the legend that shroud
the Taj Mahal. Rabindranath Tagore called it a teardrop glistening on the cheek
of time. Edwin Arnold came equally close when he remarked that it was "not a
piece of architecture, as other buildings are, but the proud passion of an
emperor’s love wrought in living stone."
 Shah Jehan, the fifth Mughal emperor
built the Taj Mahal in 1631 as a loving tribute to the memory of his second
wife, Mumtaz Mahal. When she extracted a promise from the
emperor to build the world’s most beautiful mausoleum in her memory, to keep the
story of their love alive, perhaps she intuitively knew that her end was near.
 Shortly after, she died in Burhanpur while accompanying her husband on a
military campaign, after giving birth to their 14th child. It is believed that
Shah Jahan was inconsolable to the point of contemplating abdication in favour
of his sons. It is also claimed that the emperor was so devastated that over the
next few months his hair became completely grey.
Shortly after her burial in the Zainabad
Gardens in Burhanpur, it became obvious that the cost of transporting the
mind-boggling amount of marble stone to Burhanpur would be prohibitively high.
 Besides,
the emperor’s personal supervision would be negligible if the monument was built
so far away from the capital of the empire.
After great deliberation, the decision was taken to construct the mausoleum in
Agra on a large strip of land near the Yamuna, acquired from Raja Jai Singh. Six
months after her burial in Burhanpur, her body was exhumed and re-buried in a
temporary grave in Agra. After completion of the Taj, it was planned to transfer
the Empress’ remains to the crypt of the new tomb. However, she lay in her
temporal grave for twenty-two years, while the work on her tomb continued,
unabated.
 It is generally
believed that Ustad Isa Khan Effendi, a Persian, was the chief architect and he
assigned the detailed work to his pupil Ustad Ahmad. Be that as it may, its
construction began in 1631, with twenty thousand people labouring on it for
almost a quarter century.
 The tomb was provided with sumptuous fittings and
furnishings, including rich Persian carpets, gold lamps and candlesticks. It is
reliably reported and documented that two great silver doors to the entrance
were looted and melted down by Suraj Mal in 1764, and a sheet of pearls that
covered the sarcophagus was carried off by Amir Husein Ali Khan in 1720. The
monument is built on a high, red sandstone plinth.
 This is topped by an enormous
white marble terrace. It is on this platform that the edifice with the famous
dome, flanked by four tapering minarets, rests. The Makrana white marble of the
Taj Mahal assumes subtle variations of light, tint and tone at different times
of the day. At dawn it takes on a soft dreamy aspect; at noon, it appears a dazzling white,
and in the moonlight the dome looks like a huge iridescent
pearl. Not surprisingly, then, the Taj is today regarded
world wide as a supreme labour of love. In a crypt, beneath a set of pseudo
cenotaphs, lies the jewel-inlaid grave of the queen. So
remarkable is the workmanship that the Taj has been described as having been
designed by giants and completed by incredibly accomplished jewellers. It is a
unique example of architectural balance, artistry and exquisite workmanship.
 The emperor was deposed by his son
Aurangzeb in 1658, and imprisoned in the Agra Fort where he spent the last eight
years of his life. He was held captive in the Muthamman
Burj, occasionally referred to as the Jasmine Tower, which he had built for his
wife. Its is an octagonal building and surmounts the largest bastion of the Agra
Fort and faces the river side, and a clear view of the Taj standing tall beside
the Yamuna river. During his incarceration, his only
companion was his favourite daughter Jahanara, who elected to share her father’s
imprisonment. By forbidding him from visiting the Taj Mahal, Aurangzeb ensured
that Shah Jehan did not ever leave his prison. The heartbroken former emperor’s
only solace was perhaps to look eastwards from his prison, with nostalgic
yearning at the temple of love he had created for his beloved Mumtaz. However, after his father’s death, Aurangzeb had the old emperor’s
body laid to rest in the Taj Mahal, beside his soul mate.
 It
is night as I stand at the window of my hotel room, within two kilometres of the
mausoleum. The October full moon slides out from behind a thin veil of clouds,
in a silver grey sky. From this distance, the pure white marble shimmers in ethereal
beauty, and fills the heart and eye to abundance, to silence, to prayer.
However, despite the brilliance of its stone, the tomb appears shrouded in
melancholy in the cold light. I get the impression that it radiates an eternal
sorrow, perhaps because it is such a perfect creation in an impossibly imperfect
world. Even though this is my fifth visit to the Taj, I stand transfixed,
spellbound, and deeply touched by all that it symbolises. Here, in these stones
lies the quintessence of a rare and lasting beauty, created by an emperor’s
burning passion to exalt and perpetuate the memory of his lost love.
© DON ALNEY
14-D, Bondel Road,
Kolkata – 700 019,
West Bengal, India.
Tel +91-33-22802305
Fax +91-33-22801701
E-mail
d@vsnl.com
All photographs by Don Alney
FACTFILE
When to visit - October to March
Temperatures
Summer - Max: 45°C
Min: 21.9°C
Winter - Max: 31.7 Min: 8°C
Subscriber Trunk Dialing Code 0562-
Tourist Information Centre - U.P.
Tourist Office, Mall Road, Agra. Tel : (0562)363377
Distances of key cities near Agra:
Bharatpur 54 kms.
Delhi 204 kms.
Jaipur 237 kms.
Khajuraho 395 kms
Mathura 54 kms.
How to get there - Agra is connected by
air, rail, & road with all major cities of India
Where to stay: There are large numbers
of hotels to suit all budgets. However, it would be prudent to book comfortably
in advance. Here is a list of some of these:
Where to stay:
Five Star Hotels in Agra
Jaypee Palace Hotel and Convention Center
Welcomgroup Mughal Sheraton
Clarks Shiraz
Hotel Agra Ashok
Hotel Taj View
Howard Park Plaza International
Hotel Amar Vilas
Four Star Hotels in Agra
Hotel Holiday Inn
The Trident
Three Star Hotels in Agra
Hotel Deedar-e-Taj
Hotel Amar
Hotel Mansingh Palace
Government Approved Hotels in Agra
Hotel Amar Yatri Niwas
Mayur Tourist Complex
Other Hotels in Agra
Hotel Kant
Taj Khema |
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