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UNIT 6 DESCRIBING A MONUMENT: THE TAJ MAHAL Structure 6.0 Objectives 6.1 Introduction 6.2· Facts on Taj Mahal 6.2.1 Plan 6.2.2 StylisticDetails 6.2.3 Decoration 6.2.4 Cost 6.3 Genesis of the Scheme and Construction 6.3.1 Mwntaz Mahal 6.3.2 Architect 6.3.3 Calligrapher 6.3.4 Garden 6.4 Taj Mahal in History 6.4.1 A ContemporaryAccount 6.4.2 EuropeanPerceptions 6.S Anecdotes 6.6 Conservation of Taj Mahal 6.7 Let us Sum Up 6.8 Keywords 6.9 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises 6.0 OBJECTIVES The aim of this Unit is to make you understand how a monument should be described to tourists i.e. the role of a guide in explaining a historical monument. No better example can be offered to illustrate this role than the Taj Mahal at Agra. Hence we give you information on: • the architectural details of Taj Mahal, • the genesis of the scheme to build Taj Mahal and the details of its construction, • some interesting references to Taj Mahal in the historical literature, and • some anecdotes concerning Taj Mahal. All these details will equip you to describe the monument and motivate more tourists to pay a visit to it. 6.1 INTRODUCTION Taj Mahal is India's- star tourist attraction. It is also a World Heritage Monument. This white marble monsoleum commemorating Mumtaz Mahal, the beloved queen of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, is an unparalled beauty among all the historical monuments of India. As a guide you will always find the tourists falling under the magic spell of Taj Mahal. You should, therefore, strive to prolong this sentiment and also give them enough reason to pay repeat visits. We have given in this Unit details pertaining to Taj Mahal's architecture and history. Some anecdotal information as also the perceptions of Taj Mahal in European minds have also been discussed here. This we hope will be utilised by you in improving you description of the monument and thus enhancing your clientele. What we have discussed in the Unit should be taken as the example of describing any monument as per its history, architecture, etc. 19 Describing a Monument: 6.2 FACTS ON TAJ MAHAL Taj Mahal Few people know that the name Taj Mahal was given to this mausoleum by European travellers. In this contemporary chronicles it was known as the Illuminated Tomb (Rauza-l Manawwara) and was built between 1632 and 1643. 6.2.1 Plan The plan of the Taj can be described as follows: • The Taj is situated on a raised platform at the southern end of a four-quartered garden. • The locality in which Taj Mahal is situated in the Agra city is known as Mumtazabad after the queen Mumtaz Mahal. • Taj complex has been designed on grid pattern. • Beginning from north, the first composition is a red sand-stone forecourt known as chowk-i iilo khana in chronicles. It was intended for the royal .retinue. • Next is a 30 m. high red sand-stone gateway through which one enters the garden complex on which the main building- Taj Mahal-is located. • Through the gate entry is made to a four-part garden divided into quadrangles by waterways. They meet in the centre in a large tank. The model of this garden is the mythical garden of paradise. • The northern end of this garden has the Taj Mahal. Western plank of Taj is a mosque in red sand-stone and the eastern flank is its replice. • In the centre of the platform is Taj Mahal with each corner ha..vingone four-storied marble minaret. .6.2.2 Stylistic Detail Besides the plan and layout, a good guide must also know the stylistic details of the monument being described. In the case of Taj these are: • Taj is planned on the pattern of Humayun's Tomb. It is Timurid in style. • The exterior is white marble with a sparing use of inlay work in coloured stones. • Qurantic verses in black calligraphy are inlaid on the marble surface. • The main mansoleum is octagonal and contains, in the centre, the grave of Mumtaz Mahal, Shahjahan's grave is by the side of the central grave. • Originally the graves were surrounded by a gold screen designed by Shah Jahan's goldsmith Bebadal Khan. Later, for fear of theft or loot, it was replaced by Shah Jahan with a carved and latticed marble screen. 6.2.3 Decoration Every monument has certain decorative aspects which should be brought to the knowledge of tourists/visitors. For example: • The decorative device envisaged for Taj Mahal gives a prominent place to the play of light on the marble surface of the structure. • On the lower portions of the structure there are carved floral panels. • Above these panels are a series of floral motifs in inlaid coloured stones. Main flowers depicted there are narcissus, roses and tulips. • These are the flowers which have been used in Parsian mystic poetry to describe the features of the beloved. • The carvings and inlaid patterns have been designed in such manner as to give prominence to the while marble surface, rather than overshadowing it 21 As a wonder of the world Taj Mahal has long been marketed as a tourism product by the Tourism Industry. During the PATA Conference in Delhi (1993) one of the Travel Agencies put up a Balloon of Taj. ·6.2.4 Cost Describing a Monument: TaJ Mahal Visitors to the Taj often ask about its cost or how much money was spent on it by Shahjahan. Guides also make all kinds of assumptions. In estimating the cost of Taj Mahalno absolute figure is able to give an exact idea of the importance of this building project. A good guide will make this clear. He can then give the comparative figures like: • For the building projects of Shah Jahan (excluding of-course the Jama Masjid, Delhi) we get an absolute figure viz., two-and-a-half crore of rupees. • The Taj Mahal accounted for nearly twenty per cent of this expenditure i.e. fifty lakhs of rupees. • Any detailed break-up of this expenditure as also the construction procedure have been missing from the accounts of contemporary or near-contemporary chroniclers. Check Your Progress-I 1) Write in about 50 words the plan ofTa] Mahal as you will describe to the tourists. ............................................................................................................ 2) Who designed the goldscreen around the grave of Mumtaz Mahal and why was it removed? •••••••••••••• IO ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• , •••• 10 •• ~ ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 3) What kind of flowers have been used as motifs in Taj Mahal and what is their significance? • ~ ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• , '.' 10 "10 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 10 10 •• .......................................................................................................... 6.3 GENESIS AND EXECUTION OF THE SCHEME Taj Mahal is the mansoleum built by Shah Jahan to commemorate his second wife .Mumtaz Mahal. Here we are giving you·an account of the genesis of the scheme of Taj Mahal and its execution. Guides and Escorts 6.3.1 Mumtaz Mahal Mumtaz Mahal was the daughter of Asaf Khan and grand daughter of Jahangir's Prime Minister, Itimad-ud Daula. She was born in April 1593 and was thus only a year and quarter younger to Shah Jahan. The marriage of Shah lahan to Mumtaz Mahal W3S settled in 1607 but could only be ceremonised nearly five years later, in 1612. In the meanwhile, in 1609, Shah- Jahan was married to the daughter of Muzaffar Husain Mirza. His third wife was the grand daughter of Abdur Rahim Khan-i Khanan. Mumtaz Mahal was Shah Jahan's dear most queen. She gave birth to fourteen children out of which only seven survived. She died in childbirth in 1631 at Burhanpur where her body was temporarily interred in a garden called Zainabad, across the river Tapti. It seems Shah Jahan soon decided to give a final burial to her deceased queen at Agra and build a memorial building of unparalled beauty on the grave. The foundation of Taj Mahal was laid in January, 1632. The site chosen for building the mansoleum was originally occupied by a mansion of Raja Man Singh. It was, therefore, given for the mansolsum in return for a larger property by his grandson Raja Jai Singh. After the final burial of the body a small domed building was raised over the grave until the construction of the grand mansoleum. 6.3.2 Architect The architect of the Taj Mahal was Ustad Ahmad (c. 1570-1649) a native of Lahore who was awarded the title of Nadir-ul Asr (Wonder of the Age) by Shah Jahan. He worked on Taj Mahal under the supervision of Makramat Khan and Mir Abdul Karim, the two government officials. Until 1930s, it was wrongly believed that either the Italian craftsman Geronimo Vevonco or the French goldsmith Augustin de Bordean designed the Taj Mahal. " In 1937 the Scholars came across a text cal1ed Diwani Mubandis containing a collection of poems written by Ustad Ahmad's son Lutf Allah. Mention of Ustad Ahmad as the architect of Taj Mahal is found in this text The supply of marble for Taj Mahal was made from the quarries at Makrana and ensured by Raja Jai Singh under imperial orders. 6.3.3 Calligrapher Floral motifs, geometrical designs and calligraphy are the three prominent decorative features of Taj Mahal. The most interesting of these, however, is the calligraphy. Wc get interesting details on it from the chronicles: • The calligrapher was Amanat Khan. But this was his title. His name was Abdal Haqq and he was a native of Shiran. His elder brother was Mullil Shukr Allah, better known as Afzal Khan.

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