Taj Mahal

The story of Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal is the ivory-white marble mausoleum in front of you, the centrepiece of a 17-hectare complex on the right bank of the Yamuna in Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor, to hold the tomb of his late wife, Mumtaz Mahal, and it also contains Shah Jahan’s own tomb.

What makes it immediately striking is its symmetry: the mausoleum sits at the heart of formal gardens, with a mosque and a guest house in the same walled complex, and the whole arrangement is planned around a central axis. The main building is only one part of the story here; the complex was designed as a carefully ordered setting, not just a single monument.

The work was led by a board of architects under Ustad Ahmad Lahori, Shah Jahan’s court architect. More than 20,000 workers and artisans took part. A number of names are recorded with the project, including Ottoman dome designer Ismail Afandi, Persian architects Ustad Isa, Isa Muhammad Effendi, and Puru, chief calligrapher Amanat Khan Shirazi, finial caster Qazim Khan, and masonry supervisors Muhammad Hanif, Mir Abdul Karim, and Mukkarimat. The emperor himself is also named in the history of the building as closely involved with the project.

Construction of the mausoleum was completed in 1648, and the outlying buildings and gardens continued for another five years. The entire complex was believed to have been completed in 1653. An early ceremony took place here on 6 February 1643, when Shah Jahan marked the 12th anniversary of Mumtaz Mahal’s death at the mausoleum.

The building combines Indo-Islamic and Mughal design traditions, and it also reflects architectural traditions of Iran. The mausoleum is made of white marble inlaid with semi-precious stones, while red sandstone was used for the other buildings in the complex. It stands on a platform measuring 300 metres in length and 8.7 metres in height. The main structure rises from a 6-metre-high square plinth and is described as a white marble cube with chamfered corners that create an eight-sided form. Each side has an iwan, or arch-shaped doorway, and is framed by a 33-metre-high pishtaq. The design is carried across the corners as well, so the whole building reads as completely symmetrical from the outside.

Inside, the main chamber is octagonal, with jali screens fitted into the walls to admit light. The layout gives entry from each face, with the main door facing the garden to the south. The complex also includes a mosque and a guest house, and the whole setting is bounded on three sides by a crenellated wall. The platform and the gardens are as much part of the monument as the tomb itself.

The Taj Mahal has had a long and eventful history since it was built. In December 1652, Aurangzeb wrote to Shah Jahan about serious leaks in the tomb, mosque, and assembly hall during the previous rainy season. In 1658 Shah Jahan was deposed and put under house arrest at the nearby Agra Fort, where he could see the Taj Mahal, and when he died in 1666 Aurangzeb buried him in the mausoleum beside Mumtaz Mahal. In the 18th century, the Jat rulers of Bharatpur attacked the complex and removed chandeliers and a gold and silver screen, and by the late 19th century parts of the buildings had fallen into disrepair.

Archaeological work has focused on the foundations and preservation of the monument. Excavations and probing revealed underlying well foundations and construction materials, and more than 670 mason marks have been documented. Conservation has also been a continuing concern: UNESCO recorded serious air pollution affecting the white marble, stone inlays, and sandstone, and the Archaeological Survey of India and the Government of India cleaned surfaces, replaced damaged panels, and imposed restrictions on nearby industries.

Today the Taj Mahal is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a Monument of National Importance, and one of India’s major tourist attractions. Visitors enter through three gates, and vehicles that pollute are not allowed near the complex, so you either walk or take electric buses from the parking areas. If you are looking for the details to notice here, start with the marble surface, then the red sandstone buildings around it, and finally the carefully balanced arrangement of the mosque, guest house, garden, and tomb.