The Taj Mahal symbol of Love, architectural jewel, monument
to a grand passion. The Taj Mahal was built in the 17th century by Shah Jahan
king of the world, ruler of India's mighty mughal empire. This great warrior
king gave the world an architectural master piece of a kind that it never seen before.
It is also the legend of his queen the beautiful Mumtaz Mahal and of their love
too perfect to survive. The chosen one of the palace had her final resting place
in the world’s most beautiful building, but the magnificent chambers of the Taj
Mahal hide a secret and Shah Jahan had paid terrible price to complete his life’s
worth at a turning point in India's history. Today the Taj Mahal is one of the world’s
greatest tourist attractions every year more than 3 million people come to see
humanities loveliest building with their own eyes, but for the Indian nation
the Taj Mahal is much more than an architectural master piece.
This is one of the monuments that makes India what it is,
that gives people there identity, it makes them proud, this building is the symbol
of the whole nation. The Taj Mahal was built in one of the most glorious period
of Indian history. The time of the moguls with their mighty empire and fabulous
rituals, its creator a man who dedicated his life to a dream, great mughal Shah
Jahan. The building that emerged from his plans perfectly combines grace and
scale, power and beauty. The Taj Mahal crown of the palace, the main part of
the Taj is a tomb for Mumtaz Mahal the love of Shah Jahan’s life. In her memory
the great mughal created this eternal love poem in stone. The building of the
Taj commenced in 1632, an army of elephants began dragging construction
materials to the Mughal capital, and this was the biggest building project of
the age. In a few short years the shell of the Taj Mahal was complete ready to
be clad in flawless marble at colossal expense.
The location of the Taj on the banks of the yamuna river was
the special challenge. Under the water you they really had to find ground solid
enough to build on, so they have to dig down until they hit hard dry earth,
they came up with brilliant solution to this problem, the one that still used
today in a slightly different form. They decided to build a well foundation
that was the revolutionary idea for those times. The great mughal’s engineers
dig deep wells to below the water table then they filled them up with rocks and
water on this base the master builder erects stone columns linked together by massive
arches, the result a solid mountain of stone to support the foundations slab of
the building, protecting the Taj from the currents of the yamuna river forever.
The Taj Mahal must always stand as a testament to the eternal power of love.
Shah Jahan was the favorite son of the emperor, the great mogul,
raised in a world of wealth and splendor. In the year 1607 on his birthday he
has been weighed in gold and precious stones that, doesn't mean he has been
chosen to become the new great mughal, but there were high hopes for this young
prince and great dangers too, his own brothers were his deadliest rivals, the
first born prince does not always become king, all the rulers sons has to fight
to claim the throne, even to the death. The adulation of the crowds means
nothing. The court chronicles has been the guide to Shah Jahan’s life to its
triumphs and disasters.
The prince is given to a child bride an arrange marriage for
political reasons, it could have been an empty contract but this love has last
for eternity. Ten years later the prince was 25 years old. He has fought the
enemies of the emperor winning victory after victory as a reward his father gave
him the title Shah Jahan King of the world. The capital of the Mughal Empire is
the great city of Agra in the Northern India. The location of the giant red
fort, the center of imperial power and one of India’s mightiest strong holds.
The ruling mughals and their families lived in magnificent palaces inside the
fort. Here the women of his harem see the Shah Jahan’s every win, but his favorite
by far was his childhood love Mumtaz Mahal. Shah Jahan calls her the chosen one
of the palace.
From the chronicles we know this royal couple was especially
close for those times, but Shah Jahan’s memorial to Mumtaz Mahal is the world’s
most exquisite symbol of romantic love. Every day countless visitors are enthrall
by the Taj Mahal, partly because it is mughal architects used some remarkable
optical tricks. The first view of the monument is framed by the main gate as you
walk closer the Taj Mahal seems to get smaller. It seems to grow bigger as you
walk away, the guides here say when you leave you take the Taj with you in your
heart, an optical trick went into the building of the minarets too, they lean
slightly outwards, if they were truly vertical they would have seen to be
leaning inwards, by leaning away from each other they look perfectly upright
and that brings another advantage, in an earth quake the minarets would
collapse outward sparing the Taj and its mighty dome. The dome is the crowning glory
of the Taj Mahal. The element that makes it’s so timeless and graceful. Today
we have other options we can build giant supporting structures in steel for
dome like that, we have other materials but they had to solve all their
problems in stone so they laid stone on stone and build up the domain rings.
The dome rises layer by layer; the mortar between the stones gives its
stability. The result is self supporting with no reinforcing stirrups or
columns. The weight of the dome is transferred directly downwards to the
massive masonry below. The dome is more than 40 meters high and 4 meter thick
yet it seems to float over the marble facade a miracle of stress calculation
still admired by engineers. For over 350 years this dome has been the ultimate
expression of the mughal architecture.
In 1621 the mughal empire is at a turning point, the emperor
Shah Jahan’s father was desperately ill, his sons were gathered in the shadow
of the throne ready to fill the vacuum of power. Shah Jahan knows that his
moment has come, nothing would stop him in his lust for absolute power, and no
means were ruled out. When the great mughal finally died, Shah jahan’s rivals
were into action, brotherly love means nothing, when the prize is so great. With
his rivals gone Shah Jahan seizes the throne. He has been crowned emperor in
1628 in the red fort in Agra, Shah Jahan soon proved himself a wise and
moderate ruler, he guides the empire to even greater prosperity. Mumtaz Mahal
stays in the background, but she is one of the Shah’s most important advisors.
This Mughal then it seems to have a glorious future perhaps it equals the illustrious
past. The Mughals have descendants from the greatest war of them all
"Genghis Khan" their ancestors were warriors of the ancient steps
"The Mongols". A mere 100 years before Shah Jahan’s rise to power the
mongols swept down from the north on to the planes of India. There canons
crushed one Indian city after another. By the time of Shah Jahan the mongols
controls most of India, the first time this great plan has been unified in
nearly 2000 years, the Mughal rulers used to bring their faith with them
"Islam" after Hinduism Islam soon becomes India's second religion but
the invaders don't impose it on the people, they used to seek a balance between
the cultures, the mughal lords proclaimed religious tolerance.
More than a 100 million people now see business and industry,
science and arts flourished. There were no limits to the great mughuls power,
Shah Jahan holds sway over his subject, over life and death. His word was law throughout
the empire. This ruler leads the country to prosperity and stability. The court
chronicles records that Shah Jahan used to bring the people abundant joy and
happiness and the Shah Jahan mughal rule in India reached its dazzling zenith,
but now his greatest legacy the Taj Mahal symbol of Indian nation is under
threat. This has been a high security zone since 2006 after bomb threats from
terrorists and religious fundamentalist; it is guarded round the clock. Access
to the mausoleum is tightly controlled. Filming of the magnificent interior is
forbidden, no one knows how long the Taj will need this kind of protection.
Art historian Rebecca was able to study the Taj before the
restrictions came into force. She is the international expert on the building
and its history. She has also decoded the religious symbolism of the monument.
The Taj Mahal is the architectural monuments of this life and of a next
according to Islamic belief. The ground plan shows this juenity the complex of
splits between the tomb garden with its mausoleum and other side meant for
bazaars and markets, what’s interesting is at the other side the mirror image
of the mausoleum site, the connecting square with the great main gate marks the
transition to the tomb garden and opens up the view to the mausoleum. At the
center of the mausoleum is the holy of the holies the most splendid room in Taj
Mahal, the final resting place of Shah Jahan’s bride. Mumtaz Mahal the chosen
one of the palace lives the luxurious life in the women's apartment in the red
fort. People used to admire her grace and charm even the moon they say hides
from her beauty in shame. The first lady of the empire is fabulously wealthy.
She has huge resources, she was the highest recipient of money in the entire harem
being the chief queen for the most beloved queen of the emperor because payment
in the harem were graded, we have very interesting accounts of graded payments
from a very huge amounts to very small amount and on top of this there were
gifts very very exquisite expensive gifts on various occasions.
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