The Tajmahal- Emblem of architecture

“The Taj Mahal rises above the banks of the river like a solitary tear suspended on the cheek of time.” 

― Ravindranath Tagore

The Taj Mahal –

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This is our second post showing the Indian technology of architecture. The information is collected  from student of civil branch. How it becomes emblem for India and the entire world.

Shah Jahan's reign (1628-1658):

The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan's era was considered to be one of the most golden year's for Mughal dynasty.During his reign , he built  10 monuments which includes - Red Fort , Agra Fort, Jama Masjid,  Wazir Khan Mosque ,the Moti Masjid, Shalimar Gardens,the Jahangir mausoleum, Mahabat Khan Mosque ,some sections of Lahore fort and most precisely the most precious the Taj Mahal. Shah Jahan's kingdom demanded more and more tax from the citizens .

The Mughal Empire expanded enormously during this reign, as his son's lead large armies with latest technology warfare. Shah Jahan's reign was considered to be most beneficial for the Mughal empire as his rule was not only based on territory expansion but also a profound and great era for the architect's , artisan's , sculptors,etc. India was a rich centre of arts, sculpture's, crafts ,etc. Most of the great architects , workers and painters worked at the Shah Jahan's kingdom.

Economics :

To maintain a stable economic stability in the territory Shah Jahan introduced three types of coins :

1)Gold coin or Gold Mohur from Agra

2) Silver rupee coin from Patna

3) Silver coin from Multan

4) Copper coin from Daryakot mint

During Shah Jahan's reign , large amount of taxes or revenues were collected from the citizens by the nobles and the contingents in the kingdom. Due to these measures in financial and commercial fields the economic stability had been maintained in the Mughal Empire. The policy of his economic stability during his reign was even followed by his son's.

The Taj Mahal:

Location	Agra , Uttar Pradesh , India
Built in	1632-1653
Architect	Ustad Ahmad Lahauri
Area	17 hectares
Height	73 m

The Taj Mahal better known as ' The Symbol of Love' was constructed by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his most beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. The monument  consist of the tomb of  Mumtaz Mahal , a guest house and also includes a Mosque. Shah Jahan's tomb was later introduced to the Taj Mahal after his death by his son Aurangzeb.

Taj Mahal construction had been started in the year 1632 after the death of Mumtaz Mahal and was completed in the year 1653. Though the construction of plinth level and tomb was completed in 12 years the later years took on for the construction of garden , gate and interiors. The Taj Mahal was built with 29 different types of stones for interior as well as exterior of the monument.

Structure :

The structure of the Taj Mahal consists of three main parts :

1) The mausoleum

2) Garden

3) The other buildings

1)The mausoleum:

The tomb or the main building or itself the Taj Mahal is the main attraction for the tourist. The base  consist of  unequal eight sided area  of more than  55 metres on each four side long. The base structure is chamfered at corners . The tomb of the Taj has been a main attraction of buildings ,the tomb is followed by a finial on the top . The tomb also consists of iwans ( an arch shaped large doorway ) for all four directions . The cylindrical dome ( lotus shape) has a height of 35 metres which almost equal to the base of the dome. The tomb also consist of four minarets ( large towers near the tomb)  , these include balconies at the top and the chatris which shows  the mirror images of the inscriptions on the tomb. The minarets were constructed away from the tomb so that in case of natural hazards the minarets would not damage the dome of the Taj Mahal.

The interiors of the Taj Mahal have a very high influence on the visitors . The interior walls have an average height of 25 metres and are been topped by a false dome for a sun motif. Each pishtaq arches on ground level is followed by second pishtaq arch midway up the wall. There are four arches at the balcony and each are being covered with a jali ( a type of interior design). The types of design used in interior walls are -

1) Flower carvings on walls

2)Delicate Pierce work

3) Archways in the Mosque

4) Jali

5) Finial floor tiling

The exterior design of the tomb consist of many inscriptions on the walls of the tomb . The exterior walls consist of inscriptions of Arabian poems, calligraphy of Arabic Ayaat , calligraphy of Persian poems ,  marble jali lattice, Finial and tamga , dome and minarets, plant motifs,etc.The exterior designs explain the superiority in Architecture while the interior design show the superiority in sculpture.

Garden:

The garden of the Taj consist of 300 metres long area. The garden is known as charbagh or Mughal gardens. The garden uses pathways which is divided into 4 quarters and further in 16 parts of flower beds. The main attraction of the garden is the pool made of marble ,correctly in front of the mausoleum shows the depicts the reflection of the mausoleum. The pool is known as ' Hawd-al-Kawthar' which means - tank of  abundance.

The Other buildings:

The other buildings include the Main Gateway and some small structures . The other buildings were made of red sandstones .The Main Gateway or The Great Gate or Darwaza-i-rauza was building made to improve the beauty of the mausoleum . The other buildings also consists of three other small mausoleums of his other three wives and larger tomb of Mumtaz's servant in these buildings.

Construction:

The construction period required for the built of the Taj Mahal 21 years . The main building or the mausoleum was required only 12 years while the other things like garden , other buildings took the remaining time for the built.

Although the Taj Mahal was built in 17th century the cost required for it's built was 32.8 million rupees which can cost about 52.8 billion rupees ( $827 million) if it was built today.

The Taj Mahal was built on the banks of the Yamuna river . At the time of built , the land was soggy in nature , so the land of about 1.2 hectares was excavated and then the land was levelled 50 metres above the river bank. The colossal brick scaffold were constructed , the footings were filled of  hard stones and rubble.

The Taj Mahal was constructed using ivory white marble ( used for the mausoleum) . Besides  white marble there were other 28 precious stones used to built in the mausoleum .The Taj Mahal was constructed by using all best quality of material imported from all over the country. It is believed that almost 1000 elephants were used to transport materials. Almost 20-30 oxens were used to pull the construction wagons.

The various types of materials were used for the construction and they were brought from -

1) White marble from Makrana , Rajasthan

2) Sapphire from Sri lanka

3) Turqouise from Tibet

4) Crystal from China

5) Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan

5) Carnelia from Arabia

6) Jasper from Punjab

Rumours :

Since the monument was built it has been the part of  various rumours . The few of them enlisted below

1) Lot of people believed that Shah Jahan was going to build a black Taj Mahal on the other side  of the banks of the Yamuna river . Even black stones were going on the banks of the river  but in the later research found that those were the White marble stones which turned black due to chemical reactions of the water on the stones.

2) A theory also suggested that Taj was built by the Italian architect Geronima Vereneo and was claimed by Henry Keene  in 1879 who went through the Spanish writings.

3)A theory suggested that Hindu King Parmar Dev built the Taj Mahal in 1196 A.D but later on this petition passed by the  P.N . Oak was dismissed by the Supreme court.

4) There had been also a  theory of Taj Mahal being built by the French architect Austin of Bordeaux was promoted by the William Sleeman based on the works of Jean Baptiste Tavernier.

5) The rumour also went on viral that beating the silhouette of the Finial would cause water to come forth.

6) There had been also rumours that workers , Craftsmen, Architect's hands were cutdown by the Mughal Emperor but till date no evidences were found about the killings of the workers or the architects.

 Threats :

Since the monument was built , there had been lots of people who tried to demolish the monument. Some of the incidents are given below:

1) During the World War II , the scaffoldings were increased on the monument to protect it from the Japanese Air Bombers.

2) During the Indo-Pak wars , the scaffoldings were again increased to protect the monument from attacks.

3) The modern day threat is the pollution and acid rain which is turning the monument into yellow colour from white for this government designed a Taj Trapezium Zone where no vehicles are allowed to enter as well as no factories, industries are allowed .

Tourism:

In 1979 , the Taj Mahal was discovered as world heritage site by the UNESCO .In 2001 , it was reported that almost 2 million visitors visited the Taj Mahal.In 2014, the number increased upto 7- 8 million. It shows the Indian wealth and technology in 17^th century till the Taj Mahal is best built building entire the world which is called as the symbol of LOVE.