Construction Throughout the Ages - Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal is an intergrated complex of building structures built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

The white domed marble mausoleum centre piece of the complex is regarded as an elegant memorial to enternal love and was constructed on a parcel of land to the south of the walled city of Agra.Shah Jahan was Emperor during the Mughal Empire`s period of greatest prosperity when his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal died in 1631 during the birth of their fourteenth child. The grief-sticken Emperor ordered the commencement of the construction of the tomb in 1632, a year after her death.

The mausoleum centre piece was completed in 1648 and the surrounding buildings and gardens were completed some years later. Emperor Shah Jahan described the Taj Mahal in these immortal words.
 
Should guilty seek asylum here,
Like one pardoned, he becomes free from sin.
Should a sinner make his way to this mansion,
All his past sins are to be washed away,
The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs;
And the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes.
In this world this edifice has been made;
To display thereby the creator`s glory.
 
An area of roughly three acres was excavated, filled with dirt to reduce seepage, and leveled at 50 metres above the bank of the nearby Yamuma River. In the tomb area, wells were dug and filled with stone and rubble to form the foundations. Instead of using lashed bamboo, the workmen constructed a massive brick scaffold that mirrored the tomb. This scaffold was so large that the supervisors estimated it would take years to remove. According to legend, Shah Jahan decreed that anyone could keep bricks taken from the scaffold, and so it was virtually dismantled overnight by peasants.

A labour force of twenty thousand workers was recruited across northern India. Sculptors from Bukhara, calligraphers from Syria and Persia, inlayers from southern India as well as stonecutters from Baluchistan. Shah Jahan supposedly inflicted deaths, dismemberments, and mutilations on various designers and craftsmen associated with the tomb. Some stories claim that those involved with the project signed undertakings not to have part in similar designs and constructions.

The Taj Mahal was constructed using materials from all over India and Asia. More than a thousand elephants were used to transport the construction materials. The translucent white marble was brought from Rajastan, the jasper from Punjap, jade and crystal from China. The turquoise was from Tibet and Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, while the saphire came from Sri Lanka and the carnelian from Arabia. In all twenty-eight types of precious and semi-precious stones were inlaid in the white marble.

Soon after the completion of the Taj Mahal, Shah Jahan was deposed by one of his sons and placed under house arrest at the nearby Agra Fort. After his death, against his wishes, he was laid to rest in the mausoleum next to his wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

By the late 19th century, parts of the buildings had fallen in disrepair. During the time of the Indian Mutiny of 1857, the Taj Mahal was defaced by British soldiers, who chiseled out precious stones from the structures. At the end of the 19th century, Lord Curzon, the British Viceroy of India, ordered a massive restoration project, which was completed in 1908.

During 1983, the Taj Mahal became a UNESCO World Heritage Site and in a recent poll, with more than 100million votes, was announced one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. A poetic legend relates that once a year, during the rainy season, a single drop of water falls on the cenotaph, inspired by Rabindranath Tagore`s description of the tomb as "one tear-drop ...upon the cheek of time".

The enchanting melancholy of the Taj Mahal remains, even though new enviromental threats place the condition of this magnificent monument to enduring love at risk.

Pieter Rautenbach