There is a raging debate over
whether Taj Mahal was built by Shahjahan.
Let us check some facts and use some commonsense.
Below are listed the most
important dates that are important milestones in Shahjahans life...
1592-Shahab-ud-din Muhammad Khurram
was born on 5 January 1592 in Lahore. His mother was a Rajput princess from Marwar
called Princess Jagat Gosaini (her official name in Mughal chronicles was
Bilqis Makani) also known as "Taj Bibi Bilqis Makani," Wife of
Nur-ud-din Salim Jahangir Jahangir.
1607-Married, Akbarabadi Mahal ??
1609-Married At age 17, Kandahari
Begum (m. 12 December 1609)
1610-child born, Hamza Banu Begam
1611-Chidl born, Parez Banu Begam
1612-At age 20, married third
wife Arjumand Banu Begum (born 1593),
better known as Mumtaz Mahal (“Chosen One of the Palace”), whom he married in
1612 and cherished as the favorite of his three queens.
1613-Child born, Hurunissa Begam
to Persian princess ??
1614-Fought the Rajputs
1614-March 23, child born,
Jahanara Begum
1615-March 20, child born,
Muhammad Dara Sikoh
1615-Child born, A daughter from Rajput
Princess Manavati Baiji Lal Sahiba of Jodhpur
1616-June 26, child born, Shah
Shuja
1617-Fought the Lodis
1617-Child born, September 3,
Roshnara Begum.
1617-Married Izz un-Nisa Begum
(m. 3 September 1617) (also known as Fatehpuri Mahal ??)
1618-November 3, child born,
Aurangazeb.
1619-Child birth, Sultan Jahan
Afroz Mirza to wife Izz un-Nisa Begum.
1621-Sikh rebellion by Guru
Hargobind, Lahore
1621-Sikh rebellion in Rohilla.
1622-Fought against father
Jahangir and Nur Jahan
1624-October 9, child born,
Muhammad Burad Baksh.
1626-Married, Sahiba.
1627-After the death of his
father, King Jahangir, in 1627, Shah Jahan emerged the victor of a bitter power
struggle with his brothers.
1628-crowned himself emperor at Agra in 1628.
1628-Executed brothers and
cousins, imprisoned Nur Janan, other chief rivals.
1630-Childbrith, Hunsara Begum.
1630-Famine killed two million.
1631-Childbrith, Dahar Ara Begum
1631-Childbirth, July 17, Gauhar
Ara Begum.
date unknown-childbirth, Suraiya
Banu Begum
date unknown-childbirth, Purunhar
Banu Begum
date unknown-childbirth, Nazar
Ara Begum
date unknown-childbirth, there
are more children, not able to list.
1631-July- Mumtaz Mahal died on
the night of June 16-17, 1631, after giving birth to Gauhar Ara Begum, her 14th
child (14 children in 19 years of marriage), at Burhanpur, where she had
accompanied her husband on a campaign against Khan Jahan Lodi.
1631-December-On December 1,
1631, Mumtaz Mahal’s body was taken out of the baradari and sent in ceremony to
Agra
accompanied by her son Shah Shuja, her lady-in-waiting Satti-un-Nisa, and Hakim
Alimuddin Wazir Khan. They arrived in Agra
from Burhanpur 20 days later.
There are many theories of how
her body was embalmed. Some say it was kept in a sealed lead-and-copper coffin
filled with natural embalming herbs as per Unani techniques. Since the coffin
was never opened, one doesn’t know the state of decomposition or preservation
of the queen’s body.
1631-Hoogly port war with Portuguese
1631 AD - Shahjahan builds Shish
Mahal (Mirror Palace)
at Lahore fort.
1632-Construction of the Taj
began around 1632 and would continue for the next two decades.
1632-Daulatabad, Maharashtra war.
1633-Imposed sharia law against
Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians
1633 AD - Shahjahan builds
Khawabgah (a dream place or sleeping area), Hamam (bath), Khilwat Khana
(retiring room), and Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque) at Lahore fort.
1634-Sikh rebellion in Amritsar.
1634-Sikh rebellion in Lahira
1634-Sikh rebellion in Kartapur
1635-Golconda, Nizam Shahi war, golconda fort known for
its acoustics.
1636-Bijapur war
1637-Dilras Banu Begum married
Prince Muhi-ud-din (later known as 'Aurangzeb' upon his accession) on 8 May
1637 in Agra.
1638-Kandhar war with safavids
1639-Supposedly started building
Red fort
1645 AD - Shahjahan builds
Diwan-e-Khas (Hall of Special Audience) at Lahore fort.
1647-Shahjahans mosque, Thatta,
Sindh with 93 domes, known for its acoustics.
1648-Red fort supposedly
completed
The tablet raised inside Delhi’s Red Fort by
modern archaeologists proclaims that Shahjahan (who ruled from 1628 to 1658
A.D.) built this fort from 1639 to 1648 A.D. As against the painting of
Shahjahan’s time preserved in the Bodleian Library,Oxford. It depicts Shajahan receiving the
Persian ambassador inside the fort in 1628, the very year of Shahjahan’s
accession. Obviously the fort existed much before Shahjahan.
1650-Married Sarhindi Begum
Sahiba.??
1653-Construction of the Taj
finished in 1653.
1657-Shahjan falls ill.
1657-Dilras Banu Begum, wife of
Aurangazeb, dies on October 8, 1657, after birth of 5th child.
1658-Aurangzeb (Shah Jahan’s
third son with Mumtaz Mahal) deposed his ailing father in 1658 and took power
himself.
1659-August 30th, Muhammad Dara
Sikoh, killed by Aurangazeb.
1659-Shah Shuja, killed by
Aurangazeb.
1660-Bibi Ka Maqbara, tomb of
Aurangazebs wife, is believed to have been built between 1660 and 1661 in Aurangabad.
1661-December 14th, Muhammad
Burad Baksh killed by Aurangazeb.
1666-Shahjahan died in 1666, he
was buried in Tajmahal next to Mumtaz.
1671-September 11, Roshnara Begum
died.
1706-Gauhar Begam dies.
1707-Aurangzeb, is buried in
Khuldabad, a few kilometers away from mausoleum of his wife, Bibi Ka Makbara.
You have never checked the major
events listed above before you believed the story that Shahjahan built Taj
Mahal. If the chronology mentioned above
is anything, it is impossible for a structure like Taj Mahal be built in the
middle of such tumultuous events.
Building a masterpiece like the Taj can only be a peace time activity,
which we know during Shahjahans rule, it never was.
There are 1000s of mosques in India, Pakistan,
and Bangladesh
still that are very clearly known to have been built on destroyed temples.
The famous Hindu treatise on
architecture titled Vishwakarma Vastushastra mentions the Tej-Linga amongst the
Shivalingas i.e., the stone emblems of Lord Shiva, the Hindu deity. Such a Tej
Linga was consecrated in the Taj Mahal, hence the term Taj Mahal alias Tejo Mah
Not known is that Shah Jahan
himself had a harem of 5,000 women! The
further glory was that the same Shah Jahan had an incestuous relationship with
his daughter namely Jehanara/Roshnara justifying it by saying, ‘a gardener has
every right to
taste the fruit he has planted’!
Is such a person even capable of imagining such a wondrous structure as the Taj
Mahal let alone be the conceptual architect of it? Neither is there any identical structure
built by Jehangir or his predecessors for Shahjahan to get ideas from to build
one like the Taj.
Babur, Humayun, Akbar,
Etmad-ud-Daula and Safdarjang have been buried in captured Hindu mansions or
temples.
The people who dominate the Agra region are Jats.
Their name of Shiva is Tejaji. The Jat special issue of The Illustrated
Weekly of India (June 28,1971) mentions that
the Jats have the Teja Mandirs i.e., Teja Temples. This is because Teja-Linga
is among the several names of the Shiva Lingas. From this it is apparent that
the Taj-Mahal is Tejo-Mahalaya, The Great Abode of Tej.
Taj is a 7-storey structure, why?
Taj has a well in it, why?
Shahjahan’s own court chronicle,
the Badshahnama, admits (page 403, vol 1) that a grand mansion of unique
splendor, capped with a dome (Imaarat-a-Alishan wa Gumbaze) was taken from the
Jaipur Maharaja Jaisigh for Mumtaz’s burial, and the building was known as Raja
Mansingh’s palace.
Prince Aurangzeb’s letter to his
father,emperor Shahjahan,is recorded in atleast three chronicles titled
`Aadaab-e-Alamgiri’, `Yadgarnama’, and the `Muruqqa-i-Akbarabadi’ (edited by
Said Ahmed, Agra, 1931, page 43, footnote 2). In that letter Aurangzeb records
in 1652 A.D itself that the several buildings in the fancied burial place of
Mumtaz were seven storeyed and were so old that they were all leaking, while
the dome had developed a crack on the northern side. Aurangzeb, therefore, ordered immediate
repairs to the buildings at his own expense while recommending to the emperor
that more elaborate repairs be carried out later. This is the proof that during
Shahjahan’s reign itself that the Taj complex was so old as to need immediate
repairs.
The ex-Maharaja of Jaipur retains
in his secret personal `KapadDwara’ collection two orders from Shahjahan dated
Dec 18, 1633 (bearing modern nos. R.176 and 177) requestioning the Taj building
complex. That was so blatant a usurpation that the then ruler of Jaipur was
ashamed to make the document public.
The Rajasthan State archives at
Bikaner preserves three other firmans addressed by Shahjahan to the Jaipur’s
ruler Jaising ordering the latter to supply marble (for Mumtaz’s grave and
koranic grafts) from his Makranna quarris, and stone cutters. Jaisingh was apparently so enraged at the
blatant seizure of the Tajmahal that he refused to oblige Shahjahan by providing
marble for grafting koranic engravings and fake centotaphs for further
desecration of the Tajmahal. Jaising looked at Shahjahan’s demand for marble
and stone cutters, as an insult added to injury. Therefore, he refused to send
any marble and instead detained the stone cutters in his protective custody.
The three firmans demanding
marble were sent to Jaisingh within about two years of Mumtaz’s death. Had
Shahjahan really built the Tajmahal over a period of 22 years, the marble would
have needed only after 15 or 20 years not immediately after Mumtaz’s death.
Moreover, the three mention
neither the Tajmahal, nor Mumtaz, nor the burial. The cost and the quantity of
the stone also are not mentioned. This proves that an insignificant quantity of
marble was needed just for some superficial tinkering and tampering with the
Tajmahal. Even otherwise Shahjahan could never hope to build a fabulous
Tajmahal by abject dependence for marble on a non cooperative Jaisingh,
especially at a time when the coffers were dry after famine and wars.
Marble slabs from the lower
floors appears to have been ripped off.
This was done to compensate for the shortage of marble slabs to tinker
and islamize the Taj.
Peter Mundy, an English visitor
to Agra recorded in 1632 (within only a year of
Mumtaz’s death) that `the places of note in and around Agra, included Taj-e-Mahal’s tomb, gardens
and bazaars’. He, therefore, confirms that that the Tajmahal had been a
noteworthy building even before Shahjahan.
De Laet, a Dutch official has
listed Mansingh’s palace about a mile from Agra fort, as an outstanding building of pre
shahjahan’s time. Shahjahan’s court chronicle, the Badshahnama records,
Mumtaz’s burial in the same Mansingh’s palace.
Bernier, a contemporary French
visitor has noted that non muslim’s were barred entry into the basement (at the
time when Shahjahan requisitioned Mansingh’s palace) which contained a dazzling
light. Obviously, he reffered to the silver doors, gold railing, the gem
studded lattice and strings of pearl hanging over Shiva’s idol. Shahjahan
comandeered the building to grab all the wealth, making Mumtaz’s death a
convenient pretext.
ARCHITECTURAL EVIDENCE
##. Well known Western
authorities on architechture like E.B.Havell, Mrs.Kenoyer and Sir W.W.Hunterhave
gone on record to say that the TajMahal is built in the Hindu temple style.
Havell points out the ground plan of the ancient Hindu Chandi Seva
Temple in Java is identical with that of the
Taj.
##. A central dome with cupolas
at its four corners is a universal feature of Hindu temples.
##. The four marble pillars at
the plinth corners are of the Hindu style. They are used as lamp towers during
night and watch towers during the day. Such towers serve to demarcate the holy
precincts. Hindu wedding altars and the altar set up for God
Satyanarayan worship have pillars
raised at the four corners.
##. The octagonal shape of the
Tajmahal has a special Hindu significance because Hindus alone have special
names for the eight directions, and celestial guards assigned to them. The
pinnacle points to the heaven while the foundation signifies to the nether
world. Hindu forts, cities, palaces and temples genrally have an octagonal
layout or some octagonal features so that together with the pinnacle and the
foundation they cover all the ten directions in which the king or God holds
sway, according to Hindu belief.
##. The Tajmahal has a trident
pinncle over the dome. A full scale of the trident pinnacle is inlaid in the
red stone courtyard to the east of the Taj. The central shaft of the trident
depicts a “Kalash” (sacred pot) holding two bent mango leaves and a coconut.
This is a sacred Hindu motif. Identical pinnacles have been seen over Hindu and
Buddhist temples in the Himalayan region. Tridents are also depicted against a
red lotus background at the apex of the stately marble arched entrances on all
four sides of the Taj. People fondly but mistakenly believed all these
centuries that the Taj pinnacle depicts a Islamic cresent and star was a
lighting conductor installed by the British rulers in India. Contrarily, the pinnacle is
a marvel of Hindu metallurgy since the pinnacle made of non rusting alloy, is
also perhaps a lightning deflector.
That the pinnacle of the replica
is drawn in the eastern courtyard is significant because the east is of special
importance to the Hindus, as the direction in which the sun rises. The pinnacle
on the dome has the word `Allah’ on it after capture.
The pinnacle figure on the ground
does not have the word Allah.
--------------
INCONSISTENCIES
##. The two buildings which face
the marble Taj from the east and west are identical in design, size and shape
and yet the eastern building is explained away by Islamic tradition, as a
community hall while the western building is claimed to be a mosque. How could
buildings meant for radically different purposes be identical? This proves that
the western building was put to use as a mosque after seizure of the Taj
property by Shahjahan. Curiously enough the building being explained away as a
mosque has no minaret. They form a pair af reception pavilions of the
Tejomahalaya temple palace.
##. A few yards away from the
same flank is the Nakkar Khana alias DrumHouse which is a intolerable
incongruity for Islam. The proximity of the Drum House indicates that the
western annex was not originally a mosque. Contrarily a drum house is a
neccesity in a Hindu temple or palace because Hindu chores,in the morning and
evening, begin to the sweet strains of music.
##. The embossed patterns on the
marble exterior of the centotaph chamber wall are foilage of the conch shell
design and the
Hindu letter “OM”.
The octagonally laid marble lattices inside the centotaph chamber depict pink
lotuses on their top railing. The Lotus, the conch and the OM
are the sacred motifs associated with the Hindu deities and temples.
##. The spot occupied by Mumtaz’s
centotaph was formerly occupied by the Hindu Teja Linga a lithic representation
of Lord Shiva. Around it are five perambulatory passages. Perambulation could
be done around the marble lattice or through the spacious marble chambers
surrounding the centotaph chamber, and in the open over the marble platform. It
is also customary for the Hindus to have apertures along the perambulatory
passage, overlooking the deity. Such apertures exist in the perambulatories in
the Tajmahal.
##. The sanctom sanctorum in the
Taj has silver doors and gold railings as Hindu temples have. It also had nets
of pearl and gems stuffed in the marble lattices. It was the lure of this wealth
which made Shahjahan commandeer the Taj from a helpless vassal Jaisingh, the
then ruler of Jaipur.
##. Peter Mundy, a Englishman
records (in 1632, within a year of Mumtaz’s death) having seen a gem studded
gold railing around her tomb. Had the Taj been under construction for 22 years,
a costly gold railing would not have been noticed by Peter mundy within a year
of Mumtaz’s death. Such costly fixtures are installed in a building only after
it is ready for use. This indicates that Mumtaz’s centotaph was grafted in
place of the Shivalinga in the centre of the gold railings. Subsequently the
gold railings, silver doors, nets of pearls, gem fillings etc. were all carried
away to Shahjahan’s treasury. The seizure of the Taj thus constituted an act of
highhanded Moghul robbery causing a big row between Shahjahan and Jaisingh.
##. In the marble flooring around
Mumtaz’s centotaph may be seen tiny mosaic patches. Those patches indicate the
spots where the support for the gold railings were embedded in the floor. They
indicate a rectangular fencing.
##. Above Mumtaz’s centotaph
hangs a chain by which now hangs a lamp. Before capture by Shahjahan the chain
used to hold a water pitcher from which water used to drip on the Shivalinga.
##. It is this earlier Hindu
tradition in the Tajmahal which gave the Islamic myth of Shahjahan’s love tear
dropping on Mumtaz’s tomb on the full moon day of the winter eve.
TREASURY WELL
##. Between the so-called mosque
and the drum house is a multistoried octagonal well with a flight of stairs
reaching down to the water level. This is a traditional treasury well in Hindu
temple palaces. Treasure chests used to be kept in the lower apartments while
treasury personnel had their offices in the upper chambers. The circular stairs
made it difficult for intruders to reach down to the treasury or to escape with
it undetected or unpursued. In case the premises had to be surrendered to a
besieging enemy the treasure could be pushed into the well to remain hidden
from the conquerer and remain safe for salvaging if the place was reconquered.
Such an elaborate multistoried well is superflous for a mere mausoleum. Such a
grand, gigantic well is unneccesary for a tomb.
BURIAL DATE UNKNOWN
##. Had Shahjahan really built
the Taj Mahal as a wonder mausoleum, history would have recorded a specific
date on which she was ceremoniously buried in the Taj Mahal. No such date is
ever mentioned. This important missing detail decisively exposes the falsity of
the Tajmahal legend.
BASELESS LOVE STORIES
##. Stories of Shahjahan’s
exclusive infatuation for Mumtaz’s are concoctions. They have no basis in
history nor has any book ever written on their fancied love affairs. Those
stories have been invented as an afterthought to make Shahjahan’s authorship of
the Taj look plausible.
COST
##. The cost of the Taj is
nowhere recorded in Shahjahan’s court papers because Shahjahan never built the
Tajmahal. That is why wild estimates of the cost by gullible writers have
ranged from 4 million to 91.7 million rupees.
PERIOD OF CONSTRUCTION
##. Likewise the period of
construction has been guessed to be anywhere between 10 years and 22 years.
There would have not been any scope for guesswork had the building construction
been on record in the court papers.
ARCHITECTS
##. The Taj is built in the shape
of a massive shivalinga, which appears as a trishul when seen from all four
sides.
##. The designer of the Tajmahal
is also variously mentioned as Essa Effendy, a Persian or Turk, or Ahmed
Mehendis or a Frenchman, Austin
deBordeaux, or Geronimo Veroneo, an Italian, or Shahjahan himself. How was a world wonder built without clarity
on who the architect actually was?
RECORDS DON’T EXIST
##. Twenty thousand labourers are
supposed to have worked for 22 years during Shahjahan’s reign in building the
Tajmahal. Had this been true, there should have been available in Shahjahan’s
court papers design drawings, heaps of labour muster rolls, daily expenditure
sheets, bills and receipts of material ordered, and commissioning orders. There
is not even a scrap of paper of this kind.
##. Description of the gardens
around the Taj of Shahjahan’s time mention Ketaki, Jai, Jui, Champa,
Maulashree, Harshringar and Bel. All these are plants whose flowers or leaves
are used in the worship of Hindu deities. Bel leaves are exclusively used in
Lord Shiva’s worship. A graveyard is planted only with shady trees because the
idea of using fruit and flower from plants in a cemetery is abhorrent to human
conscience. The presence of Bel and other flower plants in the Taj garden is
proof of its having been a Shiva temple before seizure by Shahjahan.
##. Hindu temples are often built
on river banks and sea beaches. The Taj is one such built on the bank of the
Yamuna river an ideal location for a Shiva temple.
##. Prophet Muhammad has ordained
that the burial spot of a Muslim should be inconspicuous and must not be marked
by even a single tombstone. In flagrant violation of this, the Tajamhal has one
grave in the basement and another in the first floor chamber both ascribed to
Mumtaz. Those two cenotaphs were infact erected by Shahjahan to bury the two
tier Shivalingas that were consecrated in the Taj. It is customary for Hindus
to install two Shivalingas one over the other in two stories as may be seen in
the Mahankaleshwar temple in Ujjain
and the Somnath temple raised by Ahilyabai in Somnath Pattan.
##. The Tajmahal has identical
entrance arches on all four sides. This is a typical Hindu building style known
as Chaturmukhi, i.e., four faced.
THE HINDU DOME
##. The Tajmahal has a
reverberating dome. Such a dome is an absurdity for a tomb which must ensure
peace and silence. Contrarily, reverberating domes are a necessity in Hindu
temples because they create an ecstatic din multiplying and magnifying the
sound of bells, drums and pipes accompanying the worship of Hindu deities.
##. The Tajmahal dome bears a
lotus cap. Original Islamic domes have a bald top as is exemplified by the
Pakistan Embassy in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, and
the domes in the Pakistan’s
newly built capital Islamabad.
##. The Tajmahal entrance faces
south. Had the Taj been an Islamic building it should have faced the west.
TOMB IS THE GRAVE, NOT THE
BUILDING
##. A widespread misunderstanding
has resulted in mistaking the building for the grave. Invading Islam raised
graves in captured buildings in every country it overran. Therefore, hereafter
people must learn not to confound the building with the grave mounds which are
grafts in conquered buildings. This is true of the Tajmahal too. One may therefore
admit (for arguments sake) that Mumtaz lies buried inside the Taj. But that
should not be construed to mean that the Taj was raised over Mumtaz’s grave.
##. The Taj is a seven storied
building. Prince Aurangzeb also mentions this in his letter to Shahjahan. The
marble edifice comprises four stories including the lone, tall circular hall
inside the top, and the lone chamber in the basement. In between are two floors
each containing 12 to 15 palatial rooms. Below the marble plinth reaching down
to the river at the rear are two more stories in red stone. They may be seen
from the river bank. The seventh storey must be below the ground (river) level
since every ancient Hindu building had a subterranean storey.
##. Immediately bellow the marble
plinth on the river flank are 22 rooms in red stone with their ventilators all
walled up by Shahjahan. Those rooms, made uninhabitable by Shahjahan, are kept
locked by Archeology Department of India. The lay visitor is kept in the dark
about them. Those 22 rooms still bear ancient Hindu paint on their walls and
ceilings. On their side is a nearly 33 feet long corridor. There are two door
frames one at either end of the corridor. Those doors were sealed by Indira
Gandhi to prevent researchers from entering.
##. Apparently those doorways
originally sealed by Shahjahan have been since unsealed and again walled up
several times. In 1934 a resident of Delhi
took a peep inside from an opening in the upper part of the doorway. To his
dismay he saw huge hall inside. It contained many statues huddled around a
central beheaded image of Lord Shiva. It could be that, in there, are Sanskrit
inscriptions too. All the seven stories of the Tajmahal need to be unsealed and
scoured to ascertain what evidence they may be hiding in the form of Hindu
images, Sanskrit inscriptions, scriptures, coins and utensils.
##. Apart from Hindu images
hidden in the sealed stories it is also learnt that Hindu images are also
stored in the massive walls of the Taj. Between 1959 and 1962 when Mr. S.R. Rao
was the Archeological Superintendent in Agra,
he happened to notice a deep and wide crack in the wall of the central
octagonal chamber of the Taj. When a part of the wall was dismantled to study
the crack out popped two or three marble images. The matter was hushed up and
the images were reburied where they had been embedded at Shahjahan’s behest.
Confirmation of this has been obtained from several sources. It was only when I
began my investigation into the antecedents of the Taj I came across the above
information which had remained a forgotten secret. What better proof is needed
of the Temple
origin of the Tajmahal? Its walls and sealed chambers still hide in Hindu idols
that were consecrated in it before Shahjahan’s seizure of the Taj.
PRE-SHAHJAHAN REFERENCES TO THE
TAJ
##. Apparently the Taj as a
central palace seems to have a chequered history. The Taj was perhaps
desecrated and looted by every Muslim invader from Mohammed Ghazni onwards but
passing into Hindu hands off and on, the sanctity of the Taj as a Shiva temple
continued to be revived after every Muslim onslaught. Shahjahan was the last Muslim
to desecrate the Tajmahal alias Tejomahalay.
##. Vincent Smith records in his
book titled `Akbar the Great Moghul’ that `Babur’s turbulent life came to an
end in his garden palace in Agra in 1630'. That palace was none other than the
Tajmahal. 72. Babur’s daughter Gulbadan Begum in her chronicle titled `Humayun
Nama’ refers to the Taj as the Mystic House.
##. Babur himself refers to the
Taj in his memoirs as the palace captured by Ibrahim Lodi containing a central
octagonal chamber and having pillars on the four sides. All these historical
references allude to the Taj 100 years before Shahjahan.
##. The Tajmahal precincts extend
to several hundred yards in all directions. Across the river are ruins of the
annexes of the Taj, the bathing ghats and a jetty for the ferry boat. In the Victoria gardens outside
covered with creepers is the long spur of the ancient outer wall ending in a
octagonal red stone tower. Such extensive grounds all magnificently done up,
are a superfluity for a grave.
##. Had the Taj been specially
built to bury Mumtaz, it should not have been cluttered with other graves. But
the Taj premises contain several graves at least in its eastern and southern
pavilions.
##. In the southern flank, on the
other side of the Tajganj gate are buried in identical pavilions queens
Sarhandi Begum, and Fatehpuri Begum and a maid Satunnisa Khanum. Such parity
burial can be justified only if the queens had been demoted or the maid
promoted. But since Shahjahan had commandeered (not built) the Taj, he reduced
it general to a Muslim cemetery as was the habit of all his Islamic predecessors,
and buried a queen in a vacant pavilion and a maid in another identical
pavilion.
##. Shahjahan was married to
several other women before and after Mumtaz (11 wives). She, therefore,
deserved no special consideration in having a wonder mausoleum built for her.
##. Mumtaz died in Burhanpur
which is about 600 miles from Agra.
Her grave there is intact. Therefore ,the cenotaphs raised in stories of the
Taj in her name seem to be fakes hiding in Hindu Shiva emblems. The choice of location of the mausoleum for Mumtaz
here makes no sense.
##. Shahjahan seems to have simulated
Mumtaz’s burial in Agra
to find a pretext to surround the temple palace with his fierce and fanatic
troops and remove all the costly fixtures in his treasury. This finds
confirmation in the vague noting in the Badshahnama which says that the Mumtaz’s
(exhumed) body was brought to Agra
from Burhanpur and buried `next year’. An official term would not use a
nebulous term unless it is to hide some thing.
It is unislamic to exhume a dead body.
##. A pertinent consideration is
that a Shahjahan who did not build any palaces for Mumtaz while she was alive,
would not build a fabulous mausoleum for a corpse which was no longer kicking
or clicking.
##. Another factor is that Mumtaz
died within two or three years of Shahjahan becoming an emperor. Could he amass
so much superfluous wealth in that short span as to squander it on a wonder
mausoleum, between so many wars and famine?
##. While Shahjahan’s special
attachment to Mumtaz is nowhere recorded in history his amorous affairs with
many other ladies from maids to mannequins including his own daughter Jahanara,
find special attention in accounts of Shahjahan’s reign. Would Shahjahan shower
his hard earned wealth on Mumtaz’s corpse?
##. Shahjahan was a stingy,
usurious monarch. He came to throne murdering all his rivals. He was not
therefore, the doting spendthrift that he is made out to be.
##. Early in the year 1973,
chance digging in the garden in front of the Taj revealed another set of
fountains about six feet below the present fountains. This proved two things.
Firstly, the subterranean fountains were there before Shahjahan laid the
surface fountains. And secondly that those fountains are aligned to the Taj
that edifice too is of pre Shahjahan origin. Apparently the garden and its fountains had
sunk from annual monsoon flooding and lack of maintenance for centuries during
the Islamic rule.
##. The stately rooms on the
upper floor of the Tajmahal have been striped of their marble mosaic by
Shahjahan to obtain matching marble for raising fake tomb stones inside the Taj
premises at several places. Contrasting with the rich finished marble ground
floor rooms the striping of the marble mosaic covering the lower half of the
walls and flooring of the upper storey have given those rooms a naked, robbed
look. Since no visitors are allowed entry to the upper storey this despoliation
by Shahjahan has remained a well guarded secret, why?
##. Bernier, the French traveller
has recorded that no non Muslim was allowed entry into the secret nether
chambers of the Taj because there are some dazzling fixtures there. Had those
been installed by Shahjahan they should have been shown the public as a matter
of pride. But since it was commandeered Hindu wealth which Shahjahan wanted to
remove to his treasury, he didn’t want the public to know about it.
##. The approach to Taj is dotted
with hillocks raised with earth dugout from foundation trenches. The hillocks
served as outer defences of the Taj building complex. Raising such hillocks
from foundation earth, is a common Hindu device of hoary origin. Nearby
Bharatpur provides a graphic parallel.
##. Peter Mundy has recorded that
Shahjahan employed thousands of labourers to level some of those hillocks. This
is a graphic proof of the Tajmahal existing before Shahjahan.
##. At the backside of the river
bank is a Hindu crematorium, several palaces, Shiva temples and bathings of
ancient origin. Had Shahjahan built the Tajmahal, he would never have permitted
these Hindu features.
##. The story that Shahjahan
wanted to build a Black marble Taj across the river, is another motivated myth.
The ruins dotting the other side of the river are those of Hindu structures
demolished during Muslim invasions and not the plinth of another Tajmahal.
Shahjahan who did not even build the white Tajmahal would hardly ever think of
building a black marble Taj. He was so
miserly that he forced labourers to work graffiti’s even in the superficial
tampering necessary to make a Hindu temple serve as a Muslim tomb.
## The foundations of the Taj are made of huge timber, sunk into the bed of river Yamuna to act as piling work to support the structure from soft river soil. Such a method of construction was never known in the islamic world.
##. The marble that Shahjahan
used for grafting Koranic lettering in the Taj is of a pale white shade while
the rest of the Taj is built of a marble with rich yellow tint. This disparity
is proof of the Koranic extracts being a superimposition.
##. Fanciful accounts about
Shahjahan commissioning the Taj are all confused. Some asserted that Shahjahan
ordered building drawing from all over the world and chose one from among them.
Others assert that a man at hand was ordered to design a mausoleum and his
design was approved. Had any of those versions been true Shahjahan’s court
papers should have had thousands of drawings concerning the Taj. But there is
not even a single drawing. This is yet another clinching proof that Shahjahan
did not commission the Taj.
##. The Tajmahal is surrounded by
huge mansions which indicate that several battles have been waged around the
Taj several times.
##. At the south east corner of
the Taj is an ancient royal cattle house. Cows attached to the Tejomahalay
temple used to rear there. A cowshed is an incongruity in an Islamic tomb.
##. Over the western flank of the
Taj are several stately red stone annexes. These are superfluous for a
mausoleum.
##. The entire Taj complex
comprises of 400 to 500 rooms. Residential accommodation on such a stupendous
scale is unthinkable in a mausoleum.
##. The neighboring Tajganj Township’s massive protective wall also
encloses the Tajmahal temple palace complex. This is a clear indication that
the Tejomahalay temple palace was part and parcel of the township. A Street of that
township leads straight into the Tajmahal. The Tajganj gate is aligned in a
perfect straight line to the octagonal red stone garden gate and the stately
entrance arch of the Tajmahal. The Tajganj gate besides being central to the
Taj temple complex, is also put on a pedestal. The western gate by which the
visitors enter the Taj complex is a comparatively minor gateway. It has become
the entry gate for most visitors today because the railway station and the bus
station are on that side.
##. The Tajmahal has pleasure
pavilions which a tomb would never have.
##. A tiny mirror glass in a
gallery of the Red Fort in Agra
reflects the Taj mahal. Shahjahan is said to have spent his last eight years of
life as a prisoner in that gallery peering at the reflected Tajmahal and
sighing in the name of Mumtaz. This myth is a blend of many falsehoods. Firstly,
old Shajahan was held prisoner by his son Aurangzeb in the basement storey in
the Fort and not in an open, fashionable upper storey. Secondly, the glass
piece was fixed in the 1930’s by Insha Allah Khan, a peon of the archaeology dept.
just to illustrate to the visitors how in ancient times the entire apartment
used to scintillate with tiny mirror pieces reflecting the Tejomahalay temple a
thousand fold. Thirdly, a old decrepit Shahjahan with pain in his joints and
cataract in his eyes, would not spend his day craning his neck at an awkward
angle to peer into a tiny glass piece with dimmed eyesight when he could as
well his face around and have full, direct view of the Tajmahal itself. But the
general public is so gullible as to gulp all such prattle of wily, unscrupulous
guides.
##. That the Tajmahal dome has
hundreds of iron rings sticking out of its exterior is a feature rarely
noticed. These are made to hold Hindu earthen oil lamps for temple
illumination.
##. School and College history
carry the myth that Shahjahan reign was a golden period in which there was
peace and plenty and that Shahjahan commissioned many buildings and patronized
literature. This is pure fabrication. Shahjahan did not commission even a
single building as we have illustrated by a detailed analysis of the Tajmahal
legend. Shahjahan had to enrage in 48 military campaigns during a reign of
nearly 30 years which proves that his was not a era of peace and plenty. More over, the tomb of Aurangazeb is the best
example of what could have been actually been built in a lifetime, especially
because Aurangazeb had richer coffers and less wars than Shahjahan.
##. The interior of the dome
rising over Mumtaz’s cenotaph has a representation of Sun and cobras drawn in
gold. Hindu warriors trace their origin to the Sun. For an Islamic mausoleum
the Sun is redundant. Cobras are always associated with Lord Shiva.
Think !!
·
From the above, ask yourselves if the
architecture and engineering used in the Taj is suitable for a mosque or a
grand temple?
·
How could Persians who do not have any
similar construction expertise on stone or granite to flaunt make such a grand structure
with architecture that is found elsewhere in India.
·
How could a war mongering barbarian,
with a legacy of cruelty, conceive such a grand structure in the midst of war, famine,
and a harem of more than a a dozen wives and sex slaves?
·
Why would a grave have such elaborate
set up with many Hindu motifs?
The answer is simple: The Taj Mahal was
no grave, but an ancient grand Hindu Temple.
