Agra, the former capital of Hindustan (Modern day India), has witnessed the construction of Taj Mahal – The most beautiful building in the world. It was built by Shah Jahan, the fifth Great Mughal ruler. The name ‘Shah Jahan’ literally means ‘King of the World’.

Today, the Taj Mahal is a global symbol for India. Indians throughout the world feel proud to be able to relate themselves to the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal was built in the most glorious period of the Indian history, the time of the Great Mughals. The astonishing work began in the year 1632 and was completed in the year 1653 with over 22,000 workers working day and night, each an expert in his craft.  The Taj Mahal perfectly combines grace and scale, power and beauty: a testament to the great engineers and designers of the time. The inner sanctum of the Taj Mahal is the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal, wife of Shah Jahan, the late Queen of Hindustan. It was the biggest building project of the age. After the shell of the Taj Mahal was complete, it was ready to be covered in flawless white marble at colossal expense – half of the entire Mughal Treasury.

The location of the Taj Mahal at the banks of the river Yamuna was a special challenge. This was because when one is close to water, there is rarely any solid ground on which anything can be built. So one has to dig deep down, until one finds something solid and hard. The engineers of the time came up with a brilliant solution to this problem – one that’s still used today. They decided to use a well foundation. The Great Mughals’ engineers dig deep wells to lower the water table. Then they filled it up with rocks and mortar. On this base, the master builders erected stone columns linked together by massive arches on the top. The result was remarkable – A solid layer of stone to support the foundation slab of the building. This layer will be protecting the Taj Mahal from the currents of the river Yanuma forever. The Taj Mahal is an epitome of engineering design. From the main gate, as the visitor moves closer, the Taj Mahal seems to become smaller. And it seems to grow bigger as the visitor walks away from it. It is said that when you leave, you take the Taj with you in your heart. The big dome is also made remarkably. It is made of stone, layer by layer, glued by mortar. There is no supporting structure. This structure is self-supporting. The weight of the dome is transferred directly downwards towards the massive masonry below. It is more than 40 meters high and 4 meters thick – A miracle of precise and impeccable calculations which took place more than 350 years back and are still admired by engineers all around the world. The four towers surrounding the Taj Mahal lean slightly outwards – this makes them look perfectly upright. There is more to this genius – Incase of an earthquake, the four towers would fall away from the Taj Mahal, hence sparing it and it’s mighty dome from destruction. If they were truly vertical, they would seem to be leaning inwards and would not be ideal incase of an earthquake.

The pure white color of the Taj Mahal symbolizes the spirituality and faith of the person buried here. Finally, the Taj mahal conceals a final mystery – the coffin in the mausoleum is empty. Mumtaz Mahal lies in a secret marble chamber deep below the earth directly underneath the magnificent tomb. There she rests undisturbed united with the love of her life, Shah Jahan.

Poets often describe the Taj Mahal as ‘a teardrop on the cheek of time’. Shah Jahan himself described it as follows – “The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs and makes sun and moon shed tears from their eyes. In this world this edifice has been made to display, thereby, the Creator’s glory.”

Works consulted: –

http://www.tajmahal.org.uk/impressions.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Mahal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shah_Jahan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arjumand_Banu

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/episodes/access-360-taj-mahal1/video/