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The Taj Mahal (Hindi: ताज महल, Urdu: تاج محل) is a monument located in Agra in India, constructed between 1631 and 1653 by a workforce of more than twenty thousand. The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan commisioned its construction as a mausoleum for his wife, Arjumand Banu Begum, who was known as Mumtaz Mahal.
The Taj (as it is often called) is generally considered the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements of Hindu and Islamic architectures. The Taj has achieved special note because of the romance of its inspiration. While the white domed marble mausoleum is the most familiar part of the monument, the Taj is actually a complex of elements
Shah Jahan, who commissioned the monument, was a prolific patron with effectively limitless resources. After the death of Mumtaz, Shah Jahan was reportedly inconsolable, and soon after he began construction of the Taj. His lavish aesthetic and romantic nature is apparent in every aspect of the Taj. Shah Jahan was the most prolific builder of all the Mughal Emperors. Shah Jahan's wife, Mumtaz, was his constant companion. She bore him fourteen children and died during the birth of the last child. He had created the gardens and palaces of Shalimar in honor of Mumtaz.
The Taj incorporates and expands on many design traditions, particularly Persian, Hindu and earlier Mughal architecture.
The overall design derived inspiration from a number of successful Mughal buildings: these include Humayun's Tomb, Itmad-Ud-Daulah's Tomb (often called the Baby Taj), and his own Jama Masjid. Under Shah Jahan's patronage, Mughal building reached new levels of refinement:, previous Mughal building had primarily been constructed of red sandstone; Shah Jahan promoted the use of white marble inlaid with semi-precious stones.
Interior of masjid dome, showing inlaid geometric decoration
Hindu craftsmen, particularly sculptors and stonecutters, plied trade throughout Asia during this period, and their work was particularly prized by tomb builders. Almost exclusively, Hindus' only large buildings were temples (not palaces or public buildings). These imposing structures were constructed using rock-cut architecture, or by building massive edifices with large blocks of stone. Every surface was then carved with sculpture.
The Mughals in particular abandoned Persian construction techniques (mostly brickwork covered with decorative tile) in favor of these techniques of Hindu temple construction. The Taj is a prime example: All the buildings are made of large blocks of stone; cut, polished, and sculpted.
Wherever Hindu craftsmen worked, they incorporated design elements from Hindu iconography. Thus sculptured elements of the Taj include lotuses, roses, and similar forms typical of Hindu temple carvings.
Hindu design also influenced Mughal mosques: as at the Taj, Mughal mosques are typically divided into three halls, and incorporate domes -- elements typical of Hindu temple design.
Consistent repeated design elements are employed throughout the complex. These unify the complex with a single aesthetic vocabulary.
Design elements of the Taj.
Major design features of the tomb are echoed throughout the complex -- both the tomb and the outlying buildings.
Finial: decorative crowning element of the Taj domes
Lotus decoration: depiction of lotus flower sculpted on tops of domes
Onion dome: massive outer dome of the tomb (also called an amrud or apple dome)
Drum: cylindrical base of the onion dome, raising it from the main building
Guldasta: decorative spire attached to the edge of supporting walls
Chattri: a domed and columned kiosk
Spandrel: upper panels of an archway
Calligraphy: stylized writing of verses from the Qu'ran framing main arches
Arch: also called pishtaq (Persian word for portal projecting from the facade of a building)
Dado: decorative sculpted panels lining lower walls
Most of the elements can be found on the gateway, mosque and jawab as well as the mausoleum.
The Taj complex covers an area of approximately 580 m × 300 m, comprised of five main components. Shah Jahan sited the complex on the river Yamuna where it bends west to east, about 1.6 kilometers from the imperial palace at Agra Fort. (Coordinates: 27°10′30″N, 78°02′33″E)
Schematic plan of Taj complex
The complex was designed to be accessed from both the north (from the river Yamuna) as well as by land from the south. In modern times, the complex is entered from the south, through the darwaza, a monumental gateway, which visually frames the tomb.
Walkways then lead the viewer north through the charbagh (a formal Mughal garden divided into four parts). Measuring 300 m × 300 m, the garden has sunken parterres or flower-beds, raised pathways, avenues of trees, fountains, water courses, and pools that reflect the Taj.
The entire width of the north end of the garden abuts a rectangular red sandstone platform (the chamelifarsh), which extends about 120 m to the edge of the river. To the west side of the platform is a mosque, to the east an identical building. These serve to frame the tomb. Two stairways descend from the chamelifarsh to the river entranceway.
The focus of the complex is the raised marble plinth in the center of the chamelifarsh platform, which supports the main building, the white marble mausoleum or tomb of Mumtaz. The importance of this building is emphasized by its raised foundation, and by the wide walkway and long reflecting pool which lead there from the entrance gateway.
The complex is set in and around a large charbagh (a formal Mughal garden divided into four parts). Measuring 300 m × 300 m, the garden has sunken parterres or flowerbeds, raised pathways, avenues of trees, fountains, water courses, and pools that reflect the Taj.
Each of the four quarters of the garden is divided into 16 flowerbeds by raised pathways. A raised marble water tank at the center of the garden, halfway between the tomb and the gateway, reflects the Taj.
The charbagh garden was introduced to India by the first Mughal emperor Babur, a design inspired by Persian gardens. The charbagh is meant to reflect the gardens of Paradise (from the Persian paridaeza -- a walled garden). In mystic Islamic texts of the Mughal period, paradise as described as ideal garden, filled with abundance. Water plays a key role in these descriptions: In Paradise, these text say, four rivers source at a central spring or mountain, and separate the garden into north, west, south and east.
Walkways beside reflecting pool
Most Mughal charbaghs are rectangular in form, with a central tomb or pavillion in the center of the garden. The Taj garden is unusual in siting the main element, the tomb, at the end rather than at the center of the garden. But the existence of the newly discovered Mahtab Bagh or "Moonlight Garden" on the other side of the Yamuna provides a different interpretation -- that the Yamuna itself was incorporated into the garden's design, and was meant to be seen as one of the rivers of Paradise.
The layout of the garden, and its architectural features such as its fountains, brick and marble walkways, geometric brick-lined flowerbeds, and so on, are similar to Shalimar's, and suggest that the garden may have been designed by the same engineer, Ali Mardan.
Early accounts of the garden describe its profusion of vegetation, including roses, daffodils, and fruit trees in abundance. As the Mughal empire declined, the tending of the garden declined as well. When the British took over management of the Taj, they changed the landscaping to resemble more the formal lawns of England.
The focus of the Taj is the white marble tomb. Like most Mughal tombs, the basic elements are Persian in origin: a building with arched entrances, topped by a large dome. In India, and most especially at the Taj, this simple idea reached its zenith.
The tomb stands on a square plinth. The base structure is a large, multi-chambered structure. The main chamber houses the cenotaphs of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz (the actual graves are a level below).
The base is essentially a cube with chamfered edges, roughly 55 meters on each side (see floorplan, right). On the long sides, a massive pishtaq, or vaulted archway frames an arch-shaped doorway, with a similar arch-shaped balcony above. These main arches extend above the roof the building by use of an integrated facade.
To either side of the main arch, additional pishtaqs are stacked above and below. This motif of stacked pishtaqs is replicated on the chamfered corner areas.
The design is completely uniform and consistent on all sides of the building. Four minarets, one at each corner of the plinth, facing the chamfered corners, frame the tomb.
The marble dome that surmounts the tomb is its most spectacular feature. Its height is about the same size as the base building, about 35 m. Its height is accentuated because it sits on a cylindrical "drum" about 7 m high.
Because of its shape, the dome is often called an onion dome (also called an amrud or apple dome). The top of the dome is decorated with a lotus design, which serves to accentuate its height. The dome is topped by a gilded finial, which mixes traditional Islamic and Hindu decorative elements.
Finial
The dome shape is emphasized by four smaller domed chattris (kiosks) placed at its corners. The chattri domes replicate the onion shape of main dome. Their columned bases open through the roof of the tomb, and provide light to the interior. The chattris also are topped by gilded finials.
Tall decorative spires (guldastas) extend from the edges of the base walls, and provide visual emphasis of the dome height.
The lotus motif is repeated on both the chattris and guldastas.
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