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RSS men, in a fresh row, claim Taj a Shiva temple

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Taj Photo

The timber door before it was sealed up with bricks. In 1974 American Professor Marvin Mills took a sample from this door for Carbon dating and concluded that the Taj Mahal pre-dates Shahjahan. After this revelation, the Government of India removed the timber doors and the openings were bricked up, as shown in the previous photo.

tajphoto149.jpg



Entrance to lower basement floor that is now bricked up.

tajphoto048.jpg
 
Yeah sorry I wasted my time. @levina ignore this nut.
On topic, @levina - your assertion is interesting. Let's see what comes out of this.
Nut

Rock cut architecture was to mimic the timber architecture. You will realise the use stone was done in a manner as timber. They used too big of columns because of lack of understanding of stone.

We used bricks mortar to great extent more than 4000 years before your rock cut in mohan jo daro. Some time stone was used as brick even metal was used for ornamentation.

Anyways you are smart. Carry on with your bullshit.
 
In continuation with my post #97 here

View attachment 208225

@jamahir

i must say that those drawings/renderings are nicely done.

but i am puzzled by your comparison of upper structure of taj with hindu architecture... let me simplify for myself all this to begin with... i believe hindu ( aryan ) temples got mixed-up early on with dravidian and central indian worship structures and gave rise to certain distinctive look of them - (a). gopuram style from tamil land, (b). the raised+open style of north india, (c). the ground-level structures like in hampi and mahabalipuram... all hindu temples are these or a combination.

i found some muslim structures similar to taj...

1. gol gumbaz, bijapur ( present karnataka ), completed 1656 ( a few years after taj was completed )...

GolGumbaz2.jpg


2. turkmenbashi mosque, ashgabat ( capital of turkmenistan ), "personal mosque" of the leader of turkmenistan, completed in 2004...

7153775-Turkmenbashis_Mosque_Ashgabat.jpg


3. gokdepe mosque, turkmenistan...

geok-depe.jpg


turkmenistan75.jpg


all i see are central asian and irani influences in taj mahal.
 
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There is record of Taj Mahal being the place of a Hindu Rajput Raja Man Singh. This is more likely than a shiva temple.

Badshahnama which was written during the reign of Shahjahan has no mention of Taj Mahal. But on the Volume I page 403. One line read – "va pesh azin manzil-e-Raja Mansingh bood, vadari vakt ba Raja Jaisingh." He confessed that Shahjahan took over Raja Mansingh’s palace for burial of Mumtaz.

As to the question, what was Agra City like before Shahjahan came to power?

In the 17th century, the Dutch had a Factory (trading post) in Agra. Fransisco Pelsaert was their Senior Factor (Merchant) at Agra from 1620 to 1627. In 1626, he prepared a commercial report for his directors in Holland. By strange coincidence, he describes Agra City at that time. He says, “The city is narrow and long, because all the rich and influential people have built their palaces on the river bank and this stretches for 10 ½ miles. I will mention some of the well known ones. Starting from the North there is the palace of Bahadur Khan, Raja Bhoj, ……. Then comes the Red Fort. (Pelsaert then describes the Fort) beyond it is Nakhas – a great market, then follow the palaces of great Lords – Mirza Abdulla, Aga Naur …… Mahabat Khan, Late Raja Mansingh, Raja Madho Singh.”


It is more likely that Taj Mahal was the palace of the Hindu king, than a shiva temple.

The Letter of Aurangzeb

This is supposed to be a copy of the original letter from Aurangzeb himself written in 1652, complaining of the extensive repairs that are in need of being done on the Taj Mahal. He says that several rooms on the second storey, the secret rooms and tops of the seven storey ceilings have all absorbed water through seepage and are so old that they were all leaking, and the dome had developed a crack on the northern side. This was in spite of the fact that the rumor is that the Taj was finished being built in 1653. The logic of this is that Mumtaz was supposed to have died around 1631, and it is said that it took 22 years to build the Taj. However, in the letter herein Aurangzeb ordered immediate repairs at his expense while recommending to the emperor that more elaborate repairs such as the roof be opened up and redone with mortar, bricks and stone.

Aurangzeb's letter is recorded in at least three chronicles titled 'Aadaab-e-alamgiri ', 'Yaadgaarnama 'and the ' Muraaqqa-I-Akbarabadi ' (edited by Said Ahmad, Agra, 1931, page 43, footnotes 2).

In any case, if the Taj was a new building, there would no doubt not be any need for such extensive repairs.

View attachment 208130

Taj Mahal Photo # 12

Such are the rooms on the 1st floor of the marble structure of the Taj Mahal. The two staircases leading to this upper floor are kept locked and barred since Shahjahan's time.View attachment 208131


The floor and the marble walls of such upper floor rooms can be seen in the picture to have been stripped of its marble panels.


Shahjahan used that uprooted marble from the upper floor for constructing graves and engraving the Koran


because he did not know wherefrom to procure marble matching the splendour of the rest of the Taj Mahal.
He was also so stingy as not to want to spend much even on converting a robbed Hindu temple into an Islamic mausoleum.

There is a reason for that..

When the Emperor of India requested for Marbles to "complete" the Taj mahal, which was found only in Rajasthan, The Rajah of Jaipur ordered his famous white marble quarries locked up and he locked up his masons and quarry workers and REFUSED TO PROVIDE WHITE MARBLE to the Emperor of India.

Now Why would he do that ? Unless this was salt on the wound of the seizure of his property! That was when the marble was stripped off the upper floor empty and completely unused rooms. That marble was then used to RETROFIT the crude quotes ON TOP OF THE INLAY .
 
There is record of Taj Mahal being the place of a Hindu Rajput Raja Man Singh. This is more likely than a shiva temple.

Badshahnama which was written during the reign of Shahjahan has no mention of Taj Mahal. But on the Volume I page 403. One line read – "va pesh azin manzil-e-Raja Mansingh bood, vadari vakt ba Raja Jaisingh." He confessed that Shahjahan took over Raja Mansingh’s palace for burial of Mumtaz.

As to the question, what was Agra City like before Shahjahan came to power?

In the 17th century, the Dutch had a Factory (trading post) in Agra. Fransisco Pelsaert was their Senior Factor (Merchant) at Agra from 1620 to 1627. In 1626, he prepared a commercial report for his directors in Holland. By strange coincidence, he describes Agra City at that time. He says, “The city is narrow and long, because all the rich and influential people have built their palaces on the river bank and this stretches for 10 ½ miles. I will mention some of the well known ones. Starting from the North there is the palace of Bahadur Khan, Raja Bhoj, ……. Then comes the Red Fort. (Pelsaert then describes the Fort) beyond it is Nakhas – a great market, then follow the palaces of great Lords – Mirza Abdulla, Aga Naur …… Mahabat Khan, Late Raja Mansingh, Raja Madho Singh.”


It is more likely that Taj Mahal was the palace of the Hindu king, than a shiva temple.



There is a reason for that..

When the Emperor of India requested for Marbles to "complete" the Taj mahal, which was found only in Rajasthan, The Rajah of Jaipur ordered his famous white marble quarries locked up and he locked up his masons and quarry workers and REFUSED TO PROVIDE WHITE MARBLE to the Emperor of India.

Now Why would he do that ? Unless this was salt on the wound of the seizure of his property! That was when the marble was stripped off the upper floor empty and completely unused rooms. That marble was then used to RETROFIT the crude quotes ON TOP OF THE INLAY .


Taj Mahal - Time to Tell the Truth
By Dr. V. S. Godbole



There are many legends about the Taj Mahal. But one sentence is common in all of them. “For the construction, 20,000 men worked for 22 years.” This is well known throughout the world. The simple question is – where do these figures come from?

These figures come from a book called "Travels in India" by J B Tavernier, a French jewel merchant. He was a great adventurer who made six voyages to India in the days of Shivaji (1638 to 1668). Tavernier says, "I witnessed the commencement and completion of this monument (Taj Mahal) on which 20,000 men worked incessantly for 22 years.”

Tavernier’s book was first published in French in 1675. In those days, it was a great adventure for a single man to travel over such a long distance, face many difficulties, deal with peoples of many cultures and languages, adjust to their customs and traditions, and come home safely – that in itself was incredible. In addition Tavernier carried out a trade in precious stones like diamonds. He completed such voyages, not once but six times. His book was therefore a great sensation at that time. It was naturally translated into English and during 1677 to 1811; nine editions of the English translation were published, whereas during the same period twenty-two editions of the French book were printed.

In 1889, Dr. Ball translated the original French book into English, corrected some mistakes in earlier translation and provided extensive footnotes. He also studied Tavernier’s movements thoroughly and provided details of his six voyages. From this it is clear that Tavernier came to Agra only twice – in the winter of 1640-41 and in 1665. This raises another interesting question.

Historians say that Mumtaz, wife of Shahjahan died in 1631 and the construction of Taj Mahal started immediately. But if that is the case Tavernier could not have seen the commencement of Taj Mahal, as he came to Agra nearly 10 years later.

Aurangzeb had imprisoned his father Shahjahan in the Red Fort of Agra since 1658 and usurped power. No historian claims that Aurangzeb completed Taj Mahal. So, Tavernier could not have seen the completion of Taj Mahal either. And that being the case his statement that 20,000 men worked on it incessantly is meaningless.

Why have historians kept this truth from us for the last 117 years? The reason is simple. It strikes at the heart of the legend.


Badshahnama – What Does it Say?

British Historians have proclaimed that in India, Hindu Kings had no historical sense. Historical records were kept only by the Muslim rulers. Fair enough, then let us turn to the Badshahnama which was written during the reign of Shahjahan. The Asiatic Society of Bengal published the Persian text of Badshahnama in two parts, part I in 1867 and part II in 1868. The compilation was done by two Maulavis, under the superintendence of an English Major. The funny thing is that no one quotes Badshahnama to explain how the Taj Mahal was built. Why?

Elliot and Dowson, two English gentlemen undertook the formidable task of writing history of India from the attack on Sindh by Mohammed bin Kasim in the 8th century to the fall of Marathas in the 19th century. A period covering some 1200 years. But it was written, based on chronicles of Muslim rulers only. Elliot and Dowson’s work was published in 8 volumes during 1867 to 1877. Volume 7 deals with the reigns of Shahjahan and Aurangzeb. And yet in the entire volume we do not find the word ‘Taj Mahal.’ The authors should have said, “Though we have presented history of Shahjahan based on his official chronicle Badshahnama, we did not find any reference to Taj Mahal in it.” They did no such thing. And Historians have kept even this information from us for the last 130 years.

In 1896 Khan Bahaddur Syed Muhammad Latif wrote a book entitled "Agra Historical and Descriptive." He refers to Badshahnama many times but does not quote specific page numbers. On page 105 he says, “The site selected for the mausoleum was originally a palace of Raja Mansingh but it was now the property of his grandson Raja Jaisingh.” Many authors have referred to Latif in their bibliography but have not cared to see what he has said. This truth was also hidden away from us by our Historians.

In 1905, H. R. Nevill, ICS, compiled Agra District Gazetteer. In it he changed the words "Raja Mansingh’s Palace" to "Raja Mansingh’s piece of land." Ever since all historians have followed suit and repeated "Shahjahan purchased Raja Mansingh’s piece of land, at that time in the possession of his grandson Raja Jaisingh." This deception has been going on for more than a century.

One may ask, “Why would an English officer be interested in playing such a mischief?” Well if we look at the events of those times the reason is clear cut.

1901

Viceroy Lord Curzon separated some districts from Punjab to create a Muslim majority North West Frontier Province. Hindus became an insignificant minority in this province and that marked the beginning of their misfortune.

1903

Curzon declared his intention to partition Bengal to create a Muslim majority province of East Bengal.

1905

Curzon resigned but put into effect the partition of Bengal.

1906

A Muslim delegation led by Agakhan called upon new Viceroy Lord Minto. Muslims pleaded that in any political reforms they should be treated separately and favourably. This move was obviously engineered by the British rulers.

December – Muslim League was started in Dacca.

1909

In the Morley - Minto reforms, Muslims were granted separate electorates.

We should also remember that during 1873 and 1914, some English officers had translated into English the Persian texts of Babur-nama. Humayun-nama, Akbar-nama, Ain-e-Akbari and Tazuk - i - Jehangiri, but NOT Badshahnama. Judging from above events it is obvious why Mr Nevill played the mischief when compiling Agra District Gazetteer in 1905.

It is astonishing that though Maulavi Ahmad (History of Taj, 1905) and Sir Jadunath Sarkar (Anecdotes of Aurangzeb, 1912) repeat that Raja Mansingh’s piece of land was purchased by Shahjahan, they also provide a reference - Badshahnama.

Volume I page 403. Strange as it may sound, no one had bothered to see what is written on that page.

In 1964, Mr. P. N. Oak of New Delhi started having his doubts about Taj Mahal. He put forward an argument that it was originally a Hindu Palace. Oak had to cross swords with many historians. One of his opponents was a Kashmiri Pandit. Eventually they went to Government of India Archives. At the suggestion of the Librarian there the Pandit started to read Badshahnama, soon he came to Volume I page 403. One line read – "va pesh azin manzil-e-Raja Mansingh bood, vadari vakt ba Raja Jaisingh." He confessed that Shahjahan took over Raja Mansingh’s palace for burial of Mumtaz. We owe so much to this honest opponent of Mr. Oak. He gave word by word translation of pages 402 and 403 to Mr. Oak who promptly published it in his book "Taj Mahal is a Hindu Palace" (1968). However, Mr. Oak never stated that the translation was NOT his. It was done for him by a Persian expert. That made life of his opponents easy. They said, “Mr Oak’s translation is wrong.”

I obtained Oak’s book in London in 1977. I made a study for one year. First of all I read all the references generally quoted by Historians and writers.That was made possible by my being in England. Mr. Oak did not have that facility. All the references led to the same conclusion that the Taj Mahal is a Hindu Palace and it was NOT built by Shahjahan. My booklet entitled – "Taj Mahal: Simple Analysis of a Great Deception" was published in 1986. In 1981, while going through some references, I started suspecting that the British knew the true nature of the Taj Mahal for a long time but had deliberately suppressed the truth. Eventually, my research was published in 10 parts in the Quarterly "Itihas Patrika" of Thane (India). I collected all the information available on Taj Mahal over the 200 year period from 1784 to 1984, and shown how the British suppressed vital pieces of evidence or twisted the truth. My research continued and was published in 1996 under the title – "Taj Mahal and the Great British Conspiracy."


Taj Legend Exposed in England in 1980

Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a reputable Institution in London. In1980, in their monthly Journal, they published two letters challenging the validity of the usual Taj Legend. One was by Mr. Oak, the other by me. No one has refuted our arguments. Mr. Oak refers to Badshahnama, Volume I page 403. What have I disclosed in my letter?

What was Agra City like before Shahjahan came to power? That is the question dodged by all historians. In the 17th century, the Dutch like the English were trying to trade in India. They had a Factory (trading post) in Agra. Fransisco Pelsaert was their Senior Factor (Merchant) at Agra from 1620 to 1627. In 1626, he prepared a commercial report for his directors in Holland. By strange coincidence, he describes Agra City at that time. He says, “The city is narrow and long, because all the rich and influential people have built their palaces on the river bank and this stretches for 10 ½ miles. I will mention some of the well known ones. Starting from the North there is the palace of Bahadur Khan, Raja Bhoj, ……. Then comes the Red Fort. (Pelsaert then describes the Fort) beyond it is Nakhas – a great market, then follow the palaces of great Lords – Mirza Abdulla, Aga Naur …… Mahabat Khan, Late Raja Mansingh, Raja Madho Singh.”

English translation of this report was available since 1925. And yet no Historian refers to it. Why? The reason is simple. In 1626, Pelsaert has said that 10 ½ mile stretch of the river-bank was full of palaces, the late Raja Mansingh’s Palace being the last one. The Badshahnama says that Shahjahan took over this palace for burying his wife Mumtaz. Thus, what we call Taj Mahal today is nothing but Late Raja Mansingh’s Palace. That is the truth which Historians have kept away from us.

My efforts had one effect. In 1982, the Archaeological Survey of India published a booklet entitled "Taj Museum." Though the authors repeat the usual legend, they say “Mumtaz died in Burhanpur and was buried there. Six months later Shahjahan exhumed her body and sent her coffin to Agra, on that site until then stood Late Raja Mansingh’s Palace……"

Today that palace is called the Taj Mahal. Nothing could be simpler. What building work is needed for burying a corpse in a Palace?

Dr. V. S. Godbole, April 2007
14 Turnberry Walk Akshaya Tritiya
Bedford
MK41, 8AZ
U.K.
 
I like how it conveniently misses mentioning


1911

Muslim Bengal and Hindu Bengal reunited as the trick didn't work.

What a failed mission has to do with it??? The intent is clear by all the above mentioned references, inclusion of 1911 serves no purpose hence, it seems author does not mentioned it.

i have read of that claim before, on a pdf thread... i have never visited taj but before but even at a glance talking about a door is of no consequence... even if the door was from a rajput hindu fort, maybe it was shahjahan just honoring his mother and grandmother who were hindu, yes??
however, below is a discrediting comment ( of the entire notion ) i found on a blog that was promoting taj mahal as a temple ( Right As Usual: Taj Mahal - Which Culture Created It? )...
I have tried to track down the Marvin Miller (sometimes referred to as Marvin Mills) who is supposed to have carbon dated a door from the Taj . I have verified that no Marvin Miller or Marvin Mills is, or ever has been, a member of the faculty of the Pratt Institute. No mention of which lab those tests were conducted or where the reports of these tests are is there in Oak’s book. It’s fair to conclude that this whole test thing is bogus and never happened; if it was PN Oak should make this test results or reports available for public viewing and study by other experts.[/QUOTE] rightly so. :lol:[/QUOTE]

Dont spread the miss-information.

Marvin Mills | Pratt Institute | ZoomInfo.com
 
Don't paint all Indians with the same brush. It is only the RSS yahoos who are indulging in this bloody idiotic crap.

Point taken. But it's Indians that voted them in. What will you guys do next?
 
None of it makes any sense, not serves any purpose.

So, why quote all the dates nicely like a good kid, showing Bengals partition, but stop at 1911 ? It is ok to show till 1908, then 1911 is haram ?

:disagree:





Get that blonde woman to visit India ? :woot:


Which blonde woman?
 

AN ARCHITECT LOOKS AT THE TAJ MAHAL LEGEND

by

Professor Marvin H. Mills
Pratt Institute, New York
In their book TAJ MAHAL

In their book THE ILLUMINED TOMB, Wayne Edison Begley and Ziyaud-Din Ahmad Desai have put together a very commendable body of data and information derived from contemporary sources and augmented with numerous photo illustrations, chroniclers' descriptions, imperial directives plus letters, plans, elevations and diagrams. They have performed a valuable service to the community of scholars and laymen concerned with the circumstances surrounding the origin and development of the Taj Mahal.

But these positive contributions exist within a framework of analysis and interpretation that distorts a potential source of enlightenment into support for fantasy and misinformation that has plagued scholarship in this field for hundreds of years, thus obscuring the true origin of the Taj Mahal complex. The two basic procedural errors that they make is to assume that the dated inscriptions are accurate and that court hroniclers are behaving like objective historians.

As an architect, my principal argument with the authors is their facile acceptance of the compact time frame that they uncritically accept for the coming into being of the Taj from conception to its first Urs (anniversary) of the death of Mumtaz and the completion of the main building. Construction processes that had to consume substantial blocks of time are condensed into a few months. They feel justified in relying on what evidence is vailable, but fail to consider the objective needs of construction. They regret the loss of what, they say, must have been millions of Mughal state records and documents produced each year on all aspects of the Taj's construction. They do not consider that the lack of drawings, specifications and records of payment may be due to their not being generated at the time. Nor do they consider Shahjah an's potential for deception as to when and by whom it was built. Yet they point out Shahjahan's careful monitoring of the contents of court history:

"Shajahan himself was probably responsible for this twisting of historical truth. The truth would have shown him to be inconsistent and this could not be tolerated. For this reason also, the histories contain no statements of any kind that are critical of the Emperor or his policies, and even military defeats are rationalized so that no blame could be attached to him. ... effusive praise of the Emperor is carried to such extremes that he seems more a divinity than a mortal man." (p. xxvi)

With the court chroniclers' histories carefully edited, and with the great scarcity of documents we are fortunate to have four surviving farmans or directives issued by Shahjahan to Raja Jai Singh of Amber-the very same local ruler from whom the Emperor acquired the Taj property. On the basis of these farmans, the court chroniclers and a visiting European traveler, we learn that: (i) Mumtaz died and was buried temporarily at Burhanpur on June 17, 1631; (ii) her body was exhumed and taken to Agra on December 11, 1631; (iii) she was reburied somewhere on the Taj grounds on January 8, 1632; and (iv) European traveler Peter Mundy witnessed Shahjahan's return to Agra with his cavalcade on June 11, 1632.

The first farman was issued on September 20, 1632 in which the Emperor urges Raja Jai Singh to hasten the shipment of marble for the facing of the interior walls of the Mausoleum, i.e., the Taj main building. Naturally a building had to be there to receive the finish. How much time was needed to put that basic building in place?

Every successful new building construction follows what we call in modern-day construction a "critical path". There is a normal sequence of steps requiring a minimum time before other processes follow. Since Mumtaz died unexpectedly and relatively young (having survived thirteen previous child - births), we can assume that Shahjahan was unprepared for her sudden demise. He had to conceive, in the midst of his trauma, of a world class tomb dedicated to her, select an architect (whose identity is still debated), work out a design program with the architect, and have the architect prepare designs, engineer the structure and mechanical systems, detail the drawings, organize the contractors and thousands of workers, and prepare a complex construction schedule. Mysteriously, no documents relating to this elaborate procedure, other than the four farmans have survived.

We cannot assume that the Taj complex was built additively with the buildings and landscaping built as needed. It was designed as a unified whole. Begley and Desai make this clear by their analysis of the grid system that was employed by the designer to unite the complex horizontally and vertically to into a three-dimensional whole. If one did not "know" that it was a solemn burial grounds, one would believe that it was designed as a palace with a delightful air of fantasy and secular delights of water ways and flowering plants. Could it be that this is Raja Jai Singh's palace, never destroyed, converted by decree and some minimum face-lifting to a Mughal tomb?

Assuming that Shahjahan was galvanized into prompt action to initiate the project on behalf of his deceased beloved, we can safely assume that he needed one year minimum between conception and ground-breaking. Since Mumtaz died in June 1631, that would take us to June 1632. But construction is said to have begun in January 1632. Excavation must have presented a formidable task. First, the demolition of Raja Jai Singh's palace would have had to occur. We know that the property had a palace on it from the chronicles of Mirza Qazini and Abd al-Hamid Lahori. Lahori writes:

"As there was a tract of land (zamini) of great eminence and pleasantness towards the south of that large city, on which before there was this mansion (manzil) of Raja Man Singh, and which now belongs to his grandson Raja Jai Singh, it was selected for the burial place (madfan) of that tenant of paradise.[Mumtaz]" (p. 43)

Measures would have to be taken during excavation of this main building and the other buildings to the north to retain the Jumna River from inundating the excavation. The next steps would have been to sink the massive foundation piers, put in the footings, retaining the walls and the plinth or podium to support the Taj and its two accompanying buildings to the east and west plus the foundations for the corner towers, the well house, he underground rooms, and assuming the complex was done at one time, all the supports for the remainder of the buildings throughout the complex. To be conservative in our estimate, we need at least another year of construction which takes us up to January 1634.

But here is the problem. On the anniversary of the death of Mumtaz, each year Shahjahan would stage the Urs celebration at the Taj. The first Urs occurred on June 22, 1632. Though construction had allegedly begun only six months earlier, the great plinth of red sandstone over brick, 374 yards long, 140 yards wide, and 14 yards high was already in place! Even Begley and Desai are somewhat amazed.

Where was all the construction debris, the piles of materials, the marble, the brick scaffolding, the temporary housing for thousands of workers, the numerous animals needed to haul materials? If "heaven was surpassed by the magnificence of the rituals", as one chronicler puts it, then nothing should have been visible to mar the exquisite panorama that the occasion called for.

But by June 1632, it was not physically possible that construction could have progressed to completion of excavation, construction of all the footings and foundations, completion of the immense platform and clearing of all the debris and eyesores in preparation for the first Urs.

Begley and Desai have little use for the testimony of the European travellers to the court of Shahjahan. But they consider Peter Mundy, an agent of the British East India Company, to be the most important source on the Taj because he was there shortly before the first Urs at the new grave site, and one year later at the second Urs.

It was Mundy who said that he saw the installation of the enameled gold railing surrounding Mumtaz's cenotaph at the time of the second Urs on May 26, 1633. But there is no way that construction could have moved ahead so vigorously from January 1632 to May 1633 as to be ready to receive the railing. After all, the railing could not have stood forth in the open air. It means that the Taj building had to be already there. It must have been immensely valuable since the cost of the Taj complex was reported to be fifty lakhs, while the cost of the gold railing was six lakhs of rupees. The gold railing was removed by Shahjahan on February 6, 1643 when it was replaced by the inlaid white marble screen one sees now.

An alternate interpretation of events regarding the railing is that Shahjahan revealed the gold railing of Raja Jai Singh at the first or second Urs. In 1643 he appropriated it for himself and put in its place the very fine marble screen with its inlaid semi-precious stones, a screen that was not nearly as valuable as the gold railing.

If Shahjahan's construction and interior adornment of the Taj are in question, what rework of the Taj can we attribute to him? The inscriptions were undoubtedly among the few rework tasks that he was obliged to do. He may also have removed any obvious references to Hinduism in the form of symbolic decor that existed.

The book's plate illustrations show that the inscriptions are almost always in a discrete rectangular frame which renders them capable of being modified or added to without damaging the adjascent material. In my judgement the black script on the white marble background seems inappropriate esthetically in the midst of the soft beige marble that surrounds it. By adding the inscriptions Shahjahan probably sought to establish the credibility of its having been his creation as a sacred mausoleum instead of the Hindu palace that time will undoubtedly prove that it was.

Based on the latest inscriptions dated 1638-39, which appear on the tomb, the authors estimate a construction period of six years. Six years in my judgement is simply not enough time. As reasonable approximation of the total time required to build the Taj complex, we can consider Tavernier's estimate of twenty-two years. Although he first arrived in Agra in 1640, he probably witnessed some rework or repair. The time frame of twenty-two years may have been passed on to him by local people as part of the collective memory from some previous century when the Taj was actually built.

The issue of repairs is taken up by the authors in their translation of the original letter of Aurangazeb to his father dated December 9, 1652. He reports serious leaks on the north side, the four arched portals, the four small domes, the four northern vestibules, sub-chambers of the plinth, plus leaks from the previous rainy season. The question the authors do not raise is: Would the Taj, being at most only thirteen years old, already have shown symptoms of decay? Wouldn't it be more reasonable to believe that by 1652 it was already hundreds of years old and was showing normal wear and tear.

Who built the Taj? The authors say it was Ahmad Ustad Lahori, chief architect for Shahjahan. They base this belief mainly on the assertion by Luft Allah, the son of Lahori, in a collection of verses, that Shahjahan commanded Lahori to build both the Taj and the Red Fort at Delhi. As evidence this is quite weak.

The court historians are unfailing in their praise for the Emperor's personal participation in his massive architectuaral projects and they are never lacking in glorifying his sterling character. But the European travelers have other things to say about his personality and his inability to focus on anything for long except his lust for women. Nor is the object of his supposed great love either tender or compassionate. It seems that both "lovers" were cruel, self-centred and vicious. To believe that out of this relationship, with the support of Shahjahan's alleged great architectural skills, came what many consider to be the most beautiful building complex in the world, is sheer romantic nonsense.

While Begley and Desai are sceptical of the Taj Mahal's being a consequence of romantic devotion, they yield not an inch in asserting its Mughal origin. They support this traditional view by overlooking some key problems:

1. Consider the identical character of the two buildings on either side of the Taj main building. If they had different functions-one a mosque, the other a guest residence-then, they should have been designed differently to reflect their individual functions.

2. Why does the perimeter wall of the complex have a Medieval, pre-artillery, defense character when artillery (cannons) was already in use in the Mughal invasions of India?

[Why does a mausoleum need a protective wall in the first place? For a palace it is understadable.]

3. Why are there some twenty rooms below the terrace level on the north side of the Taj facing the Jumna River? Why does a mausoleum need these rooms? A palace could put them to good use. The authors do not even mention their existence.

4. What is in the sealed-up rooms on the south side of the long corridor opposite the twenty contiguous rooms? Who filled in the doorway with masonry? Why are scholars not allowed to enter and study whatever objects or decor are within?

5. Why does the "mosque" face due west instead of facing Meccah? Certainly, by the seventeenth century there was no problem in orienting a building precisely!

6. Why has the Archaeological Survey of India blocked any dating of the Taj by means of Carbon-14 or thermo-luminiscnece? Any controversy over which century the Taj was built could easily be resolved. [Radiocarbon dating of a piece of wood surreptiously taken from one of the doors gave 13th century as a possible date. But more data is needed.]

If Shajahan did not build the Taj for the love of Mumtaz, then why did he want it? His love for Mumtaz was evidently a convenient subterfuge. He actually wanted the existing palace for himself. He appropriated it from Raja Jai Singh by making him an offer he could not refuse, the gift of other properties in exchange. He also acquired whatever was precious within the building including the immensely valuable gold railing.

By converting the complex into a sacred Moslem mausoleum he insured that the Hindus would never want it back. Shahjahan converted the residential quarters to the west of the main building to a mosque simply by modifying the interior of the west wall to create a mihrab niche. He added Islamic inscriptions around many doorways and entries to give the impression that the Taj had always been Islamic. Sure enough, the scholars have been silent or deceived ever since.

Yet, we must thank Begley and Desai for having assembled so much useful data and translated contemporary writings and inscriptions. Where they failed is in accepting an apocryphal legend of the Taj for an absolute fact. Their interpretations and analyses have been forced into the mold of their bias. It would be well to take advantage of their work by scholars and laymen interested in deepening their knowledge of the Taj Mahal to read the book while keeping an open mind as to when and by whom it was built.


Added note:
A leading Indian architect, former professor of architecture at Mysore University adds:
There are fundamental problems with the current theory of Islamic Architecture in India of which the following may be noted.

(1) Unlike in the case of Hindu architecture, where there are literally hundreds of works on Vastu in several Indian languages, there seem to be almost no texts or manuals on Islamic architecture. It is difficult to see how a great school of architecture lasting 600 years could flourish without any technical literature.

(2) Hindu architectural practices and traditions are maintained by thousands of mason families, especially in South India. These are known as Vishwakarmas or Vishwa Brahmanas. They are greatly in demand all over the world. No such Muslim families are known.

(3) There are no standards of units and measurements for Islamic architecture in India. It is inconceivable that great works of architecture could come up without them. This is an objective requirement.

TAJ MAHAL-The Illumined Tomb, an anthology of seventeenth century Mughal and European documentary sources, by W.E. Begley and Z.A. Desai: Published by the University of Washington Press, Seattle and London, 1989 (The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture).

The reviewer Marvin Mills is a leading New York architect and professor of architecture at the Pratt Institute
 
None of it makes any sense, not serves any purpose.
So, why quote all the dates nicely like a good kid, showing Bengals partition, but stop at 1911 ? It is ok to show till 1908, then 1911 is haram ?

:disagree:


The Dates mentioned above by the Author clearly indicates towards the Plot of Britishers towards Division of Society of India on the Line of RELIGION.

Hence, the dates quoted by the Author makes very much sense.

What if something goes wrong then they have to obviously reverse the decision.

But my dear friend YOU VERY EASILY FORGOTTEN THAT THE DIVISION OF BANGAL, AT THE TIME OF INDEPENDENCE HAD TAKEN PLACE ON THE ON THE PRECISE LINE.

Better understand what the Article want to say, instead of Randomly Quote, which suits to your convenience.

And please do not quote me again.
 
I thought Taj Mahal was built by Muslims, Indians are not capable of building grand architecture.
Well those Muslims were Indians too :)

jain temple in rajasthan..


Worshippers_leaving_the_temple_in_Ranakpur.jpg

ranakpur-jain-temple-rajasthan-12827967.jpg



swami narayan mandir, kolkata.

03_Kolkata_mandir_f.jpg


15_Kolkata_mandir_f.jpg


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13_Kolkata_mandir_f.jpg






these dsn't make even 1% of india's architectural wonders... come back when you can boast your countries architecture to be atleast half close to that of Indians...
Nice Pics sir I like ahistorical monuments & worship buildings like this :)

:p:
@isupportaap

i don't know if you are trolling the sanghis with that list but i really laughed at korea and kaaba.

okay... if korea was originally a virat hindu kingdom, the sanghis can try taking north korea... there is just the little detail of defeating the the north korean military whom even the americans fear. :D
North Korea Stronk !:p:
 
Nothing comes even close to the grandiose of Taj Mahal.

It is also the biggest tourist money earner for India.
 
Yes otherwise Hindu fanatic like me would have blown it down just like one of my nebhigour do on regular basis :coffee:
Yes Hindu fanatics are good at blowing.

We don't mind if you can afford to pay us worth of it in monument level terms.
There's no need for Pakistan to pay for something that they rightfully own.
 
Point taken. But it's Indians that voted them in. What will you guys do next?
What? The RSS is not a political organization. Therefore the question of voting them in does not arise. And the BJP is not RSS.
 
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