Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Taj Research


The controversy over Taj Mahal whether it was built from the foundation level or it was cut and paste job of Shah Jahan is subject of controversial debate. But all evidence points to Shahjahan’s and the British contorting history.



After Begum Mumtaz died in 1631 Shah jahan buried the dead Begum at Burhanpur itself. She had died because of the 14th child birth related complications. It is a matter of speculation whether she extracted a promise from the emperor that a beautiful monument would be built to commemorate her death. Shah had multiple maid, concubines & wives ( 5000 in all) in his harem so obviously he would have lost track of the lovely wives, he had and concern for one particular women is surprising.



How did the fabled love story originate ? Taj Mahal was in a state of ruins during early 1800. Lord William Bentinck was under pressure to garner revenues in India. The treasury was at the lowest ebb, disbursing salaries to the british soldiers became hand to mouth affair. He decided that the useless Mahal can be autioned off in 1830. The offer received was a measly 1.5 lakhs, whereas the original cost of construction was nearly 40 lakhs.



The Taj was obviously stripped of all its splendour in terms of carpets, jewellery, doors, tapestries, etc by the British soldiers during Robert Clive era. The Jats too joined the ranks of plundering the booties.



When William Bentinck did not find many takers for scrap value for the proposed auction, it was disbanded. The marbles from the Taj would fetch only 1.5 lakhs. Meanwhile the local populace got a scent of the proposed auction bid of Taj and they started a sort of revolt. All documents pertaining to the proposed aution was quickly erased.



Inorder to cover up this blunder of trying to erase a National Monument a campaign of disinformation was begun. The British historians were commissioned to sing eloquence of the The Taj, as the symbol of love. Well it was promoted private for the nobles for guest house, dance parties and gatherings fetching them revenue.



The cover up began with sealing of the remnants of the an ancient palace of Raja Mansingh on which the Taj edifice was built. Even Shah Jahan agrees to this fact in his treatise Badshahnama ( page no 403 vol 1 ) “ a grand mansion of unique splendour, capped with a dome was bartered with Raja Mansingh’s heir apparent for Mumtaz begum’s burial” (Actual name is Mumtaz ul zamani.) The raja was given an alternative land for his residence.



The conclusive carbon 14 test by an American lab conclusive proves that the doors to be older by 300 years than the date of Taj completion. The Taj edifice according to analysis dates back to 1155 AD, which is almost 500 years old prior to Shah Jahan’s claim of completion of the Taj in 1653.



In a letter addressed to his dad by Aurangazeb in 1652, he claims the pompous burial palace of Mumtaz is in bad shape, with leaks all over the structure. He ordered immediate repair of the cracks developed on the dome and the structure, which could be further reinforced later. If Taj had been completed in 1653, what was the necessity of repairs of a brand new edifice. Since it was a patch up or façade upgradation with marble of nearly 400 year old palace, the need for repair of the Taj was necessitated.



Raja Jaisingh was slightly ashamed of the total renovation of the old palace given to Shah Jahan in good faith that its originality would be retained. Instead Shah Jahan requested him to supply makrana marbles for inscribing verses of Koran, which would definitely alter the identity of the Palace. He refused to supply the marbles and held the workers as prisoner. This proves a point why does Shah require marbles within 2 years of the death of Mumtaz begum when the edifice is purported to have been completed after 22 years of hard labour. Marble would have been required only after 15 years.



Bernier, a contemporary French historians states that Non Muslims were barred entry into the basement which contained a small worship place for Lord Shiva. The basement chamber was decked with silver doors, strings of pearl and rubies along with the Shiv Linga. There was golden railing and diamond studded lattice which were all systematically uprooted from the Palace. Burial of Mumtaz was a convenient decoy to cover up the systematic plunder of the wealth of the Palace. Shah Jahan commanded the army personally to supervise the accounting of the unparalled riches.



A few yards away a Nakkar khana, Drum house is totally out of sync for a mausoleum. It is construed as a blasphemy in Islamic tradition to have musical troupe. A Hindu palace does have a chamber for soothing music to put the royalty to sleep and wake them up.



A treasury well in the basement is symbol of storing all the riches of the hindu kings. In case of enemies attack the entire wealth was dumped to be recovered later.



Further Taj has similar entrance arches which is unlike Muslim architecture. All four sides the arches are commonly reffered to as chaurmukhi ( four faced )



According to Koran, Pomp and show are not supposed to be exhibited by Muslims for burial. Taj mahal grave is a splendour beyond imagination which is against the religious preaching and that too two tombstones are displayed.



Taj Mahal Enterance faces, south which is wrong planning as per vaastu, in Hindu architecture, which brings downfall. Further in Muslim style it would be preferred to face Mecca which is West.



Shah Jahan’s special attachment to Mumtaz is not recorded anywhere in the records. He had innumerous affairs with maids to mannequins, and an ultimate symbol of debauchery was affair with his own daughter Jahanara, which finds mention in records. He usurped the throne murdering all his rivals, and was known to be stingy and a schemer. He used to impregnate Mumtaz every year and have affairs with other damsels. The lesser said the better. A grand conspiracy was hatched to hoodwink the public, Mumtaz laid buried at Burhanpur 600 miles away from Agra. Her grave is intact over there and a fake burial ceremony was created, which is undated as to when she was buried in the Taj edifice, if at all. There are nearly 400 to 500 rooms in the Seven storeyed Taj, which does not convey any sense or purpose in a Mausoleum.



Generally, it is seen that father is outdone by sons in Moghul history. The desire to outdo his father by Aurangazeb in building a similar edifice was unsuccessful attempt in Biwi Ka Maqbara. If Taj as proclaimed to be built by Shah jahan then Aurangazeb would have built a better edifice, considering the architects had already experience of building the Taj. The endeavour failed because he did not have the expertise of the ancient artisans of nearly 5 centuries ago.



By the mid-19th century, the Taj had become a colonial "pleasure resort," with Englishmen and women dancing on the terrace, and the mosque and its rooms rented out to honeymooners. In 1857 during the time of the Indian rebellion the Taj Mahal was further defaced.

The British soldiers and government officials chiselled out precious stones and lapis lazuli from its walls. Picnickers came armed with hammers and chisel to extract fragments of agate and carnelian from the flowers By the close of the century parts of the Taj Mahal had fallen badly into disrepair.

The British viceroy Lord Curzon ordered a massive restoration project, completed in 1908. He also commissioned the large lamp in the interior chamber, which he had modelled on one hanging in a Cairo mosque, after the local craftsmen failed to provide an acceptable design. He repaired the buildings, restored the gardens, and got the canals working again. However the garden was remodelled with the more English looking lawns visible today.

The history has been convieniently distorted by the moguls and the British to hide their plundering of the wealth of the Raja’s Mansingh palace. Nevertheless let us bury the past mistakes and savour the TAJ mansingh palace, which was renovated by Shahjahan and Lord Curzon, in the moonlight.
orkutuncle  graphic comments



OrkutUncle.com|Click here to send this to your friend


This article is based on Oak's research paper