The Taj Mahal India – a Tear on the Cheek of History

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The Taj Mahal India was first described as "a drop of tear on the cheek of history" by India's Poet laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, who was Asia’s first Nobel Prize winner.

The Taj Mahal India encompasses a tragic and enduring love story in the perfect symmetrical dream in marble that is one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

The Taj Mahal India was created by Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal Emperor as a monument to his love for his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Her final resting place is located in the city of Agra, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, on the banks of the Yamuna River.

She was the daughter of the Prime Minister at the court of Shah Jahan's father, Emperor Jahangir. Shan Jahan first saw her one day when she was attending a Ladies Bazaar in the courtyard of the Palace and, it said, he immediately fell in love with her. In 1612, when they were both 21, they were married and Mumtaz Mahal, the "chosen one of the palace" as she became known, became his beloved consort.

Over the next 18 years she accompanied him on his military campaigns and bore him 14 children. She was his comrade and advisor and she inspired him to acts of charity and benevolence towards the weak and the needy but even these qualities were diminished by the love that bound her to Shah Jahan.

In 1630, just two years after he became Emperor his life was shattered by the sudden death of his beloved wife. She died in childbirth while accompanying her husband on a military campaign in Burhanpur. She was just 39 and it is said that on her deathbed, Mumtaz begged Shah Jahan to build monument as a memorial to their great love. That momument was to take nearly 20 years to build and was destined to become the Taj Mahal India

The Heartbroken Emperor

It is also said that his wife's death, Shah Jahan was so heartbroken, that he locked himself in his private chambers for a month and when he finally emerged his hair had turned white.

Mumtaz's body was carried from Berhanpur to Agra and she was laid to rest in a temporary crypt. She was moved again and buried in a garden on the banks of the river. The foundation of her mausoleum was laid in 1631. On the completion of the Taj Mahal she was buried for a third time in her final resting place nearly 12 years later. The emperor married twice more, and both these later wives, were buried in small mausoleums in Mumtaz Mahal's tomb garden.

Soon after the completion of the Taj Mahal India in 1648, Shah Jahan became seriously ill. As he lay dying he witnessed the fierce hostility among his four sons in their struggle to succeed him. His four children had grown up in an atmosphere of bitter rivalry even though they were all the sons his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. The expectation of their father’s death provoked them into a savage contest for power

Aurangzeb had an acute sense of political realism and a fierce appetite for power. He was the superior in both military talent and administrative skills and easily outclassed his brothers in the bid for power. After a bitter struggle he was crowned emperor in 1659. His father had not died as everyone had expected but sick and ailing, Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son, the new emperor in the Agra fort.

There he remained, confined for eight years, under house arrest, until his death. From the balcony of Muasamman Burj tower he could look down on the beautiful monument he had created for his beloved wife, the Taj Mahal India.

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