The Taj Mahal India Garden

Fact of The Taj Mahal India Garden

Experience the Taj Mahal India with India Travel Luxury and The Elite Collection

Enjoy the wonder of the Taj Mahal India with The India Tours Boutique Collection

Fact of Taj Mahal India Garden indicate that the ornamental gardens are designed in the classical Mughal 'char bagh' style and are divided into four equal squares. The garden is laid out in such a way as to maintain perfect symmetry. Measuring 320 m × 300 m, the garden has sunken parterres or flowerbeds, raised pathways, avenues of trees, fountains, water courses, and pools that perfectly reflect the Taj Mahal, The gardens were once stocked with colourful fish and beautiful birds.

Each of the four quarters of the garden is divided into 16 flowerbeds by raised pathways. A raised marble water tank at the centre of the garden, halfway between the tomb and the gateway, reflects the Taj Mahal.

The charbagh is a Persian design, and was introduced to India by the first Mughal emperor Babur, The charbagh is meant to reflect the gardens of Paradise. In Islamic texts, paradise is described as an ideal garden, filled with abundance. Water plays a key role in these descriptions: In Paradise, four rivers source at a central spring or mountain, and separate the garden into north, west, south and east.

Facts of the Taj Mahal – The Moonlight Garden

Mughal charbaghs are rectangular in form, with the tomb in the centre. The Taj Mahal is unusual as the tomb is at the end rather than at the centre of the garden. Recently there has been an archaeological project that has proved the existence of the Mahtab Bagh or "Moonlight Garden" on the other side of the Yamuna. This garden is a mirror image, and shows that the Taj did indeed sit at the centre of the garden. This 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, are similar to Shalimar's, and this suggests that the same engineer, Ali Mardan, may have designed the garden.

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 Mahal, they altered the landscaping to resemble more the formal lawns of London.

The Taj Mahal complex is bounded by a crenulated red sandstone wall on three sides, with no wall on the river side. Outside the wall are several additional mausoleums, including those of many of Shah Jahan's other wives, and a larger tomb for Mumtaz's favourite servant. These structures, composed primarily of red sandstone, are typical of smaller Mughal tombs of the era.

Water for the Taj Mahal was provided through a complex infrastructure. Water was drawn from the river by purs, a series of rope and bucket mechanisms that were animal-powered. The water flowed into a large storage tank, where, by thirteen additional purs, it was raised to large distribution tank above the ground level Taj Mahal.

From this distribution tank, water passed into three subsidiary tanks, from which it was piped to the complex. An earthenware pipe 25cm in diameter lies about 1.5 m below the surface, in line with the main walkway. This filled the main pools of the complex. Additional copper pipes supplied the fountains in the north-south canal. Subsidiary channels were dug to irrigate the entire garden.

The fountain pipes were not connected directly to the feed pipes. Instead, a copper pot was provided under each fountain pipe: water filled the pots allowing equal pressure in each fountain summary of the facts of the Taj Mahal India.