483 Shares The iconic Taj Mahal needs no introduction – the epitome of love with one of a kind architecture!!! Last month I got a chance(again!) to visit the iconic Taj Mahal – One of the Seven Wonders of the World. I have been to Taj before as well yet this time I documented it in my camera more like a traveller and not a tourist. I’m going to present one day Taj Mahal tour from with all the details of the trip. History Of Taj Mahal Taj Mahal a 17th-century architectural landmark in the world history, a part of Seven Wonders of the World is known both for its striking architecture and the love story behind it. The Taj was built as a mausoleum by Shah Jahan and his 13th wife Mumtaz Mahal. Well, one must be surprised to know about the number of wives he had, I was too!
But Mumtaz was his favourite and that’s the reason he gave her the name Mumtaz Mahal meaning ‘Jewel of the Palace’ and thus very few people know her real name – Arjumanad Banu. It is believed that it was love at first sight for Shah Jahan when he saw Mumtaz working in Meena Bazaar. She even accompanied him to the military sites. While giving the birth to their 14th child, Mumtaz died and it was then Shah Jahan promised her never to remarry and will build the richest memorial for her. Thus we have the iconic Taj Mahal here in. Planning Taj with Kids?
Taj Mahal Love Story Video
The story of eternal love and everlasting despair gave an otherworldly color and whole new perspective to my experience at one of the world’s greatest architectural wonders. The Taj Mahal - Architecture of a Love Story: An article on the history and architecture of Taj Mahal the great Mughal marble monument built as a mausoleum by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
Read this fabulous guide from Jenny about. One day Taj Mahal tour from Delhi The Trip – Delhi – Mathura – Vrindavan – Agra Agra can be covered as a one day Taj Mahal tour from Delhi as it is a 2.5-hour hour drive from the capital. The – expressway routes through Mathura and which are another popular religious destinations near Delhi. Besides their religious values, the small towns are famous for their mouth-watering delicacies. I recommend tasting the while heading (or coming back) to Taj Mahal. We (the family) started early morning around 5h00 via the Expressway & reached the outskirts of Agra around 8h00.
While still on way, we got to know about the new route especially for the Taj without having to enter the main congested town. This helps to save a lot of time. We parked the cab approx. 1.5 km before Taj and not walking till the entry we decided to hop on the government cab at a merely 10/- per person. You might find other options as well including a carriage which charge as high as 250/- for that small distance. Read more on from Bianca. Suggested Read –!
Taj Mahal Entry Fees Agra’s Taj Mahal entry fees are 30 INR for Indians and 1000 INR for foreigners. The entry fees can be bought from the office near Parking lot itself. We boarded the cab and it took us no more than 5 mins to reach Taj.
Children below the age of 15 have free entry but with a zero charge ticket. Entry to Taj Mahal is now restricted to a 3-hour limit.
The 17th-century mausoleum is clearly showing the signs of ageing despite all the efforts & restoration in place. As of 11th April 2018, one of the minarets clattered because of the heavy rain and strong winds.
Although this may seem unfair to the people coming from far off, this is what is needed to preserve the monument. The number of tourists visiting the Taj Mahal has exceeded 60000, so to reduce “human load”, that’s why ASI put the time constraint in place. Entry Lane to the Taj Mahal To my surprise, the entry lane to the Taj have improved significantly and the road/shops are much more organized now. We took a small halt at one of the shops to buy sunglasses & hats as we forgot to bring ours 🙁 and it’s actually difficult to enjoy the historic monument when you can’t keep your eyes open in the scorching sun. That was a nostalgic moment as I remember how much the area around Taj have tidied up and the shops are well maintained. Moving on, we passed through the security at the entry gate quickly as it was still quiet in the early morning hours.
Suggested Read – Taj Mahal Tour As we got inside there was a huge entry gate to the Taj built of Red Sandstone. Went ahead within the premises, took a stroll around the beautiful gardens and found the newly restored (still in progress) the shining white Taj in the front which indeed was mesmerizing in itself. Buildings in the Complex apart from the Taj Mahal The main complex has two red sandstone monuments mirroring the Taj on left & right side which are also an architectural marvel. One of the building is a Mosque and the other is a Jawab (answer) hall. The Jawab hall later went on to being majorly used as a guesthouse. The Yamuna across Taj Mahal After exploring the Jawab hall, we moved on to exploring the exteriors of the Taj Mahal.
The rear ends face the holy river – the Yamuna when going towards the Mosque. The boat rides are also available for viewing the Taj Mahal from a different perspective. We missed it for now but will cover it the next time. Resemblances in the Tombs The, in, is also built on the similar lines and one might find the similarity in the outer structure of both the tombs. Yet the two differ greatly in the use of stones as the former used Red Sandstone and the Taj used White Marble with intricate Mughal style decorations. Well, also in terms of grandeur as well.
This slideshow requires JavaScript. Photography Tips Photography is seriously prohibited inside the Taj Mahal and you might lose your camera/mobile if you try to click and the security officials are on the watch for preventing it. Once you’re out of the main hall where the real graves are kept, you can click pictures again. You can see one of the pictures which I clicked from the outer hall of the main tomb of Taj and that is one of my favourite shot from the Taj. After visiting the Tomb coming towards the exit gateway from the gardens, we get another gorgeous view of the Taj. If you’ve finally visited Taj and fulfilled your dream, don’t forget to click awesome pictures and read this guide about!!
No matter what angle you choose for clicking Taj, the pictures are surely going to be amazing. The above one I tried while entering the Taj from the Jawab Mahal route and liked the perspective of the corner!! The Minarets surrounding the Taj Mahal The four minarets surrounding the Taj Mahal became an essential part of Mughal architecture from the 17th-century under Shah Jahan’s reign. The minarets stand high at 137 feet and are an important part of the Islāmic architecture. They were introduced as the stairs to the sky and their decoration is exceptional when compared to other minarets in mosques.
These minarets have three balconies, an umbrella-shaped dome and a crescent at the top. But these are not open for the tourists, but that doesn’t stop us from capturing it from outside!! The Gardens of the Taj Mahal When coming out of the mausoleum, the gardens stand in the front of the grand entrance gate. The grandeur of the entry is as magnificent as the Taj Mahal itself. The exit from the Taj Mahal takes us through the side gardens with another spectacular view of the mausoleum and another photographic opportunity. As a native Indian and Taj being just being a 2.5-hour drive away, I always take it for granted. But I completely get it, sitting in your home and planning a trip to the Taj is tough.
If you’re a foreigner, you might have some interesting stories to share, read this one about. Did I inspire you enough to visit the Taj Mahal? Liked this one day Taj Mahal tour from Delhi? Save it to your Pinterest boards – The Wanderer Connect with me on,.Last updated on 12th April 2018. Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Save.
In the late spring of the next year, in a sprawling cantonment outside the city of Burhanpur, the emperor was directing his troops against Khan Jahan Lodi and simultaneously watching the royal harem for word of his fourteenth child. When the report came, it brought announcement of the birth of a healthy baby girl, but nothing was said of Mumtaz Mahal. For hours Shah Jahan waited impatiently. Still there was no news.
A messenger sent to the harem did not return. The alarmed emperor sent another, then a third, but none came back. It grew late, past midnight.
Shah Jahan was preparing to go the harem himself when at last a message arrived: the queen was well but very tired, and she wished to be permitted to rest undisturbed for the remaining hours of the night. The emperor was relieved and he too retired for the night, planning to visit the harem in the morning. But a few hours later he was awakened with the unsettling news that Mumtaz Mahal had suffered a relapse and was calling for him. He immediately dressed and made his way through the maze of war tents, arriving at the harem to find a solemn assembly of doctors grouped around the bedside. The queen was dying. Everyone was immediately dismissed from the room except for Sati-un-nisa, the queen's favorite lady-in-waiting, and Wazir Khan, her beloved doctor.
Wazir Khan feared the worst, he told the emperor, for Mumtaz Mahal had earlier confided to him that she had heard her child cry in the womb before its birth, an ominous portent. For several hours the emperor sat at the bedside and spoke quietly with Mumtaz Mahal. Toward the early hours of the morning she lost consciousness and before the sun rose she was dead. Legend has it that before dying she extracted two promises from him. One was that he would not beget children on any other wife her death, and the other was that he should build the world's most beautiful mausoleum over her grave. Whether or not the story is true, Shah Jahan certainly had no other children, and he did begin the mausoleum almost immediately after her death. Work began on the Taj Mahal in 1632.
For twenty-two years, 20,000 workers from India, Persia, the Ottoman Empire and Europe labored to construct the Taj Mahal. Spread over an area of 42 acres (17-hectare) the total cost of construction came out to be approximately 32 million Rupees. The site was chosen near the capital Agra, on the southwest bank of the River Yamuna. Although it is not known for sure who planned the Taj, the name of an Indian architect of Persian descent, Ustad Ahmad Lahori, has been cited in many sources. Surprisingly, the origin of the name 'Taj Mahal' is not clear. Court histories from Shah Jahan's reign only call it the rauza (tomb) of Mumtaz Mahal. It is generally believed that 'Taj Mahal' (translated as 'Crown of the Palace') is an abbreviated version of her name, Mumtaz Mahal.
As Peter Mundy and other early travelers refer to the empress in their accounts as 'Taje Mahal,' the mausoleum may have also acquired the name in the seventeenth century. The Taj stands on a raised, square platform (186 x 186 feet) with its four corners truncated, forming an unequal octagon. The architectural design uses the interlocking arabesque concept, in which each element stands on its own and perfectly integrates with the main structure. It uses the principles of self-replicating geometry and a symmetry of architectural elements. The five principal elements of the complex namely the main gateway, garden, mosque, jawab (literally 'answer'; a building mirroring the mosque), and mausoleum (including its four minarets)- were conceived and designed as a unified entity according to the tenets of Mughal building practice, which allowed no subsequent addition or alteration.
Its central dome is fifty-eight feet in diameter and rises to a height of 213 feet. It is flanked by four subsidiary domed chambers. These four graceful, slender minarets are 162.5 feet each. The entire mausoleum (inside as well as outside) is decorated with inlaid design of flowers and calligraphy using precious gems such as agate and jasper.
The main archways, chiseled with passages from the holy Quran and the bold scroll work of flowery pattern, give a captivating charm to its beauty. The central domed chamber and four adjoining chambers include many walls and panels of Islamic decoration. Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman in their book 'Architecture: from Prehistory to Post-Modernism', have described the Taj Mahal thus: 'The mausoleum of the Taj Mahal at Agra stands in a formally laid-out walled garden entered through a pavilion on the main axis. The tomb, raised on a terrace and first seen reflected in the central canal, is entirely sheathed in marble, but the mosque and counter-mosque on the transverse axis are built in red sandstone.
The four minarets, set symmetrically about the tomb, are scaled down to heighten the effect of the dominant, slightly bulbous dome. The mosques, built only to balance the composition are set sufficiently far away to do no more than frame the mausoleum. In essence, the whole riverside platform is a mosque courtyard with a tomb at its center. The great entrance gate with its domed central chamber, set at the end of the long watercourse, would in any other setting be monumental in its own right.' 'The interior of the building is dimly lit through pierced marble lattices and contains a virtuoso display of carved marble.
Externally the building gains an ethereal quality from its marble facings, which respond with extraordinary subtlety to changing light and weather.' Two notable decorative features are repeated throughout the complex: pietra dura and Arabic calligraphy. As embodied in the Mughal craft, pietra dura incorporates the inlay of semiprecious stones of various colors, such as lapis lazuli, jade, crystal, turquoise and amethyst, in highly formalized and intertwining geometric and floral designs. The colors serve to moderate the dazzling expanse of the white Makrana marble. The level of sophistication in the art work becomes obvious when one realizes that a 3 cm decorative element contains more than 50 inlaid gemstones. Under the direction of Amanat Khan al-Shirazi, Quranic verses were inscribed across numerous sections of the Taj Mahal in calligraphy, the center of Islamic artistic tradition. One of the inscriptions in the sandstone gateway is known as Daybreak (89:28-30) and invites the faithful to enter paradise.
Calligraphy also encircles the soaring arched entrances to the mausoleum proper. On closer look, the lettering of the Quran verses around the archways appears to be uniform, regardless of their height. The lettering, spacing and density have been customized to give this impression to the beholder.
To ensure its uniform appearance, the lettering increases in size according to its relative height and distance from the viewer. As a tribute to a beautiful woman and as a monument for enduring love, the Taj reveals its subtleties when one explores it at leisure and not hurriedly.
The rectangular base of Taj is in itself symbolic of the different sides from which to view a beautiful woman. The main gate is like a veil to a woman's face, which should be lifted delicately, gently and without haste on the wedding night. As per the charming Indian tradition the veil is lifted gently to reveal the beauty of the bride, in the couple's first night together. The dome is made of white marble, but the tomb is set against an awesome backdrop of the river and it is this background that works its magic of colors, and through the reflection of these colors transforms the view of the Taj. The colors change at different hours of the day and during different seasons. Like a jewel, the Taj sparkles in moonlight when the semi-precious stones inlaid into the white marble on the main mausoleum catch the glow of the moon.
The Taj is pinkish in the morning, milky white in the evening and golden when the moon shines. These changes, they say, depict the different moods of a woman. It has been said of the Mughals that they designed like giants and finished like jewelers, a fact amply brought out in the Taj Mahal. The wife of a British officer, Colonel Slleman, while writing home, described it thus: 'I cannot tell what I think. I do not know how to criticize such a building but I can tell what I feel.
I would die tomorrow to have such another over me.' The poet Rabindranath Tagore has perhaps said it best of all: 'You know Shah Jahan, life and youth, wealth and glory, they all drift away in the current of time. You strove therefore, to perpetuate only the sorrow of your heart.
Let the splendor of diamond, pearl and ruby vanish. Only let this one teardrop, this Taj Mahal, glisten spotlessly bright on the cheek of time, forever and ever.' References and Further Reading. Carroll, David. The Taj Mahal (India Under the Moguls): New York, 1972. Pal, Pratapaditya. Romance of the Taj Mahal: New Delhi, 1989.
Saran, Shalini. Taj Mahal (Agra, Fatehpur Sikri): New Delhi, 2001.
As I mentioned in my previous review, the Taj Mahal was constructed over 500 years prior to Shah Jahan's era. Carbon testing was done on the walls and the doors.
The walls are over 500 years old and the doors are over 300 years old. Usually, invaders will demolish the doors first to get inside any building.
This the reason why the doors are not as old as the walls. Why you removed my review in connection with the names of the books and authors for to get the true story of the Taj Mahal? I dare you to leave my review for one month. I went to india in april of this year, i went to the taj mahal right before i was to leave india to go back home. It made such an impression on me.
The detailed art work was amazing. I will never forget having the pleasure of seeing it with my own eyes. But mostly the feeling i had being there and knowing a man made this awesome building for the woman he loved. Thank you for your article it was very well written.
'it has been said there are two kinds of people, ones who have seen the taj mahal and ones who havent'. I always look forward to your articles! I came so close to seeing and experiencing the Taj Mahal for myself in 1998 when I visited your exciting and beautiful country.
Shah Jahan Taj Mahal Story
After a time in Delhi and parts of Rajasthan I fell ill and had to skip Agra. I've always planned to get back to India even if I see a different part of it. I love it all! It is my idea of heaven and I would be satisfied to spend eternity listening to the music and filling my senses with all aspects of your culture (even the not-so-pleasant ones). 'Fiction in Mughal miniatures.are widely considered the couriers of realism in Indian art. The art is as appropriate a vehicle of fiction as the literature. Art does not always have tales to tell but is also not without them.
The miniature art inclines to be realistic but even in portraying the real it often takes recourse to fiction. Realism, whether in art or literature, is not fiction's antithesis. On the contrary, it is as much an aspect of fiction as that of the realistic art. The fiction that evolved in early Indian miniatures is incidental to its source material, that is, the texts, which it illustrated. Mughal art continued with the text-based fiction illustrating.Persian classics., the Ramayana, Mahabharata.and many others.'
'The art of painting is often made to face a question: Is it an instrument that calibrates past. Whether art is different from history or is only one of its alternative sources.haunt the minds of art critics and as often the conference halls of academic institutions. Our mind is always keen to discover in art, whatever its genre, the world that it realizes through its senses or by its intellect and other faculties. Mughal art better reveals the world of Mughal days than do written histories or literary annals.
(Indian) miniature art (is) both imaginative and realistic, but it is not imaginative in the sense in which are some of the abstract or symbolic art modes that seek to transform a materially 'existent' into an abstract symbol. The truth of an Indian miniature stands midway, somewhere in between the 'real' and the 'unreal', or imagined, and it is in this dilemma that it discovers its uniqueness.'