Emperor Shah Jahan created the
Taj Mahal "crown of palaces" in Agra India, completed in 1648. Ustad Ahmad Lahauri of Persia supervised the design, with extensive personal involvement in the construction, and architects included Abd ul-Karim Ma'mur Khan and Makramat Khan. The famous white mausoleum is just one part of the enormous 55.5 acre complex, dedicated to Jahan's third wife, Mumtaz Mahal. But the notion of romantic dedication is ironic as it was their son, Aurangzeb, who arrested the
Mughal leader shortly after the mausoleum's completion and held him in captivity until his death. The British invaders abused the site until it was restored in 1908.
The lotus flower is borrowed from the Egyptians as a symbol of regeneration in the afterlife. Indeed, the entire layout of this Islamic complex follows Egyptian sensibilities. A lively
Taj Ganji, the equivalent of a shopping mall today, contrasts the spiritual otherworldliness of the complex. It gives way to a grand gateway structure full of tombs of servants and predatory rooms for the procession inside. A gathering hall for attendants recalls the Egyptian hall of Maat. The 300m2
Charbagh garden is divided into quadrants and alludes to the holy garden of paradise, with its fountains of life and cypress trees of death.
The mausoleum comes next in the procession and is flanked by mosques. The site gradually slopes downward in steps toward the river, as the water suggests rebirth and cleansing in the afterlife. The tombs are actually located below ground, at water level. The mausoleum's domes are tipped with moon symbols, and it is the moon garden across the river that symbolizes the eternal paradise awaiting the family. This moon symbol is ingeniously mixed with the symbol for Shiva, the Hindu god of exaltation.
The base is 55m across with chamfered corners, and a large
pishtaq on each side in an
iwan is flanked by stacked
pishtaqs. Atop a 7m drums stands the 35m dome, which has the same height as the structure's length. It is flanked by smaller domed
chattris, with
guldastas beyond that, and minarets at the final corners. The minarets tilt outward as an opitcal illusion of vertical alignment from far away, much as with Greek temples. The rational design for repetition and proportion incorporated advanced calculus and revolutionized the idea of symmetry. Each element establishes a realm of space in the grand procession and gives greater privacy to the more intimate and inward concentric spaces. The technical achievement of Ismail Afandi's dome is only surpassed by the foundation structure of deep wells packed with stone.
The calligraphy by Amanat Khan reveals that the tomb models the throne of God above the Garden of Paradise. An inscription on the southern facade on the main gate quotes the Q'uran: "Come back to your Lord... And enter you My Paradise!" The white marble of the edifice symbolizes purity and the light of the sun that revives the dead and inspires the living. Flowers, vines, and fruits carved into the stone emphasize growth in this heavenly garden. This element and the proportions of the building can make its language comparable to the Corinthian column, feminine and slender. The inlaid gems at the tombs further emphasize divine light, with the crypt's inscription: "O Noble, O Magnificent, O Majestic, O Unique, O Eternal, O Glorious!"
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