¶ … Artistic Overview of the Taj Mahal Though monumental tombs had a long history in the Islamic architecture in India, they were not a part of either the Buddhist or Hindu traditions. Numerous tombs were erected in India by the Delhi sultans but the Taj Mahal at Agra was incomparable in magnificence. Jahangir's son, Shah Jahan, as a memorial to Mumtaz Mahal, his beloved wife, constructed the huge tomb, though it ultimately ended up as the ruler's tomb too. The central block's dome-on-cube shape contains antecedents of earlier Islamic tombs and other Islamic structures like the Alai Darvaza located at Delhi, but the refinements and changes in Agra tomb's design have turned the earlier immense structures into a magnificent structure of sparkling white marble. The Taj Mahal appears to be magically floating above the tree-lined reflecting pools that punctuate the garden that leads to it (Art History 280 lecture notes).

Taj Mahal: An Overview

The Taj Mahal is considered as the Mughal's great contribution to the architectural world, and as revealed by the contemporary sources, it was actually envisioned as such from the start. In the words of Muhammad Amin Qazwini, Shah Jahan's early historian, "And a dome of high foundation and a building of great magnificence was founded ... it will be the masterpiece of the days to come, and that which adds to the astonishment of humanity at large." In the Islamic structural design, this happens to be the biggest body of fortresses constructed by a solo patron. (Koch, 2006, p. 128)

It was referred to as a "teardrop on the cheek of time" by Rabindranath Tagore, a Nobel Prize-winning poet. Eleanor Roosevelt, a world-traveler, felt that the tomb's white marble "symbolizes the purity of real love" (Begley, 2011, 7). In the famous spectacle, the several years of sweat and the mind-blowing cost of constructing the Taj also lies the proof of the great and enduring love of Shah Jahan together with his noble commitment (Begley, 9).

This garden complex was constructed as a mausoleum for Shah Jahan's most beloved wife who lost her in life in 1631 in the process of delivering her fourteenth baby; hence the romantic love idea which is commonly associated with the Taj Mahal. We must, however, remember that Shah Jahan was also buried in the same tomb after being held a captive during his life's last years. The official name of the tomb, the Illuminated Tomb, an epithet that was shared with Prophet Muhammad's tomb located at Medina, implied that Shah Jahan had always intended the Taj to be his tomb too. Just like Prophet Muhammad, Shah Jahan perceived himself to measure up to the Islamic theological impression of a perfect man. The interior of the tomb is designed in this same way, so that the centrally positioned royal cenotaphs are capable of being circumambulated just like it is done at the shrines of saints in India, therefore signifying a connection between sanctity and royalty. Additionally, the Quran chapters, the holiest Islam text, were chanted continuously in the structure, emphasizing its religious nature. The vast garden on which the Taj Mahal rests is intended to signify paradise here on earth (Asher, 2009, p. 16).

Today, the Taj Mahal enjoys recognition way beyond its religious significance. It is true that the Mughal family, nobility members as well as European travelers all through the Mughal era and beyond, admired it; however, essentially it marks the conclusion of the custom of the construction of large-scale mausoleums. However, presently, it is par excellence, for its size as well as beauty, more than any other structure anywhere. In the past twenty years, commercials featuring the Taj have been related with aged spirits, fine china, luxury cruises among others. The garden tomb is even featured by the Indian Government in sleek page adverts inviting tourists from all over the world to experience the ultimate beauty. Others even wish to emulate the Taj Mahal. Taj Mahal's inlay was the inspiration behind a bathroom belonging to Doris Duke (a multi-millionaire) on her estate, Shangri La located in Hawaii. A rich Bangladesh filmmaker is today making a so-called imitation of the Taj Mahal at the cost of 58 million dollars outside Dhaka (Asher, 2009, p. 16-17)

Historical Overview

The first European to write a history regarding the Indian architecture, James Fergusson, made a comparison of the Mughal tomb to the Greek Parthenon in 1876, mentioning that the Taj was an outstanding specimen of balances, embellishment, and architecture (Asher, 2009, p. 19). Whatever its larger meaning is, the extensive utilization of white marble ought to have been intended to stir up a sense of divine company; during the...

17).
The Taj follows the plan of the Iranian garden pavilions, only that the structure stands at one end of the garden instead of the garden's center. The mausoleum is octagonal in design and typically has Iranian arcaded niches on every side. A court historian that witnessed the building of the Taj, Abd al-Hamid Lahori (death:.1654), equated its surrounding gardens to Paradise and its minarets to ladders stretching toward Heaven. Carefully chosen Koran passages have been inscribed on the entryway to the gardens as well as the tomb's walls, which are a confirmation of the historian's interpretation of the mausoleum's symbolism (book author, year, p. 38).

Those who regarded it as an inspiring work of art came to regard it as an object of popular culture, complementing the use of India's historic past in indigenous advertising. From there on, the Taj Mahal made an entry to the wider public domain; it was featured in the work of advertisement agencies globally as they utilized it not as a mausoleum but instead as a representation of luxury and elegance, a home for the living more than a store for the dead (Asher, 2009, p. 20).

Allegorical Significance of Taj Mahal

Two important groups of evidence have been greatly neglected by writers regarding the Taj Mahal: first, the entire complex's plan, and secondly the inscriptional program of the Koran extracts inscribed on the gateway and on the tomb. When combined, these two suggest that the Taj Mahal had some allegorical importance stretching far beyond its literal funerary function (Begley, 2011, p. 11).

Different from all past Mughal garden mausoleum, The Taj Mahal is positioned at one end of the garden instead of its center. The quadripartite design is, however, not unusual, being a paradigm of the classic Persian chaar-bagh (four-fold garden). Persian gardens and in particular Mughal tombs, are often metaphorically described in Persian inscriptions and poetry as Paradise. The metaphor was occasionally carried to poetic excess, which eulogize it extravagantly, maintaining that its gardens exceed even those in extraterrestrial Paradise in magnificence and beauty. In the allegorical scheme of the Taj Mahal, the four water channels of its chaar-bagh garden are meant to represent the four flowing Paradise Rivers, which have been cited in the Koran and Hadith literature. The raised marble tank at garden's center was intended as a duplication of the al-Kawthar, the celestial abundance tank, which was promised to Muhammad (Begley, 2011, p. 14).

Artistic excellence

All literature on the Taj Mahal supports the paradisiacal mansion concept. The waterfront garden was noticed in ideal forms and brought to its greatest monumentalized layout; hence it was elevated to a level above the mortal's sphere (Koch, 144). The paradisiacal garden house concept is conveyed by the delicate flowers which are visible on the dados, which change the tomb's lower walls into ever-blooming paradisiacal flowerbeds. The interior is replete with naturalistic embellishment; the cenotaphs of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan are covered with beautiful plants and flowers engraved on semi-precious stones. Beautification with paradisiacal flowers was given preference over the inscriptions on Shah Jahan's cenotaphs that were positioned next to those of Mumtaz following his death in 1666 (Koch, 2006, p. 144-147). Several Koranic extracts have also been inscribed inside the wall of the tomb (Begley, 27). The Taj's architectural magnificence makes up the formal counterpart of our most acclaimed mental ideas of a formless Deity. Often given praise as "the most beautiful building in the world," the Taj Mahal appears to reflect the absolute beauty of God (Begley, 2011, p. 35).

Conclusion

The majesty as well as beauty of the Taj Mahal also manifests the glory of its earthly maker, who has definitely gotten immortalized by it, even though maybe for the very wrong reasons. The extraordinary construction activities of Shah Jahan all through his time in power clearly reveal his excessive narcissism together with his obvious desire to build for himself a literal Paradise on earth (Begley, 2011, p. 35). It is the union of the sensuous and the intellectual that has made the Taj such a successful monument up-to-date (Koch, 2006, p. 147).