Place of another Taj Mahal in black marble





Black TajMahal

It's Reality

The Story of a Second Taj Black Taj Mahal

The legend has it, that Shah Jehan decided to construct another Taj Mahal in black marble

on the other side of the river Yamuna and to connect the two by a bridge. This structure was

intended to be his own tomb. It has been recorded by Tavernier : "Shah Jehan began to build his own tomb on

the other side of the river but the war with his sons interrupted

his plan and Aurangzeb who reigns at present is not disposed to complete it". Later gazetteers and

guide books mention this story almost invariably. The irregular position of the cenotaph of Shah

Jehan as compared to that of Mumtaz Mahal which occupies the exact centre of the hall is enough proof into itself..

The Mehtab Burj and the wall adjoining it opposite the Taj Mahal are

generally said to be the grim remains of the proposed plan. Many scholars, however, believe that this idea belongs to fiction rather than history. The traces

which are identified as the foundations of the second Taj are actually the enclosing wall of a garden

founded by Baber. The irregular position of Shah Jehan's cenotaph in comparison to Mumtaz

Mahal's, is similar to that at the tomb of Itmad-ud-Daulah, and thus should not be of any striking

significance. Besides, according to Islamic law, bodies are buried with their faces towards Mecca

and legs towards the south, and the husband is placed on the right hand side of his wife. The

interpretation that the cenotaph of Shah Jehan was not meant to be placed here appears to be

superfluous.

Till today it is not known who really designed Taj, but as the rumours say it may

have been designed by an Italian Architect.



Some European scholars held the view that the Taj was designed by an Italian - Geronimo Veroneo.

This was first suggested by Father Manrique, an Augustinian Friar, who came to Agra in 1640 A.D.

to secure the release of Father Antony who had been imprisoned by the Mughals. It was in Lahore

that he met Father Joseph de Castro, the executor of Veroneo who died at Lahore in 1640 A.D.,

and it was Castro who told him about "the Venetian by the name Geronimo Veroneo who came in

the Portuguese ships and died in the city of Lahore before he reached it..." During the reign of Jehangir, a goldsmith named Veroneo did in fact come to India and, as mentioned

by Father Manrique, did die on his way to Lahore. He lived for a time in Agra, and prospered there.

He knew many influential Europeans throughout the North Indian provinces, and when he died, he

was buried in the Christian cemetery of Padres Santos in Agra. The theory that Veroneo designed the Taj is intriguing and still finds occasional champions, especially

in Italy. But the scales of evidence weigh heavily against it. True there is the testimony of Father

Manrique, but he was no more than a casual tourist who heard that the Taj had been built by an

Italian. However, nowhere else is there mentioned that Veroneo participated in planning the Taj

Mahal. As a matter of fact, there is no record that Veroneo had any skill other than that of working on

gold. Other Europeans who saw the Taj under construction never mentioned his name, and

furthermore, it is difficult to suppose that an artist trained in seventeenth century Italy, the Italy of

Bernini, could build a mausoleum that would typify Indo-Persian architecture. The Taj is not an

isolated phenomenon, the creation of a single mastermind but the glorious consummation of a great

epoch of art.

The Basement Chambers and a probable Third Grave

Two staircases on the northern side of the red sandstone plinth of the Taj lead below into the

basement chambers which are seventeen in number and have been laid out in a line on the riverside

of a narrow through-corridor. The rooms and corridor are of acurate construction in brick and

plaster, with stucco and painting ornamentation, distributed aesthetically on the soffits. At the

extreme points on both sides there are doors sunk in the northern wall. They were blocked up

permanently and securely with thick masonry at some unknown date, undoubtedly for some well

calculated purpose. As may be surmised, the set on the northern side could have been repeated on

the sides below the marble structure, with a rotating corridor, chambers and probably a crypt in the

centre - all being interconnected. This crypt would have contained the third and the real set of graves. The custom of providing

cenotaphs or replicas had been followed by the Turks and the Mughals alike as we meet with this

practice at the tomb of Iltutmish at Delhi and at the tombs of Saqid Khan and Akbar at Agra. The

tomb of Akbar has three tombstones, one on the grave and two as cenotaphs. The tomb of

Itmad-ud-Dauhlah and Chini-ka-Rauza too had three tombstones each. The lowest of the former

was contained in a crypt which was originally accessible from the riverside and has now been

completely blocked up. These examples indicate that the Mughals liked to provide three tombstones

in a mausoleum. At the Taj, the third is traditionally claimed to exist. It is only in these underground

vaults that the third set could have been placed. The doors in the basement corridor no doubt exist

and must have originally given entry to some underground arrangement of chambers and corridors.

Though they are now permanently blocked, their existence lends weight to the legendary version. The Taj Mahal was a Rajput Palace!!

A group of Hindu fundamentalists which seeks to deny any positive role of Muslims in India dispute

the claim that the Taj Mahal was built by Shah Jehan. Instead, as outlined in the book The Taj

Mahal Was a Rajput Palace, fourth century Hindu rulers are given credit for its erection. The claim

is without serious merit, but it has acquired something of a following in India.



The Taj is sinking!!

The architect of the Taj Mahal aimed at giving maximum strength and stability to the tomb and

worked out the minute details with utmost precision : the weight of the entire structure is uniformly

distributed, extraordinarily massive piers and vaults were constructed to support this heavy load., the

very best quality of bonding material helped combat the disrupted tensile stress etc. However, in

spite of all these precautions and care, dangerous cracks and leakages developed in the substructure

just four years after its completion. Aurangzeb in his letter to Shah Jehan in 1652 mentions these

cracks. Some defects were discovered about the same time in the dome. Though thorough repairs

were undertaken, the nature of the cracks was not discovered. The cracks were again noticed to

have developed to dangerous proportions in 1810. As a result an Advisory Committee on the

restoration and conservation of the monument was set up and a survey with reference to the damage

was undertaken. Distance Calculator in India Some very important facts came out of this survey. It was discovered that the plinth of the

mausoleum on the northern side (or the riverside) is lower than on the south by 3.5cms. Cracks were

not noticed on the exterior wall, but they were definitely present on the second storey vaults of the

marble structure and, on a much larger scale, in the underground vaults below the northern side. The

long series of cracks in the underground vaults may be due to the crushing of lime on account of the

excessive weight, or as seems more probable, this may be due to the sinking of the whole structure

towards the riverside!! Such a sinking would shift the load out of balance slowly and gradually and the unequal settlement would crack the weak points, particularly the soffits of the vaults and arches,

which is actually happening in the underground chambers. A structure which stands on the edge of

water has a natural tendency to move towards the more open side, the higher edge always acting as

a strong buttress, thrusting it in the opposite direction. It is the whole mass, and not a part of it, that is gradually sinking. This is what can justifiably be concluded from the available data .

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