Taj Mahal

Last weekend I finished a thoroughly enjoyable read called Taj Mahal by Diana and Michael Preston. As I've written before I have a growing interest in the history of the east, including that of the Indian subcontinent. The Taj was a no brainer for me after running across it at an airport bookstore.

The story of the Taj Mahal is that of 17th century Moghul emperor Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Shah Jahan was a relatively enlightened emperor for his day, a ruler of unimaginable wealth. "All the jewels of India" must have become an expression from this time. Interestingly, I learned that the modern term "mogul" derives from the Moghuls; apparently it was used to describe the wealth of early 20th century movie barons. Ironically, their wealth doesn't hold a candle to that of the Moghuls themselves.

As the story goes, Shah Jahan loved his wife dearly, and when she died giving birth to their 14th child he was overcome with grief beyond all measure. Shah Jahan was so grief-stricken, in fact, that he devoted the next several years to building the Taj Mahal as her mausoleum. The extravagant cost of building the Taj nearly bankrupted the Moghul empire. Arguably, the national expenditure on the Taj, as well as the distraction it became for the emperor throughout its lengthy construction, marks the turning point in Moghul hegemony on the Subcontinent: Shah Jahan's devotion to building the Taj can in part be blamed for the rise in power of the English in India.

The wealth expended on the Taj was enormous to the extreme. We mostly think of the structure itself, the beauty of the building from a distance at sunrise as the mist rises from the surrounding ponds and gardens. However, the book brings to life the intricately detailed artistry, often done in precious gems, that covers the walls both inside and out. The book quotes a Russion visitor to the Taj in the 19th century: The wall murals "look so perfectly natural, the artist has copied nature so marvellously well, that your hand involuntarily reaches to assure yourself that they are not actually real. Branches of white jasmine made of mother of pearl wind around a red pomegranite flower of cornelian... while delicate oleanders peer out from under rich green foliage... every leaf, every petal is a separate emerald, pearl or topaz."

The Prestons write, "Stonecutters, probably using patterns prepared by artists to guide them, chiseled grooves into the white marble, into which they inserted the inlays and fixed them in place with a putty made of oil, lead oxide and wax. Gem experts have counted up to sixty slices of stone, each cut and matched with precision, to form a single flower of only an inch in size. Craftsmen showed great skill in using the variations of color within a single stone to suggest the shade variation within a single petal."

Modern research seems to indicate that Shah Jahan had ultimately planned to build his own mausoleum, the so-called black Taj Mahal, immediately across the river Jumna on the modern site of the gardens of Mahtab Bagh. Lack of time, funds and a rift with Shah Jahan's son and future emperor Aurangzeb would all get in the way. Shah Jahan spent the last years of his life in captivity, Aurangzeb only allowing him a view of the Taj from his cell in the famous Red Fort at Agra.

Despite his sad demise, it must be truly amazing to visit the Taj Mahal in person. The combination of the setting, the building itself, the up close detail, and the touching story behind its inception make it one of the world's leading destinations. I can't wait to go!