iwan opens up from each of the cardinal points
of the main structure, which is crowned by an
imposing double layered central dome and four
chhatris. The interior space is also octagonal and
divided into four octagonal rooms. The ceno-
taphs of the royal couple are found here and rep-
licate the tombs with the remains of Mumtaz
Mahal and Shah Jahan, which are located in an
underground chamber.
The Taj Mahal is famous for the exquisite har-
mony of its proportions. The overall impression
is that each element is vital to the balance of the
whole. The marble, too, produces spectacular
color changes as the light shifts: a dazzling white
under bright midday sun, pink at dawn, and
translucent by moonlight.
Between the vast plinth and the sand-
stone entrance is an immense garden,
1,000 feet wide. It evokes the Islamic
paradise (Bagh-e-Adan) and once held
floral shrubs, fruit trees, and flowers. In its
center, a marble pool lies equidistant from
the mausoleum and the monumental en-
trance, flanked by an arched courtyard.
The outstanding beauty of the Taj
Mahal comes not only from its gracefularchitecture but also from its gorgeous decora-
tion, created mainly with pietra dura (hard stone)
set into white marble, a technique known in
India as parchinkari. The designs are both intri-
cate and exuberant: plant motifs, flowers, and
vases (guldastas) allude to paradise, and Quranic
verses adorn the walls with elegant calligraphy.
British writer Rudyard Kipling describes ar-
riving by train to see the Taj Mahal for the first
time: “The Taj took a hundred new shapes; each
perfect and each beyond description. It was the
Ivory Gate through which all good dreams come.”
Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore was similarly
enraptured: “Only let this one tear-drop, this Taj
Mahal, glisten spotlessly bright on the cheek of
time, forever and ever.” It is the teardrop shed
in grief by Shah Jahan for his beloved Mumtaz
Mahal.A SHAH TO
THE RESCUE
Shah Jahan
rescues a
courtier from
a lion in this
mid-17th-century
cameo made of
sardonyx, gold,
and enamel.
Bibliothèque
Nationale, Paris
Death of
An Emperor
IT IS SAID that Shah Jahan never recovered
from Mumtaz’s death. He planned his own
mirror mausoleum, entirely of black marble,
to be linked to her Taj Mahal by a river bridge.
This legend is based on the unusually asym-
metrical placement of the two cenotaphs,
suggesting that Shah Jahan’s was an after-
thought. In 1658 his son Aurangzeb killed his
three brothers, overthrew Shah Jahan, and im-
prisoned his father until his death in 1666. He
had no state funeral. The story’s romanticism
resonates: Shah Jahan was held in a tower
of the Agra Fort, where he and Mumtaz had
lived, and from which he could gaze on the
Taj Mahal. Aurangzeb buried his father next
to his mother beneath the Taj Mahal, under
their empty public tombs.BRIDGEMAN/ACISHAH JAHAN’S ACCESSION, IN A 17TH-CENTURY ILLUSTRATION
FROM THE CHRONICLE OF HIS REIGN, THE PADSHAHNAMAAURIMAGES
The Complete Taj Mahal Ebba Koch, Thames & Hudson, 2011.The Mughal ThroneAbraham Eraly, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003.Learn moreEVA FERNÁNDEZ DEL CAMPO IS ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ASIATIC ART
AT THE COMPLUTENSE UNIVERSITY OF MADRID.