An Introduction to the Taj Mahal

Catherine B. Asher
The Taj Mahal is without doubt Indias most famous monument (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. The Taj Mahal. Photo by Rachita Jain

Annually, thousands of Indian and international tourists come to visit this white marble tomb
placed in a spectacular garden complex. The Taj is attractive to tourists for various reasons: it is
one of the greatest monuments in the world, one of its Seven Wonders, is associated with
eternal love and is one of Indias greatest assets. Few, having experienced the tomb and its
garden, leave unimpressed, for the dazzling white of the mausoleums marble whose color
changes subtly as the earth turns, the absolute symmetry of the architectural design, as well as
the sheer scale of the massive complex leave most in awe. On a more factual note, this
impressive site was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (r. 162858) after the death of his
favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, in 1631. Most of the complex was built between 1632 and 1647/8.
Although repairs, restorations and even changes, especially in the plantation of the garden,
have transpired over the last 350 years, the overall complex remains consistent with Shah
Jahans original vision.

The Mughals and Shah Jahan

The first Mughal, Babur, traced his lineage from both the Mongol Genghis Khan (d. 1227) and
the great Central Asian warlord, Timur (d. 1405), whose 15th-century successors produced art
and architecture that became the gold standard of artistic creation in the Persian speaking
world. Babur defeated the last independent Muslim ruler of north India in 1526. He only ruled for
four years but introduced into the subcontinent, the Timurid tradition of ordered and regular
gardens, in which the land was divided by water channels and pools. While such gardens,
known as charbagh or four part gardens, are usually considered paradises on earth, for Babur
and his successors, these gardens had a political meaning, that is, they were considered as
visual metaphors for the Mughals ability to order and rule a land and people that Babur
considered to be chaotic and unruly.
Baburs son and successor, Humayun, did little to enhance Mughal authority, and for a 15-year
period was forced to flee India, being able to return in 1555 and reclaim the Mughal throne.
Humayun died a year later and was succeeded by his son, Akbar, who ruled for nearly 50 years
(15561605). Under Akbars long reign, the empire was enlarged and consolidated to cover
most of the northern subcontinent reaching to the Deccan. Rather than punish Rajput princes
and others whose territory Akbar enfolded into the Mughal empire, Akbar included these
defeated elite into his own administrative and military system. He ensured loyalty from these
newcomers by often marrying their daughters. Further stabilizing the new empire, currency and
modes of taxation were standardized. Policies promoting tolerance among Indias various
religious communities were adopted. As Akbars empire grew, he added forts and palaces
across the land as a visual reminder of his ever increasing authority and power. Among his first
architectural projects was the tomb he provided for his father, Humayun, which served as an
important model for the future Taj Mahal (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Humayun's Tomb, West Facade, Delhi. Photo by Mehreen Chida-Razvi

Upon Akbars death in 1605, his son Jahangir ascended the throne, ruling until his death in
1627. The empire he inherited was strong, stable and wealthy, and Jahangir made few
significant changes to policies and practices established by Akbar. Jahangir continued to build,
although he is better known for his passion for painted albums and manuscripts as well as for
his careful observations of nature. Military campaigns were not undertaken by the emperor but
rather by his highly competent son, Khurram, the future Shah Jahan. Prince Khurram was the
favored heir, until the early 1620s when Jahangirs powerful wife, Nur Jahan, began to promote
another of Jahangirs sons to be next in line for the throne. Khurram rebelled and established a
counter-court; but within a year after Jahangirs death, this prince proclaimed himself emperor,
assuming a title that his father had given him after a successful military campaign, Shah Jahan,
King of the World.
Shah Jahan ruled for 30 years, continuously promoting himself as a semi-divine ruler who was
fully cognizant of the value of the visual to achieve these ends (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Shah Jahan on a Globe

Both his portraiture, which often depicted him literally as King of the World as he stands on a
globe, and his highly symbolic architecture were intended to showcase him as belonging to a
lineage of great rulers.1 Shah Jahan likened himself to the just king Solomon, something his
Ottoman predecessor had done some 100 years earlier. The impression is of an aloof, perhaps
even arrogant ruler, but historical sources indicate a more human side of this Mughal emperor.
Prince Khurram married Arjumand Banu Begum, later to bear the title of Mumtaz Mahal, in 1612
after a five-year engagement, and she became his constant companion, even accompanying
him on all his military campaigns until her death in 1631. Women had long had a major role in
1

Ebba Koch, Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology: Collected Essays (New Delhi: Oxford University Press,
2001).

the outcome of Mughal politics. For example, Akbar often sought the council of his mother, but
as we have in this case of Akbars mother, it was more often the council of senior female elites
that could make or break relationships.2 Jahangirs powerful wife, Nur Jahan, was a notable
exception, for she was in many ways the de facto ruler, not a behind-the-scene Queen Mother,
as her aging husbands health deteriorated. Similarly, Mumtaz Mahal, a niece of Nur Jahan, had
great influence over her husband, although we do not know specific examples. Chronicles
reveal that although Shah Jahan had two other wives, Mumtaz Mahal remained his soulmate
throughout their 19 year marriage.3 During this time Mumtaz Mahal gave birth to 14 children,
half of whom survived. But shortly after delivering her last child, she became extremely weak,
called for her husband and died. The devastated emperor went into mourning, not interacting
with his court for a good week and then, for the next two years, continuously grieved.4 In the
meantime the queen was buried temporarily in a garden in Burhanpur, the city in the Deccan
where she had died; six months later her body was interred and moved to Agra at a site chosen
for her mausoleum, the Taj Mahal, which was the result of an exchange of land from a highranking noble.5 Shah Jahan long outlived his wife, dying in 1666. The last eight years of his life,
however, were not spent as an active emperor, but rather by 1658 he had been deposed by one
of his sons, Aurangzeb. He was imprisoned in his Agra fort, overlooking the Taj Mahal, until his
death, whereupon he was interred next to Mumtaz Mahal.
The Tradition of Mughal Funereal Architecture
Following the Timurid tradition, the Mughals were great patrons of the arts including painting,
architecture and luxury arts such as jade carving, textile production, jewelry, metal objects,
military paraphernalia and more. The other contemporary Muslim dynasties of this time, the
Ottomans of Turkey and the Safavids of Iran also engaged in similar production and
consumption to prove their elite status. But the Mughals, more than any other Islamic house,
engaged in the construction of tombs, particularly during the late 16th, through 17th centuries, a
2

Ruby Lal, Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2005), 121-36, 20507.
3
Ebba Koch, The Complete Taj Mahal and the Riverfront Gardens of Agra (London: Thames and
Hudson, 2006), 18. This is the most up-to-date scholarly study of the Taj Mahal and should be consulted
to enrich and enhance this brief introductory essay.
4
Koch, The Complete Taj Mahal, 20, W.E. Begley and Z.A. Desai, Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb, an
Anthology of Seventeenth-century Mughal and European Documentary Sources (Cambridge, MA. and
Seattle: Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture and University of Washington Press, 1989), 2939.
5
Begley and Desai, Taj Mahal, 16971.

timeframe that is roughly concurrent with the construction of the Taj Mahal. Tomb construction
had been practiced in the subcontinent at least as early as the 10th century in what is today
Pakistan, where Muslims had assumed political authority in the eighth century. Once Muslim
rulers established themselves in central north India by the beginning of the 13th century,
mausolea were built for rulers and their elite. Since the Mughals controlled a vast amount of
territory, increasing numbers of elite were required for the military and administration, but all the
same why are there so many extant Mughal tombs? Ebba Koch has suggested that tomb
construction may essentially be a form of estate planning.6 That is, tombs in Mughal India,
always set in gardens, were exempt from the customary requirement that land must revert to the
state upon the landholders death. While many tombs intended for the elite survive, it is the
imperial Mughal mausolea that attract the most attention.
The first major Mughal imperial tomb complex was the one provided by Akbar for his father,
Humayun, in Delhi close to the shrine of an important Muslim saint, Nizamuddin Auliya, and the
then Mughal fort today known as the Purana Qila (Fig. 2). Humayuns tomb was completed in
1571 and designed by a father-son team from Bukhara trained in both structural and landscape
architecture. This large domed structure is a Baghdadi octagon, that is, an octagon with four
alternating long and short sides. It sits on a high plinth in the middle of a charbagh garden. In
overall scale, design and garden plan, the structure belongs to the Timurid tradition. The interior
too, consisting of a central chamber surrounded by eight smaller rooms in a plan known as
hasht bihisht or eight paradise is also Timurid in inspiration. The use of red sandstone as the
structures veneer, detailed with white marble trim is part of a longstanding tradition in north
Indian architecture, particularly in buildings associated with Muslim patrons. Placing the tomb in
a garden setting is probably a Mughal innovation. The garden can be read on two levels, one as
an earthly paradise and the other as a symbol of political control as introduced by Babur.
Following Timurid tradition, Humayuns tomb was probably designed as a Mughal dynastic
tomb; although no other emperor was buried there, a number of royal elite later were interred in
Humayuns tomb.
When Akbar died in 1605, Jahangir commenced his tomb complex on the outskirts of Agra,
today known as Sikandra, but then called Bihishtabad, meaning the Abode of Paradise (Fig. 4).

Koch, The Complete Taj Mahal, 28.

Fig. 4. Akbar's tomb at Sikandra. Photo by Rachita Jain

Like Humayuns tomb and later the Taj Mahal, Akbars tomb is also set in a walled garden
complex with waterways that divide the complex into four main units. The tomb, though, as well
as the tomb later built for Jahangir in Lahore, has no dome, but its upper terrace is left open, to
conform to a passage in the tombs inscription: May [Akbars] soul shine like the rays of the sun
and the moon in the light of God.7 An element in common with the Taj Mahal is the accessible
underground crypt where the royal deceased are interred, for in the Muslim tradition the dead
are to be buried six feet beneath the ground. The cenotaphs marking other floors would mirror
the actual ones below ground. All imperial Mughal tombs have elaborate entrance gates, and
Akbars tomb is no exception. Two features of its gate reappear at the Taj Mahal. One feature is
the four white marble minarets that mark the corners of the entrance; at both Jahangirs tomb
and the Taj Mahal, similar minarets will be placed not on the entrance, but at each corner of the
plinth. A second feature is the long inscription which embellishes both sides of the gate. This is
a Persian poem especially written for this monument and designed by the calligrapher Abd alHaqq Shirizi, who was honored with the title Amanat Khan. The poem praises the deceased
emperor, Akbar, and the patron, Jahangir, but ends with verses inviting the visitor to enter the
gardens of paradise.8 While imperial Mughal gardens, especially those associated with tombs,
7

Edmund W. Smith, Akbars Tomb, Sikandarah, near Agra, Archaeological Survey of India, New Imperial
Series, 35 (Allahabad: F. Luker, Superintendent Government Press, 1909), 35.
8
Smith, Akbars Tomb, 3035.

are generally associated with visions of paradise, this poem on the complexs entrance gate
makes this reference clear.
Paradise, in Islam, is the reward for the true believer on the Day of Judgment. Sufis, mystically
inclined holy men, were believed to be among those to surely find a place in paradise. The
tombs of important Sufi saints, most notably the tombs of the Chishti saints, Moinuddin in Ajmer
and Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi, were made of white marble and had associations with sanctity
and purity. Over time, structures made predominately of white marble were made for the use of
the emperor and his immediate family, but not for others. Jahangirs queen Nur Jahan
constructed a white marble tomb that was richly inlaid with multi-colored stones for her mother
who died in 1621 and her father who died shortly afterward. Nur Jahans father was Shah
Jahans finance minister and very close to Jahangir, but not of royal blood. Thus the tombs
appearance as pure white marble from a distance that changes to one of multiple colors as one
comes nearer is probably a reflection of the mothers and fathers elite but not royal status.
Although the tomb was built for husband and wife, it is known as the tomb of Itimad-ud-Daula,
after the fathers official title. The tomb, completed in 1626-8, like other imperial Mughal
mausolea, sits in the center of a walled charbagh and its ground floor adheres to the hasht
bihisht plan. The second story, consisting of a central chamber enclosed with exquisitely carved
screens, is capped by a truncated pyramidal vault. Each corner of the plinth is marked by a
short minaret. While the complex is smaller than any tomb intended for an emperor, its inlaid
dcor gives the structure an unprecedented elegance. Not surprisingly, floral and geometric
designs are found, but more innovative are the images of cypress trees, fruit and slendernecked vessels for nectar inlaid into the white marble surface. This imagery, drawn from
classical Persian poetry and the Quran, is intended to place the complex in a paradisiacal
setting.
The Taj Mahal
The white marble domed structure that best represents the Mughal fascination with the imagery
of paradise in a funereal setting is the Taj Mahal. While today the Taj Mahal and its garden
complex appear to sit alone along Agras Yamuna riverfront, in fact it was one of many
admittedly the largestof garden complexes built by Mughal elite that lined the rivers banks.9

Koch, The Complete Taj Mahal, 2431.

The Taj complex though was the only one that spanned both sides of the river. On the south
side was the mausoleum and its garden, while across from it was the Mahtab/Mehtab Bagh,
Moonlight Garden, with its reflecting pool.
Most visitors to the Taj Mahal think of the marble tomb and its garden as the complex, but there
is much more, for this massive complex was almost a city within the city of Agra, then the
Mughal capital and known officially as Akbarabad (Figs. 5, 6 and 7 from Ebba Koch).

Fig. 5. Site Plan of the Taj Complex by Ebba Koch

Fig. 6. The first plan of the Taj Complex, by Thomas & William Daniel. Courtesy Ebba Koch
Fig.7. Satellite Image of Taj Complex. Courtesy Ebba Koch

We can roughly divide the complex into four areas: an area for four main markets known today
as Taj Ganj, the forecourt into the tombs main garden; the tomb and other buildings in the main
garden, and the Mahtab Bagh across the river. Taj Ganj held at each of its four corners, large
enclosed markets with multiple shops whose goods were praised by Persian panegyrists and
near contemporary European travelers. While the gates of Taj Ganj still survive, much of the
original construction has been replaced or remodeled to serve the needs of backpackers and
locals. The forecourt is a spacious area before the entrance into the tombs garden with a
double row of shops radiating from the east and west entrances, the income of which helped
maintain the complex. Two corners of the forecourt hold small uninscribed tombs, while the
other two corners served as residential quarters for the complexs attendants.

The dominant feature of the forecourt is the stunning entrance gate located in the center of the
north wall that leads to the main garden complex (Figs. 8a and 8b).

Fig. 8a & 8b. The Great Gate, Darwaza-i-Rauza. Photo by Rachita Jain

This large arched gate, faced with red sandstone, recalls the entrance to Akbars tomb (Fig. 9),
but chattris (small domed kiosks) mark each corner not the minarets found on Akbars tomb.

The entrance gates to both Akbars tomb and the Taj Mahal bear inscriptions designed by the
same calligrapher, Amanat Khan. While those on Akbars tomb were in Persian, the inscriptions
on the Taj Mahals entrance gate are drawn from the Quran and are thus in Arabic. The theme
of each is similar, for they invite the believer to enter paradise.10

Fig. 9.The Entrance Gate to Akbar's Tomb at Sikandra. Photo by Rachita Jain

Passing through the entrance gate the white marble mausoleum set at the end of this first
garden dominates the skyline. Between the entrance and the tomb is the long rectangular
garden divided into four quadrants by wide waterways that meet at a central pool that
contemporary texts equate with al-Kausar,11 a Quranic chapter which likens Gods generosity to
a pool of abundance. Known in contemporary texts as the paradise-like garden,12 its name
matches the invitation inscribed on the entrance gate. Although we do not know exactly how this
garden was planted, it is likely that flowers such as marigolds, roses and poppies, fruit and
shade trees including cypress, associated with the beloved in Persian poetry, graced this one.
The tomb is placed centrally on a high plinth at the gardens end overlooking the river. To keep
the plinth and its components from sliding into the river, wells were sunk into the ground and
then filled with stone and iron.13 At the plinths west end is a large mosque faced with red

10

Koch, The Complete Taj Mahal, 128. For all the Quranic inscriptions, see Begley and Desai, Taj Mahal,
195231.
11
Begley and Desai, Taj Mahal, 80.
12
Koch, The Complete Taj Mahal, 137.
13
Koch, The Complete Taj Mahal, 96.

sandstone and white marble trim surmounted by three marble faced domes. It is still used by
Agras Muslim community today for Friday congregational prayer. On the east is a building
identical in appearance, providing symmetry and balance. At each corner of the plinth,
connected to the mosque and its counterpart, are red sandstone towers. Although not
accessible to the public today, the north towers would have provided good river views, while
others contained a well, latrines and other rooms.
The centrally placed tomb sits on a marble platform atop the riverfront plinth. Each of the
corners is marked by a tall slender minaret. The tomb, like Humayuns tomb, is a Baghdadi
octagon, and its interior is a more sophisticated version of the hasht bihisht plan used at
Humayuns tomb.
Four types of decoration dominate the mausoleum: the white marble facing procured from the
quarries at Makrana about 365 kilometers away; the bands of inscriptions embellishing the
exterior and interior; the carved floral motifs on both the tombs interior and exterior dado; and
the pietra dura inlay on the imperial cenotaphs and their surrounding screen. Marble as the
main facing material, not just for decorative motifs, as noted earlier, was associated with the
tombs of saints and over time with royalty; moreover, marble absorbs light and changes color
with each change of the day, and since, in the Muslim tradition, Gods presence is often
associated with light, the tomb takes on spiritual overtones (Fig. 10).

Fig. 10. The Taj Mahal from the South. Photo by Rachita Jain

Underscoring the spiritual are the 25 Quranic inscriptions that appear on the complex. These
further develop the theme of paradise as promised for the faithful on the Day of Judgment
expressed on the great entrance. Amanat Khan had crafted the text so that all the letters look to
the viewer as if they are the same size but, in fact, he has rendered those portions distant from
the ground in a larger format. Not only would the inscriptions be seen, but also, in the 17th
century, the melodic chanting of the tombs Quranic readers would reverberate throughout the
tomb as they prayed for the deceased queens soul.
In addition to inscriptions addressing paradise, are floral motifs rendered in marble along the
interior and exterior lower wall. These flowers had a political meaning as well, for Mughal
chroniclers and poets used floral imagery and metaphors to refer to members of the royal
family, calling Shah Jahan himself, the spring of the flower garden of justice and generosity.14
These floral patterns are carved in highly naturalistic way, only upon careful reflection is it
apparent that the leaves and flowers do not belong to any living plant. Rather these are flora
that could only exist in Gods realm, that is, paradise. Similar floral motifs are found on the two
imperial cenotaphs placed centrally on the main interior chamber. These are not carved in high
relief, but are made of semi-precious stones, predominately red in color, inlaid into the marble.
The cenotaphs are surrounded by an octagonal marble screen also inlaid with similar colored
stones, replacing the original enameled gold one, as during his lifetime Shah Jahan was worried
the gold would attract looters (Fig. 11).

14

Koch, The Complete Taj Mahal, 22324.

Fig. 11. Tomb Chamber and Inlaid Marble Screen surrounding the Cenotaphs. Copyright ASI

The Mahtab Bagh is placed directly opposite the Taj Mahal on the rivers north bank (Figs. 12a
and 12b).

Fig. 12a. The Mahtab Bagh as viewed from the Taj Mahal. Photo by Rachita Jain
Fig. 12b. The view of the Taj Mahal, Mihman Khana and the mosque from the Mahtab Bagh. Photo by
Rachita Jain

The garden with its large reflecting pool was known from Mughal times, but silting caused by
continuous flooding covered the pool and it was essentially forgotten. Instead a fictitious
account of a second Taj Mahal, this one to have been built in black stone, that was first
mentioned by a late 17th-century European merchant, spread like wildfire and was perpetuated
over time. Excavations by the Archaeological Survey of India in the 1990s unearthed the original
Mughal garden squashing the myth of the black Taj.
The tomb complex was commenced six months after the queens death and by June 1632, the
first anniversary of her death, known as urs, that is, the marriage of her soul with God, was
commemorated in solemn ceremonies involving prayer and the distribution of largess to the
needy. Court historians used the occasion of the annual urs to indicate progress towards the
complexs completion. Europeans too wrote about the stages of construction, although it
appears their observations were made from a distance, not the result of having examined the
site first-hand.

Today the Taj Mahal complex is a world heritage tourist site. Anyone who can afford the
entrance fee can visit the site. However this was not the case during Mughal times. Only those
close to the royal family had access to the tomb garden. While many may have arrived on
roads, Shah Jahan preferred to visit the tomb on a boat and would enter the complex via water
gates, now closed, on the great plinth. Few Europeans prior to the 18th century set foot in the
complex. An exception was Francois Bernier, a French physician who had access to the royal
family later in the 17th century, who was allowed to enter the Tajs grounds, although he was
denied access to the tomb itself on the grounds that he was not a Muslim.15
When Shah Jahan died in 1666 after being imprisoned by his son and successor, Aurangzeb,
for eight years, he was buried in the Taj Mahal next to his wife. The question is: was this always
his intention? Texts are silent on this issue, but one of the Taj Mahals official names, Rauza-iMunavvara, the Illumined Tomb, an epithet shared with the Prophet Muhammad's tomb in
Medina, suggests that Shah Jahan always intended the Taj Mahal to be his tomb as well. He
wished history to remember him, like the Prophet Muhammad, to conform to the Islamic
theological concept of a Perfect Man. It would seem unlikely that the queens tomb would have
been given the same name as the Prophets tomb, since he was a man, unless Shah Jahan
saw it as his final resting place as well.
No aspect of this complex was left to chance. Every measurement was carefully recorded in
historical chronicles, and clearly the tomb and garden complex were designed by someone with
an extraordinary vision. We know from contemporary texts the names of a number of architects
who were engaged in the construction of Shah Jahans numerous building projects, many of
them built concurrently with the Taj Mahal, but these same chronicles are silent on the architect
of the Taj Mahal. Only the calligrapher, Amanat Khan, is named. Clearly architects and
engineers worked on the massive complex, but by leaving these players anonymous, it is the
patron, Shah Jahan, whose role is highlighted.

15

Francois Bernier, Travels in the Mogul Empire, A.D. 1656-1668, trans. & annotated Archibald
nd
Constable, 2 ed., Rev. Vincent A. Smith (London: Humphrey Milford and Oxford University Press, 1916),
298.

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. India before Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Begley, Wayne E. Amanat Khan and the Calligraphy on the Taj Mahal. Kunst des Orients 12
(1978-79): 539.
Begley, Wayne E. and Z.A. Desai. Taj Mahal: the Illumined Tomb: An Anthology of
Seventeenth-Century Mughal and European Documentary Sources. Cambridge, MA. and
Seattle: Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture and University of Washington Press, 1989.
Bernier, Francois. Travels in the Mogul Empire, A.D. 1656-1668. Trans. & annotated Archibald
Constable. 2nd ed. Rev. Vincent A. Smith. London: Humphrey Milford and Oxford University
Press, 1916.
Koch, Ebba. Mughal Architecture: An Outline of Its History and Development, 15261858.
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. Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology: Collected Essays. Delhi: Oxford University
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. The Complete Taj Mahal and the Riverfront Gardens of Agra. London: Thames and
Hudson, 2006.
. The Taj Mahal: Architecture, Symbolism and Urban Significance. Muqarnas 22 (2005):
138-49.

Lal, Ruby. Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World. Cambridge: Cambridge University
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Lowry, Glenn D. Humayuns Tomb: Form, Function and Meaning in Early Mughal Architecture.
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Pal, Pratapaditya, Janice Leoshko, Joseph M. Dye III, Stephen Markel. The Romance of the Taj
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