Mumtaz Mahal, translated as the "Jewel of the Palace" was the name Arjumand Banu Begum was named by her future father-in-law, the severe Jahangir. Those family relations are a tangled problem. However, the most romantic of the legends says that Prince Khurram (who would later become Shah Jahan) met this girl at the bazaar. The way she looked at him made him forget about the dirt and poverty that surrounded him. In 1612, when Banu Begum was 19 years old, she became his wife.
In 1628 Shah Jahan became an emperor. Of course he had other wives, but Mumtaz Mahal was his favourite one - she even traveled with him during his military campaigns and was an adviser of his. The spouses lived 17 happy years, during which 13 children were born. Unfortunately, in 1629 Mumtaz Mahal died during the birth of their fourteenth child... 36 was rather a considerable age for a woman at the time, especially if we take into account the fact that frequent deliveries exhaust a woman's health. No words could describe Shah's grief. His hair went white, his back was bent. Some time later he brought his wife's body to Agra and decided to build a mausoleum there that would be no less beautiful than his beloved wife and no less mighty than their feelings.
Construction of the mausoleum took 22 years, more than 20 thousand people built it. The main architect, Ustad Isa, was endowed with boundless powers, which he proved to be the right decision. Marble was brought from the quarry 300 km from Agra. The legend says that foreign architects also participated in the construction of Taj Mahal. Those were a Venetian and a French, but their names are unknown. But maybe they helped construct the sumptuous garden leading to the mausoleum? The entrance to the complex looks like a true palace of red stone, adorned with white patterned portico. Above it there are 11 domes, two towers are located on each side of the entrance. The walls surrounding the garden are made of red sandstone.
The park was planned as a road leading to the main building, its axis is the pool. Many people come on the other bank of the river early in the morning to see the building hovering in the mist. This feeling is created by its unusual proportions - Taj Mahal's height is the same as its width. Or it might be the main dome that takes the whole construction to the sky.
Before you step inside, leave your shoes in front of the staircase. The mausoleum walls are decorated with skilful mosaics made of thousands of precious and semi-precious stones and an ornament. In the centre of the building you will find a Jali screen, behind which there are two cenotaphs. The crypts are under ground. The place is very calm, rays of light fall on the cenotaphs, walls are adorned with stone flowers - the eternal carpet that covers the floor and the walls.
When Taj Mahal was built, the emperor wanted to erect the second building for himself, which would look the same, but be black. His plans were not brought into life: His son Aurangzeb dethroned Shah Jahan and the former emperor spent his last days in Agra Fort. Nine years later, he died. But this is not where the story ends. Shah Jahan was buried next to his wife at Taj Mahal. Nowadays Taj Mahal is one of the main Indian attractions. There are always flowers lying on the cenotaphs because people did not forget the story of eternal love.
What is the place that people arriving to India dream about? What is the unofficial, but the most popular country's symbol? Taj Mahal.
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Source: http://www.positivearticles.com/Article/Taj-Mahal-and-its-story/41057
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