The Taj Mahal looms fairytale-like from the banks of the Yamuna River. It's India’s most recognized monument and is also one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The monument dates back 1630 and is actually a tomb that contains the body of Mumtaz Mahal -- the wife of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. He had it built as an ode to his love for her. It's made out of marble and took 22 years and 20 000 workers to complete.
Words cannot do the Taj Mahal justice, its incredible detail simply has to be seen to be appreciated.
Location
Agra, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, approximately 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Delhi. It's part of India's popular Golden Triangle Tourist Circuit.
When to Go
The best time is from November to February, otherwise it can be unbearably hot or rainy. You'll be able to get some excellent off-season discounts though.
The Taj Mahal appears to gradually alter its color in the changing light of the day. It’s well worth the effort to get up early and spend sunrise there, as it majestically reveals itself. Visiting around dawn will also enable you to beat the huge crowds that start arriving later in the morning.
Getting There
The Taj Mahal can be visited on a day trip from Delhi. Agra is well connected by rail. The main railway station is Agra Cantt. High speed Shatabdi Express services operate from Delhi, Varanasi, and cities in Rajasthan.
- Find out the best trains from Delhi to Agra.
The Yamuna Expressway opened in August 2012 and has reduced the travel time by road from Delhi to Agra to under three hours. It starts from Noida and a toll of 415 rupees per car for a one way trip (665 rupees round trip) is payable. Read more about hiring a car and driver.
The bus is a good option if getting a train isn't possible. Comfortable, air-conditioned Volvo buses depart from Anand Vihar terminal in New Delhi every hour during the day. The cost is about 700 rupees per person. The buses go via the Yamuna Expressway and stop at Vango restaurant for a 30 minute snack and restroom break (the toilets are clean).
Alternatively you can fly from major Indian cities, or take a tour from Delhi.
Taj Mahal Tours
Viator (in conjunction with Tripadvisor) offers a popular and highly rated Private Day Tour to Agra and the Taj Mahal from Delhi, as well as a combined Day Tour to Agra and Fatehpur Sikri and Day Tour to Agra with Culture Walk. It's also possible to see the Taj Mahal at night during the full moon on this 2 Day Private Tour of Agra from Delhi.
Alternatively, see the Taj Mahal on one of these recommended Agra day tours: 11 Hour Agra Day Tour including Sunrise and Sunset at Taj Mahal, Private Taj Mahal and Agra Fort Tour including meal with a view and optional professional photographer, or Sunrise or Sunset View of Taj Mahal on Yamuna River Boat Ride.
If you're looking for an inexpensive tour option, UP Tourism runs daily full-day sightseeing bus tours to the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri.
The cost is 650 rupees for Indians and 3,000 rupees for foreigners. The price includes transport, monument entry tickets, and guide fees.
Opening Hours
6 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day except Friday (when it's closed for prayer). The Taj Mahal is also open for night viewing every full moon from 8.30 p.m. until 12.30 a.m., plus two days before and two days after the full moon (a total of five days). Night viewing is suspended during the holy month of Ramadan every year.
Entry Fees and Information
The price of entry tickets for the Taj Mahal increased in August 2018 and a discount is provided on cashless payments. For foreigners, the cash ticket price is now 1,100 rupees, and 1,050 rupees cashless. Indians only pay 50 rupees cash, and 45 rupees cashless. Children younger than 15 years can enter free.
Tickets can be purchased at ticket offices near the entry gates or online at this website. (Do note, tickets for the Taj Mahal are no longer able to be purchased at Agra Fort or other monuments, and only offer a minimal discount if you wish to visit other monuments on the same day).
The foreigner's ticket includes shoe covers, bottle of water, tourist map of Agra, and bus or golf cart service to the entry gate. It also enables ticket holders to enter the Taj Mahal ahead of any Indian ticket holders already waiting in line.
Night Viewing tickets cost 750 rupees for foreigners and 510 rupees for Indians, for half an hour’s admittance. Children aged three to 15 years must pay 500 rupees. These tickets must be purchased between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., one day in advance from the Archaeological Survey of India office on Mall Road. See more details here, including night viewing dates.
Vehicles aren't allowed within 500 meters of the Taj Mahal because of pollution. There are three entry gates -- South, East, and West.
- The West gate is the main gate that the majority of local Indian visitors enter through, and it generally has the longest lines throughout the day. However, it's the preferred option at sunrise to avoid the crowds at the East gate.
- The East gate is popularly used by foreign tourists, as it's closest to a number of well-known hotels. It usually has shorter queues except for at sunrise, when large groups tend to arrive there. If you buy your ticket in advance the day before, it's still the best entry point though. Do note that the ticket office (in Shilpgram) is inconveniently located about 10 minutes walk from the gate. Buses, golf carts and cycle rickshaws are available for those that can't, or don't want to, walk.
- The South gate is the least-used gate. It's close to a congested market area where many of the cheap hotels are situated, making it favored by budget and independent travelers. However, it doesn't open until 8 a.m. A huge sandstone gateway provides access to the inner compound there.
Security at the Taj Mahal
Strict security is in place at the Taj Mahal, and there are checkpoints at the entrances. Your bag will be scanned and searched. Large bags and day packs aren't allowed to be taken inside. Only small bags containing essential items are permitted. This includes one cell phone, a camera, and a water bottle per person. You can't bring edibles, tobacco products or lighters, electrical items (including phone chargers, headphones, iPads, torches), knives, or camera tripods inside. Cell phones are also banned during night viewing sessions, although cameras are still allowed. Luggage storage facilities are provided at the entry gates.
Guides and Audio Guides
If you want to marvel over the Taj Mahal without the distraction of having a tour guide with you, government-approved AudioCompass provides an inexpensive official Taj Mahal audio guide on its cell phone app. It's available in many foreign and Indian languages including English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese.
See the Taj Mahal Without Going Inside
If you don’t want to pay the costly admission fee or battle the crowds, you can get a great view of the Taj from across the river bank. This is ideal for sunset. Once such place there is Mehtab Bagh -- a 25 acre Mughal garden complex directly opposite the monument. The entry cost is 300 rupees for foreigners and 25 rupees for Indians, and it's open until sunset. Unfortunately, an unsightly barbed wire fence has been erected beside the river to stop tourists from wandering along it.
It's possible to take a row boat out on the river. Head down the path along the eastern wall of the Taj Mahal to the riverside temple, where you will find boatmen.
There's also a little-known abandoned watchtower across a sandy field on the eastern side of the Taj Mahal. It's an ideal place for a splendid sunset view of the monument. Reach it by heading east from the East Gate and taking a right at the fork in the road. Pay the official 50 rupees to enter.
Uttar Pradesh Tourism's Taj Khema hotel offers notable vistas of the Taj Mahal from its gardens too. A new marble bench was installed on a mound there in early 2015, especially for visitors. Sip tea and watch the sunset! The hotel is located about 200 meters from the monument, on the eastern side. It's a government-run establish, so don't expect great service though.
Another option is the rooftop of the Saniya Palace hotel, on the southern side of the Taj Mahal.
Cleaning of the Taj Mahal's Exterior
The first thorough cleaning of the Taj Mahal is currently underway, with the aim of removing the yellow discoloration from pollution and restoring the marble to its original brilliant white color. To achieve this, a natural clay paste is being applied to the monument's exterior. As at August 2018, the work is in its final phases. The main structure of the Taj Mahal is free of scaffolding. In addition, the treatment of the four cupolas under the main dome is due to be completed by the end of the month. The clay packing of the main dome remains and is planned to be undertaken in stages, starting from the front of the monument. The entire dome won't be covered in scaffolding.
Festivals
The week long Taj Mahotsav takes place at Shilpgram in Agra, right near the Taj Mahal, from February 18-27 each year. The focus of this festival is on arts, crafts, Indian culture, and recreating the Mughal Era. It gets underway with a spectacular procession that includes elephants, camels, and drummers. Camel rides are on offer, and there are also games for the kids and a food festival. The venue has special significance, as it's apparently located on the site where the artisans who built the Taj Mahal once lived.
Where to Stay
Unfortunately, many of the hotels in Agra are as uninspiring as the city itself. However, these top Agra hotelsshould help make your stay a memorable one. There are accommodations to suit all budgets and many have Taj views.
Dangers and Annoyances
Visiting the Taj Mahal can be overwhelming for all the wrong reasons. Be prepared to encounter plenty of beggars and touts there. According to this news report, it has become an increasingly troublesome problem, and many visitors go back home feeling cheated, threatened and abused. Touts operate in sophisticated gangs that have counterparts in other cities who identify potential targets at railway stations. Once the tourists reach Agra, the touts start pestering them by claiming that they are guides or taxi drivers. They commonly use ploys such as free taxi rides or the promise of heavy discounts.
Note: There are 24 hour official prepaid auto rickshaw and taxi booths just outside Agra railway station.Use these to avoid the hassle, and if you book a tour there check the quality of your vehicle to make sure it's satisfactory.
Do be sure to tell auto rickshaw drivers which Taj Mahal entry gate you wish to be taken to, otherwise it's likely that you'll find yourself dropped off in the area where expensive horse and cart or camel rides wait to take tour groups to the west gate.
Apparently, there are only 50-60 approved guides at the Taj Mahal. However, more than 3,000 touts posing as photographers, guides or middleman, openly solicit customers at the monument's three gates (especially at the western gate, which receives around 60-70% of visitors). Hundreds of hawkers (who pay bribes to the police) are also a problem at the Taj Mahal, despite being officially banned.
In addition, foreigners, particularly women and parents with young children, are frequently asked to pose for photographs (or even being photographed without permission) by other people including groups of guys. This can be intrusive and uncomfortable. This news article warns about selfie seekers at the Taj Mahal.
Lastly, do be aware of the notorious gem scam, which is alarming prevalent in Agra.
Other Attractions Around Agra
Agra is a rather dirty and characterless city, so don’t spend too much time there. In case you're wondering what else to do in and around the city, take a look at these Top Places to Visit in Agra and Around.
Nature lovers will appreciate a trip to the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary at Keoladeo Ghana National Park, 55 kilometers (34 miles) from Agra.
Black Taj Mahal | |
---|---|
Location in western Uttar Pradesh, India | |
Location | Agra |
Coordinates | 27°10′29″N78°02′32″E / 27.174799°N 78.042111°E |
Elevation | 20 feet |
Built | never was built |
Architectural style(s) | Mughal architecture |
The Black Taj Mahal ('Black Taj', 'Kaala Taj', also 'the 2nd Taj') is a legendary black marblemausoleum that is said to have been planned to be built across the Yamuna River opposite the Taj Mahal in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. MughalemperorShah Jahan is said to have desired a mausoleum for himself similar to that of the one he had built in memory of his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal.[1][unreliable source?]
A European traveller by the name of Jean Baptiste Tavernier who visited Agra in 1665 first mentioned the idea of Black Taj in his fanciful writings. The writings of Tavernier mention that Shah Jahan began to build his own tomb on the other side of the river but could not complete it as he was deposed by his own son Aurangzeb. However, many modern archaeologists believe this story to be myth.[2][unreliable source?]
Who Built The Taj Mahal Monument
Background[edit]
Ever since the construction of Taj Mahal, the building has been the source of an admiration transcending culture and geography, and so personal and emotional responses have consistently eclipsed scholastic appraisals of the monument.
The belief holds that Shah Jahan planned a mausoleum to be built in black marble across the Yamuna river, with the two structures connected by a bridge. The idea originates from fanciful writings of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, a European traveller who visited Agra in 1665. It was suggested that Shah Jahan was overthrown by his son Aurangzeb before it could be built. Ruins of blackened marble across the river in Moonlight Garden, Mahtab Bagh, seemed to support this legend.[3][unreliable source?]
Myth[edit]
Many scholars believe the idea of the Black Taj belongs to fiction rather than history. The traces which are identified as the foundations of the 2nd Taj are actually the enclosing wall of a garden founded by Babur. The irregular position of Shah Jahan'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 Jahan was not meant to be placed here appears to be superfluous.[4][unreliable source?]
Modern excavations[edit]
Modern excavations carried out in the 1990s found that they were discolored white stones that had turned black.[5][unreliable source?] As some believe that a more credible theory for the origins of the black mausoleum was demonstrated in 2006 by archaeologists who reconstructed part of the pool in the Mehtab Bagh (Moonlight Garden). A dark reflection of the white mausoleum could clearly be seen, befitting Shah Jahan's obsession with symmetry and the positioning of the pool itself.
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^'Black Taj Mahal Myth'. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
- ^'Black Taj Mahal Myth'. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
- ^'White Taj Mahal and Black Taj Mahal Story'. Words of Wanderers. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
- ^'The Story of a Second Taj'. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
- ^'Black Taj Mahal Myth'. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
References[edit]
- Bernier, Françoi' Travels in the Moghul Empire A.D. 1657–1668 (Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co.) 1891.[better source needed]
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Taj Mahal. |
What Is The Taj Mahal Made Of
The Taj Mahal is one of India's most dominant architectural marvels and is among the country’s most popular landmarks. Situated in the city of Agra, the Taj Mahal is a mausoleum that sits on a 17-hectare piece of land next to the Yamuna River. More than 20,000 laborers drawn from the Mughal Empire were involved in the construction of the mausoleum under the leadership and guidance of the project’s chief architect, Ustad Ahmad Lahauri. Construction of the mausoleum primarily occurred from 1632 until 1643. Mission impossible fallout full movie english. However, construction of the complex was not officially complete until 1653.
History of the Taj Mahal
The mausoleum’s construction was commissioned in 1632 by Shah Jahan, Emperor of the Mughal Empire, in honor of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Born to a prince and princess in 1592, Shah Jahan ascended to the Mughal throne in 1628. The emperor’s reign was long and relatively prosperous, and result in the expansion of the Mughal Empire and the construction of many iconic pieces of Mughal architecture. The emperor married Mumtaz in 1612, who became his favorite wife (the emperor had nine wives during his lifetime) and bore him 14 children. Mumtaz died in 1631 while delivering their 14th child and was temporarily buried along the Tapti River. After a lengthy period of mourning, Shah Jahan decided to have a grand mausoleum built where Mumtaz’s remains would be interred.
Construction of the Mausoleum
Experts from the empire and beyond had to come up with new innovative ideas to enable them to build the Taj Mahal. An example of this innovation is the earth ramp, which stretched over nine miles in length and was specifically built for the transportation of materials. Oxen and elephants to move construction materials. Specially designed carts were pulled by at least 20 oxen to transport huge blocks to the construction site along the earth ramp. Another example of the grandeur of the Taj Mahal’s construction was the gigantic scaffold made of bricks instead of the usual bamboo scaffold. The scaffold was so immense that the laborers thought it would take years to dismantle. However, sources suggest that the Shah Jahan announced that laborers could keep any bricks they removed from the scaffold, which motivated peasants to dismantle it in only one night.
Scale of the Taj Mahal’s Construction
The Taj Mahal consumed materials on a scale that had not been witnessed before, and historical accounts suggest that the materials were transported using more than 1,000 elephants. The materials were sourced from regions surrounding the Mughal Empire, with jasper coming from neighboring Punjab and white marble sourced from Rajasthan. However, some materials came from as far as Arabia, where carnelian was sourced, and sapphire was imported from Sri Lanka. The construction of the mausoleum complex is believed to have cost over $827 million (adjusted to 2015 US dollars).
Tourism to the Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal has become synonymous with the Mughal period of India’s history and is one of the country’s most recognizable structures. Due to its popularity, the mausoleum complex is among India’s most visited tourist spots and receives more than seven million visitors each year. In 1983, the Taj Mahal was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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Indian archaeologists say they have discovered the names of some of the skilled craftsmen and masons who built the Taj Mahal.
Indian archaeologists say they have discovered the names of some of the skilled craftsmen and masons who built the Taj Mahal.
The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, heartbroken at the death in childbirth of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, in 1630, ordered the monument to be built as a mausoleum to her, by the river Yamuna in Agra, the Mughal capital. It was made mainly of white marble and completed in 1648. The poet Rabindranath Tagore called it 'a tear on the face of eternity' and said that it was Shah Jahan's attempt to defy the ravages of time, which he knew would destroy his empire, and preserve the memory of his pain at his wife's death.
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But while his suffering and love for his wife have been memorialised long after the last vestiges of the Mughal empire were swept away, the lives of most of those who built the monument have been shrouded in obscurity - until now.
A list of 671 names has been found engraved in a sandstone wall in the complex that surrounds the mausoleum, according to The Asian Age newspaper. The list, found on the north side facing the river, is believed to have been inscribed by the same hands that fashioned the extraordinary decorative work of the building. If the archaeologists are right, it is the craftsmen's own attempt to preserve their memory down the centuries.
The list was stumbled upon by a team from the Archaeological Survey of India during a routine documentation of the building.
The chief architect is known to have been Ustad - or Master - Ahmad Lahori. Shah Jahan is said to have had his eyes put out on the Taj's completion so nothing could ever be built to rival it. Amanat Khan Shirazi was in charge of the calligraphy that adorns the Taj. Ismail Khan Afridi was in charge of building the dome, and Mohammed Hanif was superintendent of the masons.
These well-known names are included in the inscriptions that have been found. But they are believed to go much further, and identify some of the craftsmen who painstakingly built the Taj with their hands over a period of 17 years.
It took 20,000 labourers to build the Taj - so many that an entire town, Mumtazabad, was built for them next to the site. It survives as Taj Ganj, a suburb of Agra. Craftsmen were brought from as far away as Central Asia, Iran, Syria and Turkey.
The inscriptions reflect the diversity of those who built the Taj Mahal. Most are in Arabic and Persian, which would reflect the Islamic nature of Shah Jahan's court, but some are in the Devanagari script used by Hindi and other Indian languages. There are also traditional Indian symbols, such as swastikas, and geometrical patterns believed to have been used by illiterate artisans.
D Dayalan, leader of the team of archaeologists who found the list, told The Asian Age that experts were working to decipher the epigraphs and names engraved in the stones.
'Since many of them were illiterate, they denoted symbols as a mark of their identity. We call these guilt marks. We already have a team working to decipher the epigraphs and the names.
'The names have been meticulously divided into sections like dome makers, garden development department, furnishing workers and inlay artists.
'Other boundary walls of the monument are also being scanned for the names of workmen.
'Our interest lies in the unknown masons who never received publicity for their work.'