ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Taj Mahal - The Symbol Of Eternal Love!

Updated on May 5, 2013

New Seven Wonders

As everyone know,Taj Mahal made to the list of New Seven Wonders earlier. In this page you can find Taj pictures, videos, history and some trivia on the famed Taj Mahal - The Symbol Of Eternal Love.

This marble marvel remains one of the most loved tourist spots in the world.

Some Interesting History On Taj

The Taj Mahal, located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India, was actually built as a tomb by Mogul ruler Shah Jehan for his wife, Arjuman Banu. She was born in April, 1593 in Agra, India.

Shah Jahan ascended the peacock throne of India in 1628, at the age of 36. By that time, he had been married to his second Persian wife for 16 years. Formally named Arjuman Banu Begum, she was more familiarly known as Mumtaz Mahal, or "beloved ornament of the palace". Not only was the Shah deeply in love with her, one of his many wives and concubines, so were the people, who knew her as generous, compassionate, and one of the most beautiful women in India.

The Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal
Taj - From a distance
Taj - From a distance
Mumtaz Mahal
Mumtaz Mahal

Within three years, their love story had ended. Mumtaz Mahal died on June 17, 1631 while accompanying the Shah during a battle campaign in Burhanpur in the Deccan (now in Madhya Pradesh) giving birth to her fourteenth child, a daughter named Gauhara Begum. So grief stricken was the Shah, that he withdrew from the public eye for a year, and when he emerged at the end of that time, although still a youthful 40, his hair had turned white and he appeared as an old man.

Whether it is true that Arjuman asked on her deathbed for a symbol of their love, nobody seems to know. But the Shah went ahead and erected an immortal tribute in the form of the most magnificent tomb in the world. It would take 23 years to be completed.

Taj In The early Morning Mist
Taj In The early Morning Mist
Details of the marble work
Details of the marble work

Far more than a simple burial place, the Taj Mahal actually contains many separate areas inside, as well as outer buildings and extensive gardens. The name is said to have been derived from his wife's nickname, Mumtaz Mahal. Her cenotaph, a word taken from the Greek for "empty tomb", rests in the exact middle of the main chamber, keeping the symmetrical design of the entire structure.

Four years after the tomb was completed, the Shah was deposed and imprisoned by his son. When he died in 1866, his son had a cenotaph created beside that of his wife, upsetting the balance of the chamber. The actual bodies, in true Muslim tradition, are buried in plain graves in the basement, wrapped in white shrouds, with faces turned towards Mecca.

Taj - From the sky
Taj - From the sky
Taj in stamps, Japan
Taj in stamps, Japan
Taj in Stamps, India
Taj in Stamps, India
Taj in Stamps, Ajman
Taj in Stamps, Ajman

Some Interesting Trivia

The Taj Mahal was scheduled to be torn down in the 1830s so that its marble facing could be shipped to London and auctioned to the landed English gentry. Wrecking machines were moved into the garden grounds and work was about to begin when word came from London that another auction of marble facades from Indian monuments and edifices had been a failure and it would not be worth proceeding.

In 1631, the Mogul emperor Shah Jahan's favorite wife (Mumtaz Mahal) died while giving birth to their fourteenth child. As Jahan rushed to her side, she uttered a dying wish: that he build a monument to commemorate their love.(Supposed to be myth)

The result? The Taj Mahal, a building which took 23 years to complete. According to legend, Jahan took drastic measures to ensure that his master carvers would never produce anything more beautiful.

Jahan died with his eyes open - facing the Taj Mahal.

Stones to build the Taj were brought from as far away as Tibet and Sri Lanka.

Shah Jahan wanted to build another Taj Mahal…one with black marble!

It is white marble and semi-precious stones on the dome of the Taj that make Taj Mahal change colour during the day and on moonlit nights.

Ustad Ahmad Lahori is believed to be the architect of Taj Mahal.

The garden walls, rest house, mosque and the entry arch are made of red sandstone.

Some people believe an Italian named Geronimo Veroneo designed the Taj Mahal.

It took a fleet of 1000 elephants to transport the construction material to the site of the Taj.

UNESCO declared Taj Mahal a world heritage site in 1983.

Taj Mahal finally made it to the new seven wonders list in 2007.

The Taj Mahal Video

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)