The Taj Mahal is one of the most
recognized architecture in the world. And, the Black Taj Mahal is a popular but
intriguing mystery that has become complementary part of the Taj Mahal. If we
look back, the origin of the story is based upon the two sources; written notes
from a contemporary traveller, and age old prevailing-belief of the people of
Agra.
Almost after 30 years of the
construction of the Taj Mahal, in 1679, a book, “Les Six Voyage De Jean Baptiste
Tavernier” was published in France. The book was written by a French traveller
who was one among a few European travellers who could reach the court of the
great Mughals. In those days traders from all over the world were attracted to
India as it had become an important trade centre. Tavernier visited India five
times in his life between 1641 and 1665. About the Black Taj Mahal, he wrote: “I witnessed the commencement and
accomplishment of this great work, on which they have expended 22 years, during
which twenty thousand men worked incessantly; this is sufficient to enable one
to realize that the cost of it has been enormous. It is said that the scaffolding
alone cost more than the entire work, because, from wand of wood, they had all
to be made of brick, as well as the support of arches; this has entailed much
labour and a heavy expenditure. Shah
Jahan began to build his own tomb on the other side of the river, but the war
which he had with sons interrupted his plan, and Aurangzeb, who reigns at
present, is not disposed to complete it.” As per the description of Tavernier, the place
of Shahjahan’s tomb was Mahtab Bagh (Moon Garden).
On the other hand, there was a prevailing-belief
among the citizens of Agra (city of the Taj Mahal) that “Shahjahan wanted to
build one more tomb with black-stone on the other side of the river for himself
resting-in-peace. The tomb of black stone had to be built in straight line with
the Taj Mahal.
The probe about the origin of prevailing-belief related to Black Taj ended
at the following result: In Agra, there is a colony near the Taj Mahal called
Tajganj. It was the place where workers of the Taj Mahal resided some 350 years
back. Even today, the huge population of the descendants of the workers of Taj
Mahal live in Tajganj and are still engaged in making artefacts of marble and
inlay work which is being sold in local markets and exported the world over.
While interviewing some senior artisans of Tajganj in 2003, it was discovered
that the history of the Black Taj Mahal is alive among them from generation to
generation. They said that they knew about it from their fathers, the same way
their fathers heard about it from their ancestors. According to them, “the work on the Black Taj Mahal started but
stopped after Aurangzeb elevated on the throne”. In their local language,
black marble is spelled as “Sang-e-Musa”
which was to be used in Shahjahan’s mausoleum.
The above mentioned proclamation of
the people of Agra seems realistic. Because, British archaeologist Archibald
Carlyle had excavated the site and submitted his report in 1871-72. He
confirmed that the Mahtab Bagh was the place of Shah Jahan’s mausoleum in the
following words. “This garden enclosure,
now a mere waste piece of ground, though it now bears the name of Mahtab Khan,
is, without doubt, the site on which Shah Jahan intended to have built a
mausoleum for himself, to correspond to that of his queen, namely, the Taj
Mahal opposite.” Why Carlyle was searching place of Shahjahan’s mausoleum? One
can comprehend that, the public-belief about the Black Taj was so strong that
compelled the archaeologist Carlyle to search and submit his report in this
regard.
Before the 1990s, the story of the Black Taj Mahal was believed to be
real by the people of Agra, tourists and world-wide admirers of the Taj Mahal. But
what had happened that Black Taj Mahal was declared to be a myth?
If fact, another excavation was
carried out in 1993 at Mahtab Bagh, ruins of a well planned garden were
discovered at the site, but without any trace of black marble. It indicated
that any structure of black-stone ever existed there. Since then, the story of
the Black Taj Mahal was declared to be a myth.
However, the absence of black-stone
at the site of Mahtab Bagh should never be the base of rejection of Shahjahan’s
mausoleum. Tavernier, who noted the construction of another mausoleum for
Shahjahan, never declared that the tomb was completed, but he said, “Shah
Jahan began to build his own tomb on the other side of the river, but the war
which he had with sons interrupted his plan, and Aurangzeb, who reigns at
present, is not disposed to complete it”.
As a matter of fact, there are
three strong points that put the subject of Black Taj Mahal, in the category of
possibility and certainty:
- Taj Mahal was not planned to be the place of Shahjahan’s burial, because it bears a striking asymmetry in its sanctum; the only anomaly in the most perfect architecture. Perhaps, the Taj Mahal is the only architecture in the world that fits hundred per cent on the empirical rules as defined by Christopher Alexander; the well known “Fifteen properties” which are considered as an important element of any perfect architecture. But the funerary chamber of the Taj Mahal bears a permanent asymmetry which leaves the admirers astounded. Shahjahan’s cenotaph is obtruding as it is placed on the floor without border, besides this, it is superimposed on the border of Mumtaz’s cenotaph which caused inharmonious appearance and unneeded congestion in the funerary chamber. This abnormality indicates that Shah Jahan was not to be buried there. The following image of the funerary chamber of the Taj Mahal makes the point clear:
Many
analysts have said that "there is nothing abnormal in the placement of
Shahjahan's cenotaphs in the Taj Mahal; it is set with the pattern of
Ittemad-Ud-Daula which is predecessor of the Taj Mahal". However, one can note
the remarkable difference; the following image shows the comparison between the
funerary chamber of the Taj Mahal and Ittemad-ud-Daula:
As it seems
clear that Shahjahan was not planned to be buried in the Taj Mahal, then, question
arises - what was the place where he was intended to be buried.
· According
to Tavernier, Mahtab Bagh was the place where construction of Shahjahan’s
mausoleum begun. Excavation at Mahtab Bagh discovered the ruins of a well
planned garden of Mughal era, with breezy pavilions, pathways, pools and
fountains that was enclosed by a wall with towers at the corners. The wall of
the southern side (river facing) remains in a ruinous condition but the wall of
the west, north and east has been destroyed completely. The width of Mahtab
Bagh is equal to the width of the Taj Mahal complex and both are situated in a
straight alignment which eloquently says that the site of Mahtab Bagh was an
integral part of the original scheme of the Taj Mahal. Prince Aurangzeb had
written a letter to his father in December 1652, in which, besides referring
the Taj Mahal he also mentioned Mahtab Bagh that was flooded by monsoon rain.
The letter is an additional confirmation. The following satellite image shows
Taj Mahal complex and Mahtab Bagh:
Seemingly,
Mahtab Bagh is part of the Taj Mahal but its landscape does not bear the true
Shahjahanian spirit; the act of architectural-balancing by mirroring of all the
elements on the opposite side. If landscape of both the sites are analysed, one
can notice that Mahtab Bagh is incoherent with its counter-part. In the Taj
Mahal, each quarters of the garden are squire but in Mahtab Bagh they are
rectangle. The octagon water-tank of Mahtab Bagh is absolutely mismatched with
the Taj Mahal complex. See the following image; comparison between the two
sites and the corrected scheme that bears the Shahjahanian spirit.
Even, if
both the sites are observed from the side, the height of Mahtab bagh seems to
be abnormally low. This improper height of the riverfront-terrace of Mahtab
Bagh was the grave technical error. Mahtab bagh submerged regularly during
monsoon and finally buried under the silt within very short span of time. In
those days, riverbanks were prone to monsoon flooding for almost three months
every year. That is why all the important constructions were made on the high
plinth as we see in case of Ittemad-ud-daula or other river bank structures. See
the following images; comparison between the two sites and its correction.
If Mahtab
Bagh was conceived as a garden and completed under the regime of Shahjahan,
even then, all the four-quarters of the garden must be squire instead of being
rectangle and the height of the riverfront terrace of the Taj Mahal must be
equal to the Taj Mahal as the corrected scheme describe in above drawings. The outcome
of such analysis makes it clear that the development of the site of Mahtab Bagh
begun with the Taj Mahal, but it was finished by someone other than Shahjahan. The
person, who completed Mahtab Bagh, did not bother about the technical flaws or
quality of construction. That is why most of the structures of the Mahtab Bagh
were razed to the ground soon after the construction. And the point emerges
from here, who was he?
· The sixth
Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb was the youngest son of Shahjahan but he was not the
legal heir of the empire. He usurped on the throne by defeating his three
brothers and killing them one by one, Darashikoh was also among them who was
the eldest son and appointed heir by Shahjahan. Aurangzeb had also imprisoned
his father in Agra fort.
After
controlling the reign of empire, some act of Aurangzeb has made his position
suspicious. He closed the department of royal-history-writing after ten years
of his reign; a tradition which continued from the first Mughal Emperor Babur. After
Shahjahan died, Aurangzeb did not permit his sister to organize the procession
of royal funeral and distribution of food and cloth among poor and needy. And
many more...
After becoming
Emperor, Aurangzeb had also presented himself as a theologian and religious leader.
He de-codified the shariya-law and managed to write a book “Fatwa-e-Alamgiri”
which is still considered to be a religious book among a sect of Muslims.
As
mentioned by Tavernier, the construction at Mahtab Bagh was stopped by the
order of Aurangzeb. Might be, Aurangzeb had considered his order to be right as
he stopped wasting the public-money in the project of royal-tomb. But he must
have monitored to destroy all the evidence that was indicative of his act of cruelty
which he did with his father and brothers. The unfinished site of Mahtab Bagh,
with the half-dug foundation and scattered building-material, was the potent
object to publicize the fact among generations to generations.
Aurangzeb knew that only powerful people write the
right history. He converted the site of Shahjahan’s tomb into a garden by using
the material which was already bought to the site. The low-budget working
caused the overlooking of technical-requirements and poor-quality construction.
If Mahtab Bagh was not the place of Shahjahan’s tomb, then the reason of
its existence need to be answered. And the reason, given by the scholars who
oppose the theory of Black Taj Mahal, is not acceptable if analysed on
practical ground i.e. It was developed to view Taj Mahal in moonlit night etc.
The notes of Tavernier cannot be taken as a “fanciful-writing” as some
people have described. Because, the place where he indicated that construction
began for Shahjahan’s mausoleum, bears contemporary structures. Is the
existence of such structures merely a probability??
The famous art-historian, Percy
Brown had expressed his view in 1943: “That
it was Shah Jahan’s intention to duplicate the entire scheme of the Taj by the
erection of another mausoleum in black marble to enshrine his own remains, on
the opposite bank of the Jumnan and to connect the two by a bridge, seems
fairly well established.”
Tavernier, the French traveller
and trader, who visited the Mughal court during the regimes of both Shah Jahan
and Aurangzeb stated that “the former emperor began to build his own tomb on
the other side of the river, but the war which he had with his son interrupted
his plan, and Aurangzebe, who reigns at present, is not disposed to complete
it”.
And supplementing this
contemporary record is the testimony of the cenotaphs in the Taj Mahal itself,
their position with that of the queen in the centre, and that of the emperor to
one side, seems to signify that the location of the latter was an afterthought
brought about because his own separate mausoleum never matured.”
The above article is an abridgement
of one of the chapter of the book; BLACK
TAJ MAHAL: The Emperor’s Missing Tomb. For more explanation and details
kindly refer the same.
I N Khan (Arshi)
Author:
BLACK TAJ MAHAL: The
Emperor’s Missing Tomb
