Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Taj Mahal

Starting point is 00:00:00 Located in the city of Agra in the state of Uttar Pradesh sits the most iconic building in India, the Taj Mahal. In many ways, the Taj Mahal has become a symbol for India. You will find its image and name on Indian-owned restaurants and businesses around the world. But how did this building become so iconic? Why was it built in the first place and what was the purpose that it was supposed to serve? Learn more about the Taj Mahal and its history on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. The Taj Mahal has been called the most beautiful building on earth,

Starting point is 00:00:45 and it's considered to be one of the new seven wonders. Those might be subjective evaluations, but I don't think anybody can deny that the Taj Mahal is one of the most famous buildings in the world. The building has become so famous that it's come to represent India itself. It's one of a small number of structures that has achieved global icon status, including the Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Opera House, Big Ben, the Great Pyramid, the Great Wall, and the Coliseum. The story of the Taj Mahal and why it was built is totally different than any of the

Starting point is 00:01:15 other globally iconic buildings. It has to do with a love affair. In the 17th century, India was ruled by the Mughal Empire. The Mughal Empire was an Islamic Empire which ruled India for about 200 years. It began in 1526 when a warlord from what is today Uzbekistan came down from the Eurasian steppes and conquered an enormous swath of land extending from Afghanistan to Bangladesh, including almost all of the Indian subcontinent. By the 17th century, the Mughal Empire had become quite wealthy as trade with Europe and Arabia increased. This wealth was reflected in many large-scale building projects, many of which stand today. The Agra Fort and Fadi Prisikri in Udhra, as well as the Red Fort and Humayan's tomb in Delhi are all examples of Mughal architecture.

Starting point is 00:02:02 The story of the Taj Mahal begins with the fifth ruler of the Mughal Empire, the Shah Jahan. Jahan was a pretty brutal ruler who came to power by killing his brother and most other possible claimants to the throne. However, despite his violent rise to power, he's probably best known for being the ruler who oversaw the apex of Mughal culture. In 1607, at the age of 15, Jahan was betrothed to a girl his same age from a Persian noble family by the name of Arumann Banu Begham, but is better known to history by the name Mumtaz Mahal. The pair were not married until the age of 20, because they had to wait for a date that was favorable to court astrologers. By that time, Jehan had already gotten married to his first wife and had a child. Despite having several wives, as the emperors are wont to do,

Starting point is 00:02:49 Mumtaz Mahal was by far his favorite, and the woman that he was in love with. She was intelligent and served as his chief advisor. She was formally named Empress and was given the title of Mumtaz Mahal, which means the exalted one of the palace in Persian. She was given other titles by Jahan as well, including Queen of the World, Queen of the Age, and Queen of Hindustan. She sat next to the emperor in both private and public audiences, and she developed a secret way of conveying to the emperor if she disapproved of something by discreetly placing her hand on his back. At her request, death sentences were commuted, and prisoners were pardoned. She was given income-producing lands which she owned and controlled in her own right. She was eventually given the highest honor of being given the imperial seal which allowed her to make imperial proclamations.

Starting point is 00:03:38 Despite all of the power and influence she wielded, she was. was never known as a woman who was scheming for power, which is a reputation that was often attached to women in similar circumstances, such as Wu Zetian in China and Libya in ancient Rome. By all accounts, Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal were in love, which is reflected in the fact that they had 14 children together, seven of which survived infancy. However, on July 17, 1631, after giving birth to her 14th child, she suffered a postpartum hemorrhage. The labor had lasted 30 hours, and afterwards she simply bled to death. She died at the age of 37.

Starting point is 00:04:17 Shah Jahan was inconsolable at the loss of his wife. Court scribes reported the level of despair that Jahan sunk. Some said he went into seclusion and cried for eight straight days. He only came out of seclusion at the behest of his and Mumtaz Mahal's eldest daughter, Jahanara. When he did finally make a public appearance, his hair had turned white, he was hunched over, and looked years older. In an act of mourning, he refused to listen to music or wear fine clothing for two years. Mumtah's Mahal was originally laid to rest in the Imperial Pleasure Gardens at Burhampur in the state of Madhya Pradesh, but this was never intended to be her final resting place.

Starting point is 00:04:56 In December 1631, her body was disinterred and taken 435 miles to the city of Agra, where she was reburied. However, this too was not intended to be her final resting place. Almost immediately after her death, Shah Jahan, began developing a plan to create the greatest possible monument to his wife, which would also serve as her mausoleum. Given the wealth of the empire at this time, no expense was to be spared. A location was chosen on the south bank of the Amuna River in Agra. The land was purchased from a local Raj named Jai Singh I,

Starting point is 00:05:30 one of Jahan's senior generals, in exchange for a palace inside the city of Agra. The person put in charge of the project was the court architect, Ustad Amman Lahore. The project that Lahore was undertaking was going to be massive. The design of the mausoleum was based on other works of Indo-Islamic architecture, including other tombs and mosques which had been built in India. However, this was to be very different from other Mughal buildings, if only for one particular reason.

Starting point is 00:05:58 Most of the Mughal structures are built out of a red sandstone, which gives them a very particular look. The mausoleum of Moum, however, was to be clad in white marble. Construction of the tomb began in 1632, and it was a massive project. Over 22,000 workers were estimated to have worked on the construction, and this included thousands of skilled craftsmen, including stonecutters, painters, and embroiderers. Over a thousand elephants were used to transport the building materials. The white marble, which covers the entire structure, was brought in from Makranah in Rajasthan

Starting point is 00:06:32 over 325 kilometers away. Jasper was imported from the Punjab, Jaden Crystal, came from China, turquoise from Tibet, Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, Sapphire from Sri Lanka, and Carnilian from the Arabian Peninsula. The construction of the main mausoleum took over 10 years, and it was finally completed in 1643. The scaffolding, which was used to build the structure, was made out of brick, not a temporary scaffolding that's normally made out of bamboo. The architect thought that it would take years just to dismantle the mass of brick scaffolding. However, according to legend, when it was finished,

Starting point is 00:07:08 Shah Jahan announced that anyone was free to take the bricks that made up the scaffolding. Peasants, again according to legend, wanting the free bricks for themselves, dismantled the entire scaffold in a single day. While the main building took 10 years to complete, that was not the end of the project. It took another decade to complete the other buildings on the site,

Starting point is 00:07:28 including the gardens and the four minarets which surround it. The minarets were actually tilted slightly outward to collapse away from the main building in the event of an earthquake, which was not an uncommon occurrence at the time. The center of the entire mausoleum are the cenotaphs of Muntas Mahal and Shahjahan. The dead center of the structure is the cenotaph of Mumtaz Mahal, and then slightly offset to the side and raised slightly higher is that of her husband. Shahjahan's cenotaph is the only element of the building that is not symmetric.

Starting point is 00:08:01 I should add a cenotaph is just an empty tomb, so inside you'll see two tomb-like structures, but they're both empty. The reason for this has to do with the Islamic Prohibition against elaborate graves and tombs. The actual bodies of the couple are located in a plain crypt beneath the main chamber with their cenotaphs. Both of their bodies are laid with their heads pointing towards Mecca. The total cost of the construction, in modern-day amounts, is estimated to be around 70 billion rupee, or close to one billion U.S. dollars. Actually, building a replica of the Taj Mahal today would probably cost many times that amount.

Starting point is 00:08:38 The name of the site, Taj Mahal, was given to it later. It's believed to be an Urdu adaptation of Persian and Arabic words. In Arabic and Persian today, it's simply referred to as the illustrious tomb. Taj is believed to come from Mumtaz and also means crown. Mahal simply means palace. After the Taj Mahal was built, Shah Jahan was deposed by his own son. and imprisoned in the Agra fort, from which he could look out at the tomb of his wife every day. Once the Taj Mahal was built, like many great buildings from history, it fell into a period where it

Starting point is 00:09:12 was ignored. In the 18th century, it was sacked, with all of the silver and gold objects in the building taken away, but thankfully the building itself wasn't harmed. By the end of the 19th century, the entire complex had fallen into disrepair. In 1890, the British viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, ordered a restoration of the Taj Mahal, which took almost as long as the original construction did. It was completed in 2008. In the 20th century, the Taj Mahal has faced threats as well. During the Second World War, the structure was actually covered in bamboo scaffolding to disguise the building from Japanese bombers. During the Indo-Pakistani Wars in 1965 and 1971, it was again covered in scaffolding for the same reason. The biggest threat to the Taj Mahal today may be environmental.

Starting point is 00:09:58 The white marble covering the structure has slowly been turning yellowish brown due to air pollution in the region. To combat this, the Indian government has implemented a 10,400 square kilometer, or 4,000 square mile zone around the Taj Mahal that has emission restrictions. Today, the Taj Mahal is one of the most visited attractions in India, with 7 to 8 million visitors annually. The vast majority of visitors are domestic tourists from within India. The Taj Mahal was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983. If you're visiting Delhi or Uttar Pradesh, I certainly recommend visiting the Taj Mahal. However, I would not recommend trying to visit it on a day trip from Delhi. Technically, it can be done, but there's simply too much to see an Agra beyond the Taj Mahal that warrants a stay in the city.

Starting point is 00:10:46 The Agra Fort Anfadi Porsecri are both nearby and are also worth visiting. If you visit the Taj Mahal, I recommend hiring a guide, and I also recommend waking up as early as possible and being first in line. The gates will usually open at 6 a.m. When I went, I arrived at 4.30 a.m. and was the first person in line. When it opened, I had a rare window of about two minutes to photograph the Taj Mahal without any people standing in front of it. The Taj Mahal is unquestionably one of the most beautiful and iconic buildings in the world. And its existence is all due to the love that an emperor had for his wife. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Thor Thompson and Peter Bennett.

Starting point is 00:11:34 I just want to thank everyone, including the show's producers, who support the show over on Patreon. If you'd like to support the show, just head over to patreon.com, which is currently the only place where you can get show merchandise. Also, if you want to talk to other listeners about the show, head over to our Facebook group or Discord server, both of which have links in the show notes.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Taj Mahal

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