Locked rooms of the Taj Mahal
Is there a secret hidden in the locked basement of Taj Mahal ? On Thursday, a Judge rejected a petition filed by a member of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seeking reopening of more than 20 “permanently closed rooms” at the Taj Mahal. Rajneesh Singh told the court that he wanted to confirm the “claims of historians and worshipers” that there was a shrine to the Hindu god Shiva in the rooms.
Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his queen Mumtaz, who died while giving birth to her 14th child. The magnificent monument is famous for its intricate lattice work and is one of India’s largest tourist destinations. It is Built of bricks, red sandstone and white marble,
The BJP leader pleaded in court that “We should all know what is behind these rooms,” Many of the locked rooms to which Rajneesh Singh is referring are located in the underground chamber of the mausoleum, and given the most authoritative documentary history of the monument, it is said that there is not much there. Eba Koch, author of the Taj Mahal Magisterial Study, visited and photographed the rooms and corridors of the Taj Mahal during his research. He said these rooms were part of the basement.The memorial has a gallery of “a series of rooms” on the riverfront porch. Eba Koch wrote that there are 15 rooms that were built in a row along the river and a narrow corridor leads to it.
There were seven large rooms with niches on each side, six square rooms and two large rooms actually overlooking the river through beautiful arches. He noticed that the rooms were painted under white. The ceilings of the rooms have carvings in beautiful circles.“This is a beautiful airy place, designed to provide a cool resting place for the emperor, his women and their companions during their visit to the tomb.” It doesn’t have natural light anymore. “
Such underground galleries are found in other Mughal architecture also. In Pakistan,there are a series of such rooms in a Mughal-era fort in Lahore. Many historians believe that Shah Jahan often reached the Taj Mahal by boat on the river Jumna and entered the tomb through a wide range of stairs.
Rana Safavi, a historian who grew up in Agra and lives in Delhi, remembers that the underground rooms were open to visitors until the floods of 1978. “The water had entered the monument which caused some underground pits and some cracks. Authorities then closed the rooms to the public. There is nothing in them. Rooms are opened from time to time for rehabilitation work.
Taj Mahal myths and facts
These Taj Mahal myths include plans to build a ‘black crown’ opposite the existing Shah Jahan monument, and that the Taj Mahal was built by a European architect. Some Western scholars have argued that it could not have been built for women because of the inferior status of women in Muslim societies, but scholars have overlooked other tombs built for women in the Islamic world. ۔
Enthusiastic guides to the monument tell the story of how Shah Jahan killed the architects and laborers after the building was completed. It is also a myth. There are numerous myths in India that the Taj was originally a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva god. After the conquest of Agra by a Hindu king, Suraj Mill, in 1761, a court priest suggested that the Taj Mahal be converted into a temple. In 2017, BJP leader Sangeet Soom called the Taj Mahal a “stain” on Indian culture because it was “made by traitors”. This week, Diya Kumari, a BJP MP, said that Shah Jahan had seized the ‘land’ owned by a Hindu royal family and built a monument. Rana Safavi says these ideologies have gained new popularity among a right-wing class over the past decade or so.
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