Black Taj Mahal: The Emperor's Missing Tomb

By Iftakhar Nadime Khan (Arshi)

The book is related to one of the most beautiful architecture of the world; the Taj Mahal. It has been scientifically portrayed in the book that makes it a useful guide for the tourists. The most beautiful architectural creation has been analysed from completely new angle, using the empirical rules prepared by a modern scientist - “The Fifteen Properties of Christopher Alexander”.

The book sheds light on an age old story of another mausoleum of black marble that was to be built on the other bank of the river Yamuna. The construction of the Taj Mahal was only half of the original grand scheme conceived by its builder emperor Shahjahan.

The historical events towards the end of emperor Shah Jahan’s reign, his dethroning and the conspiracies by his own son are highlighted. The book also covers the history of Mughal dynasty in a narrative manner. It traces the inherited quality of creativity and love for art and architecture of Mughals.

The book puts into perspective the need of fulfilling a forgotten dream - the creation of Miniature Black Taj Mahal with ebony (natural black wood).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Iftakhar Nadime Khan (Arshi)
• Release date: Aug 28, 2015
• ISBN: 9788192747903

Iftakhar Nadime Khan (Arshi)

I N Khan alias Arshi was born in 1968. He is busy realizing the emperor’s unfulfilled dream since the age of 14 years. He possesses extraordinary talent and versatility. Not only is he a gifted artist but is also a technocrat who has engineered and innovated many technical products. Mr. Khan was born with a creative bent of mind and his childhood artistic creations attracted attention of his contemporaries and teachers. He has received a "National Awards" from the Govt. of India, "State Award" from the Govt. of Uttar Pradesh, India and "Yashbharti Samman" from the Govt. of Uttar Pradesh, India for his creativity.

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Preface

The Black Taj is as popular as the Taj Mahal itself. It cannot be left unnoticed because Shah Jahan’s own mausoleum is missing, and a proper investigation of this subject seemed important. In the absence of any exclusively dedicated literary work on the Black Taj, the story swung between reality and myth. However, a majority of the people believe that the idea of the construction of a Black Taj Mahal for Shah Jahan’s own mortal remains was real, but the existing evidence supporting the theory was unorganized, so a lot of confusion prevails.

The opinions of scholars differs in this regard, because available records are unclear and no fnal opinion can be formed due to lack of foolproof evidence. There are several stated facts which are self-contradictory, i.e. after excavation at the Mahtab Bagh, the absence of black marble rejects the idea of another mausoleum, but on the other hand, if there was no plan of a separate tomb for Shah Jahan and if he was supposed to be buried in the Taj Mahal, then how come his cenotaph is a clear superimposition on the geometrical design of the foor in the funerary chamber?

When young, I heard two different stories of the Black Taj. One story supported the reality of the Black Taj, whereas the other refuted it, considering the Black Taj to be a myth. When I visited the Taj Mahal and saw the abnormal placement of the cenotaph of Emperor Shah Jahan, it unnerved me and I was curious to find the reason behind the asymmetry, because the Taj Mahal was otherwise a perfect symmetrical monument. In search of truth, I started reading all the literature related to it and made several trips to Agra but found very little, unorganized information with incomplete explanations.

Hoping to reach a definite conclusion, I expanded my horizon of research and study. I detected all the physical evidences pertaining to the Black Taj. The revelation was astonishing and was sure to spark excitement and admiration amongst the worldwide admirers of the Taj Mahal. I had no intention of writing a book, but somehow it happened gradually while making notes.

During the analysis, it struck me that Shah Jahan’s intention of erecting two mausoleums adjacent to each other, one in white colour and another in black colour could be symbolic of a male and female and the bridge over the river Yamuna, connecting both monuments could actually signify the eternal bonding between lovers! Perhaps, by creating a symbolic monument, he wanted to remind the people about the importance of the sacred bond of the male and female which is the basis of continuation of progeny of the human race.

My research is not limited to the text only, but I am also creating a miniature Black Taj Mahal with ebony wood to fulfil the incomplete dream of Shah Jahan. It could be described as action based research. The admirers of Taj Mahal can see a miniature replica of the Black Taj as it would have been if Shah Jahan would have built it.

The Taj Mahal is said to have a tendency of changing its colour within twenty-four hours as it refects the natural light of the sky. It looks golden at dawn, bright during noon, blue in the evening, and mystic in moonlit nights. After completion, the miniature Black Taj would be displayed in animated/artifcial lights that would create the impact of natural light of a regular day.

I have tried to pen down the reality behind the story of the Black Taj and my journey for the recreation of a miniature Black Taj Mahal. All the minutiae existing evidences related to the background of the story of the Black Taj are connected with the possible happenings of Shah Jahan’s court; I leave it to the readers to perceive the reality once they finish reading the book.

My thirty years long journey was self motivated. I read many manuscripts and travelled a lot to the concerned places especially Mahtab Bagh. I was doing it all alone and it became very painful at a certain stage and I also lost courage several times. I would like to acknowledge the names of few well wishers who were instrumental in the completion of my work.

Mr. Yusuf Khan, a successful industrialist and foresighted individual supported me at the most critical stage when my feet trembled during the journey. He counselled me several times and always reinforced my confidence and zeal.

Dr. Karan Singh, President ICCR and Wajahat Habibullah, Chairman NCM generously supported my creation of the miniature Black Taj as patrons, since the beginning.

Dr. V.K. Srivastava, scholar of history and a professor at IT College, Lucknow helped me a great deal in collecting historical documents.

Mr. Waseem Ahmad, an industrialist and resident of Agra provided all types of support when I was touring Agra during the research.

Mr. Suboor Ahmad, a non-resident Indian from Hong Kong helped me in obtaining pictures from the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.

The photographs have played a complimentary role in the book, and I acknowledge Anoopam Kumar, Arash Emami, Ashar Kamal, Brian McMorrow, Diego Delso, Jahangir Khan, Mohammad Mahdi Karim, Rajesh, S.K. Desai and Shahid Khan who provided the photographs.

Dr. Ajay Kumar Singh, Director of the Bharat Kala Bhawan and Head of the Department of History of Art, Banaras Hindu University guided me so that the research took proper shape.

Professor S.M. Akhtar and Ar. Nisar Khan from the Faculty of Architecture & Ekistics, Jamia Millia University of Delhi, helped me in evaluating my research.

Mr. A.K. Tyagi enthusiastically provided space for shifting the workshop at Ghaziabad when I migrated from Lucknow, and Mr. Rajiv Agarwal emerged as a soulful supporter and offered a well established tool-room at his factory to restart the project.

I am especially thankful to Mr. Mohammad K.K. who has acknowledged my research work and writing the foreword for this book.

Hopefully, the discovered facts in this book would create sensation afresh and attraction amongst the readers. It will also motivate scholars to conduct more research in this regard and the book will fulfil the ultimate purpose of becoming a valuable and standard reference.

Care has been taken to ensure that the contents do not become high-brow and thus unattractive, boring and heavy for common readers. It has been written in a friendly and simple manner that would be useful to the readers of all age groups. The visual contents, rare pictures, graphics, paintings etc have been illustrated and incorporated to support the text in the book.

The miniature Black Taj is also a tribute to the emperor Shah Jahan whose creation the ‘Taj Mahal’ spreads the message of eternal love. It will also remind about the importance of the sacred bond between a husband and wife to the people of the world.

I hope, this book spreads the message of love and motivate conflicting couples to rethink about their sacred union and also the future of their emotionally helpless children.

Iftakhar Nadime Khan (Arshi)

Ghaziabad, INDIA

Introduction

The Taj Mahal is one of the most visited tourist places in the world, not only because of its grandeur and beautiful architecture, but also for the legacy, which adds a real meaning to the relationship between man and woman. The love-story behind it adds to its popularity. Every year millions of tourists come to see the Taj Mahal. Perhaps they pay tribute to the couple and their intense love, which now rests in peace forever.

The story of the Black Taj Mahal exists parallel to the Taj Mahal and describes how Shah Jahan wanted to build another identical mausoleum on the opposite bank of the river Yamuna but with black marble. Mahtab Bagh is the suggested site of the said Black Taj Mahal which is situated on the other bank of the river in symmetry (in a straight line) to the Taj Mahal.

The perfect alignment of Mahtab Bagh with the Taj Mahal confirms that it was developed along with Taj Mahal as an integral part of the original scheme. Several historians including the Archaeological Survey of India now accept the fact. If the story of the Black Taj is considered to be a myth, then the existence of Mahtab Bagh itself raises several complicated questions that prompt further investigations:

Mahtab Bagh was founded on the other side of the Taj Mahal to serve the purpose of a garden only?

If yes, then what was the actual site plan of Mahtab Bagh? And how could it be architecturally connected with the Taj Mahal?

At present, the existence of Mahtab Bagh is insignificant and unconnected with the Taj Mahal. Imagine, that if it is restored hundred percent, even then, it would not generate any significant connection with its counterpart. The million dollar question that emerges is whether a perfectionist and great builder like Shah Jahan merely wanted to build an insignificant garden on the other side?

Or he might have had something equally great in mind?

Shah Jahan cannot come back and tell us what he had in his mind, nor can anybody of that age be alive to give answers to our questions…. So this subject has to be dealt with carefully by a specialized type of research, where the sequence of events can be established between the available evidence and the hidden conspiracies. And the finalization of result would be based on logic.

The search for truth in this regard is necessary, because the subject of the Black Taj Mahal falls in the category where Shah Jahan seemed to have possessed unlimited ambitions for architectural marvels. Any grand architecture, whether it is the thousands of years old Pyramids, or the marvel of today’s world, not only describes the confidence and ambitions of the people who lived in those times, but it is also a tale of the accomplishments of mankind.

The purpose of this book is solely dedicated to provide facts about the Black Taj Mahal. It describes in detail the entire Taj Mahal complex to complete the subject, since this material is related to the subject that will help readers in understanding everything and get first hand information for anything needed. The six parts of the book contain complementary material to understand the complete picture.

The book begins with the first part Taj Mahal. It introduces the Taj Mahal properly and highlights its importance, the reason for its construction, details of architectural as well as decorative elements of the tomb, details of the interiors of the tomb, details of other architecture and elements of the complex, brief details of construction techniques and their architects as well as designers. It will make readers aware about the basic points of the Taj Mahal and would be helpful in proper understanding of the points discussed in the next chapter of the Black Taj Mahal.

The second part Black Taj Mahal explains the complete picture of the subject. The discrepancy in the Taj Mahal which is related to Shah Jahan’s burial, which has strong physical evidence is described with scaled diagrams and pictures. The mismatching architectural elements in Mahtab Bagh and its comparative analysis help in reaching a conclusive end, and all related points of the Taj Mahal complex and Mahtab Bagh are properly explained with diagrams. The court history of Shah Jahan as well as contemporary records are mentioned and analysed. Tavernier is quoted as a key witness because some of his writings get support from the evidences present in the Taj Mahal and the Mahtab Bagh complex. The article by Caroline Stone about Padshahnama is quoted only to incorporate the opinion of a second person; in fact it highlights the findings and views of other historians. There are interesting hypothesis of Aurangzeb’s behaviour and what he did to face lift the other side of the river which was marring the visual beauty of the Taj Mahal, his act was proof of the cruelty towards his father. It is also explained as to why the plot on the opposite bank of river Yamuna was named Mahtab Bagh, and finally what would have been the name, if the mausoleum was completed. The narrative enables the reader to understand the actual hidden truth.

The third part Unending Romance, is one of the most prominent subjects which provide the soul to the Taj Mahal, since the imperial love story has been presented in a narrative manner. The content of the imperial love story is unimaginable for the people of today’s world, yet it is real. It begins with the unexpected meeting of two souls and ends on the tragic death of Shah Jahan. It highlights the intensity of the relationship between Shah Jahan and Mumtaz and the details of their offspring. It portrays the struggle for power of Shahjahan, his emperor-hood and imprisonment, from his ascendancy to dethronement by his own son Aurangzeb. The narrative is in accord with the historical happenings of that period and is supported with actual dates.

The fourth part Genealogy of the Mughal Dynasty covers interesting facts of the lineage of the Mughals. The Taj Mahal inherits some architectural elements which are seen in the mausoleum of the founder of the dynasty, Tamerlane. It seemed important to trace the inherited qualities of Shah Jahan to possibly understand the connection of architectural creativity from his ancestors. The history begins from the founder of the Timurid empire Tamerlane (Amir Timur) and ends with the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. This interesting chapter briefly portray the ups and downs of all the Mughal rulers.

The fifth part, Recreation of Black Taj in Miniature, explains something which is unusual and striking for normal research projects. The stoppage of the construction of the Black Taj Mahal might have broken the emperor’s heart, but according to me, it was also a big loss for the people who love art and really admire the Taj Mahal. They have been deprived of a wonderful sight of twin mausoleums. Since childhood, this issue became deep seated in my heart, and went so deep that I planned to bring the Black Taj Mahal into physical shape, but in miniature size, which would be within my individual capacity. Miniaturization of architecture is a popular form of art in every part of the globe which gives it a real feel. The chapter explains the process of the making of the miniature Black Taj, the fineness of its artistry, intricacy of techniques etc. The miniature Black Taj is still under process and nearing completion. The author of this chapter is Sara Khan, my better-half, but it is remarkable to note that once she was a stern critic of my involvement in the Black Taj!

The sixth part is The Brief Details of I.N. Khan (Arshi). This chapter covers a brief explanation of my own background. I was unable to write anything about myself, but most of my well wishers opined that the chapter is necessary for the completion of the book. My wife Sara Khan took the responsibility to pen down this chapter.

I.N. Khan (Arshi)

CHAPTER I

Taj Mahal

The splendid jewel of Mughal architecture, the Taj Mahal is rightly regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It has become a prominent and striking brand image of India. This famous and universally admired masterpiece of the world’s heritage was included in the list of protected monuments of UNESCO in 1983.¹

The beauty of the Taj Mahal is admired worldwide by people who belong to different walks of life. It has become a subject of interest for several writers and poets and there are innumerable lyrical descriptions of the Taj Mahal.

Francois Bernier, a famous French physician and traveller of the Mughal Empire who stayed in India for twelve years during the sixth Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s regime, had glorified the uniqueness of the Taj Mahal with these words, "the wife of Shah Jahan, so renowned for her beauty, and whose splendid mausoleum is more worthy of a place among wonders of the world than the unshapen masses and heaps of stones in Egypt, was named Tage-Mahil."² The famous poet, Rabindra Nath Tagore has marked the sorrowing face of the Taj Mahal in a lyrical manner, "O Taj, thy white marble is a solitary tear-drop on the cheek of Time!"³

The most admired building in the world is basically a mausoleum. Though it is attributed to death, yet it instils a sort of romance within. The breathtaking architecture casts an awe-inspiring impression on the majority of the people of the world. It may seem eerie to the visitors as they realise that eternal lovers are resting in peace.

The construction of the Taj Mahal was not only a tribute to the queen, but also evidence of the dignity of women in India, even in those days. Whether it is the mighty structure of the Taj Mahal or the feminine beauty of white marble, visitors of all age groups regardless of their nationality, become sentimental by its majestic appearance. If viewed from a distance, it appears like a heavenly edifice, while from a closer look spectators are engulfed by the overpowering elements of its architecture.

The designing of the Taj Mahal was carried out with accurate calculations of visual aesthetics whose visual impact is much larger than its titanic size. The closeness of the structure captivates spectators by opening up various qualities which cannot be seen from afar, the grandeur and the utmost fineness of artistry, etc. The most important factor is the multiplicity of beautifying centres that amazes and does not permit the vision to be focused at any particular spot for a long time.

1 | View of the Taj Mahal, Agra as seen from the entrance.

• Photo: Ashar Kamal

Poets have defined the Taj Mahal as "poetry in marble". It seems thoroughly justified – the act of balancing of the structures and even balancing of elements of structures provides it the status of couplets where upper and lower lines are balanced completely.

Rudyard Kipling had praised the mystique beauty of the Taj Mahal in the following statement: "over and above concrete comparisons, it seemed the embodiment of all things pure, all things holy, and all things unhappy. That was the mystery of the building!… It may be, too, that each must view the Taj for himself with his own eyes, working out his own interpretation of the sight."⁴

The reason for the construction of this chef d’œuvre is even more interesting than the Taj Mahal itself.

GENESIS OF THE MASTERPIECE

The Taj Mahal was commissioned to be built by the fifth Mughal emperor Shah Jahan between 1632 and 1643 in fond memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. It is an extensive complex with gardens and various buildings. The Taj Mahal is situated in the Indian city of Agra on the right bank of river Yamuna.

The story of the Taj Mahal is linked with a beautiful Mughal empress, Arjumand Bano Begum who was given the title of Mumtaz Mahal (crown of palaces), who was married to Shah Jahan when she was 18 years old. From then on she became an inseparable companion of the emperor.

In 1631, she was on a war campaign with her husband in the southern city of Burhanpur in India when she died during the birth of her fourteenth girl child. The death of Mumtaz Mahal was an unbearable loss for Emperor Shah Jahan and he decided to commemorate the memory of his wife with a building that would reflect her paradisiacal abode in heaven (for details see).

It is also said that Shah Jahan promised his wife that he would not let the world forget her. For Shah Jahan, the Taj Mahal was the ultimate and supreme way to express the sublime truth of his steadfast and undying love for Mumtaz Mahal who was his favourite Queen.

The tradition of erecting a tomb to honour dead Mughal emperors had started from Amir Timur or Tamerlane who was the progenitor of the Mughal dynasty. His mausoleum named Gur-e-Amir was built in Samarqand, means Tomb of the King.⁵ The style of Gur-e-Amir was based on Persian architecture which has a large facade and an overwhelming dome. Later on, it became the family mausoleum of Timur where most of the Timurid kings are buried.

The Taj Mahal was built on a plot which was owned by Maharaja Jai Singh, for which, Shah Jahan had compensated him with a large palace in the city.⁶

Mughal architecture reached its apex with the construction of the Taj Mahal. It was constructed with white marble, and contains elements of Indian, Islamic, Turkish and Persian architectures. In India, the refection of Persian architecture began after the second Mughal emperor Humayun returned from his exile in Persia.⁷ His own magnificent tomb is situated in Delhi and was commissioned to be built by his wife. Humayun’s tomb carries elements of Central Asian architecture.⁸ Mughal emperors were liberal in their views and never hesitated in experimenting with new ideas. The buildings erected by them consisted of architectural styles taken from different civilizations, which later on emerged as Mughal architecture.

The large onion shaped dome of the Taj Mahal, which catches attention at frst glance, was originally inspired by Gur-e-Amir, the tomb of Timurlane. The four columns supported dome or chattris surrounding the large dome belonged to Rajput architecture, it was a true element of Indian architecture which was largely used in temples.⁹ The blending of Persian and Turkish elements with Indian elements increased gradually in Mughal architectures. Chattris were earlier used in various forts and palaces to provide a beautiful top to the towers and roofs of buildings,