Oscar winning actor Ben Kingsley, who plans to make a film on Taj Mahal, Wednesday visited the monument along with his wife Daniela Lavender.

He spent more than two hours at the Taj and mingled with visitors, many of whom took pictures with the 67-year-old.

Sir Ben plans to play Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in his dream project called “Taj”, Daniela will act as Kandhari Begum, Shah Jahan’s first wife of Persian origin, While Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai may feature as Mumtaz Mahal.

Sources said the film would bring out the loneliness of Shah Jahan and the intense love he had for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died delivering their 14th child.

The structure of Taj Mahal adheres to the Indo Islamic architecture, which flourished in India during the medieval period. It is said that the structure was based primarily on the structure of Humayun’s tomb in Delhi, which was culminated in precision with the building of the Taj.

The mammoth entrance gate built in red sandstone is a beautiful inscribed with texts from the Koran. They are beautifully written in absolutely uniform size from whichever angle you see them. After passing the gate you enter in to the exquisitely laid gardens with symmetrical designs and fountains built in red sandstone with the majestic Taj standing nearly thousand feet away.

The Taj stands atop a plinth with four minarets in each corner. The central dome is huge supported by four smaller domes. The elegantly carved arches and the floral designs, not only intricate, but in perfect symmetry is the highlight of Taj. The exquisite tracery looks more like lace than actual carvings. Earlier precious and semi-precious stones were laid inside the floral designs, a very typical form of craftsmanship known as the pietra dura.

Inside the cenotaph are the two dummy tombs of Shahajehan and his wife Mumtaz; the original ones are in the basement just beneath these. The tombs studded with various precious gems like the Sapphire, Ruby et al were the natural target for grave robbers. The interiors of the chamber have fine floral motifs on in its walls with various shades of marble stones. The most moving feature is the tragic prayer of the emperor which is carved in perfect calligraphy on the tomb which asks for help from the almighty and says, ‘Help us, O Lord, to bear that which we can not bear!’

Shahjahan had four sons and several years after the completion of the Taj Mahal, Shahjahan fell ill. The four sons entered into conflict and 3 of these sons were killed leaving only Aurangzeb who took advantage and deposed his father c. 1658. The Shah Jahan was imprisoned in the Agra Fort until his death.

The Agra Fort would have been a pleasant place to be restrained and he was allowed all his wives and concubines. He shared this retreat with one of his daughters and could view the Taj without difficulty, albeit from some distance.

A tiny mirror glass in a gallery of the Red Fort in Agra reflects the Taj mahal. Shahjahan is said to have spent his last eight years of life as a prisoner in that gallery peering at the reflected Tajmahal and sighing in the name of Mumtaz. When he was 74 he died.

Arjumand begum was born in 1593 April in Agra to Asaf Khan,who was the Prime Minister for Shah Jahan and son of the Prime Minister for Jahangir whose sister, Nur Jahan, married Jahangir.

The story goes back in 1607, when a prince of the royal Mughal household strolled down the Meena Bazaar, accompanied by a string of fawning courtiers, he caught a glimpse of a girl hawking silk and glass beads.She was an unrivalled beauty, which caught the heart of Shahjahan, the fifth Mughal emperor at first sight.Five years and a wife later (in those days princes did not marry for love alone) the regal 20-yr-old went to wed his 19-yr-old bride.

They got married in 1612, it was an extravagant grand affair. Prince Khurram was entitled as “Shahjahan” when he became the emperor in 1628 and entitled Arjumand bano his wife as “Mumtaz Mahal”. Shahjahan built beautiful palaces for her like, the Khas mahal in Agra. Desplite being the third wife of Shahjahn , Mumtaz mahal was his favourite throughout her life. She was conferred by the Emperor with the highest honor of the land-the royal seal – Mehr Uzaz. Mumtaz was so compassionate and generous and always intervened on behalf of petitioners. However it is also believed that she even enjoyed the spectacle of man in combat with animals.

Mumtaz was of great support to Shahjahan and accompanied the Emperor to all his conquests. During one such trip to Deccan where emperor went to war with Khan Jahanb Lodi, Mumtaz breathed her last breath on 17 June, 1631 during her fourteenth childbirth. It is said that Mumtaz on her deathbed asked for four promises to the Emperor. The four promises were, that the emperor build a monument of their love, second- that he should marry again, third- that he be kind to their children and the fourth one being that Shahjahan visit the tomb on her death anniversay.

Shahjahan kept the first and second promise and keeping his first promise began the construction of the splendid beauty, the Tajmahal in the year 1631.Mumtaz was given a temporary burial at Zainabadi garden in Burhnpur. After six months the body of Mumtaz Mahal was exumed and brought to Agra for final burial. Thus with the construction of Tajmahal, Shahjahan immortalized their love.

Taj Mahal stands on the bank of River Yamuna, which otherwise serves as a wide moat defending the Great Red Fort of Agra, the centre of the Mughal empire until they moved their capital to Delhi in 1637. It was built by the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan in 1631 in the memory of his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

Taj Mahal of India – “the epitome of love”, “a monument of immeasurable beauty”. The beauty of this magnificent monument is such that it is beyond the scope of words. The thoughts that come into the mind while watching the Taj Mahal of Agra is not just its phenomenal beauty, but the immense love which was the reason behind its construction. Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan got this monument constructed in the memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, with whom he fell in love at the first sight. The very first sight of the Taj Mahal, the epitome of love and romance leaves one mesmerized.

Standing majestically on the banks of River Yamuna, the Taj Mahal is synonymous with love and romance. It is believed that the name “Taj Mahal” was derived from the name of Shah Jahan wife Mumtaz Mahal and means “Crown Palace”. The purity of the white marble, the exquisite ornamentation, precious gemstones used and its picturesque location, all make Taj Mahal travel gain a place amongst the most popular ones. However, unless and until, one knows the love story behind the Tajmahal of India, it will come up as just a beautiful building. But, the love behind this outstanding monument is what has given a life to this monument.

Even as the world excitedly talks about the recently discovered mummy believed to be of Egyptian queen Hatshepsut, in India the mystery surrounding Mumtaz Mahal’s burial at the Taj Mahal has deepened with several Mughal historians asserting that her body was not mummified.

Mughal emperor Shah Jahan built the 17th century Taj Mahal in memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal who died delivering their 14th child in Burhanpur, a town in Maharashtra.

The queen’s body was buried in Burhanpur itself but was believed to have been recovered for transportation to Agra where it was reburied in a grave in the Taj Mahal complex for at least 12 years to be again shifted to her final resting place in the basement of the monument.

As there is no detailed description or reference to any kind of treatment given to the body to keep it in recognisable shape for more than 12 years, two conjectures are now being offered.

One, the body remained buried in Burhanpur, only some symbolic relics were brought to Agra in a lead coffin. Two, the body decomposed and virtually vanished, leaving behind some bones and perhaps the bare skelton.

“Obviously the coffin was not opened, otherwise we would have had some account of what remained inside it,” says R. Nath, a Mughal historian. “In any case, how does it matter what state the body was in.”

Afzal Khan, a historian of Aligarh Muslim University, says, “It is possible that the body might have been thoroughly decomposed, given the long duration for which it was kept outside and the time taken to transport it from the south to Agra. Since there are no accounts of how the whole process was carried out, one can only guess what could have happened to the body of Mumtaz.”

A senior guide, 75-year-old SK Tripathi, says the body is believed to have been placed in a lead and copper coffin, which was air tight and sealed. It was kept at the Taj Mahal premises for a little over 12 years and was shifted as soon as more than half the edifice was constructed. The real graves of the two are in the basement, totally sealed.

“No one has gone there to see what state they are in now,” he adds.

Archaeological Survey of India officials in Agra say they have no idea when was the last time someone had a close look at the basement and the foundation of the Taj Mahal, let alone the original graves of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal.

“We have no records of any such inspection,” says one official.

The one little passage near the stair case leading to the main marble edifice was sealed more than a decade ago with a brick wall, which means there is now no way one can enter the sealed chambers below the Taj.

RC Sharma, a historian, says the body of Mumtaz Mahal was buried in Burhanpur. “What came to Agra must have been just bones in a coffin which was again reburied in the Taj complex.”

From historical records available this was a unique feat. “Mumtaz was buried thrice at three different places,” says Amit Mukherjea, who heads the history department of St John’s College in Agra.

Most people do not know that the foundation of the Taj was actually laid in Burhanpur but because of the problems and costs involved in the transportation of marble from Rajasthan, Agra became the final choice.

“It was in Ahu Khana in Burhanpur on the bank of the Tapti river that her body was buried to be later transferred to Agra,” according to KK Mohammed of ASI.

But the question relating to the technique of embalming and preservation remains unanswered.

Afsar Ahmed, a media researcher deeply interested in Mughal history, told IANS, You might find it difficult to believe but there’s a possibility that the body of Mumtaz Mahal is still preserved in the Taj Mahal in the same condition as she was when she passed away. Mumtaz Mahal was buried six months after she passed away in June 1631. She was, however, buried in Jan 1632.”

The question that arises now is: how was her body preserved? Ahmed quotes a report prepared by Armanul Haq, the curator in the Museum of History and Medicine in the Jamia Hamdard University, who claims that Mumtaz Mahal’s body was preserved according to Unani techniques.

The process was used because cutting a body after death is prohibited in Islam. That is why when Mumtaz Mahal passed away in 1631 in Burhanpur, her body was kept in a tin box filled with such herbs as would stop the decay of flesh.

“The airtight tin box was filled with herbs like the ash of Babul tree (acacia), Mehendi (henna), Kapoor crystals (camphor), sandalwood ash, and then again camphor applied in layers upon layers. These herbs would have created a vacuum inside the box and prevented the decay of the body. A point to be noted here is that none of these herbs were put inside Mumtaz Mahal’s body,” says Ahmed.

If her body is still preserved and in fine shape, shall we call it the success of the Indian technique of mummification?

sources: http://www.hindustantimes.com/