The Taj Mahal Story

The Taj Mahal in our entrance is one of only two in the world. It is built from real marble and engraved with beautiful designs copied from those of the original. It was handcrafted in the city of Agra, India by descendants of the original builders. This creation took four years to complete and was shipped here piece by piece and then painstakingly reassembled.

Taj MahalIn 1612, Arjumand Banu Bengam, better known by her other name, Mumtaz Mahal was married to Shah Jahan (then prince Khurram), the fifth mughal emperor. This marriage, although the emperor's second, was a real love-match, and Mumtaz was her husband's inseperable companion on all his journeys and military expeditions. She was his comrade, his counsellor, and inspired him to acts of charity and benevolence towards the weak and the needy. She bore him fourteen children, and died in childbed in 1630 (only three years after his accession to the throne) in Burhanpur in the Deccan where she had accompanied him on a military campaign. Overpowered by grief, Shah Jahan was determined to perpetuate her memory for immortality and decided to build his beloved wife the finest sepulchre ever -taj mahal a monument of eternal love. It was Shah Jahan's everlasting love for Mumtaz that led to the genesis of the Taj Mahal. The sad circumstances which attended the early death of the empress who had endeared herself to the people inspired all his subjects to join in the emperor's pious intentions. After twenty-two laborious years, and the combined effort of over twenty thousand workmen and master craftsmen, the complex was finally completed in 1648 on the banks on the river Yamuna in Agra, the capital of mughal monarchs.

The origin of the name "Taj Mahal" is not clear. Court histories from Shah Jahan's reign only call it the rauza (tomb) of Mumtaz Mahal. It is generally believed that "Taj Mahal" (usually translated as either "Crown Palace" or "Crown of the palace") is an abbreviated version of her name, Mumtaz Mahal (Exalted One of the Palace).