The symbol of true love in white marble known as the Taj Mahal stands proudly in Agra. Known as “elegy in marble”, the Taj Mahal is one of the wonders of the world. The Taj Mahal took 22 years to build and involved the concerted efforts of 20,000 artisans who worked hard day and night to construct this massive structure.
The total cost is estimated to be 32 million rupees. The question that everyone asks is who built the Taj Mahal? Who went to the trouble of waiting 22 years and investing so much money in the construction of one of the most beautiful monuments in the world? Who was the builder of the Taj Mahal?
Only a human being with enormous power and resources, both monetary and artistic, could build the Beauty Taj Mahal. The man’s name was Shah-Jahan, the fifth descendant in the line of Muslim rulers called the Mughals, who ruled northern India from 1526 to 1858. European visitors were so impressed by the exotic luxury of the Mughal courts that they coined the term “mogul.”
People you never see in the manuscripts are Shah-Jahan’s beloved wife, Mumtaz; you also don’t see the Taj, the famous tomb he built for her after she died in 1631. The only women you see are court dancers and other entertainers; it’s taboo to describe royal women. Shah-Jahan himself spent the last eight years of his life as a prisoner of his son and successor, Awrangzeb — locked in a fort from which he could only see across the river at the Taj.
