Taj Mahal

If any one in the world is asked about India what would be the first word comes to their??

Of course Taj Mahal. What they know about it is, one of the 7 wonders in the world, symbol of love, greatest monument blah blah.....

        But there are many unknow things behind Taj Mahal, which seems to be unbelievable.

When entire Mughal Empire was curious to know about their next ruler Shah Jahan killed his 3 siblings and become the fifth ruler of Mughal empire. 

    Mumtaz and Shah Jahan met each other at their teen age, and fell in love with each other at first sight. They got engaged in their early age but still Mumtaz remains to be his second wife, due to political pressure and to ensure there is no sudden attacks or wars, Shah Jahan got married 6 times to neighboring state princess. But Shah Jahan's love to Mumtaz was true and high.

In a camp at Warfield in Burhanpur, Mumtaz gets delivery pain for 30 hours, after successfully delivering a baby she takes her last breath. Apparently after her death Shah Jahan gets depressed and isolates himself for months. Though Mumtaz's body was temporarily buried at the same place, Shah Jahan was not satisfied with this, hence he called one of his son and sends her body in a golden casket to Agra. He stays until the war ends in Burhanpur and at the time she was buried in Agra for second time.

Shah Jahan returns after the War and plans to build Taj Mahal. After 22 years with the help of 22000 labors, 1000 elephants Taj Mahal was successfully completed. Later he buried her body for the 3rd time in center of Taj Mahal.

Interesting fact of Taj mahal is the colour of Taj mahal changes based on the time you see.

It looks pink in early morning, and orange in evening in certain season. As the tone of the marbel stone which used to build Taj Mahal changes according to the sunlight and reflects according to it.

Shah Jahan made a beautiful garden in front of Taj Mahal which completely hides it, where one cannot see Taj mahal once he is stepped out of the garden. Later British Government decided to alter the garden in French style.

He also planned to build another Taj mahal with black marbel, opposite to Taj Mahal in order to burry his body in the other one. As he fells ill, his son Aurangazeb comes to power & sends Shah Jahan to prison. Shah Jahan spends his last 10 years in Agra fort as he was arrested by his son Aurangazeb, this failed him to build another Taj Mahal contrasting to the old one. And his body was buried alongside Mumtaz mahal inside Taj mahal.

In world war 1 and world war 2 Taj Mahal was seen as Crown jewel of British, so Japanese forces wanted to blow that crown off and sent few forces to demolish Taj mahal. To get rid of Japanese forces Taj mahal was completely hidden with bamboo sticks as the tomb of Taj mahal was easily seen anywhere from the sky.

The cost and expenses beared by Shah Jahan to build Taj mahal was 32 million rupees in 1653 which is equivalent to 7 billion rupees in 2021. The funds were from the treasury of the King alone, which believes Shah Jahan to be the one of worlds most richest kind of those times.