Taj Mahal India,Taj Mahal in India,Taj Mahal India Travel,Taj Mahal Tours in India

Taj Mahal, a dream etched in milky white pristine marble is the peerless monument portraying the beauty of eternal love! A commemoration of the memory of Shahjahan's beloved wife, Mumtaz. Taj Mahal is indeed India's rich tribute to womanhood. Renowned for its aesthetic beauty, this extravagant building of timeless beauty is the outcome of a unique combination of passion and architectural exuberance.

Many people have claimed that Shah Jahan had a plan of constructing another Taj Mahal in black marble on the opposite bank of River Yamuna that was to be his own tomb and was to be joined with Mumtaz's Taj by a bridge. According to the French merchant Tavernier who was there at the time, this plan could not be realized because Shahjahan got busy in the wars and later was imprisoned by his rebel son Aurungzeb, who was not disposed to complete it. The story was told and retold again and again and people tried to put forth the irregular position of the Shahjahan's cenotaph as compared to that of Mumtaz Mahal, situated centrally in the hall, as the evidence of some other plans in the emperor's mind.

According to Moinuddin, the Mehtab Burj and the adjoining walls opposite Taj Mahal are actually the remains and foundations of the abandoned plan. However, other scholars merely dismiss this idea of black marble as a myth. If Shah Jahan had anything of this sort in mind, he would have undertaken the project immediately after the completion of Taj in 1648, after which he had ten years before he was imprisoned in 1658. The idea just seems to be too fanciful to be true. Even the contemporary Persian chronicles, Lahauri and Kambo, do not mention any such plan. The walls adjoining the Mehtab Burj are not the foundation of the new Taj but remains of the enclosing wall of the Babur's Mehtab Bagh.

Babar's memoirs mention the charbagh at the site and water channels, tanks, loose brackets and stone slabs near the place indicate its presence. These scholars also point out that the irregular position of Shahjahan's cenotaph is not unique. Similar positioning of cenotaphs can also be seen at Itmad-ud-Daulah's tomb and can be attributed to the fact that Islamic law states that husband should be placed at right side of his wife and that bodies should be buried with their faces towards Mecca and legs towards the South.