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Arjumand Bano Begum, widely famous as Mumtaz
Mahal, who died in AH 1040 (AD 1630) had
a final wish, that after her death, the
emperor should build a tomb in her memory,
which the world had never seen before".
Thus Emperor Shah Jahan set about building
this magic like wonder. The erection of
Taj Mahal was started in AD 1631 and finished
at the conclusion of 1648 AD.
For 17 years, 20,000 workmen had worked
on a daily basis for the successful completion
of this beautiful monument of love. Named
behind the departed empress-'Mumtazabad,
now acknowledged as Taj Ganj, was the colony
that was built to house these workmen who
were brought in from as far as Persia and
Iran to give the desired shape to this amazing
construction.
The calligrapher of Taj Mahal was Amanat
Khan Shiraz; his name occurs at the ending
of writing on one of the gates of the Taj.
Poet Ghyasuddin had planned the verses on
the gravestone, whereas Ismail Khan Afridi
from Turkey was the dome architect. Muhammad
Hanif was the manager of Masons. The designer
of Taj Mahal was Ustad Ahmad Lahauri. The
construction material was brought in from
all over India and central Asia and it took
a convoy of 1000 elephants to transfer it
to the location. The central dome is 187
feet elevated at the centre. The main building
material, the white marble was brought from
the quarries of Makrana, located in Nagaur,
Rajasthan. |
