| Ever since the 17th century,
travelers have crossed continents to arrive
and witness this definitive monument of love,
and only some have been impassive by its unparalleled
gorgeousness.
Taj Mahal stands in the metropolis of Agra,
in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,
on the banks of the Yamuna River. It was
built in the remembrance of the attractive
Arjumand Bano Begum, who won the heart of
a Mughal prince. At the age of 21 years,
she was wedded to the Emperor Jahangir's
3rd son Prince Khurram and stayed devotedly
by his side all the way through good times
and bad: in the comfortable imperial palaces
of Agra as well as the fleeting tents of
war camps. In AD 1628, Khurram became king
after a blood-spattered fight of succession;
he took the crown from his father Shahjahan
and showered his dearly loved begum with
the uppermost title of Mallika-e-Aalam.
But Mumtaz Mahal was not predestined to
be queen for long. In 1631, Shahjahan went
on a journey to the South and, as always,
Mumtaz Mahal escorted him. But she died
during childbirth at Burhanpur. She had
borne Shahjahan fourteen children, of whom
four sons and three daughters survived.
When Mumtaz Mahal died, she was only 39
years old. Shahjahan was devastated and
records inform of the imperial court remembrance
for 2 years.
There was no melody, no banquets, and no
festivity of any sort. Shahjahan, who was
an obsessive planner, now decided to raise
a monument of marble, in the fond memory
of her beloved that the humanity would not
at all disregard. The location chosen for
the tomb was a garden by the Yamuna River,
un-shadowed by any other construction. The
garden had been laid by Raja Man Singh of
Amber and now belonged to his grandson,
Raja Jai Singh. By an imperial decree, Shahjahan
gave Jai Singh four havelis in swap for
the garden. The location was also preferred
since it was positioned on a curve in the
river, and so it could be seen from Shahjahan's
private palace in Agra Fort, further upstream.
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