It is India writ large. Or, as historian Rana Safvi puts it: “The Taj Mahal is not a Hindu or a Muslim monument, it is an Indian monument, the one which represents India all over the world”.
But that universal appeal has been called into question in recent years, on the back of a historical revisionist’s decades-old claim that the Mughal-era mausoleum was built atop a Hindu temple.the theories of P.N. Oak - who also claimed that the Vatican, Kaaba and Westminster Abbey were originally Hindu temples - have gained in the age of WhatsApp and reactionary Hindu-nationalist discourse. Nevermind that the Archaeological Survey of India has published photos showing that the Taj Mahal’s 22 doors lead nowhere except a long, continuous arched corridor. Oak, who died in 2007, first published his Taj Mahal theory in the 1970s. “Nobody took him seriously” then, Safvi said. That’s not the case any more.
Shahi Farman of Mughal Emperor
A farman dated December 23, 1633 shows that four havelis (manor houses) were gifted to Jai Singh by the emperor in exchange for the riverfront estate over which the mausoleum was subsequently built. The land had been gifted to Jai Singh’s grandfather Maharaja Man Singh - head of the Hindu princely kingdom of Jaipur and a key ministerial member of the emperor’s court - by the Mughal emperor Akbar, who was Shah Jahan’s grandfather.
Historical documents and farman (official decrees) from the 17th century show that the land the Taj Mahal was built upon previously housed a riverfront estate belonging to Jai Singh, a senior general and minor royal of the Mughal empire.
A monument to love
Commissioned in 1632 by Emperor Shah Jahan (1592-1666) as the final resting place for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died the year before, the Taj Mahal represents the pinnacle of Mughal-era architecture. Famed for its white, domed marble mausoleum, it is in fact an extensive funerary complex of buildings and gardens that historian Safvi said
so much “more than a tomb”. “Built on the theme of death, resurrection and paradise, it also acted as a statement of [Shah Jahan’s] imperial vision,” she said.
Indeed it was a fit mausoleum for a beloved wife. The best of master architects, calligraphers, em
The plot of land on which the Taj Mahal is built, belonged to Raja Man Singh, Akbar’s famed general. When Mumtaz died, Raja Jai Singh, his grandson was the owner. The Mughals administration were very bureaucratic, thousands of documents were generated and preserved. Though many have been lost over the years some still remain. Apart from the memoirs by emperors; many contemporary accounts were written which record every detail of the period.
The contemporary texts refer to the
Translation of Shahi Mughal Farman 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
I found details and translation of the “farman” giving orders for the exchange to Raja Jai Singh in two books. One is Mughal Documents by prof SAI Tirmizi and the other is Begley and Desai’s Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb. Begley and Desai have translated the “farman” in its entirety and have given all the details of endorsements and scrutiny that were given on the back, which were necessary before it could be admitted in the royal office.
Muhammad Salih Kanbo writes that the emperor acquired a “heaven-like tract of land (sarzamin e bihist-ain)” which was situated on the south side of Agra and belonged to Raja Man Singh. Once again the word manzil is used. There are other royal “farmans” addressed to Raja Jai Singh which deal with sending of marble from Makrana mines which were part of Raja Jai Singh’s estates.
Shahi Mughal Farman Be it known through this glorious farman marked by happiness, which has received the honor of issuance and the dignity of proclamation, that the mansions (haveli) detailed in the endorsement, together with their dependencies, which belong to the august crown property, have been offered to that pride of peers and vassal of the monarch of Islam, Raja Jai Singh, and are hereby handed over and transferred to his ownership- in exchange of the mansion (haveli) formerly belonging to Raja Man Singh, which that pride of the grandees willingly and voluntarily donated for the mausoleum of that Queen of the ladies of the world ….. Mumtaz Mahal Begum.” [Translation Begley and Desai]
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10 сен 2024
