ARCHITECTURE HISTORY AND THEORY

Architecture History and Theory

Architecture History and Theory

This paper is based on a building that has been a source of inspiration for the architectures, the world over. The building selected for this assignment is called 'Taj Mahal', the historic monument of India and one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Much has been written about the myths and realities based on Taj Mahal that have provided this building a literary significance as well. This paper provides a comparison of two books written on Taj Mahal. The two books selected for this paper include:

Taj Mahal: The True Story by P.N. Oak, and the other one is called Taj Mahal, written by Amina Okada.

Taj Mahal: The True Story by P.N. Oak

P. N. Oak expounds an intriguing version of the Taj Mahal's origins in this book. He strongly refutes the traditionally accepted belief that the monument was constructed by 17th century Mughal emperor Shah Jehan as a mausoleum to his deceased wife Mumtaz Mahal, by attempting to prove that it was in fact a 12th century temple-palace seized from Raja Jaisingh of Jaipur and converted to accommodate Mumtaz's tomb.

Oak forcefully argues his case on several fronts, his first point being that the only original source of the claim for the Taj Mahal to be Shah Jehan's creation is an inaccurate and misinterpreted journal written by 17th century French jewel merchant and sometime India traveller, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, and that all other subsequent accounts were either based on Tavernier's unverified statements or were sycophantic additions after Shah Jehan's time.

The Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal built the Taj Mahal. It was built in 22 years (1631 to 1653) by 20,000 artisans brought to India from all over the world. Many people believe Ustad Isa of Iran designed it." This is what your guide probably told you if you ever visited the Taj Mahal. This is the same story I read in my history book as a student in India (Oak, 1989).

No one has ever challenged it except Professor P.N. Oak, who believes the whole world has been duped. In his Mahal's tomb but an ancient Hindu temple palace of Lord Shiva (then known as Tejo Mahalaya).

In the course of his research, Oak discovered the Shiva temple palace was usurped by Shah Jahan from then Maharaja of Jaipur, Jai Singh. Shah Jahan then remodeled the palace into his wife's memorial. In his own court chronicle, Badshahnama, Shah Jahan admits that an exceptionally beautiful grand mansion in Agra was taken from Jai Singh for Mumtaz's burial. The ex-Maharaja of Jaipur still retains in his secret collection two orders from Shah Jahan for surrendering the Taj building. Using captured temples and mansions, as a burial place for dead courtiers and royalty was a common practice among Muslim rulers. For example, Humayun, Akbar, Etmud-ud-Daula and Safdarjung are all buried in such mansions. Oak's inquiries begin with the name Taj Mahal. He says this term does not occur in any ...