"What is history, but a fable agreed upon"

“What is history, but a fable agreed upon!”
Napoleon Bonaparte.

After months of brewing, my mind is at last ready to write about the monument the sight of which had me speechless. The white marble edifice, the world knows as the Taj Mahal, grave of Mumtaz Mahal Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan’ s beloved wife (this also is disputed by some), was never shorn of controversies. The latest one takes the cake however: Taj Mahal was ‘Tejo Mahalya’, an ancient Shiva temple!
One professor P.N. Oak has written a book (Taj Mahal: The True Story) elaborating on how he feels the world has been taken for a ride by hiding the true facts regarding the structure.

I admit that having failed to procure a copy; I am compelled to comment, though obliquely, on its contents. However, I only attempt to present my point of view regarding the controversy.

So, some believe that it was a sacred place…a temple palace wherein the idol worshipped was that of Lord Shiva.
Since I have not conducted any research that many others seemed to have been a part of, let me take the statement at its face value. The point is that it was a temple. Might have been…no intention of disputing it. Indian history is after all pregnant with facts that the Mughal rulers, for reasons known and fancied by them, destroyed many Hindu temples and constructed structures suiting their religious taste. So, it was a temple. Does that stop it from being a grave that it is? Does it prove that the marble structure was not caused to be built by Shah Jehan? I think not. All that perhaps can be assumed or logically deduced is that this one also, like many others, was built over the remains of a temple. Also that perhaps the Emperor was no exception when it came to religious intolerance.

It is said that in Badshahnama, Shah Jahan’s court chronicle, there is a mention that an ‘exceptionally beautiful grand mansion’ in Agra belonging to Jai Singh was taken from him for the late Empress’s burial.
This could also be true. But how can anyone shut its eyes to the architecture of the Taj that is primarily and essentially Islamic? Only a keen eye and some fascination for such buildings does one require to understand something as basic as that. Again, the point is that this alleged mansion could have been razed by the Mughals to erect a new one. The present edifice still remains what it is popular as…Mumtaz Mahal’s resting place built by Shah Jehan. Period.

Picture of Taj showing four floors

Taj Mahal is claimed to be a seven storeyed structure. (see pic). It is said that there is a gap of 83 ft between the outer dome and the inner dome ceiling which makes the first storey. Then we have storey 2, which cannot be accessed by the public. In any case, I was not permitted to go upstairs when I visited the monument in 2004. Storey 3 consists of the counterfeit graves of the royals open for public viewing. The fourth one, barred by an iron grill, contains the true cenotaphs. A peek below is all that is permitted to the public. The 5th and 6th storey are made of red sandstone that can be seen from the rear (river side). It is claimed that they contain several rooms. The last one is below the river level, serving as a basement for the monument. Carbon dating is claimed to have been carried out on one of these sandstone structures and the result reveals it to be older than the times during which Shah Jehan ruled/lived.

Picture showing the rear view of the Taj. Notice the latticed window in the 5th storey (below) and a doorway in the sixth storey (above)

All this, I am ill-equipped to dispute or corroborate. However, since one does not require the skill and expertise of a seasoned archeologist to question the basics, I have but one question: How can it be presumed that just because the sandstone portion predates the concerned era, the entire structure predates his reign? Is it not an utterly foolish and presumptuous claim? If the monument is really a structure that has been built over a Hindu temple, why is it not possible that Shah Jehan kept the base as original, demolished just the portion that was required and rebuilt it accordingly? Poor guy must have been hard pressed for time. His beloved wife had died and he had been compelled to bury her at a God forsaken place, Burhanpur, a site improper for a royal burial at any rate, in a jiffy. Then the architects must have taken awfully long to come up with a suitable design…and everyone knows where the marble came from…and that was no jet age. Coming to ‘age’, we cannot forget that old age was catching up…and Aurangzeb was already breathing down his neck to claim the throne. Yes, it could be that the wonderful mausoleum rests on the remains of a temple. Again, where does it prove that the structure recognized by the world as the Taj was not caused to be built by Shah Jehan?

However, one can, and I think should, protest against the embargo that has been placed by the ASI by not allowing the public to access floor 5, 6 and indeed 7, if at all they exist. One can blame the government for hiding the whole truth perhaps. But that is all. To claim that the present structure as it stands was actually a temple would be stupendously stupid. A temple with double domes, mihrabs, minarets, jaali’s, pietra dura and a charbagh style garden? I mean, do the claimants even understand their idiocy levels?

Letter of Aurangzeb to Emperor Shahjehan recommending elaborate repairs for the Taj

Oh yes, then there is this letter (claimed as original) from Aurangzeb (see pic) wherein he says that “several rooms on the second storey, the secret rooms and tops of the seven storey ceilings have all absorbed water through seepage and are so old that they were all leaking, and the dome had developed a crack on the northern side…” This was in 1652. Taj was completed in 1653. (Mumtaz died in 1631 and it is claimed that the monument took 22 long years to complete; so 1631+22=1653).
Now, it is questioned by Tejo Mahalya believers that if Taj was a new construction, how could it have required extensive repairs before it was fully complete? Why not I say? When was the edifice ever claimed as infallible and surefire against the elements? I would rest this point here…it is for the readers to form an opinion.

Now about the Hindu motifs and architectural styles claimed to have been used in the structure…
“The frontal view of the structure is octagonal because the Hindus believe in 10 directions. The pinnacle pointing to the heaven and the foundation to the nether world, plus the eight surface directions make the 10 directions. Divinity and royalty are believed to hold sway in all those 10 directions.”
And all these years I thought that the octagonal plan was essentially non-Hindu. So many structures of the Delhi Sultanate in the Lodhi Gardens etc (the tomb of Sikandar Lodhi, for instance) have an octagonal layout…so what were they? All temples?

The alleged Lotus flower cap atop the marble dome

The monument contains many apparent Hindu motifs and features…the famous lotus flower cap on the head of the dome being a typical one (see pic). No denying that it does appear to be so…and so are numerous other designs and motifs used at various places. So, what does this prove? Only this that perhaps the previous structure, if any, was so majestic that even the Mughal architects were smitten by its charms and decided to creatively use some of its parts and designs in the new building as well, giving the whole mausoleum an Indo-Islamic aura.

By the way, the Internet tells me that Prof Oak, in other articles has tried to prove that the war of Mahabharata involved the whole world; that the Holy Ka'bah in Makkah was originally a Shiva temple (again?!); that the name Baghdad is the corrupted form of Bhagwat Nagar etc etc. Hmm…I would say the leader as well as the followers collectively donated the most important part of their anatomy!

I rest my case partially here…

PS: So ethereal is the appeal of this wonder that not only do us mortals, struck by its beauty, forget that it is but a grave and so alluring is its charm that we get to hear strange stories woven around it. One such tale-maker tried to claim ownership of the monument itself! Remember the news about Taj Mahal being Wakf property? It was interesting. More interesting was the appalling audacity of the Board in declaring so. Seriously, it amazes me beyond any measure on how for some religious factions there is no limit for being silly.
Whatever the Taj might be…a tomb, graveyard, erstwhile temple or a combination of all these, the fact remains that it is a part of our national heritage being managed and maintained by the ASI since a long time now and cannot in any case be claimed by any single community—Hindu or Muslim. Does one need the grey cells of Einstein to understand something as basic and logical as this?
That the Allahabad High Court actually directed the Wakf, one of the claimants, to decide the matter compels me to cast serious doubts about the intelligence and logical quotient of the Judiciary. That the esteemed body had the time even to entertain such a trifling and frivolous claim had me stunned. Suddenly, the ‘sale of Taj’ sequence in ‘Bunty aur Babli’ does not seem funny, as funnier episodes happen in this country.
I rest my case completely.

All pictures courtesy: http:// www.stephen-knapp.com