NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/soc/history/10502

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-03 | 8.5 KB

Xref: sparky soc.history:10502 sci.archaeology:3083
Newsgroups: soc.history,sci.archaeology
Path: sparky!uunet!pmafire!news.dell.com!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!torn!csd.unb.ca!c4sg
From: [e-mail]
Subject: The Taj Mahal is a Hindu Temple - Part 3 of 6.
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Keywords: Taj Mahal, Hindu, temple
Organization: University of New Brunswick
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1993 17:13:18 GMT
Lines: 176


************ THE TAJMAHAL IS A HINDU TEMPLE ****************

                  By Shri P. N. Oak
                     (Copyright)
============================================================

MISSING ELEPHANTS:

31. Far from the building of the Taj,  Shahjahan  disfigured
it with black Koranic lettering and heavily robbed it of its
Sanskrit inscription,  several  idols  and  two  huge  stone
elephants  extending their trunks in a welcome arch over the
gateway where visitors these  days  buy  entry  tickets.  An
Englishman,  Thomas  Twinning,  records  (pg.191 of his book
"Travels in India - A Hundred Years ago") that  in  November
1794  "I  arrived at the high walls which enclose the Taj-e-
Mahal and its circumjacent buildings. I here got out of  the
palanquine  and.....mounted  a short flight of steps leading
to a beautiful portal which formed the centre of  this  side
of the `COURT OF ELEPHANTS" as the great area was called."

KORANIC PATCHES:

32. The Taj Mahal is scrawled over with 14 chapters  of  the
Koran  but  nowhere  is  there  even  the  slightest  or the
remotest allusion in that Islamic overwriting to Shahjahan's
authorship  of  the  Taj.  Had Shahjahan been the builder he
would have said so in so  many  words  before  beginning  to
quote Koran.

33. That Shahjahan, far from building the marble  Taj,  only
disfigured  it  with  black  lettering  is  mentioned by the
inscriber Amanat Khan Shirazi himself in an  inscription  on
the  building.  A  close  scrutiny  of the Koranic lettering
reveals that  they  are  grafts  patched  up  with  bits  of
variegated stone on an ancient Shiva temple.

CARBON 14 TEST:

34. A wooden piece from the riverside  doorway  of  the  Taj
subjected  to  the carbon 14 test by an American Laboratory,
has revealed that the  door  to  be  300  years  older  than
Shahjahan,since  the doors of the Taj, broken open by Muslim
invaders repeatedly from the 11th century onwards, had to be
replaced  from  time  to  time. The Taj edifice is much more
older. It belongs to 1155 A.D., i.e., almost 500 years ante-
rior to Shahjahan.

ARCHITECTURAL EVIDENCE:

35. Well known  Western  authorities  on  architecture  like
E.B.Havell,  Mrs.Kenoyer and  Sir  W.W.Hunter have  gone  on
record to say that the TajMahal is built in the Hindu temple
style.  Havell  points  out  the  ground plan of the ancient
Hindu Chandi Seva Temple in Java is identical with  that  of
the Taj.

36. A central dome with cupolas at its  four  corners  is  a
universal feature of Hindu temples.

37. The four marble pillars at the plinth corners are of the
Hindu  style.  They are used as lamp towers during night and
watch towers during the day. Such towers serve to  demarcate
the  holy  precincts.   Hindu  wedding  altars and the altar
set-up for God Satyanarayan worship have pillars  raised  at
the four corners.

38. The octagonal shape of the Tajmahal has a special  Hindu
significance because Hindus alone have special names for the
eight directions, and celestial guards assigned to them. The
pinnacle points to the heaven while the foundation signifies
to the nether world. Hindu forts, cities, palaces  and  tem-
ples  generally  have  an octagonal layout or some octagonal
features so that together with the pinnacle and the  founda-
tion  they cover all the ten directions in which the king or
God holds sway, according to Hindu belief.

39. The Tajmahal has a trident pinnacle over the dome.A full
scale  of  the  trident  pinnacle is inlaid in the red stone
courtyard to the east of the Taj. The central shaft  of  the
trident  depicts  a  "Kalash"  (sacred pot) holding two bent
mango leaves and a coconut.  This is a sacred  Hindu  motif.
Identical  pinnacles  have been seen over Hindu and Buddhist
temples in the Himalayan region. Tridents are also  depicted
against  a  red  lotus background at the apex of the stately
marble arched entrances on all four sides of the Taj.   Peo-
ple  fondly but mistakenly believed all these centuries that
the Taj pinnacle depicts a Islamic cresent and  star  was  a
lighting conductor installed by the British rulers in India.
Contrarily, the pinnacle is a  marvel  of  Hindu  metallurgy
since  the  pinnacle  made  of  non-rusting  alloy,  is also
perhaps a lightning deflector.  That  the  pinnacle  of  the
replica  is  drawn  in  the eastern courtyard is significant
because the east is of special importance to the Hindus,  as
the  direction  in  which the sun rises. The pinnacle on the
dome has the word `Allah' on it after capture. The  pinnacle
figure on the ground does not have the word Allah.

INCONSISTENCIES:

40. The two buildings which face the  marble  Taj  from  the
east  and  west  are identical in design, size and shape and
yet the  eastern  building  is  explained  away  by  Islamic
tradition, as a community hall while the western building is
claimed to be a mosque. How could buildings meant for  radi-
cally  different purposes be identical? This proves that the
western building was put to use as a mosque after seizure of
the Taj property by Shahjahan. Curiously enough the building
being explained away as a mosque has no minaret. They form a
pair  of  reception  pavilions  of  the  Tejomahalaya temple
palace.

41. A few yards away from the same flank is the Nakkar Khana
alias  DrumHouse  which  is  a  intolerable  incongruity for
Islam. The proximity of the Drum House  indicates  that  the
western annex was not originally a mosque. Contrarily a drum
house is a neccessity in a Hindu  temple  or  palace because
Hindu  chores,in the morning and evening, begin to the sweet
strains of music.

42. The embossed patterns on the marble exterior of the cen-
otaph  chamber  wall  are foilage of the conch shell  design
and the Hindu letter "OM". The octagonally laid marble  lat-
tices  inside  the  cenotaph chamber  depict pink lotuses on
their top railing. The Lotus, the conch and the OM  are  the
sacred motifs associated with the Hindu deities and temples.

44. The spot  occupied by  Mumtaz's  cenotaph  was  formerly
occupied  by  the Hindu Teja Linga - a lithic representation
of Lord Shiva.  Around it are five  perambulatory  passages.
Perambulation  could  be  done  around the marble lattice or
through the spacious marble chambers  surrounding the  ceno-
taph  chamber,  and in the open over the marble platform. It
is also customary for the Hindus to have apertures along the
perambulatory  passage,  overlooking  the deity.  Such aper-
tures exist in the perambulatories in the Tajmahal.

44. The sanctum sanctorium in the Taj has  silver  doors and
gold  railings  as  Hindu  temples have. It also had nets of
pearl and gems stuffed in the marble lattices.  It  was  the
lure  of this wealth which made Shahjahan commandeer the Taj
from a helpless vassal Jaisingh, the then ruler of Jaipur.

45. Peter Mundy, a Englishman records  (in  1632,  within  a
year of Mumtaz's death) having seen a gem studded gold rail-
ing around her tomb. Had the Taj been under construction for
22  years, a costly gold railing would not have been noticed
by Peter mundy within a year of Mumtaz's death.  Such costly
fixtures  are installed in a building only after it is ready
for use. This indicates that  Mumtaz's cenotaph was  grafted
in  place  of the Shivalinga in the centre of the gold rail-
ings. Subsequently the gold railings, silver doors, nets  of
pearls,   gem   fillings  etc.  were  all  carried  away  to
Shahjahan's treasury. The seizure of the  Taj  thus  consti-
tuted an  act of highhanded Moghul robbery causing a big row
between Shahjahan and Jaisingh.

46. In the marble flooring around  Mumtaz's cenotaph may  be
seen  tiny  mosaic patches. Those patches indicate the spots
where the support for the gold railings were embedded in the
floor. They indicate a rectangular fencing.

47. Above  Mumtaz's cenotaph hangs  a  chain  by  which  now
hangs  a lamp. Before capture by Shahjahan the chain used to
hold a water pitcher from which water used to  drip  on  the
Shivalinga.

48. It is this earlier Hindu tradition in the Tajmahal which
gave  the  Islamic myth of Shahjahan's love tear dropping on
Mumtaz's tomb on the full moon day of the winter eve.

===================== End of part 3 ========================