NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/soc/history/10503

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From: [e-mail]
Subject: The Taj Mahal is a Hindu Temple - Part 4 of 6.
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Keywords: Taj Mahal, Hindu, temple
Organization: University of New Brunswick
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1993 17:14:28 GMT
Lines: 201


************ THE TAJ MAHAL IS A HINDU TEMPLE ***************

                   By Shri P. N. Oak
                      (Copyright)

============================================================

TREASURY WELL:

49. Between the so-called mosque and the  drum  house  is  a
multistoried octagonal well with a flight of stairs reaching
down to the water level. This is a traditional treasury well
in  Hindu temple palaces. Treasure chests used to be kept in
the lower apartments  while  treasury  personnel  had  their
offices  in  the upper chambers. The circular stairs made it
difficult for intruders to reach down to the treasury or  to
escape with it undetected or unpursued. In case the premises
had to be surrendered to  a  besieging  enemy  the  treasure
could be pushed into the well to remain hidden from the con-
querer and remain safe for salvaging if the place was recon-
quered.  Such an  elaborate multistoried well is superfluous
for a mere mausoleum. Such a grand, gigantic well is  unnec-
cesary for a tomb.

BURIAL DATE UNKNOWN:

50. Had Shahjahan really built the Taj  Mahal  as  a  wonder
mausoleum,  history  would  have recorded a specific date on
which she was ceremoniously buried in the Taj Mahal. No such
date  is  ever  mentioned.  This  important  missing  detail
decisively exposes the falsity of the Tajmahal legend.

51. Even the year of Mumtaz's death is unknown. It is  vari-
ously  speculated  to  be  1629, 1630, 1631 or 1632. Had she
deserved a fabulous burial, as is claimed, the date  of  her
death had not been a matter of much speculation. In an harem
teeming with 5000 women it was difficult to  keep  track  of
dates of death. Apparently the date of Mumtaz's death was so
insignificant an event, as not to merit any special  notice.
Who would then build a Taj for her burial?

BASELESS LOVE STORIES:

52.  Stories  of  Shahjahan's  exclusive   infatuation   for
Mumtaz's  are concoctions. They have no basis in history nor
has any book ever written on  their  fancied  love  affairs.
Those  stories have been invented as an afterthought to make
Shahjahan's authorship of the Taj look plausible.

COST:

53. The cost of the Taj is nowhere recorded  in  Shahjahan's
court  papers  because  Shahjahan  never built the Tajmahal.
That is why wild estimates of the cost by  gullible  writers
have ranged from 4 million to 91.7 million rupees.

PERIOD OF CONSTRUCTION:

54. Likewise the period of construction has been guessed  to
be  anywhere between 10 years and 22 years. There would have
not been any scope for guesswork had the building  construc-
tion been on record in the court papers.

ARCHITECTS:

55. The designer of the Tajmahal is also variously mentioned
as  Essa  Effendy, a Persian or Turk, or Ahmed Mehendis or a
Frenchman,  Austin  deBordeaux,  or  Geronimo  Veroneo,   an
Italian, or Shahjahan himself.

RECORDS DON'T EXIST:

56. Twenty thousand labourers are supposed  to  have  worked
for  22  years  during  Shahjahan's  reign  in  building the
Tajmahal. Had this been true, there should have been  avail-
able  in  Shahjahan's court papers design drawings, heaps of
labour muster rolls, daily  expenditure  sheets,  bills  and
receipts of material ordered, and commissioning orders.There
is not even a scrap of paper of this kind.

57. It is, therefore, court  flatterers,blundering  histori-
ans, somnolent archeologists, fiction writers, senile poets,
careless  tourists  officials  and  erring  guides  who  are
responsible   for  hustling  the  world  into  believing  in
Shahjahan's mythical authorship of the Taj.

58. Description of the gardens around the Taj of Shahjahan's
time   mention   Ketaki,   Jai,   Jui,  Champa,  Maulashree,
Harshringar and Bel. All these are plants whose  flowers  or
leaves  are used in the worship of Hindu deities. Bel leaves
are exclusively used in Lord Shiva's worship. A graveyard is
planted  only  with  shady  trees  because the idea of using
fruit and flower from plants in  a cementary is abhorrent to
human  conscience.  The  presence  of  Bel  and other flower
plants in the Taj garden is proof of its having been a Shiva
temple before seizure by Shahjahan.

59. Hindu temples are often built on  river  banks  and  sea
beaches.   The  Taj  is  one  such  built on the bank of the
Yamuna river - an ideal location for a Shiva temple.

60. Prophet Mohammad has ordained that the burial spot of  a
muslim should be inconspicuous &  must not be marked by even
a single tombstone.  In  flagrant  violation  of  this,  the
Tajamhal  has  one  grave in the basement and another in the
first floor chamber  both  ascribed  to  Mumtaz.  Those  two
cenotaphs  were infact erected by  Shahjahan to bury the two
tier Shivalingas that were consecrated in  the  Taj.  It  is
customary for Hindus to install two Shivalingas one over the
other in two stories as may be seen  in  the  Mahankaleshwar
temple  in Ujjain and the Somnath temple raised by Ahilyabai
in Somnath Pattan.

61. The Tajmahal has identical entrance arches on  all  four
sides.  This is a typical Hindu building style known as Cha-
turmukhi, i.e.,four faced.

THE HINDU DOME:

62. The Tajmahal has a reverberating dome. Such a dome is an
absurdity  for  a  tomb which must ensure peace and silence.
Contrarily reverberating domes are a neccessity in Hindu tem-
ples because they create an ecstatic din multiplying and mag-
nifying the sound of bells, drums and pipes accompanying the
worship of Hindu deities.

63. The Tajmahal dome bears a lotus  cap.  Original  Islamic
domes  have  a  bald  top  as is exemplified by the Pakistan
Embassy in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, and  the  domes  in  the
Pakistan's newly built capital Islamabad.

64. The Tajmahal entrance faces south. Had the Taj  been  an
Islamic building it should have faced the west.

TOMB IS THE GRAVE, NOT THE BUILDING

65. A widespread misunderstanding has resulted in  mistaking
the  building  for the grave.Invading Islam raised graves in
captured buildings in every country it  overran.  Therefore,
hereafter  people  must  learn  not to confound the building
with the grave mounds which are grafts in  conquered  build-
ings.  This  is  true of the Tajmahal too. One may therefore
admit (for arguments sake) that Mumtaz  lies  buried  inside
the  Taj.  But that should not be construed to mean that the
Taj was raised over Mumtaz's grave.

66. The Taj is a seven storied  building.  Prince  Aurangzeb
also  mentions  this  in his letter to Shahjahan. The marble
edifice comprises four stories including the lone, tall cir-
cular hall inside the top, and the lone chamber in the base-
ment. In between are two floors each  containing  12  to  15
palatial rooms. Below the marble plinth reaching down to the
river at the rear are two more stories in  red  stone.  They
may  be seen from the river bank. The seventh storey must be
below the ground (river) level  since  every  ancient  Hindu
building had a subterranian storey.

67. Immediately bellow the marble plinth on the river  flank
are  22 rooms in red stone with their ventilators all walled
up  by  Shahjahan.  Those  rooms,  made   uninhibitably   by
Shahjahan,  are  kept  locked  by Archaeology  Department of
India. The lay visitor is kept in the dark about them. Those
22  rooms  still bear ancient Hindu paint on their walls and
ceilings. On their side is a nearly 33 feet  long  corridor.
There are two door frames one at either end of the corridor.
But those doors are intriguingly sealed with brick and lime.

68. Apparently those doorways originally sealed by Shahjahan
have  been since unsealed and again walled up several times.
In 1934 a resident of Delhi took a peep inside from an open-
ing  in  the upper part of the doorway. To his dismay he saw
huge hall inside. It contained many statues huddled around a
central  beheaded  image of Lord Shiva. It could be that, in
there, are Sanskrit inscriptions too. All the seven  stories
of the Tajmahal need to be unsealed and scoured to ascertain
what evidence they may  be  hiding  in  the  form  of  Hindu
images,  Sanskrit  inscriptions, scriptures, coins and uten-
sils.

69. Apart from Hindu images hidden in the sealed stories  it
is also learnt that Hindu images are also stored in the mas-
sive walls of the Taj. Between 1959 and 1962 when  Mr.  S.R.
Rao  was  the Archaeological Superintendent in Agra, he hap-
pened to notice a deep and wide crack in  the  wall  of  the
central  octagonal  chamber  of  the Taj. When a part of the
wall was dismantled to study the crack  out  popped  two  or
three marble images. The matter was hushed up and the images
were reburied where they had been  embedded  at  Shahjahan's
behest.  Confirmation of this has been obtained from several
sources. It was only when I began my investigation into  the
antecedents  of  the Taj I came across the above information
which had remained a forgotten secret. What better proof  is
needed  of  the Temple origin of the Tajmahal? Its walls and
sealed chambers still hide in Hindu  idols  that  were  con-
secrated in it before Shahjahan's seizure of the Taj.

====================== End of Part 4 =======================