NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/soc/history/10504

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From: [e-mail]
Subject: The Taj Mahal is a Hindu Temple - Part 5 of 6.
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Keywords: Taj Mahal, Hindu, temple
Organization: University of New Brunswick
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1993 17:15:59 GMT
Lines: 159



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

                     By Shri P. N. Oak
                       (Copyright)

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

PRE-SHAHJAHAN REFERENCES TO THE TAJ:

70. Apparently the Taj as a central palace seems to have  an
chequerred history.The Taj was perhaps desecrated and looted
by every Muslim invader from  Mohammad  Ghazni  onwards  but
passing into Hindu hands off and on, the sanctity of the Taj
as a Shiva temple continued to be revived after every muslim
onslaught.  Shahjahan  was  the last muslim to desecrate the
Tajmahal alias Tejomahalay.

71. Vincent Smith records in  his  book  titled  `Akbar  the
Great Moghul' that `Babur's turbulent life came to an end in
his garden palace in Agra in 1630'.  That  palace  was  none
other than the Tajmahal.

72. Babur's daughter Gulbadan Begum in her chronicle  titled
`Humayun Nama' refers to the Taj as the Mystic House.

73. Babur himself refers to the Taj in his  memoirs  as  the
palace captured by Ibrahim Lodi containing a central octago-
nal chamber and having pillars on the four sides. All  these
historical  references  allude  to  the Taj 100 years before
Shahjahan.

74. The Tajmahal precincts extend to several  hundred  yards
in all directions. Across the river are ruins of the annexes
of the Taj, the bathing ghats and  a  jetty  for  the  ferry
boat.  In the Victoria gardens outside covered with creepers
is the long spur of the  ancient  outer  wall  ending  in  a
octagonal red stone tower. Such extensive grounds all magni-
ficently done up, are a superfluity for a grave.

75. Had the Taj been specially  built  to  bury  Mumtaz,  it
should  not  have  been cluttered with other graves. But the
Taj premises contain several graves atleast in  its  eastern
and southern pavilions.

76. In the southern flank, on the other side of the  Tajganj
gate  are  buried  in  identical  pavilions  queens Sarhandi
Begum, and Fatehpuri Begum and a maid Satunnisa Khanum. Such
parity  burial  can be justified only if the queens had been
demoted or the maid promoted. But since Shahjahan  had  com-
mandeered  (not  built)  the Taj, he reduced it general to a
muslim  cementary as  was  the  habit  of  all  his  Islamic
predeccessors,and buried a queen in a vacant pavillion and a
maid in another identical pavilion.

77. Shahjahan was married to several other women before  and
after Mumtaz. She, therefore, deserved no special considera-
tion in having a wonder mausoleum built for her.

78. Mumtaz was a commoner by birth and so she did not  qual-
ify for a fairyland burial.

79. Mumtaz died in Burhanpur which is about 600  miles  from
Agra.   Her grave  there is intact. Therefore ,the cenotaphs
raised in stories of the Taj in her name seem  to  be  fakes
hiding in Hindu Shiva emblems.

80. Shahjahan seems to have  simulated  Mumtaz's  burial  in
Agra  to  find  a pretext to surround the temple palace with
his fierce and fanatic troops and remove all the costly fix-
tures in his treasury.  This finds confirmation in the vague
noting in the  Badshahnama  which  says  that  the  Mumtaz's
(exhumed) body was brought to Agra from Burhanpur and buried
`next year'. An official term would not use a nebulous  term
unless it is to hide some thing.

81. A pertinent consideration is that a  Shahjahan  who  did
not  build any palaces for Mumtaz while she was alive, would
not build a fabulous mausoleum for a  corpse  which  was  no
longer kicking or clicking.

82. Another factor is that Mumtaz died within two  or  three
years  of  Shahjahan  becoming an emperor. Could he amass so
much superfluous wealth in that short span as to squander it
on a wonder mausoleum?

83.  While  Shahjahan's  special  attachment  to  Mumtaz  is
nowhere  recorded  in  history his amorous affairs with many
other ladies from maids  to  mannequins  including  his  own
daughter  Jahanara,  find  special  attention in accounts of
Shahjahan's reign. Would Shahjahan shower  his  hard  earned
wealth on Mumtaz's corpse?

84. Shahjahan was a stingy, usurious  monarch.  He  came  to
throne  murdering  all his rivals. He was not therefore, the
doting spendthrift that he is made out to be.

85. A Shahjahan disconsolate on Mumtaz's death  is  suddenly
credited  with a resolve to build the Taj. This is a psycho-
logical incongruity. Grief is  a  disabling,  incapacitating
emotion.

86. A infatuated Shahjahan is supposed to  have  raised  the
Taj  over  the dead Mumtaz, but carnal, physical sexual love
is again a incapacitating emotion. A womaniser is ipso facto
incapable  of  any  constructive  activity. When carnal love
becomes uncontrollable the person either murders somebody or
commits suicide. He cannot raise a Tajmahal. A building like
the Taj invariably originates in an ennobling  emotion  like
devotion to God, to one's mother and mother country or power
and glory.

87. Early in the year 1973, chance digging in the garden  in
front of the Taj revealed another set of fountains about six
feet below the present fountains. This  proved  two  things.
Firstly,   the  subterranean  fountains  were  there  before
Shahjahan laid the  surface  fountains.  And  secondly  that
those  fountains  are aligned to the Taj that edifice too is
of pre-Shahjahan origin. Apparently the garden and its foun-
tains  had  sunk  from  annual  monsoon flooding and lack of
maintenance for centuries during the Islamic rule.

89. The stately rooms on the upper  floor  of  the  Tajmahal
have  been  striped  of  their marble mosaic by Shahjahan to
obtain matching marble for raising fake tomb  stones  inside
the  Taj  premises  at  several places. Contrasting with the
rich finished marble ground floor rooms the striping of  the
marble  mosaic  covering  the  lower  half  of the walls and
flooring of the upper storey have given those rooms a naked,
robbed  look.  Since  no  visitors  are allowed entry to the
upper storey this despoilation by Shahjahan has  remained  a
well guarded secret. There is no reason why Shahjahan's loot
of the upper floor marble should continue to be hidden  from
the  public  even  after  200 years of termination of Moghul
rule.

90. Bernier, the French traveler  has recorded that no  non-
muslim  was allowed entry into the secret nether chambers of
the Taj because there are some dazzling fixtures there.  Had
those  been  installed  by  Shahjahan  they should have been
shown the public as a matter of pride. But since it was com-
mandeered  Hindu  wealth which Shahjahan wanted to remove to
his treasury, he didn't want the public to know about it.

91. The approach to Taj is dotted with hillocks raised  with
earth  dugout  from foundation trenches. The hillocks served
as outer defenses of the Taj building complex. Raising  such
hillocks  from foundation earth, is a common Hindu device of
hoary origin. Nearby Bharatpur provides a graphic parallel.

  Peter Mundy has recorded that Shahjahan employed thousands
of  labourers  to  level  some  of those hillocks. This is a
graphic proof of the Tajmahal existing before Shahjahan.

====================== End of Part 5 =======================