Ramanisblog

,

Taj Mahal A Vedic Shiva Temple Preface

1.The Love story of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Begum. 2.Internal evidence in the Shahnama by Firdausi . 3.Other Literary,Historical and Travelogue references to the Taj Mahal. 4.Whether the Taj Mahal sticks to Islamic Architecture and the Islamic Beliefs in the construction of this Mausoleum. 5.The Vedic/ Hindu Architecture. 6.Evidence linking the Taj as having been…

Ramanis blog
2 minutes
, , , , , , , , ,

Mother India was a popular Magazine, I recall  it was a fortnightly, edited and published by Baburao Patel.

Taj Mahal,Agra, India.
Taj Mahal,Agra, India.

I used to await its arrival from my brother’s office, on a sharing basis eagerly.

The year was 1967-68, when I was studying my PUC in Hyderabad.

The cover price of the magazine was Rs.3/.

It used to be sold in the black market anywhere between  Rs.15 and 30!Mind you, it was basically a political magazine,famous for its question and answer section, by Baburao Patel and he was such a Wit, I am yet to find one who has such a sharp intellect and courage.

He spared none.

An agnostic, leaning towards Hinduism, he publishes a series of articles by.Professor Oaks on ‘Taj  Mahal a Hindu Temple.

I used to read the articles very keenly and since I could not understand much of it (I was 17 then) and thought that I would study it after I gained some knowledge.

But then one gets busy in the mundane realities of Life and as every one , I was busy eking out my livelihood and could not afford the reference books mentioned in Oaks’s articles as they were very costly, were not easily available.

It has taken 37 years for me to refer to the books and articles on the Taj Mahal Myth.

I had been to Benares, Gaya and Allahabad last December and I went to the Taj Mahal for the third time in my life.

During my earlier visits, It never struck me to take down notes

This time around , I collected some details of the Taj Mahal, with an intention to write about it,

Then promptly forgot about it.

Till , one of my readers,Sanjay Prasad, asked me whether I would write on this controversy, a couple of days back.

Yes the time has come to write on this subject.

Referring my notes, photos of the Taj Mahal,reputed independent writers and Historians, I am examine the controversy whether the Taj Mahal was , in fact, a Vedic Temple, which antedates the Taj under the following heads.

1.The Love story of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Begum.

2.Internal evidence in the Shahnama by Firdausi .

3.Other Literary,Historical  and Travelogue references to the Taj Mahal.

4.Whether the Taj Mahal sticks to Islamic Architecture and the Islamic Beliefs in the construction of this Mausoleum.

5.The Vedic/ Hindu Architecture.

6.Evidence linking the Taj as having been in existence, by Carbon Dating.

7.Why the story was put out.

I shall be providing references and you make up your mind

Related Articles

5 responses to “Taj Mahal A Vedic Shiva Temple Preface”

  1. Anil Gupta Avatar
    Anil Gupta

    At a congregation at Arya Samaj Mandir, Dehra Dun during 1968-69 I heard Late Shri P.N.Oak in person.He showed some slides with the help of a projector depicting some floral motiffs of Taj Mahal.And he explained and we watched that every flower on the wlls of TajMahal had marble stones of different shades.And differently shaded stones were set in such manner that vaidik symbol ‘OM’ was there in each and every flower.He also told that the underground chambers in Taj Mahal were closed by fixing stone walls there in a haphazard manner.Now Dr.Subramanian Swamy has taken up the issue and is demanding opening of those underground chambers closed for some four centuries.Prof.Oaks also told that some years ago a carbon dating test was done on Taj Mahal by some scientists of Berkley University which proved that the Taj Mahal was constructed in thireenth/forteenth century whereas Shahjahan belonged to seventeenth century.Thus this monument is much older and in all probability was a Hindu structure or Temple which was occupied by Shahjehan and verses from holy Quran were engraved on the white marble walls of Taj Mahal at his behest.Same is true of most of the historical buildings construction of which are attributed to Muslim/Mughal rulers.P.N.Oaks used to say “Construction is all Hindu, Destruction is all Muslim”.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. ramanan50 Avatar
      ramanan50

      Thank you.
      This series of mine on this subject, as said in the preface, has some more posts to go.
      The points raised by you are being discussed.
      Regds,

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  2. arvindsingh3234 Avatar
    arvindsingh3234

    chach toy DUDH se hi banata hai haa wo bhi phayada hi karata hai

    Like

    Reply
  3. Nabeelmdkhan Avatar
    Nabeelmdkhan

    Please post a picture of the slide which depicts OM in “differently shaded stones were set in such manner that vaidik symbol ‘OM’ was there in each and every flower” and also refer to the results of radio-carbon dating, the organisation which conducted the test… The authority which approved the results…

    And what is all that shit about the empty land being bought by Raja Jai Singh… : The recorded period of early construction work 22 June 1632 and when Mumtaz’s body was re-buried in her final resting place 26 May 1633 (the construction was still going on the exterior sites and gardens)… The eye-witness, Peter Mundy from East India Company who noted the ongoing construction. The construction details specifically given by AMANAT KHAN…

    ALSO PLEASE SHARE FROM YOUR VAST KNOWLEDGE ANY SHIVA OR OTHER TEMPLE FROM ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE DEMONSTRATING MINARETS… 🙂

    Like

    Reply
    1. ramanan50 Avatar
      ramanan50

      Thanks for your comment and i am sorry for the delay in replying.
      I plan to write exclusively on the documentary evidence.
      Meanwhile, a sample,
      ‘ Court Papers

      Badshahnama, one of the most important court journals of Shah Jahan, deals with the burial of Mumtaz in two pages of its first volume (pp.403-404). A line by line translation of these pages was provided by Sri P. N. Oak5 in his book published in 1966. The following passages are quoted from that source.

      (On) “Friday–15th Jamadi-ul Awwal, the sacred dead body of the traveller to the kingdom of Holiness, hazrat Mumtaz-ul Zamani–who was buried temporarily…. was brought to the capital Akbarabad (Agra)…

      The site covered with magnificent lush garden, to the south of that great city and amidst which (garden) the building known as the palace of Raja Mansingh, at present owned by Raja Jaisingh (Pesh az ein Manzil-e Rajan Mansingh bood Wadaree Waqt ba Raja Jaisingh), grandson (of Mansingh) was selected for the burial of the queen whose abode is in heaven.

      “Although Raja Jaisingh valued it greatly as his ancestral heritage and property, yet would have been agreeable to part with it gratis for the Emperor Shahjahan. (Still) out of sheer scrupulousness so essential in the matters of bereavement and religious sanctity, in exchange of that grand place, he was granted a piece of government land (Dar’ awaz aan aali Manzil-e az khalisa-e sharifah badoo marahmat farmoodand) after the arrival of the dead body in that great city on 15th Jamadul Soniya.

      “Next year that illustrious body of the heavenly queen was laid to rest. The officials of the capital, according to the royal orders of the day, under the sky-high lofty mausoleum hid the pious lady from the eyes of the world, and the edifice so majestic and with a dome, and so lofty in its stature, is a memorial to the courage of sky-dimensions of the king–and a strength so mighty in resolution so firm–the foundation was laid and geomatricians of farsight and architects of talent incurred an expenditure of Rs. 40 lakhs (chihal lakh roopiah) on this building.”

      Normally, the above quoted passages would need no further commentary. It is explicitly stated that the “palace of Raja Mansingh was selected for the burial of the queen”. That it is no ordinary building is obvious as Raja Jaisingh “valued it greatly as his ancestral heritage and property”. And piece of government land was given in exchange of that great palace (aali manzil). The transaction was clinched only after the arrival of the dead body in Agra (which explains the presence of the Temporary Grave). The body was finally buried in the “sky-high lofty mausoleum” the following year (probably soon after the palace was suitably modified). And the subsequent decorations and calligraphical work upon the building cost Rs. 40 lakhs.

      What then is the basis of the claim that Shah Jahan built the edifice? In the last paragraph quoted above, there occurs a phrase, “…foundation was laid…” Some historians interpret it to mean that Shah Jahan laid the foundation of a new edifice–the Taj Mahal, and the support to this view is drawn from the Persian line quoted in the third paragraph dealing with the transaction. It is interpreted as a grand palace being granted to Raja Jai Singh in exchange of the land for building the mausoleum.

      From the clear and explicit reference to Raja Man Singh’s palace, and the absence of any details about the duration and efforts involved in building the gigantic edifice, the operative phrase, “foundation was laid” can also be viewed as a figurative reference to the initiation of alterations in the edifice. However, the controversy makes it necessary to examine the issue more carefully.

      The confusion can be resolved only by examining all other evidences including the architecture of the edifice. The details of architecture–the bulbous dome and the minarets being Mogul characteristics, etc.–are examined in the second part of this paper; but it is relevant to examine one particular aspect of the architecture at this stage.

      As mentioned earlier, the Taj Mahal is a multi-storeyed edifice with its plinth at the level of the riverbed. The entire skeleton of the edifice is of brick and red-stone, with the superstructure standing upon the red-stone terrace being plastered with marble. In Mogul tombs it is customary to have two graves: the real grave containing the dead body in the basement of the building, and a well decorated cenotaph meant for the public eye on the upper floor. In the Taj Mahal the real grave is on the third storey of the edifice and the decorated cenotaph is on the fourth.

      The basement floor is now completely sealed; but the floor immediately below the real grave has long corridor running East-West on the northern part of the edifice, which can be entered at either end by means of staircases from the red-stone terrace. The corridor is 5’8″ wide and about 322 ft long and opens into 22 rooms (between the corridor and the river side wall) of sizes ranging from 11 ft x 20 ft, to 22 ft x 20 ft. These rooms had windows opening to the riverside, but all of them are permanently sealed with brick and mortar from inside and with red-stone slabs having floral decorations from outside. On the other side of the corridor there are at least three entrances opening to the South, which are crudely sealed with brick and mortar. The staircases to the corridor from the floor above were detected in 1900 AD.

      If the edifice was originally constructed for the purpose of a tomb, of what utility were these underground chambers conceived? And then why were they sealed subsequently? Or, was it that the edifice was originally constructed for an altogether different purpose?

      Badshahnama (vol I, p. 384) records the date of Mumtaz’s death at Barhanpur as the 17th Zi-it Quada 1040 AH (20th June, 1631). The passages quoted above mentions the date of arrival of the dead body at Agra as the 15th Jamad-ul Sanya 1041 AH (8th Jan., 1632). But the date of final burial of Mumtaz inside the Taj Mahal is not precisely recorded, except that it was done the following year.

      That it was done certainly before the 25th February, 1633 becomes obvious from the writings of Peter Mundy (see Section 5), who finally left Agra on the date but has recorded that he had seen a rail of gold around the tomb of Mumtaz.

      A completed mausoleum at Barhanpur indicates that the idea of a sepulcher in Agra must have occurred to Shah Jahan at least a few months after the death of Mumtaz. And the burial inside the Taj was complete with costly decorations and the tourists were allowed to visit by February, 1633. Even if one were to accept that the burial was done when the building was still under construction, it is unlikely that the cenotaph on the 4th storey would be decorated with gold, etc., unless the three lower floors of the edifice were complete.

      How does it compare with the supposed period of construction of the Taj Mahal, 1631-53 AD? Is it plausible that beginning with the selection of the architects and building plan, the lower three floors of the edifice would be raised upon the riverbed within the span of a year?

      Therefore, the translations quoted above regarding the acquisition of Raja Man Singh’s palace seem to be the correct interpretation of the Badshahnama. However, there is another aspect of the question which needs to be examined. Could it be that the marble superstructure upon the red-stone terrace was erected by Shah Jahan himself?

      3. Aurangzeb’s Letter

      In the year 1652 AD, Aurangzeb assumed charge as the Governor of Deccan. On his way, he visited Agra and inspected the Taj Mahal. In his letter written from Dholpur6, he wrote about the badly needed repairs to the Taj Mahal. Excerpts from the translation of the letter provided by M. S. Vats are quoted below:

      “The dome of the holy tomb leaked in two places towards the north during the rainy season and so also the fair semi-domed arches, many of the galleries on the second storey, the four smaller domes, the four northern compartments and seven arched underground chambers which have developed cracks. During the rains last year the terrace over the main dome also leaked in two or three places. It has been repaired, but it remains to be seen during the ensuing rainy season how far the operations prove successful. The domes of the Mosque and the Jama’at Khana leaked during the rains…

      “The master builders are of the opinion that if the roof of the second storey is reopened and dismantled and treated afresh with concrete, over which half a yard of mortar grout is laid the semi-domed arches, the galleries and the smaller domes will probably become watertight, but they are unable to suggest any measures of repairs to the main dome…”

      The letter is eloquent enough. In 1652 AD, the dome of the holy tomb, the fair semi-domed arches, the four smaller domes and the domes of the Mosque and the Jama’at Khana all had developed serious defects. How does it compare with the supposed period of its construction 1631-53 AD?

      And do the master builders of Shah Jahan who were “unable to suggest any measures of repairs to the main dome” appear to be the original architects of the edifice? Does it mean that the statement of Badshahnama, “Next year that illustrious body… was laid to rest… under the sky-high lofty mausoleum… with a dome” is literally true?

      http://www.stephen-knapp.com/question_of_the_taj_mahal.htm

      Please rad my articles on the same issue, Aurangazeb and Shahjehan Mumtaz love story.
      Regards

      Like

      Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Trending