The Taj Mahal under Construction

The Taj Mahal was raised at Agra on the bank of the Yamuna between about 1632 and 1653 (1041-1063 AH) as the mausoleum of Arjumand Banu Begum, known as Mumtaz Mahal (rahimaha Allah), the wife of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (rahimahu Allah), who had died in 1631. The main marble mausoleum was largely complete within some six years, and the wider complex of garden, gateway, mosque and flanking building was finished over the following years. The tomb is built of white marble brought from Makrana in Rajasthan and inlaid with semiprecious stones, carnelian, lapis lazuli, jasper and others, in floral patterns, the technique known as parchin kari or pietra dura, and it carries bands of Qur'anic calligraphy in inlaid black marble executed by the calligrapher Amanat Khan, including passages such as Surah Ya Sin set around the portals. The building tradition names Ustad Ahmad Lahori as the chief architect. It is composed as a single perfectly symmetrical ensemble: the domed tomb on a high plinth with four canted minarets, set not in the centre but at the head of a four-part paradise garden, the charbagh, with a long reflecting pool, and balanced by a red sandstone mosque and an identical mirror building, the jawab, on either side, with a great red sandstone gateway. The whole expresses the idea of the garden of paradise as the setting for the blessed dead. Shah Jahan was later deposed by his son Aurangzeb in 1658 and held in the fort at Agra within sight of the tomb until his death, when he was buried beside Mumtaz Mahal in the marble chamber. This scene shows the monument during its long building campaign, the marble dome and minarets still under scaffolding and the inlay and garden taking shape.