Taj Mahal: Symbol of India's Rich Cultural Heritage

Heritage refers to things and traditions which are passed down through the yeras from one generation to the next natural heritage is what the earth has given us india had a glorious past and we have a lot of culture and material heritage too culture heritage refers to practices and traditional followed by our ancestors material heritage refers to artefacts and monuments any property that was bulid or created in the past and still exits today even if it is in ruins forms a part of our material heritage culture and material heritage is a greate historical importance as it reflects the culture and belives of a particular socity as well as the art at architecture of that particular period in history .

https://thefederal.com/h-upload/2023/08/09/380545-taj-mahal-monument-at-sunrise-agra-india.webp
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Taj Mahal

Renowned worldwide for its beauty and symmetry the taj mahal is the most famous landmark in india located near the city of agra the taj mahal attracts millions of visitors each year who come to see its beauty and remember the romantic story of its origins the taj mahal also know as crown of palaces is an elaborate mausoleum or tomb it was bulit more then 350 years ago by emperor shah jahan of india as memorial for his beloved wife mumtaz mahal who had died shah jahan met his future wife when he was fifteen years old and she was fourteen althrough they were not married until five years later in 1612 their marriage was a happy one as the two loved each other and were good friends as well shah jahan gave his wife the title mumtaz mahal which means chosen one of the palace and together they had fourteen children it was while giving birth to her final child in 1631 that mumtaz mahal died shah jahan .

Saha jahan was heartbroken and decided to build a memorial for his beloved wife in agra on the banks of the yamuna river construction of the taj mahal began in 1632 it was an immense project more than 20000 workers were involve and material were transported by more than 1000 elephants the style of the bulding was inspired by persian islamic and indian architecture and the tomb was finished with huge slabs of white marble and decorated with many precious and semi - precious stones elaborate patterns of tile and even poems written on the walls in careful calligraphy decorated nearly every surface the tomb took about 12 years to build but the work was not over yet .

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The tomb itself is only part of a much larger complex and is surrounded by elaborta gardens with pathways and pools of water that are positioned to catch beautiful reflections there are also minarets a mosque and a gateway constructuion of the rest of the complex took an additional ten years meaning that the entire project took 22 years to build the cost is estimated to have been 32 milliob india rupees and equivalent of about $ 827 million us dollors today it is said that shah jahan planned to build a second taj mahal across th river from the first made completely black marble as his own tomb but when his son overthrew him and rose to power the plans were discarded whether this is true or not it is probably true that shah jahan did not plan to be buried in the taj mahal with his wife but that is where his son buried him when he died .

A slightly larger tomb for shah jahan was added next to mumtaz mahal's arking the only place in the tomb that the symmetry is broken shah jahan and his queen are not actually burined in the tombs that are on display those are empty instead their bodies are buried beneath the taj mahal through the centuries the taj mahal ha survived it been describe as poetry in stone and a teardrop on the cheek of time and has been designated a world heritage site for being the jewel of muslim art in india and a universally admired masterpiece today it is a symbol of india and one of the most famous landmarks in the world as well as an enduring symbol of a love that was meant to last forever .

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Despite the success of completion of this project but it had brought mughal empire to the edge of ruination four years later in 1658 his son overturned the throne and become the emperor of the mughal empire saha jahan who ruled over 30 years was made prisoner and kept inside the agra fort only one faility was given to shah jahan that he would able to see the taj mahal through the windows after eight years being imprisoned at the age of 74 years shah jahan left this world now it was time for shah jahan to meet mumtaj mahal and he was buried inside the taj mahal .

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