Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, the love that built the Taj Mahal

Few love stories have left so visible a monument. The Taj Mahal in Agra, in northern India, is the mausoleum that the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan had built for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Unlike many legendary couples, the two are well-documented historical figures, but over time a halo of tales has formed around them that is worth distinguishing from the facts.

A marriage at the Mughal court

Shah Jahan, born in 1592 as Prince Khurram, was the son of the emperor Jahangir. In 1607 he was betrothed to Arjumand Banu Begum, daughter of the Persian nobleman Asaf Khan and niece of the powerful empress Nur Jahan. The wedding was celebrated in 1612. The title Mumtaz Mahal, usually translated as chosen one of the palace, was given to her later, when her husband came to the throne in 1628.

Court chronicles describe her as the emperor's inseparable companion, following him even on military campaigns. They had fourteen children, many of whom died in infancy. Among the survivors were Dara Shikoh, the designated heir and a scholar of mysticism, and Aurangzeb, who would later seize power. The favourite son, Dara Shikoh, would later be defeated and put to death by his brother.

Death at Burhanpur

In June 1631 Mumtaz Mahal died at Burhanpur, in central India, giving birth to her fourteenth child while accompanying her husband on a campaign in the Deccan. The sources report that Shah Jahan withdrew into deep mourning and for a time gave up music and splendid clothes. The body was buried provisionally at Burhanpur and moved to Agra at the end of the same year.

Work on the mausoleum began around 1632 on the right bank of the river Yamuna. The main tomb was finished around 1643, while the whole complex, with garden, mosque and guest house, was completed around 1653. The design is mostly attributed to the architect Ustad Ahmad Lahauri; the Quranic inscriptions were designed by the calligrapher Amanat Khan.

The garden of paradise

The Taj Mahal is built of white marble from Rajasthan, inlaid with hard and semi-precious stones in a technique akin to Florentine pietra dura. The fourfold garden in front of it recalls the Quranic image of paradise with its rivers. The whole complex is rigorously symmetrical. The only exception is inside: Shah Jahan's cenotaph, added after his death, sits beside that of his wife, who lies at the centre.

In 1658 Shah Jahan, ill, was deposed by his son Aurangzeb and confined in Agra Fort, where he died in 1666. According to tradition he spent his last years gazing at the mausoleum from the windows of his prison. He was buried beside Mumtaz Mahal. The legend of a second Taj in black marble, which he supposedly planned for himself on the opposite bank, finds no confirmation in the sources or in excavations.

A universal symbol

In 1983 the Taj Mahal was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List. As early as the 17th century the French physician and traveller François Bernier, who saw it during his long stay in India, judged it more worthy than the pyramids of Egypt to be counted among the wonders of the world. Today it is one of the most visited monuments on the planet.

Beyond the myth there remains the historical reality of a ruler who, for more than twenty years, employed the finest craftsmen of the empire to honour the memory of one person. That is why the Agra mausoleum has become, more than any other building, the architectural emblem of married love and of grief turned into beauty.