At the top of a precipice overhanging the River Jumna in India stands
the most poetic mausoleum in the world. The Taj Mahal, "a dream in
marble, designed by Titans and finished by jewelers," is the tomb built
by Shah Jahan, the Mogul emperor, for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, whom he
called Taj-Bibi. She was the loveliest beauty of the Indies, and Shah
Jahan loved her so passionately that he thought of no other woman while
she lived and was lost in grief after her death. He vowed that her tomb
should be the most beautiful building in the world.
The Taj is of snow-white marble outside and jeweled mosaic within. It
was planned by a Persian, Ustad Isa, who designed in the Persian rather
than the Indian style of architecture. Twenty thousand men worked
twenty-two years to finish it. In the center of a great square, paved
with white marble and having a slender tower of the same stone at each
corner, rises the memorial of Taj-Bibi--not merely a masterpiece of
architecture, but also a perfect interpretation of womanly nature. The
spirit of Mumtaz Mahal seems to have been carved into the marble.
The mosaic work of the interior is the finest to be found in any
eastern country. Precious stones are used unsparingly--jasper and
agate, carnelian and chalcedony. Marble lacework of wonderful lightness
screens the windows and doorways. In the center are the tombs of Mumtaz
Mahal and Shah Jahan; but their bodies, according to the Indian custom,
lie in a vault beneath the building. Shah Jahan had begun a tomb for
himself on the opposite side of the river, which he never finished
because Aurantzeb, his son, rebelled against him and took away the
empire. He was therefore buried by the side of his beloved wife.
Shah Jahan was a cold and haughty man; but he ruled India well, and
his pride was softened in later life by the death of his wife. It is
said that during his reign he brought India peace and prosperity by
putting all his rivals to death. Besides the Taj Mahal, two other
famous buildings, the Pearl Mosque at Agra and the great mosque of
Delhi, which were built by Shah Jahan, have made his reign one of the
most memorable in Indian history. The emperor's treasury must have been
practically unlimited; for the peacock throne, made during his reign,
was estimated by Tavernier to be worth sixty million dollars. The
festival at his coronation alone cost eight millions.
There is a legend that when he had finished the Taj Mahal, Shah Jahan
ordered the architect to be thrown over the cliff into the River Jumna,
for fear he might plan another building as beautiful as the Taj.
[Footnote: PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. I, No. 33. SERIAL No. 33 COPYRIGHT.
1913. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC.]
[Illustration: THE ALHAMBRA--COURT OF THE LIONS]
_The Alhambra_