THE TAJ MAHAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20384, 12 October 1929, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE TAJ MAHAL.

Situated about a mile from .Agra South India, is tho Taj Mahal, the most magnificent mausoleum in tho world, and ono of the most beautiful buildings ever constructed by man. Round it is centred tho story of tho love of Shah Jehan for Arjumafid Banu, Murntar.-i-Mahal, one of tho greatest romances of history. This magnificent building was erected by tho Shah in memory of his beautiful wife, Mumtaz-i-Mahal, at a time when women wore regarded, in India at least, as little but the plaything 3 of their owners. Arjumand Banu was tho daughter of Asaf Khan, nnd nieco of the famous Nurjeh'an, the wife of Jerhangir. Site was married to Shah Jehan, Mogul emperor of Delhi {1627-1653), in 1615. 12 years bcforo the succession of her husband to tho throne.

In 1629, Mumtaz-i-Mahal died at Buhanpore. Crushed with grief, Shah Jehan determined that his lost one should have such a memorial as neither man nor

woman had over hud in the history of tho world before. So ho counselled with Astad Isa, a cunning architect, and bade him prepare as noblo a design as his imagination could furnish. The result was tbo beautiful Taj Mahal, which now stands, as nothing else in the world stands, for the great and lasting devotion of a man for a woman. Some idea of tho cost of erection can be gained from tho fact that opart from materials, to which half Asia contributed her marbles, tho masons alone wero paid the sum of about £6OO,(XX). The cost of tho scaffolding was as'great as that of tho tomb itself, becauso thero were at that time no trees nearby from which timber

A MONUMENT OF LOVE.

could bo obtained for this purpose. The building was commenced in 1630, 20,000 men being employed for 22 years. Pierced screens in the windows and doorways, the coloured inlays in delicate patterns, tho letters inlaid with black marble, tho carvings in low relief, and the carved panels and mouldings, and tho other details are all perfect in their way, all appropriate in their application, and ingenious in their design. Inside, beneath the dome, there is, around tho tombs of tho two lovers, an exquisitely beautiful pierced marble trellis, heavily inlaid with precious and semi-precious stones. The 3 jglit is admitted only through double screens of white marble trellis-work of the most delicate design, oue on the outer and one on the inner face of the walls. In our climate this would produce nearly complete darkness, but in India, and in a building wholly composed of white marble, this was required to temper the glare that other-

wise would have been intolerable. The tomb does not inspire solemnity or veneration, but it conveys the impression of delicato and graceful beauty, of elegance, and even effeminacy, so befitting the resting place of a woman who was the object of " eternal love." The body of Arjumand was placed under tho centre of the dome in tho place.of honour. Years afterward, when Shah Jehan himself, a broken, disappointed and dethroned man, came to die at his own son's prison in tho fort he had himself built at Agra, they laid his body beside that of his beloved mistress. Not even they dared to break tho tradition of love that the Taj was built to immortalise.