by Truth_seeker » Tue Jan 28, 2003 11:59 am
The Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan in the memory of his wife
Mumtaz Mahal built the Taj Mahal. It was built in 22 years (1631
to 1653) by 20,000 artisans brought to India from all
over the world. Any people believe Ustad Isa of iran designed it.
This is what your guide probably told you if you ever visited the
Taj Mahal. This is the story I read in my history book as a
student.
In India. no one has ever challenged it except Professor P.N.Oak,
who believes that the whole world has been duped. In his book
TajMahal: The True Story,Oak says the Taj Mahal is not Queen
MumtazMahal\'s tomb but an ancient Hindu temple palace of Lord
Shiva (then known as Tejo Mahalaya). In the course of his
research, Oak discovered the Shiva temple palace was usurped by
Shah Jahan from then Maharaja
of Jaipur, Jai Singh. ShahJahan then remodeled the palace
into his wife\'s memorial. In his own Court chronicle, Badshahnama,
ShahJahan admits that an exceptionally beautiful grand mansion in
Agra was taken from JaiSingh for Mumtaz\'s burial. The ex-Maharaja
of Jaipur still retains in his secret collection two orders from
Shah Jahan for surrendering the Taj building. Using captured
temples and mansions, as a burial place for dead courtiers and
royalty was a common practice among Muslim rulers. For example,
Humayun, Akbar,Etmud-ud-Daula and Safdarjung are all
buried in such mansions. Not occuring in any Moghul court papers
orchronicles, even after ShahJahan\'s time. The term \"Mahal\" has
never been used for a building in any of the Muslim countries,
from Afghanistan to Algeria.
\"The unusual explanation that the term Taj Mahal derives from
Mumtaz Mahal is illogical in at least two respects.
First, her name was never Mumtaz Mahal but Mumtaz-ul-Zamani\" he
writes.
\"Second, one cannot omit the first three letters \'Mum\'
from a woman\'s name to derive the remainder as the name for the
building.\"
Taj Mahal, he claims, is a corrupt version of Tejo-Mahalaya, or
the Shiva\'s Palace.
Oak also says the love story of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan
is a fairy tale created court sycophants, blundering
historians and sloppy archaeologists.
Not a single royal chronicle of ShahJahan\'s time
corroborates the love story.
Furthermore, Oak cites several documents suggesting
the Taj Mahal predates Shah Jahan\'s era, and was a
temple palace dedicated to Shiva worshipped by the Rajputs of Agra
city. For example, Professor Marvin Miller of
NewYork took a few samples from the riverside doorway of the Taj.
Carbon dating tests revealed that the door was 300
years older than ShahJahan.
European traveler Johan Albert Mandelslo, who visited
Agra in 1638(only seven years after Mumtaz\'s death),
describes the life of the city in his memoirs. But he
makes no reference to the TajMahal being built.
The writings of Peter Mundy, an English visitor to
Agra within a year of Mumtaz\'s death, also suggest the
Taj was a noteworthy building long well before Shah
Jahan\'s time.
Oak points out a number of design and architectural
inconsistencies that support the belief of the Taj
Mahal being a typical Hindu temple rather than a
mausoleum.
Many rooms in the Taj Mahal have remained sealed
since Shah Jahan\'s time,and are still inaccessible to the public. Oak asserts they contain a headless statue of
Shiva and other objects commonly used for worship rituals in
Hindu temples.
Fearing political backlash, Indira Gandhi\'s government tried to
have Oak\'s book withdrawn from the bookstores, and threatened the
Indian publisher of the first edition with dire consequences. Was Taj Mahal also not a original???please share your information, if any one knows more things about this?