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Agra (Uttar Pradesh): The year-long official celebration to mark the 350th anniversary of the Taj Mahal in Agra that began last year on September 27 with a lot of festivities is coming to a close. The Taj, a symbol of love, was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a monument for his begum.
While experts differ on the anniversary year, the Uttar Pradesh government insists its decision is right. Some say the Taj took 12 years for completion, others are of the opinion that it took 20 or 22 years for 20,000 workers to finish the job and the monument must definitely have completed 350 years long ago. There is no dispute that the work on the Taj began in 1631 as empress Mumtaz Mahal died on June 17, 1631. Most of the records show it took 22 years for completion. But an inscription at the main gate says the monument was completed in 1648. According to Shah Jahan's official chronicler Abdul Hamid Lahori, the work on the mausoleum began six months after the empress' death and was completed in 12 years. That is, the Taj's 350th anniversary occurred over a decade ago around 1994.
The monument, which is drawing several millions of visitors a year, was built by artisans and materials that were brought from many other countries too at the instance of Shah Jahan after the death of his beloved queen who desired a befitting monument when she died giving birth to their 14th child somewhere far in the south during one of the emperor's operations. On the banks of the Yamuna river, the white marbled Taj Mahal stands on a marble platform surrounded by ornamental gardens. There are white shining minarets at each corner and two red sandstone buildings on either sides. It is a masterpice of Mughal architecture. The Mughals ruled the subcontinent for an uninterrupted three centuries. Meanwhile,
thousands of Muslims from across the country thronged the Taj to offer
prayers on Shah Jahan's Urs. The bereaved emperor who commissioned it
was deposed and imprisoned later in life by his son Aurangzeb in the Agra
Fort and spent the last eight years of his life looking at his creation.
Shah Jahan was born in 1594 and died in 1666. References: India Travel
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