A Teardrop on the Cheek of Time: The Story of the Taj Mahal (49 page)

‘consulting … family’
: quoted A. Eraly, op. cit., p. 491.

‘Never … barren”.’
: quoted W. Hansen, op. cit., p. 486.

‘At an earlier … queen’
: Lord Curzon,
Speeches
, vol. 1, p. 223.

‘It would … corner’
: quoted D. Carroll,
The Taj Mahal
, p. 133.

The question of Lord William Bentinck and the auctioning of the Taj Mahal is discussed in P. Spear, ‘Bentinck and the Taj’,
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
, October 1949, pp. 180–7.

Lord Curzon … remains
: the quotes in these two paragraphs come from Lord Curzon, op cit., vol. 4, p. 347, except ‘My name … person’ and ‘makes … plebeian’, which come from the
Oxford Book of Political Anecdotes
.

‘Must … mausoleum?’
: B. Gautam,
Japan Times
, 11 October 2004.

Since heaven’ s
…
sky
: Kalim,
IT
, p. 82.

16: ‘His Own Tomb on the Other Side of the River’

The theory that the Taj was a symbolic representation of the throne of God is contained in W. E. Begley’s paper ‘The Myth of the Taj Mahal and a New Theory of Its Symbolic Meaning’,
The Art Bulletin
, vol. 61, no. 1 (March 1979), pp. 7–37. E. Koch in her article ‘The Taj Mahal: Architecture, Symbolism and Urban Significance’, vol. 22,
Muqarnas
, 2005, pp. 128–49, is among those advancing the proposition that the placing of the Taj Mahal derives from the practice in Agra riverside gardens.

The recent excavations in the Mahtab Gardens are the subject of
The Moonlight Garden
, edited by E. Moynihan.

The theory that the Taj Mahal was a Hindu temple is advanced in V. S. Godbole’s
Taj Mahal and the Great British Conspiracy
and P. N. Oak’s
Taj Mahal, The True Story – The Tale of a Temple Vandalised
. G. H. R. Tillotson in
Oriental Art
, autumn 1986, pp. 266–9, discusses politics and the Taj Mahal.

‘one … garden’
:
Jahangirnama
, translated in S. Crowe
et al
., op. cit., p. 192.

‘Shah … plan’
: J.-B. Tavernier, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 91.

The underground chambers are discussed by H. I. S. Kanwar, in ‘Subterranean Chambers of the Taj Mahal’,
Islamic Quarterly
, vol. 48 (July 1974), pp. 159–75.

‘The Hindu … Mahal’
: Aldous Huxley,
Jesting Pilate
, p. 50.

‘laying … water table’
: Lahori,
IT
, p. 65.

‘the building … begun’
: P. Mundy, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 213.

Postscript

‘to set … of it’
: quoted P. Pal
et al
., op. cit., p. 206.

beauty
…
orator
: W. Shakespeare,
The Rape of Lucretia
, line 29.

‘light … building’
: Thomas Fuller,
The Holy State and the Profane State
, chapter 7, ‘Of Building’.

‘that is … express’
: Francis Bacon, Essay No. 43, ‘Of Beauty’.

Not architecture
…
thought
: Edwin Arnold, quoted on Built Heritage of Agra and Fatehpur Sikri website.

Illustration Credits

The black and white photos introducing the chapters are all architectural details from the Taj Mahal, except for the photo on page 12 which is a detail from Humayun’s tomb. Photo credits – vi: © Steve Allen/Corbis; viii, 28, 54, 114, 132, 172, 264: Edifice/Sarah Jackson; xiv, 80, 98, 216, 228: Michael Preston; 12: © Elvele Images/Alamy; 156, 190, 246, 284, 312: Edifice/Gillian Darley; 298: © Nikreates/Alamy

Illustrations in the text

9: portrait of Shah Jahan by Rembrandt van Rijn, Collection Frits Lugt, Institut néerlandais, Paris; 43: portrait of Babur, c. 1605, Add. Or. 1039, India Office Library, British Library; 59, 63: Victoria and Albert Museum/V&A Images; 66:
Nur Jahan [?] Drinking Wine
, Rajasthan, c. 1750, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Mr and Mrs Michael Douglas (M.81.271.7); 74: from T. Coryat,
Traveller for the English Wits: Greeting from the Court of the Great Moghul
, 1616; 165: MS. 11A, No. 4, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin; 195: © Dorling Kindersley; 233:
Young Lady Beneath a Tree (Jahanara?)
, page from the Dara Shukoh Album, c. 1635, Add. Or. 3129 f.34, India Office Library, British Library; 242: © Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris/The Bridgeman Art Library

Colour plates

View of the Taj Mahal: Michael Preston;
The Emperor Babur Diverting a Stream
, illustration by Mahesh, c. 1590, from the memoirs of the emperor Babur: British Library

Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings
, illustration by Bichitr, 1615-18, to the St Petersburg album: Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., Purchase, F1942.15a;
Jahangir and Prince Khurram Feasted by Nur Jahan
, album page, c. 1624: Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1907.258

Shah Jahan Holding a Turban Ornament
, c. 1635, from the Late Shah Jahan Album: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, from the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Museum Associates Purchase (M.78.9.15); portrait of Mumtaz Mahal, seventeenth-century Moghul watercolour: Private Collection;
Shah Jahan Receives His Three Eldest Sons and Asaf Khan During His Accession Ceremonies
, attributed to Ramdas, c. 1640, from the
Padshahnama, Chronicle of the King of the World
:The Royal Collection © 2006 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

The Delivery of Presents for Prince Dara-Shukoh’s Wedding
, attributed to Bishandas, c. 1635, from the
Padshahnama, Chronicle of the King of the World
: The Royal Collection © 2006 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II;
Three Women with Fireworks
, anonymous Moghul painting, c. 1640: Gulistan Imperial Library, Teheran/Werner Forman Archive

Building the Fort at Agra
, illustration by Miskina of Tulsi, c. 1590, from the
Akbarnama
: Victoria and Albert Museum, V&A Images; Humayun’s tomb, Delhi; column at Fatehpur Sikri; Akbar’s tomb, Sikandra; fort, Burhanpur: all Michael Preston

View of the Taj Mahal: Michael Preston; late-seventeenth-century Moghul jewelled dagger with jade hilt: Sotheby’s Picture Library, London; seventeenth-century Moghul amulet pendant made of white nephrite jade set with rubies and emeralds and Jahangir’s jade wine cup, 1613-14: both Victoria and Albert Museum/V&A Images

The Taj Mahal reflected in the marble water channel
.

Babur orders the diversion of a stream in one of his gardens
.

Jahangir as ruler of the world, with James I of England, VI of Scotland, relegated to the bottom left-hand corner
.

Nur Jahan’s victory feast for Jahangir and Khurram (Shah Jahan). Mumtaz Mahal may be one of the women watching
.

Mumtaz Mahal
.

Shah Jahan, lover of jewels, examines a turban ornament
.