Was the Taj Mahal a Vedic Temple?

The Photographic Evidence

This presents photographs (listed below) that show the Vedic influence found in such buildings as the Taj Mahal, Red Fort, and other structures in India. It also presents photos of drawings and art that have been discovered from other parts of the world, such as Arabia, Egypt, Greece and Italy, that show a definite Vedic influence. No matter whether you accept all of this or not, it nonetheless makes for an extremely fascinating and interesting story. Take a look and decide for yourself what you think. Also, let other people know about these, or download them to print and use them for your own displays in your temple, office or home. 

We have all heard how the Taj Mahal, which is considered one of the great wonders of the world, was built as the preeminent expression of a man's love for a wife. That it was built by emperor Shah Jahan in commemoration of his wife Mumtaz. However, in our continuous effort to get to the truth, we have recently acquired some very important documents and information. There is evidence that the Taj Mahal was never built by Shah Jahan. Some say the Taj Mahal pre-dates Shah Jahan by several centuries and was originally built as a Hindu or Vedic temple/palace complex. Shah Jahan merely acquired it from its previous owner, the Hindu King Jai Singh. 

This controversy is something I have explained more thoroughly in my book, "Proof of Vedic Culture's Global Existence." So, for those who want to know the details of this issue, you can find it there. And here is the photographic evidence that will provide greater insights into this. The point to consider is how much more of India's history has been distorted if the background of such a grand building is so inaccurate.

These photographs are taken from an album that was found and then smuggled out of India. On the back of each photo there is a stamp mark that says, "Archaeology Survey of India." This signifies their authenticity and that they were the property of that institution. This means a number of things: That the Archaeology Survey of India (ASI) has been researching the evidence that proves the Taj Mahal and many other buildings were not of Muslim origin, and that they know this information but remain silent about it. It also shows that in spite of this evidence they refuse to open up further research that would reveal the true nature and originality of the buildings, and lead to understanding another part of the real history and glory of India.

These photos are black and white and were found in a simple photo album in India. Except for old age and some water damage on some of them (creating white spots in areas), most are still in relatively good condition. Each photograph was accompanied by a typed caption taped in the album near the photo, each of which gives a very interesting explanation of the subject and the Vedic influence recognized on the building and what it means. The captions accompany the photos on the following pages just as they were written in the album, so the style of English and the explanations are kept the same. I did not write them myself. They are obviously written from an Indian perspective. Whatever I may say about the photos are displayed in brackets [ ]. Otherwise I let the captions and photos speak for themselves. Some of these photos will show areas of the Taj where the public has no access, or what is rarely seen or noticed. 

It is because of the manipulation of history by invaders that the true greatness of India and Vedic culture has been stifled or hidden. And it is time that people everywhere realize how numerous lies and false propaganda have been passed around as if it were the truth in regard to India and its past, as well as its art, archeology, and the wonder of its culture. India and its Vedic society was one of the preeminent civilizations of the world, as I explained in "Proof of Vedic Culture's Global Existence." Now, through the increasing amount of revealing evidence that is being uncovered, that greatness of India's past and its contributions to the world are gradually being recognized. It is because of this that it is now time to rewrite the history of India.

ADDITIONAL ONLINE ARTICLES

        "The Question of the Taj Mahal" (Itihas Patrika, vol 5, pp. 98-111, 1985) by P. S. Bhat and A. L. Athavale is a profound and thoroughly researched and well balanced paper on the Taj Mahal controversy. This paper goes well with the photographs listed below. It uncovers the reasons for the rumors and assumptions of why it is said that Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal, and presents all the inconsistencies of why that theory doesn't hold up. It also covers such things as the descriptions found in the old Agra court papers on the Taj; descriptions and measurements of the building in the old records; Aurangzeb's letter of the much needed repairs even in 1632 which is unlikely for a new building; records that reveal Shah Jahan acquired marble but was it enough for really building the Taj or merely for inlay work and decorative coverings; the observations of European travelers at the time; the actual age of the Taj; how the architecture is definitely of Indian Hindu orientation and could very well have been designed as a Shiva temple; the issue of the arch and the dome; how the invader Timurlung (1398) took back thousands of prisoner craftsmen to build his capital at Samarkhand and where the dome could have been incorporated into Islamic architecture; how it was not Shah Jahan's religious tolerance that could have been a reason for Hindu elements in the design of the Taj; how the direction of the mosque does not point toward Mecca as most mosques do; the real purpose of the minarets at the Taj; the Hindu symbolism recognized in the Taj which would not have been allowed if it was truly Muslim built; and even as late as 1910 the Encyclopaedia Britannica included the statement by Fergusson that the building was previously a palace before becoming a tomb for Shah Jahan; and more. A most interesting paper.

        "An Architect Looks at the Taj Mahal Legend" by Marvin Mills, is a great review of the information available on the Taj Mahal and raises some very interesting questions that make it obvious that the Taj could not have been built the way or during the time that history presents, which makes it more like a fable than accurate history. This suggests a construction date of 1359 AD, about 300 years before Shah Jahan. 

        The True Story of the Taj Mahal. This article by P. N. Oak (from Pune, India) provides an overview of his research and lists his 109 proofs of how the Taj Mahal was a pre-existing Hindu temple palace, built not by Shah Jahan but originally at least 500 years earlier in 1155 AD by Raja Paramardi Dev as a Vedic temple. Mr. P. N. Oak is another who has done much research into this topic, and such a study is hardly complete without considering his findings. The evidence he presents here is a most interesting read, whether you agree with it all or not, or care for some of the anger in his sentiment. Mr. Oak has presented his own conclusions in his books, most notably Taj Mahal--The True Story (ISBN: 0-9611614-4-2).

        The Letter of Aurangzeb ordering repairs on the old Taj Mahal in the year just before it is said to have been completed. 

        The Badshahnama is the history written by the Emperor's own chronicler. This page shows how Aurangzeb had acquired the Taj from the previous owner, Jai Singh, grandson of Raja Mansingh, after selecting this site for the burial of Queen Mumtaz. 

The Taj Mahal is a Hindu temple

THE TAJ MAHAL IS TEJOMAHALAY
A Hindu Temple
 
By P. N. Oak
 
Probably there is no one who has been duped at least
once in a lifetime. But can the whole world can be
duped? This may seem impossible. But in the matter of
indian and world history the world can be duped in many
respects for hundreds of years and still continues to be
duped. The world famous Tajmahal is a glaring instance.
For all the time, money and energy that people over the
world spend in visiting the Tajmahal, they are dished
out of concoction. Contrary to what visitors are made to
believe the Tajmahal is not a Islamic mausoleum but an
ancient Shiva Temple known as Tejo-Mahalaya which the
5th generation moghul emperor Shahjahan commandeered
from the then Maharaja of Jaipur. The Tajmahal, should
therefore, be viewed as a temple palace and not as a
tomb. That makes a vast difference. You miss the details
of its size, grandeur, majesty and beauty when you take
it to be a mere tomb. When told that you are visiting a
temple palace you wont fail to notice its annexes,
ruined defensive walls, hillocks, moats, cascades,
fountains, majestic garden, hundreds of rooms archaded
verendahs, terraces, multi-storied towers, secret sealed
chambers, guest rooms, stables, the trident (Trishul)
pinnacle on the dome and the sacred, esoteric Hindu
letter "OM" carved on the exterior of the wall of the
sanctum sanctorum now occupied by the centotaphs. For
detailed proof of this breath taking discovery,you may
read the well known historian Shri. P. N. Oak's
celebrated book titled " Tajmahal: The True Story".
But let us place before you, for the time being an
exhaustive summary of the massive evidence ranging over
hundred points:
 
NAME
 
1. The term Tajmahal itself never occurs in any mogul
court paper or chronicle even in Aurangzeb's time. The
attempt to explain it away as Taj-i-mahal is therefore,
ridiculous.
 
2. The ending "Mahal"is never muslim because in none of
the muslim countries around the world from Afghanistan
to Algeria is there a building known as "Mahal".
 
3. The unusual explanation of the term Tajmahal derives
from Mumtaz Mahal, who is buried in it, is illogical in
at least two respects viz., firstly her name was never
Mumtaj Mahal but Mumtaz-ul-Zamani and secondly one
cannot omit the first three letters "Mum" from a woman's
name to derive the remainder as the name of the
building.
 
4. Since the lady's name was Mumtaz (ending with 'Z')
the name of the building derived from her should have
been Taz-Mahal, if at all, and not Taj (spelled with a
'J').
 
5. Several European visitors of Shahjahan's time allude
to the building as Taj-e-Mahal is almost the correct
tradition, age old Sanskrit name Tej-o-Mahalaya,
signifying a Shiva temple. Contrarily Shahjahan and
Aurangzeb scrupulously avoid using the Sanskrit term and
call it just a holy grave.
 
6. The tomb should be understood to signify NOT A
BUILDING but only the grave or centotaph inside it. This
would help people to realize that all dead muslim
courtiers and royalty including Humayun, Akbar, Mumtaz,
Etmad-ud-Daula and Safdarjang have been buried in
capture Hindu mansions and temples.
 
7. Moreover, if the Taj is believed to be a burial
place, how can the term Mahal, i.e., mansion apply to
it?
 
8. Since the term Taj Mahal does not occur in mogul
courts it is absurd to search for any mogul explanation
for it. Both its components namely, 'Taj' and' Mahal'
are of Sanskrit origin.
 
TEMPLE TRADITION
 
9. The term Taj Mahal is a corrupt form of the sanskrit
term Tejo-Mahalay signifying a Shiva Temple. Agreshwar
Mahadev i.e., The Lord of Agra was consecrated in it.
 
10. The tradition of removing the shoes before climbing
the marble platform originates from pre-Shahjahan times
when the Taj was a Shiva Temple. Had the Taj originated
as a tomb, shoes need not have to be removed because
shoes are a necessity in a cemetery.
 
11.Visitors may notice that the base slab of the
centotaph is the marble basement in plain white while
its superstructure and the other three centotaphs on the
two floors are covered with inlaid creeper designs. This
indicates that the marble pedestal of the Shiva idol is
still in place and Mumtaz's centotaphs are fake.
 
12. The pitchers carved inside the upper border of the
marble lattice plus those mounted on it number 08 -- a
number sacred in Hindu Temple tradition.
 
13. There are persons who are connected with the repair
and the maintenance of the Taj who have seen the
ancient sacred Shiva Linga and other idols sealed in the
thick walls and in chambers in the secret, sealed
red-stone stories below the marble basement. The
Archaeological Survey of India is keeping discretely,
politely and diplomatically silent about it to the point
of dereliction of its own duty to probe into hidden
historical evidence.
 
14. In India there are 12 Jyotirlingas i.e., the
outstanding Shiva Temples. The Tejomahalaya alias The
Tajmahal appears to be one of them known as
Nagnatheshwar since its parapet is girdled with Naga,
i.e., Cobra figures. Ever since Shahjahan's capture of
it the sacred temple has lost its Hindudom.
 
15. The famous Hindu treatise on architecture titled
Vishwakarma Vastushastra mentions the 'Tej-Linga'
amongst the Shivalingas i.e., the stone emblems of Lord
Shiva, the Hindu deity. Such a Tej Linga was
consecrated in the Taj Mahal, hence the term Taj Mahal
alias Tejo Mahalaya.
 
16. Agra city, in which the Taj Mahal is located, is an
ancient centre of Shiva worship. Its orthodox residents
have through ages continued the tradition of worshipping
at five Shiva shrines before taking the last meal every
night especially during the month of Shravan. During
the last few centuries the residents of Agra had to be
content with worshipping at only four prominent Shiva
temples viz., Balkeshwar, Prithvinath, Manakameshwar and
Rajarajeshwar. They had lost track of the fifth Shiva
deity which their forefathers worshipped. Apparently
the fifth was Agreshwar Mahadev Nagnatheshwar i.e., The
Lord Great God of Agra, The Deity of the King of Cobras,
consecrated in the Tejomahalay alias Tajmahal.
 
17. The people who dominate the Agra region are Jats.
Their name of Shiva is Tejaji. The Jat special issue of
The Illustrated Weekly of India (June 28, 1971) mentions
that the Jats have the Teja Mandirs i.e., Teja Temples.
This is because Teja-Linga is among the several names of
the Shiva Lingas. From this it is apparent that the
Taj-Mahal is Tejo-Mahalaya, The Great Abode of Tej.
 
DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE
 
18. Shahjahan's own court chronicle, the Badshahnama,
admits (page 403, vol 1) that a grand mansion of unique
splendor, capped with a dome (Imaarat-a-Alishan wa
Gumbaze) was taken from the Jaipur Maharaja Jaisigh for
Mumtaz's burial, and the building was known as Raja
Mansingh's palace.
 
19. The plaque put the archealogy department outside the
Tajmahal describes the edifice as a mausoleum built by
Shahjahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, over 22 years from
1631 to 1653. That plaque is a specimen of historical
bungling. Firstly, the plaque sites no authority for
its claim. Secondly the lady's name was Mumtaz-ul-
Zamani and not Mumtazmahal. Thirdly, the period of 22
years is taken from some mumbo-jumbo noting by an
unreliable French visitor Tavernier, to the exclusion of
all muslim versions, which is an absurdity.
 
20. Prince Aurangzeb's letter to his father, emperor
Shahjahan,is recorded in atleast three chronicles titled
`Aadaab-e-Alamgiri', `Yadgarnama', and the
`Muruqqa-i-Akbarabadi' (edited by Said Ahmed, Agra,
1931, page 43, footnote 2). In that letter Aurangzeb
records in 1652 A.D. itself that the several buildings
in the fancied burial place of Mumtaz were seven
storeyed and were so old that they were all leaking,
while the dome had developed a crack on the northern
side. Aurangzeb, therefore, ordered immediate repairs
to the buildings at his own expense while recommending
to the emperor that more elaborate repairs be carried
out later. This is the proof that during Shahjahan's
reign itself that the Taj complex was so old as to need
immediate repairs.
 
21. The ex-Maharaja of Jaipur retains in his secret
personal `Kapad-Dwara' collection two orders from
Shahjahan dated Dec 18, 1633 (bearing modern nos. R. 176
and 177) requestioning the Taj building complex. That
was so blatant a usurpation that the then ruler of
Jaipur was ashamed to make the document public.
 
22. The Rajasthan State archives at Bikaner preserve
three other firmans addressed by Shahjahan to the
Jaipur's ruler Jaising ordering the latter to supply
marble (for Mumtaz's grave and koranic grafts) from his
Makranna quarris, and stone cutters. Jaisingh was
apparently so enraged at the blatant seizure of the
Tajmahal that he refused to oblige Shahjahan by
providing marble for grafting koranic engravings and
fake centotaphs for further desecration of the Tajmahal.
Jaising looked at Shahjahan's demand for marble and
stone cutters, as an insult added to injury. Therefore,
he refused to send any marble and instead detained the
stone cutters in his protective custody.
 
23. The three firmans demanding marble were sent to
Jaisingh within about two years of Mumtaz's death. Had
Shahjahan really built the Tajmahal over a period of 22
years, the marble would have needed only after 15 or 20
years not immediately after Mumtaz's death.
 
24. Moreover, the three mention neither the Tajmahal,
nor Mumtaz, nor the burial. The cost and the quantity
of the stone also are not mentioned. This proves that
an insignificant quantity of marble was needed just for
some supercial tinkering and tampering with the
Tajmahal. Even otherwise Shahjahan could never hope to
build a fabulous Tajmahal by abject dependence for
marble on a non-cooperative Jaisingh.
 
EUROPEAN VISITOR'S ACCOUNTS
 
25. Tavernier, a French jeweller has recorded in his
travel memoirs that Shahjahan purposely buried Mumtaz
near the Taz-i-Makan (i.e.,`The Taj building') where
foriegners used to come as they do even today so that
the world may admire. He also adds that the cost of the
scaffold- ing was more than that of the entire work.
The work that Shahjahan commissioned in the Tejomahalaya
Shiva temple was plundering at the costly fixtures
inside it, uprooting the Shiva idols, planting the
centotaphs in their place on two stories, inscribing the
koran along the arches and walling up six of the seven
stories of the Taj. It was this plunder, desecrating
and plunderring of the rooms which took 22 years.
 
26. Peter Mundy, an English visitor to Agra recorded in
1632 (within only a year of Mumtaz's death) that `the
places of note in and around Agra, included
Taj-e-Mahal's tomb, gardens and bazaars'. He,
therefore, confirms that that the Tajmahal had been a
noteworthy building even before Shahjahan.
 
27. De Laet, a Dutch official has listed Mansingh's
palace about a mile from Agra fort, as an outstanding
building of pre-Shahjahan's time. Shahjahan's court
chronicle, the Badshahnama records, Mumtaz's burial in
the same Mansingh's palace.
 
28. Bernier, a contemporary French visitor has noted
that non-muslim's were barred entry into the basement
(at the time when Shahjahan requisitioned Mansingh's
palace) which contained a dazzling light. Obviously, he
reffered to the silver doors, gold railing, the gem
studded lattice and strings of pearl hanging over
Shiva's idol. Shahjahan comandeered the building to
grab all the wealth, making Mumtaz's death a convineant
pretext.
 
29. Johan Albert Mandelslo, who describes life in agra
in 1638 (only 7 years after mumtaz's death) in detail
(in his `Voyages and Travels to West-Indies', published
by John Starkey and John Basset, London), makes no
mention of the Tajmahal being under constuction though
it is commonly erringly asserted or assumed that the Taj
was being built from 1631 to 1653.
 
SANSKRIT INSCRIPTION
 
30. A Sanskrit inscription too supports the conclusion
that the Taj originated as a Shiva temple. Wrongly
termed as the Bateshwar inscription (currently preserved
on the top floor of the Lucknow museum), it refers to
the raising of a "crystal white Shiva temple so alluring
that Lord Shiva once enshrined in it decided never to
return to Mount Kailash -- his usual abode". That
inscription dated 1155 A.D. was removed from the
Tajmahal garden at Shahjahan's orders. Historicians and
Archeaologists have blundered in terming the insription
the `Bateshwar inscription' when the record doesn't say
that it was found by Bateshwar. It ought, in fact, to
be called `The Tejomahalaya inscription' because it was
originally installed in the Taj garden before it was
uprooted and cast away at Shahjahan's command.
 
A clue to the tampering by Shahjahan is found on pages
216-217, vol. 4, of Archealogiical Survey of India
Reports (published 1874) stating that a "great square
black balistic pillar which, with the base and capital
of another pillar. . . now in the grounds of Agra, . . .
it is well known, once stood in the garden of Tajmahal".
 
MISSING ELEPHANTS
 
31. Far from the building of the Taj, Shahjahan
disfigured it with black koranic lettering and heavily
robbed it of its Sanskrit inscription, several idols and
two huge stone elephants extending their trunks in a
welcome arch over the gateway where visitors these days
buy entry tickets. An Englishman, Thomas Twinning,
records (pg. 191 of his book "Travels in India - A
Hundred Years ago") that in November 1794 "I arrived at
the high walls which enclose the Taj-e-Mahal and its
circumjacent buildings. I here got out of the
palanquine and . . . mounted a short flight of steps
leading to a beautiful portal which formed the centre of
this side of the `COURT OF ELEPHANTS" as the great area
was called."
 
KORANIC PATCHES
 
32. The Taj Mahal is scrawled over with 14 chapters of
the Koran but nowhere is there even the slightest or the
remotest allusion in that Islamic overwriting to
Shahjahan's authorship of the Taj. Had Shahjahan been
the builder he would have said so in so many words
before beginning to quote Koran.
 
33. That Shahjahan, far from building the marble Taj,
only disfigured it with black lettering is mentioned by
the inscriber Amanat Khan Shirazi himself in an
inscription on the building. A close scrutiny of the
Koranic lettering reveals that they are grafts patched
up with bits of variegated stone on an ancient Shiva
temple.
 
CARBON 14 TEST
 
34. A wooden piece from the riverside doorway of the Taj
subjected to the carbon 14 test by an American
Laboratory, has revealed that the door to be 300 years
older than Shahjahan,since the doors of the Taj, broken
open by Muslim invaders repeatedly from the 11th century
onwards, had to b replaced from time to time. The Taj
edifice is much more older. It belongs to 1155 A.D,
i.e., almost 500 years anterior to Shahjahan.
 
ARCHITECHTURAL EVIDENCE
 
35. Well known Western authorities on architechture like
E. B. Havell, Mrs. Kenoyer and Sir W. W. Hunterhave gone
on record to say that the TajMahal is built in the Hindu
temple style. Havell points out the ground plan of the
ancient Hindu Chandi Seva Temple in Java is identical
with that of the Taj.
 
36. A central dome with cupolas at its four corners is a
universal feature of Hindu temples.
 
37. The four marble pillars at the plinth corners are of
the Hindu style. They are used as lamp towers during
night and watch towers during the day. Such towers
serve to demarcate the holy precincts. Hindu wedding
altars and the altar set up for God Satyanarayan worship
have pillars raised at the four corners.
 
38. The octagonal shape of the Tajmahal has a special
Hindu significance because Hindus alone have special
names for the eight directions, and celestial guards
assigned to them. The pinnacle points to the heaven
while the foundation signifies to the nether world.
Hindu forts, cities, palaces and temples genrally have
an octagonal layout or some octagonal features so that
together with the pinnacle and the foundation they cover
all the ten directions in which the king or God holds
sway, according to Hindu belief.
 
39. The Tajmahal has a trident pinncle over the dome. A
full scale of the trident pinnacle is inlaid in the red
stone courtyard to the east of the Taj. The central
shaft of the trident depicts a "Kalash" (sacred pot)
holding two bent mango leaves and a coconut. This is a
sacred Hindu motif. Identical pinnacles have been seen
over Hindu and Buddhist temples in the Himalayan region.
Tridents are also depicted against a red lotus
background at the apex of the stately marble arched
entrances on all four sides of the Taj. People fondly
but mistakenly believed all these centuries that the Taj
pinnacle depicts a Islamic cresent and star was a
lighting conductor installed by the British rulers in
India. Contrarily, the pinnacle is a marvel of Hindu
metallurgy since the pinnacle made of non-rusting alloy,
is also perhaps a lightning deflector. That the
pinnacle of the replica is drawn in the eastern
courtyard is significant because the east is of special
importance to the Hindus, as the direction in which the
sun rises. The pinnacle on the dome has the word `Allah'
on it after capture. The pinnacle figure on the ground
does not have the word Allah.
 
INCONSISTENCIES
 
40. The two buildings which face the marble Taj from the
east and west are identical in design, size and shape
and yet the eastern building is explained away by
Islamic tradition, as a community hall while the western
building is claimed to be a mosque. How could buildings
meant for radically different purposes be identical?
This proves that the western building was put to use as
a mosque after seizure of the Taj property by Shahjahan.
Curiously enough the building being explained away as a
mosque has no minaret. They form a pair af reception
pavilions of the Tejomahalaya temple palace.
 
41. A few yards away from the same flank is the Nakkar
Khana alias DrumHouse which is a intolerable incongruity
for Islam. The proximity of the Drum House indicates
that the western annex was not originally a mosque.
Contrarily a drum house is a neccesity in a Hindu temple
or palace because Hindu chores,in the morning and
evening, begin to the sweet strains of music.
 
42. The embossed patterns on the marble exterior of the
centotaph chamber wall are foilage of the conch shell
design and the Hindu letter "OM". The octagonally laid
marble lattices inside the centotaph chamber depict pink
lotuses on their top railing. The Lotus, the conch and
the OM are the sacred motifs associated with the Hindu
deities and temples.
 
43. The spot occupied by Mumtaz's centotaph was formerly
occupied by the Hindu Teja Linga -- a lithic
representation of Lord Shiva. Around it are five
perambulatory passages. Perambulation could be done
around the marble lattice or through the spacious marble
chambers surrounding the centotaph chamber, and in the
open over the marble platform. It is also customary for
the Hindus to have apertures along the perambulatory
passage, overlooking the deity. Such apertures exist in
the perambulatories in the Tajmahal.
 
44. The sanctom sanctorum in the Taj has silver doors
and gold railings as Hindu temples have. It also had
nets of pearl and gems stuffed in the marble lattices.
It was the lure of this wealth which made Shahjahan
commandeer the Taj from a helpless vassal Jaisingh, the
then ruler of Jaipur.
 
45. Peter Mundy, a Englishman records (in 1632, within a
year of Mumtaz's death) having seen a gem studded gold
railing around her tomb. Had the Taj been under
construction for 22 years, a costly gold railing would
not have been noticed by Peter mundy within a year of
Mumtaz's death. Such costly fixtures are installed in a
building only after it is ready for use. This indicates
that Mumtaz's centotaph was grafted in place of the
Shivalinga in the centre of the gold railings.
Subsequently the gold railings, silver doors, nets of
pearls, gem fillings etc. were all carried away to
Shahjahan's treasury. The seizure of the Taj thus
constituted an act of highhanded Moghul robery causing a
big row between Shahjahan and Jaisingh.
 
46. In the marble flooring around Mumtaz's centotaph may
be seen tiny mosaic patches. Those patches indicate the
spots where the support for the gold railings were
embedded in the floor. They indicate a rectangular
fencing.
 
47. Above Mumtaz's centotaph hangs a chain by which now
hangs a lamp. Before capture by Shahjahan the chain
used to hold a water pitcher from which water used to
drip on the Shivalinga.
 
48. It is this earlier Hindu tradition in the Tajmahal
which gave the Islamic myth of Shahjahan's love tear
dropping on Mumtaz's tomb on the full moon day of the
winter eve.
 
TREASURY WELL
 
49. Between the so-called mosque and the drum house is a
multistoried octagonal well with a flight of stairs
reaching down to the water level. This is a traditional
treasury well in Hindu temple palaces. Treasure chests
used to be kept in the lower apartments while treasury
personnel had their offices in the upper chambers. The
circular stairs made it difficult for intruders to reach
down to the treasury or to escape with it undetected or
unpursued. In case the premises had to be surrendered
to a besieging enemy the treasure could be pushed into
the well to remain hidden from the conquerer and remain
safe for salvaging if the place was reconquered. Such
an elaborate multistoried well is superflous for a mere
mausoleum. Such a grand, gigantic well is unnecessary
for a tomb.
 
BURIAL DATE UNKNOWN
 
50. Had Shahjahan really built the Taj Mahal as a wonder
mausoleum, history would have recorded a specific date
on which she was ceremoniously buried in the Taj Mahal.
No such date is ever mentioned. This important missing
detail decisively exposes the falsity of the Tajmahal
legend.
 
51. Even the year of Mumtaz's death is unknown. It is
variously speculated to be 1629, 1630, 1631 or 1632. Had
she deserved a fabulous burial, as is claimed, the date
of her death had not been a matter of much speculation.
In an harem teeming with 5000 women it was difficult to
keep track of dates of death. Apparently the date of
Mumtaz's death was so insignificant an event, as not to
merit any special notice. Who would then build a Taj
for her burial?
 
BASELESS LOVE STORIES
 
52. Stories of Shahjahan's exclusive infatuation for
Mumtaz's are concoctions. They have no basis in history
nor has any book ever written on their fancied love
affairs. Those stories have been invented as an
afterthought to make Shahjahan's authorship of the Taj
look plausible.
 
COST
 
53. The cost of the Taj is nowhere recorded in
Shahjahan's court papers because Shahjahan never built
the Tajmahal. That is why wild estimates of the cost by
gullible writers have ranged from 4 million to 91.7
million rupees.
 
PERIOD OF CONSTRUCTION
 
54. Likewise the period of construction has been guessed
to be anywhere between 10 years and 22 years. There
would have not been any scope for guesswork had the
building construction been on record in the court
papers.
 
ARCHITECTS
 
55. The designer of the Tajmahal is also variously
mentioned as Essa Effendy, a Persian or Turk, or Ahmed
Mehendis or a Frenchman, Austin deBordeaux, or Geronimo
Veroneo, an Italian, or Shahjahan himself.
 
RECORDS DON'T EXIST
 
56. Twenty thousand labourers are supposed to have
worked for 22 years during Shahjahan's reign in building
the Tajmahal. Had this been true, there should have
been available in Shahjahan's court papers design
drawings, heaps of labour muster rolls, daily
expenditure sheets, bills and receipts of material
ordered, and commisioning orders. There is not even a
scrap of paper of this kind.
 
57. It is, therefore, court flatterers,blundering
historians, somnolent archeologists, fiction writers,
senile poets, careless tourists officials and erring
guides who are responsible for hustling the world into
believing in Shahjahan's mythical authorship of the Taj.
 
58. Description of the gardens around the Taj of
Shahjahan's time mention Ketaki, Jai, Jui, Champa,
Maulashree, Harshringar and Bel. All these are plants
whose flowers or leaves are used in the worship of Hindu
deities. Bel leaves are exclusively used in Lord
Shiva's worship. A graveyard is planted only with shady
trees because the idea of using fruit and flower from
plants in a cemetary is abhorrent to human conscience.
The presence of Bel and other flower plants in the Taj
garden is proof of its having been a Shiva temple before
seizure by Shahjahan.
 
59. Hindu temples are often built on river banks and sea
beaches. The Taj is one such built on the bank of the
Yamuna river -- an ideal location for a Shiva temple.
 
60. Prophet Mohammad has ordained that the burial spot
of a muslim should be inconspicous and must not be
marked by even a single tombstone. In flagrant
violation of this, the Tajamhal has one grave in the
basement and another in the first floor chamber both
ascribed to Mumtaz. Those two centotaphs were infact
erected by Shahjahan to bury the two tier Shivalingas
that were consecrated in the Taj. It is customary for
Hindus to install two Shivalingas one over the other in
two stories as may be seen in the Mahankaleshwar temple
in Ujjain and the Somnath temple raised by Ahilyabai in
Somnath Pattan.
 
61. The Tajmahal has identical entrance arches on all
four sides. This is a typical Hindu building style
known as Chaturmukhi, i.e., four-faced.
 
THE HINDU DOME
 
62. The Tajmahal has a reverberating dome. Such a dome
is an absurdity for a tomb which must ensure peace and
silence. Contrarily reverberating domes are a neccesity
in Hindu temples because they create an ecstatic
dinmultiplying and magnifying the sound of bells, drums
and pipes accompanying the worship of Hindu deities.
 
63. The Tajmahal dome bears a lotus cap. Original
Islamic domes have a bald top as is exemplified by the
Pakistan Embassy in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, and the
domes in the Pakistan's newly built capital Islamabad.
 
64. The Tajmahal entrance faces south. Had the Taj been
an Islamic building it should have faced the west.
 
TOMB IS THE GRAVE, NOT THE BUILDING
 
65. A widespread misunderstanding has resulted in
mistaking the building for the grave. Invading Islam
raised graves in captured buildings in every country it
overran. Therefore, hereafter people must learn not to
confound the building with the grave mounds which are
grafts in conquered buildings. This is true of the
Tajmahal too. One may therefore admit (for arguments
sake) that Mumtaz lies buried inside the Taj. But that
should not be construed to mean that the Taj was raised
over Mumtaz's grave.
 
66. The Taj is a seven storied building. Prince
Aurangzeb also mentions this in his letter to Shahjahan.
The marble edifice comprises four stories including the
lone, tall circular hall inside the top, and the lone
chamber in the basement. In between are two floors each
containing 12 to 15 palatial rooms. Below the marble
plinth reaching down to the river at the rear are two
more stories in red stone. They may be seen from the
river bank. The seventh storey must be below the ground
(river) level since every ancient Hindu building had a
subterranian storey.
 
67. Immediately bellow the marble plinth on the river
flank are 22 rooms in red stone with their ventilators
all walled up by Shahjahan. Those rooms, made
uninhibitably by Shahjahan, are kept locked by
Archealogy Department of India. The lay visitor is kept
in the dark about them. Those 22 rooms still bear
ancient Hindu paint on their walls and ceilings. On
their side is a nearly 33 feet long corridor. There are
two door frames one at either end ofthe corridor. But
those doors are intriguingly sealed with brick and lime.
 
68. Apparently those doorways originally sealed by
Shahjahan have been since unsealed and again walled up
several times. In 1934 a resident of Delhi took a peep
inside from an opening in the upper part of the doorway.
To his dismay he saw huge hall inside. It contained
many statues huddled around a central beheaded image of
Lord Shiva. It could be that, in there, are Sanskrit
inscriptions too. All the seven stories of the Tajmahal
need to be unsealed and scoured to ascertain what
evidence they may be hiding in the form of Hindu images,
Sanskrit inscriptions, scriptures, coins and utensils.
 
69. Apart from Hindu images hidden in the sealed stories
it is also learnt that Hindu images are also stored in
the massive walls of the Taj. Between 1959 and 1962
when Mr. S. R. Rao was the Archealogical Superintendent
in Agra, he happened to notice a deep and wide crack in
the wall of the central octagonal chamber of the Taj.
When a part of the wall was dismantled to study the
crack out popped two or three marble images. The matter
was hushed up and the images were reburied where they
had been embedded at Shahjahan's behest. Confirmation
of this has been obtained from several sources. It was
only when I began my investigation into the antecedents
of the Taj I came across the above information which had
remained a forgotten secret. What better proof is
needed of the Temple origin of the Tajmahal? Its walls
and sealed chambers still hide in Hindu idols that were
consecrated in it before Shahjahan's seizure of the Taj.
 
PRE-SHAHJAHAN REFERENCES TO THE TAJ
 
70. Apparently the Taj as a central palace seems to have
an chequered history. The Taj was perhaps desecrated
and looted by every Muslim invader from Mohammad Ghazni
onwards but passing into Hindu hands off and on, the
sanctity of the Taj as a Shiva temple continued to be
revived after every muslim onslaught. Shahjahan was the
last muslim to desecrate the Tajmahal alias Tejomahalay.
 
71. Vincent Smith records in his book titled `Akbar the
Great Moghul' that `Babur's turbulent life came to an
end in his garden palace in Agra in 1630'. That palace
was none other than the Tajmahal.
 
72. Babur's daughter Gulbadan Begum in her chronicle
titled `Humayun Nama' refers to the Taj as the Mystic
House.
 
73. Babur himself refers to the Taj in his memoirs as
the palace captured by Ibrahim Lodi containing a central
octagonal chamber and having pillars on the four sides.
All these historical references allude to the Taj 100
years before Shahjahan.
 
74. The Tajmahal precincts extend to several hundred
yards in all directions. Across the river are ruins of
the annexes of the Taj, the bathing ghats and a jetty
for the ferry boat. In the Victoria gardens outside
covered with creepers is the long spur of the ancient
outer wall ending in a octagonal red stone tower. Such
extensive grounds all magnificently done up, are a
superfluity for a grave.
 
75. Had the Taj been specially built to bury Mumtaz, it
should not have been cluttered with other graves. But
the Taj premises contain several graves atleast in its
eastern and southern pavilions.
 
76. In the southern flank, on the other side of the
Tajganj gate are buried in identical pavilions queens
Sarhandi Begum, and Fatehpuri Begum and a maid Satunnisa
Khanum. Such parity burial can be justified only if the
queens had been demoted or the maid promoted. But since
Shahjahan had commandeered (not built) the Taj, he
reduced it general to a muslim cemetary as was the habit
of all his Islamic predeccssors, and buried a queen in a
vacant pavillion and a maid in another identical
pavilion.
 
77. Shahjahan was married to several other women before
and after Mumtaz. She, therefore, deserved no special
consideration in having a wonder mausoleum built for
her.
 
78. Mumtaz was a commoner by birth and so she did not
qualify for a fairyland burial.
 
79. Mumtaz died in Burhanpur which is about 600 miles
from Agra. Her grave there is intact. Therefore ,the
centotaphs raised in stories of the Taj in her name seem
to be fakes hiding in Hindu Shiva emblems.
 
80. Shahjahan seems to have simulated Mumtaz's burial in
Agra to find a pretext to surround the temple palace
with his fierce and fanatic troops and remove all the
costly fixtures in his treasury. This finds
confirmation in the vague noting in the Badshahnama
which says that the Mumtaz's (exhumed) body was brought
to Agra from Burhanpur and buried `next year'. An
official term would not use a nebulous term unless it is
to hide some thing.
 
81. A pertinent consideration is that a Shahjahan who
did not build any palaces for Mumtaz while she was
alive, would not build a fabulous mausoleum for a corpse
which was no longer kicking or clicking.
 
82. Another factor is that Mumtaz died within two or
three years of Shahjahan becoming an emperor. Could he
amass so much superflous wealth in that short span as to
squander it on a wonder mausoleum?
 
83. While Shahjahan's special attachment to Mumtaz is
nowhere recorded in history his amorous affairs with
many other ladies from maids to mannequins including his
own daughter Jahanara, find special attention in
accounts of Shahjahan's reign. Would Shahjahan shower
his hard earned wealth on Mumtaz's corpse?
 
84. Shahjahan was a stingy, usurious monarch. He came
to throne murdering all his rivals. He was not
therefore, the doting spendthrift that he is made out to
be.
 
85. A Shahjahan disconsolate on Mumtaz's death is
suddenly credited with a resolve to build the Taj. This
is a psychological incongruity. Grief is a disabling,
incapacitating emotion.
 
86. A infatuated Shahjahan is supposed to have raised
the Taj over the dead Mumtaz, but carnal, physical
sexual love is again a incapacitating emotion. A
womaniser is ipso facto incapable of any constructive
activity. When carnal love becomes uncontrollable the
person either murders somebody or commits suicide. He
cannot raise a Tajmahal. A building like the Taj
invariably originates in an ennobling emotion like
devotion to God, to one's mother and mother country or
power and glory.
 
87. Early in the year 1973, chance digging in the garden
in front of the Taj revealed another set of fountains
about six feet below the present fountains. This proved
two things. Firstly, the subterranean fountains were
there before Shahjahan laid the surface fountains. And
secondly that those fountains are aligned to the Taj
that edifice too is of pre-Shahjahan origin. Apparently
the garden and its fountains had sunk from annual
monsoon flooding and lack of maintenance for centuries
during the Islamic rule.
 
89. The stately rooms on the upper floor of the Tajmahal
have been striped of their marble mosaic by Shahjahan to
obtain matching marble for raising fake tomb stones
inside the Taj premises at several places. Contrasting
with the rich finished marble ground floor rooms the
striping of the marble mosaic covering the lower half of
the walls and flooring of the upper storey have given
those rooms a naked, robbed look. Since no visitors are
allowed entry to the upper storey this despoilation by
Shahjahan has remained a well guarded secret. There is
no reason why Shahjahan's loot of the upper floor marble
should continue to be hidden from the public even after
200 years of termination of Moghul rule.
 
90. Bernier, the French traveller has recorded that no
non-muslim was allowed entry into the secret nether
chambers of the Taj because there are some dazzling
fixtures there. Had those been installed by Shahjahan
they should have been shown the public as a matter of
pride. But since it was commandeered Hindu wealth which
Shahjahan wanted to remove to his treasury, he didn't
want the public to know about it.
 
91. The approach to Taj is dotted with hillocks raised
with earth dugout from foundation trenches. The
hillocks served as outer defences of the Taj building
complex. Raising such hillocks from foundation earth, is
a common Hindu device of hoary origin. Nearby Bharatpur
provides a graphic parallel.
 
Peter Mundy has recorded that Shahjahan employed
thousands of labourers to level some of those hillocks.
This is a graphic proof of the Tajmahal existing before
Shahjahan.
 
["92." appears to be missing in this transmission.]
 
93. At the backside of the river bank is a Hindu
crematorium, several palaces, Shiva temples and bathings
of ancient origin. Had Shahjahan built the Tajmahal, he
would have destroyed the Hindu features.
 
94. The story that Shahjahan wanted to build a Black
marble Taj across the river, is another motivated myth.
The ruins dotting the other side of the river are those
of Hindu structures demolished during muslim invasions
and not the plinth of another Tajmahal. Shahjahan who
did not even build the white Tajmahal would hardly ever
think of building a black marble Taj. He was so miserly
that he forced labourers to work gratis even in the
superficial tampering neccesary to make a Hindu temple
serve as a Muslim tomb.
 
95. The marble that Shahjahan used for grafting Koranic
lettering in the Taj is of a pale white shade while the
rest of the Taj is built of a marble with rich yellow
tint. This disparity is proof of the Koranic extracts
being a superimposition.
 
96. Though imaginative attempts have been made by some
historians to foist some fictitious name on history as
the designer of the Taj others more imaginative have
credited Shajahan himself with superb architechtural
proficiency and artistic talent which could easily
concieve and plan the Taj even in acute bereavment.
Such people betray gross ignorance of history in as much
as Shajahan was a cruel tyrant ,a great womaniser and a
drug and drink addict.
 
97. Fanciful accounts about Shahjahan commisioning the
Taj are all confused. Some asserted that Shahjahan
ordered building drawing from all over the world and
chose one from among them. Others assert that a man at
hand was ordered to design a mausoleum amd his design
was approved. Had any of those versions been true
Shahjahan's court papers should have had thousands of
drawings concerning the Taj. But there is not even a
single drawing. This is yet another clinching proof
that Shahjahan did not commision the Taj.
 
98. The Tajmahal is surrounded by huge mansions which
indicate that several battles have been waged around the
Taj several times.
 
99. At the south east corner of the Taj is an ancient
royal cattle house. Cows attached to the Tejomahalay
temple used to reared there. A cowshed is an
incongruity in an Islamic tomb.
 
100. Over the western flank of the Taj are several
stately red stone annexes. These are superflous for a
mausoleum.
 
101. The entire Taj complex comprises of 400 to 500
rooms. Residential accomodation on such a stupendous
scale is unthinkable in a mausoleum.
 
102. The neighbouring Tajganj township's massive
protective wall also encloses the Tajmahal temple palace
complex. This is a clear indication that the
Tejomahalay temple palace was part and parcel of the
township. A street of that township leads straight into
the Tajmahal. The Tajganj gate is aligned in a perfect
straight line to the octagonal red stone garden gate and
the stately entrance arch of the Tajmahal. The Tajganj
gate besides being central to the Taj temple complex, is
also put on a pedestal. The western gate by which the
visitors enter the Taj complex is a camparatively minor
gateway. It has become the entry gate for most visitors
today because the railway station and the bus station
are on that side.
 
103. The Tajmahal has pleasure pavillions which a tomb
would never have.
 
104. A tiny mirror glass in a gallery of the Red Fort in
Agra reflects the Taj mahal. Shahjahan is said to have
spent his last eight years of life as a prisoner in that
gallery peering at the reflected Tajmahal and sighing in
the name of Mumtaz. This myth is a blend of many
falsehoods. Firstly, old Shajahan was held prisoner by
his son Aurangzeb in the basement storey in the Fort and
not in an open,fashionable upper storey. Secondly, the
glass piece was fixed in the 1930's by Insha Allah Khan,
a peon of the archaelogy dept. just to illustrate to the
visitors how in ancient times the entire apartment used
to scintillate with tiny mirror pieces reflecting the
Tejomahalay temple a thousand fold. Thirdly, a old
decrepit Shahjahan with pain in his joints and cataract
in his eyes, would not spend his day craning his neck at
an awkward angle to peer into a tiny glass piece with
bedimmed eyesight when he could as well his face around
and have full,direct view of the Tjamahal itself. But
the general public is so gullible as to gulp all such
prattle of wily, unscrupulous guides.
 
105. That the Tajmahal dome has hundreds of iron rings
sticking out of its exterior is a feature rarely
noticed. These are made to hold Hindu earthen oil lamps
for temple illumination.
 
106. Those putting implicit faith in Shahjahan
authorship of the Taj have been imagining
Shahjahan-Mumtaz to be a soft-hearted romantic pair like
Romeo and Juliet. But contemporary accounts speak of
Shahjahan as a hard hearted ruler who was constantly
egged on to acts of tyranny and cruelty, by Mumtaz.
 
107. School and College history carry the myth that
Shahjahan reign was a golden period in which there was
peace and plenty and that Shahjahan commisioned many
buildings and patronized literature. This is pure
fabrication. Shahjahan did not commision even a single
building as we have illustrated by a detailed analysis
of the Tajmahal legend. Shahjahn had to enrage in 48
military campaigns during a reign of nearly 30 years
which proves that his was not a era of peace and plenty.
 
108. The interior of the dome rising over Mumtaz's
centotaph has a representation of Sun and cobras drawn
in gold. Hindu warriors trace their origin to the Sun.
For an Islamic mausoleum the Sun is redundant. Cobras
are always associated with Lord Shiva.
 
FORGED DOCUMENTS
 
109. The muslim caretakers of the tomb in the Tajmahal
used to possess a document which they styled as
"Tarikh-i-Tajmahal". Historian H. G. Keene has branded
it as `a document of doubtful authenticity'. Keene was
uncannily right since we have seen that Shahjahan not
being the creator of the Tajmahal any document which
credits Shahjahn with the Tajmahal, must be an outright
forgery. Even that forged document is reported to have
been smuggled out of Pakistan. Besides such forged
documents there are whole chronicles on the Taj which
are pure concoctions.
 
110. There is lot of sophistry and casuistry or atleast
confused thinking associated with the Taj even in the
minds of proffesional historians, archaelogists and
architects. At the outset they assert that the Taj is
entirely Muslim in design. But when it is pointed out
that its lotus capped dome and the four corner pillars
etc. are all entirely Hindu those worthies shift ground
and argue that that was probably because the workmen
were Hindu and were to introduce their own patterns.
Both these arguments are wrong because Muslim accounts
claim the designers to be Muslim,and the workers
invariably carry out the employer's dictates.
 
The Taj is only a typical illustration of how all
historic buildings and townships from Kashmir to Cape
Comorin though of Hindu origin have been ascribed to
this or that Muslim ruler or courtier.
 
It is hoped that people the world over who study Indian
history will awaken to this new finding and revise their
erstwhile beliefs.

From "Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb" : an anthology of 17th century Mughal and European documentary sources, compiled and translated by W.E. Begley and Z.A. Desai, University of Washington Press, 1989.

The royal farman to Raja Jai Singh 26 Jummada II, 1043.

[This document is a contemporary certified copy of the now missing original Farman. Dated 28 December 1633, its purpose is to bestow on Raja Jai Singh the title to four pieces of property in Akbarabad-- referred to as "estates" or "mansions" (haveli) in exchange for the haveli formerly belonging to his grandfather Raja Man Singh]

Be it known through this glorious farman marked by happiness which has received the honor of issuance and the dignity of proclamation, that the mansions (haveli) detailed in the endorsement (dimn) together with their dependencies, which belong to the august crown property, have been offered to that pride of peers and vassal of the monarch of Islam, Raja Jai Singh, and are hereby handed over and transferred to his ownership -- in exchange for the Haveli, formerly belonging to Raja Man Singh, which that pride of grandees willingly and voluntarily donated for the mausoleum (maqbara) for that Queen of ladies of the world and the Lady of ladies of the Age, that honor of the daughters of Adam and Eve and the upholder of the stature of chastity of the Time, that Rabi'a of the world and chastity of the World and Religion, that recipient of Divine Mercy and Pardon, Mumtaz Mahal Begam.