Uttar Pradesh

"It is a special case because it illustrates both intention to represent a Paradise on earth and reception of its message. While it is unique in scale and dimension, it also exemplifies the special place that gardens held for the Mughal dynasty."

"It was intended as an earthly reflection of paradise not just for Mumtaz Mahal, but also for the visitors who would visit it over the years. In fact the larger Taj complex with its forecourt of the Jilaukhana complex and the surrounding bazar and caravanserai zone were meant to accommodate travelers."

"It was built with posterity in mind; we the viewers are part of its concept."

"The interior dome of the mausoleum was built to evoke eternity, since it held a single tone for nearly half a minute. What is remarkable about it is not only the complete and sophisticated program that included architecture, inscriptions and floral imagery to project a permanent garden, but also the intention that the complex would be visited by a large public purpose."

"For a building that is supposedly a symbol of love, it has generated a lot of anger. Or rather, some people have been angered by what others have said about it, and have felt called on to defend its honour."

"Its designers drew inspiration from three related traditions: the architecture of the Mughals' central Asian homeland; the buildings erected by earlier Muslim rulers of India, especially in the Delhi region; and the much older architectural expertise of India itself."

"At the corner of the white marble platform, which is 23 yards above the level of the ground, stand four minarets, also of marble, with interior staircases and capped by cupolas, which are 7 cubits in diameter and rise to a total of 32 cubits from the pavement of the said platform to the filial, appearing as it were, like ladders reaching towards the heavens."

"Above the inner domes, which is radiant like the hearts of angels, has been raised another heaven-touching, guava-shaped dome, to discover the minute mathematical degrees of which would confound even the celestial geometrician. Crowning this dome of heavenly rank, the circumference of whose outer girth is 110 yards, there has been affixed a golden filial 11 yards high, glittering like the sun, with its summit rising to a total height of 107 yards above the ground."

"...how Mughal is the name Taj Mahal anyway? It is usually said that the name derives from Mumtaz Mahal, the title given to the empress which means ‘select of the palace.’ There is room for doubt about this; ‘taj’ need not be abbreviation of ‘mumtaz’ since it is itself a perfectly good Persian word meaning ‘crown’. It is also worth noting that the building is not called Taj Mahal in the contemporary Mughal sources. Abdul Hamid Lahauri, the author of Padshahnama, the official history of Shah Jahan’s reign calls it rauza-i munawwara, meaning the illumined or illustrious tomb (where rauza implies specifically a tomb in a garden."

"There was a major restoration programme initiated by Lord Curzon. His efforts at the Taj Mahal have had a mixed reception. They are often judged to be largely benign, and they even received complimentary accolades from Jawaharlal Nehru. Post-colonial critics of the Raj have predictably been less willing to exonerate this exemplar of aristocracy."

"One of the first to do [including Taj under the Seven Wonders of the world] so was the French physician François Bernier, who was present in India at the time of its construction and averred: 'this monument deserves much more to be numbered among the wonders of the world than the pyramids of Egypt’, which he described by comparison as ‘unshapen masses and heaps of stone’. The Taj has achieved inclusion among the New Seven Wonders of the World, the subject of a worldwide popular internet vote organized by the Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber."

"No one it seems is willing to play by the rules. The original builders overlooked orthodoxy (Islamic), and modern devotees overlook unwanted historical associations, both in order to shape the Taj according to their own desires."

"The year 2005 was declared as the buildings 350th anniversary, and in September of that year, a crowd of people collectively offered at the building a shawl measuring 100 m in length....as a standard gesture of congratulations meted out to persons but offering a shawl at a tomb is a religious rite in Islam. To avoid any misunderstanding the members of this crowd were at pains to point out that they represented many different religions and theirs was a ‘secular shawl’. Reverence for the Taj was thereby removed from any specifically ‘Islamic’ context and a common ownership was declared."

"The other seeming oddity of its role as a national symbol is that it has achieved this status for Indians in spite of it being Islamic."

"Early Indian visitors to the Taj, who came either as pilgrims or sightseers, were far outnumbered by those going elsewhere. And this continues. Today it is seen by two million Indians per year. The Tirupati temple in southern India, meanwhile welcomes nearly twelve million pilgrims per year. Yet it is the Taj that is recognized as the symbol of India."

"Its secondary career has been as a symbol of India. The prize piece of Indian heritage, it is seen to embody the country’s celebrated history and civilization...Elevated to the national symbol by outsiders, not until about 1900 was it accepted as such by Indians."

"As a symbol of love it does not quite work for her, since its overwhelming beauty demands a passive response that is irritating to the adventurous."

"So grand a structure cannot be purely and simply a tomb."

"The idea of Taj as an expression of love has made it a favorite destination for honeymooners... observing the ritual of getting photograph taken while seated on a marble bench as a backdrop. Such images are so widely circulated that Princess Diana had to appear in this pose alone on a royal tour of India shortly before the break-up of her marriage with Prince Charles, to convey to the world her sense of loneliness and loss."

"The building’s beauty is a [[metaphor for hers [Mumtaz Mahal] and is thus contemplated as feminine. It is builder's feeling for the woman interred within. What else but passion, they ask, could have inspired something so perfect?"

"It is a tomb, most famous of the Mughals, whose empire flourished in India between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, enshrining the remains of the fifth emperor of the dynasty, Shah Jehan| and those of his second wife [[w;Mumtaz Mahal|Mumtaz Mahal. She died before him and construction of the complex began immediately."

"To too many people in India it suggests not only a building but a blend of tea. It is also cry of admiration as Wah Taj!, indicative of Mughal sophistication and elegance...There are several appropriations to the building name to brand names such as of hotels, tea, saffron, and bars of soap and so forth."

"It is the queen of architecture. Other buildings may be as famous, but no other is so consistently admired for a beauty that is seen as both feminine and regal. Many people feel that to class Taj Mahal as architecture is a mistake: it is both too personal and too magnificent."

"Subsequently, in that heaven-like tract of land (sarzamin), the heavenly plinth (asman asas) was laid for a mausoleum (rauza) of lofty foundation ( 'alabunyan ), which, in strength and loftiness and high dignity and magnificence of rank, is the honor of the terrestrial world, which is completely of white marble slabs, and which has arranged round it a pleasing garden having the marks of Paradise. On one side of it, a lofty mosque was built and on the other side, a replica thereof, a guest house (mihman-khana) of lofty expanse: and on its sides (atrafash), there were constructed (bunyad nazirafta) rooms (hujaraha) and portals (aiwanha), and before its gates, several newly fashioned (nau-a'in) plazas and joy-increasing sarais (sara), which have no like and equal on the surface of the earth in spaciousness of area and novelty of design. In the space of twenty years, that building ('imarat), the foundation (buniyadash) which is the eighth layer of the world and whose cap is the tenth roof of the sky, was completed at a cost of 50 lakhs of rupees; and through its extreme loftiness of dignity and rank and excellence of decoration and ornament, it has become the honor of the ancient roof of the azure sky."

"And plans were laid out (tarah afganand) for a magnificent building ( 'imarat-i-alishan ) and a dome (gumbadi) of lofty foundation (rafi-buniyan), which for height (dar bulandi) will, until the Day of Resurrection, remain a memorial to the sky-high aspiration of His Majesty the Second Sahib Qiran and which for strength (darustwari) will display the firmness of the intentions of its builder. And the far-seeing engineers (muhandisan) and art-creating architects (mimaran-i-sanat-afrin) estimated the cost of this building (imarat) would be 40 lakhs of rupees."

"After reaching Akbarabad, it was entrusted to earth in the heaven-like tract of land (sarzamin-i-bihisht-a'in) situated to the south side of the Abode of the Caliphate, overlooking the river Jumna, which had belonged to Raja Man Singh; and to acquire it, His Majesty, the Caliph-ranked, had given in exchange ( 'iwad ) a mansion (manzil), loftier than the said mansion, to his grandson Raja Jai Singh. And on the top of the illumined grave, at first in haste (az ru-i-tajil), a small domed building (gumbadi-mukhtasar) was built (asas nihadand), so that the eye of a non-confidante (na-mahram) does not fall on the holy precincts (haram) of the grave of that veiled one of the curtains of chastity."

"On the 6th of Bahman (4 Rajab 1041/26 January 1632), the fruit of the tree of sovereignty and caliphate, the prince of lofty worth Sultan Shah Shuja' Bahadur returned to the royal camp from Akbarabad, along with the 'Umdat ul-Mulk Wazir Khan and the noble and chaste lady Sitti Khanan, who held the post of the deputy (wikalat) and chief Lady-in-Waiting of that one of praiseworthy habits, acquired the honors of accompanying the litter encompassed by unlimited pardon and forgiveness; and all along the way, they provided food and largesse to the poor."

"Although an important amount of repairs and conservation works have been carried out right from the British period in India these have not compromised to the original qualities of the buildings."

"It is a perfect symmetrical planned building, with an emphasis of bilateral symmetry along a central axis on which the main features are placed. The building material used is brick-in-lime mortar veneered with red sandstone and marble and inlay work of precious/semi precious stones."

"The most impressive in the Taj Mahal complex next to the tomb, is the main gate which stands majestically in the centre of the southern wall of the forecourt. The gate is flanked on the north front by double arcade galleries. The garden in front of the galleries is subdivided into four quarters by two main walk-ways and each quarters in turn subdivided by the narrower cross-axial walkways, on the Timurid-Persian scheme of the walled in garden. The enclosure walls on the east and west have a pavilion at the centre."

"It is considered to be the greatest architectural achievement in the whole range of Indo-Islamic architecture. Its recognised architectonic beauty has a rhythmic combination of solids and voids, concave and convex and light shadow; such as arches and domes further increases the aesthetic aspect. The colour combination of lush green scape reddish pathway and blue sky over it show cases the monument in ever changing tints and moods. The relief work in marble and inlay with precious and semi precious stones make it a monument apart."

"An immense mausoleum of white marble, built in Agra between 1631 and 1648 by order of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favourite wife, it is the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage."

"Alternate version: A tear drop on the cheek of eternity."

"It rises above the banks of the river like a solitary tear suspended on the cheek of time."

"The Taj is pinkish in the morning, milky white in the evening and golden when the moon shines. These changes, they say, depict the moods of woman."

"It is a celebration of woman built in marble and that’s the way to appreciate it."

"We had admired the presidential palace and parliament houses, paused beside the striking India Gate, inspected the 16th Century Humayun's Tomb--a forerunner to the Taj Mahal--and cruised past scores of international embassies."

"As a tribute to a beautiful woman and as a monument of enduring love, it reveals its subtleties when one visits it without being in a hurry. Its ctangular base is in itself a symbolic of the different sides from which to view a beautiful woman. The main gate is like a veil to a woman’s face which should be lifted delicately, gently and without haste on the wedding night. In Indian tradition, the veil is lifted gently to reveal the beauty of the bride. As one stands inside the main gate of it, his eyes are directed to an arch which frames the Taj."

"Taj has been described as having been designed by giants and finished by jewellers."

"It is good to recall that three centuries ago, around the year 1660, two of the greatest monuments of modern history were erected, one in the West and one in the East; St. Paul's Cathedral in London and the Taj Mahal in Agra. Between them, the two symbolize, perhaps better than words can describe, the comparative level of architectural technology, the comparative level of craftsmanship and the comparative level of affluence and sophistication the two cultures had attained at that epoch of history. But about the same time there was also created—and this time only in the West—a third monument, a monument still greater in its eventual import for humanity. This was Newton's Principia, published in 1687. Newton's work had no counterpart in the India of the Mughals. I would like to describe the fate of the technology which built the Taj Mahal when it came into contact with the culture and technology symbolized by the Principia of Newton."

"She ran off with my plunge router guide. How am I supposed to build that scale model of the Taj Mahal out of cherry wood without my plunge router guide?"

"I found the Taj Mahal as the most appropriate example of artistically expressed love."

"Taj Mahal is not just a monument, but a symbol of love."

"If I'd ever grown prosperous like he was, I'd not have waited for my beloved's death before I erected a Taj Mahal."