Tajmahal : The True Story

The story of the Taj Mahal that most of us have known about may not be the real truth. Herein Mr.

P. N. Oak presents an interesting set of proofs that show a completely different story. 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 Taj Mahal, 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 stored 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 cenotaphs. 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:

 10 POINTS IN SHORT :

 Agra city, in which the Taj Mahal is located, is an ancient center 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 during the month of Shravan. However, during the last few centuries, the residents of Agra had to be content with worshipping at only four prominent Shiva temples, which are Balkeshwar, Prithvinath, Manakameshwar, and Rajarajeshwar. Sadly, 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.

 The people who dominate the Agra region are Jats and their name for Shivaji 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 Linga. From this, it is apparent that the Taj-Mahal is Tejo-Mahalaya, The Great Abode of Tej.

 The octagonal shape of the Taj Mahal 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 netherworld. Hindu forts, cities, palaces, and temples generally 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. A central dome with octagonal cupolas at its four corners is a common feature of Hindu temples.

 The Taj Mahal has identical entrance arches on all four sides. This is a typical Hindu building style known as Chaturmukhi, i.e. four-faced. Chaturmukhi style is mainly seen in Jain temples in India and Hindu temples of Southeast Asia. Here, the size & scale of the central structure and its form/elevation is completely different from that of the Taj as can be seen in examples below. The four marble pillars at the plinth corners are of the Hindu style. They are used as lamp towers during the 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. The Taj Mahal entrance faces south. Had the Taj been an Islamic building it should have faced the west.

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. Also, 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.

 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.

Description of the gardens around the Taj of Shahjahan’s time mentions 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 cemetery 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.

The term Taj Mahal itself never occurs in any mogul court paper or chronicle even in Aurangzeb’s time. Since the term Taj Mahal does not occur in mogul courts it is absurd to search for any mogul explanation for it. Also, 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.

The cost of the Taj is nowhere recorded in Shahjahan’s court papers because Shahjahan could have never built the Taj Mahal. That is why wild estimates of the cost by gullible writers have ranged from 4 million to 91.7 million rupees.Twenty thousand laborers 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 labor muster rolls, daily expenditure sheets, bills and receipts of material ordered, and commissioning orders. There is not even a scrap of paper of this kind.

The second name, ‘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’. Moreover, if the Taj is believed to be a burial place, how can the term Mahal? Both its components namely, ‘Taj’ and’ Mahal’ are of Sanskrit origin.

We know Taj Mahal as a symbol of Love. But the other lesser known facts:

1. Mumtaz was Shajahan's 4th wife out of his 7 wives.

2. Shahjahan killed Mumtaz's husband to marry her.

3. Mumtaz died in her 14th delivery.

4. He then married her sister.

Question arises, where the hell is the Love?

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-ulZamani

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 TejoMahalay 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 108-a number sacred in Hindu Temple tradition.

13.There are persons who are connected with the repair and the maintainance 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 'TejLinga'

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-ulZamani 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 `KapadDwara' 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 scaffolding 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.

SANSKIRT 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 costl 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 unneccesary 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 idenitcal

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.

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 conceive and plan the Taj

even in acute bereavement. 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 and 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 pavilions 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 ShahjahanMumtaz

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.