The icon of love and the symbol of mughal grandeur the Taj Mahal built as a love token and has been standing invincible throughout the cycle of time. Taj Mahal location is Agra Uttar Pradesh. Often questions are raised how historic Taj Mahal is saved or how it is serving since ages. The historic Taj Mahal is a matter of research for the scholars and the various facets of the Taj Mahal architecture, design and materials are always a matter of study.
The mughal emperor Shahjahan envisaged the Taj Mahal as a supreme tribute to his paramour. He made the planning for the entire Taj Mahal complex as a “Rauza” and named it as Rauza – I – Munavvara” For designing and construction project of the Taj Mahal he selected the top panel of architects who made their best use of skills and toiled day & night to make the edifice flawless from the point of view of design, architectural depth and ornamentation. The best marble was procured from the Makarana mines in Rajasthan and other semi precious stones were brought from India and other parts of the world. What we see right now as the Taj Mahal mausoleum is a bare skeleton without the original decorations of chandeliers, tapestries, gold finial and precious stones. It is a sort of bride without jewellery. Think about the Taj Mahal in the Hey Day while Shahajahan was ruling! No one in the zenith of mughals dared to challenge the mughal authorities until it was strong.
Over the course of time the Taj Mahal has suffered the pangs of time. As the mughal power started weakening it saw a surge of challenges in the form of external invasions and the debut of European trading companies specially the East India Company. Nadir Shah. Ahmed Shah Abdali and some other invaders attacked India and indulged in mass carnage and plundering. The mughal power become weak and the Taj Mahal become master less thus the upkeep of the Taj Mahal was stopped. Later on during the British times as well it was used for the congregations and parties for the royal niche. These people used to take out stores as a love token or some stole it to sell in England.
This is a less known fact about the Taj Mahal that this pride of India was twice put on auction. While you are on Taj Mahal Tour you can read this fact on the tablet put in the forecourt of the Taj Mahal. For God’s sake this sacrilege was averted somehow and we see the Taj Mahal still smiling and giving us a joy forever. In the time of East India Company one Governor Lord William Bentick during his tenure of 1833 to 1835 A.D. thought of an evil plan to auction the Taj Mahal. This governor had no respect for Indian art and heritage. An idea flashed into his mind of selling the marble of the Taj Mahal to improve the budget of the East India Company. Thus he put an advertisement of auction in the Calcutta newspapers. All the arrangements were done and the people with power and pelf were invited in the auction process. Earlier as well the Taj Mahal was sold to Seth Laxmi Chand of Mathura e 1.5 Lack rupees but the opposition of the localities of Taj ganj area hampered the auction process.
In this second attempt Lord William Bentick made fool proof arrangements. This time again the highest bid was of Seth Laxmi Chand of Mathura for 7 Lack rupees. But the cost of dismantling the marble and of transporting it was so high that it was hard to make any profit out of this purchase. Thus secondly this idea was dropped down. This matter was also raised in the British Parliament and it ordered the Governor to give up this idea and not to play with the Indian Sentiments.
Later on during Lord Curzon’s time in 1900 an auction was held and some paintings, precious stones of the Taj Mahal were auctioned. Despite the plundering and much suffering the Taj Mahal still is serving and makes us feel proud of our heritage with it’s pleasing visage.
