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Jahan was never meant to be buried here and therefore his tomb wasn't figured into the floor plans of the Taj's original blueprints. The simple presence of the Shah's tomb throws everything off balance. Then why is he buried here you may ask?

In 1657 Shah Jahan became ill. With a fierce appetite for power, his third son Aurangzeb Alamgir took over the throne and had his father imprisoned under house arrest at the Red Fort in Agra with a small window that purposely faced the Taj, so that the Shah would be in mental anguish in seeing his wife's burial place from a distance (1 mile to the west). This is where Shah Jahan spent the remaining eight years of his life.

Being a religious man, Aurangzeb followed the laws of the Koran which disapproved of showy displays. Disliking the Taj for this very reason, Aurangzeb had his father buried there without a thought of keeping its beauty and subsequent symmetry of the inside chamber.
In reality, Shah Jahan had originally intended to build another mausoleum across the river for his tomb. The two structures were then to be connected by a bridge.

Although many poems have been written about the appearance of the Taj in the moonlight, visits at night are now prohibited. Yet, close your eyes and picture its beauty as the full moon rises high above it, bathing the entire monument in its rays, giving it a silvery glow.

Hopefully our imaginary journey has lent itself to the insight of the history and exquisiteness of the Taj Mahal and left in you a yearning to visit it yourself. It will forever be an image etched in your memory. After experiencing it for yourself, may your thoughts echo the words of the famous Indian writer Rabindranath Tagore when he wrote of the Taj Mahal -

"You know Shah Jahan, life and youth, wealth and glory, they all drift away in the current of time. You strove therefore, to perpetuate only the sorrow of your heart? Let the splendor of pearl and ruby vanish? Only let this one teardrop, this Taj Mahal, glisten spotlessly bright on the cheek of time, forever and ever."

Learn more about this author, Judi Silva.
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