The Taj Mahal, the most prominent monument of India, stands as a timeless symbol of love. Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, the creator of the Taj Mahal, said it made “the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes”. Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore described it as a “teardrop on the cheek of eternity.”
The Taj was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial for his deceased wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It is one of the seven wonders of the world and is the pride of not just Agra but also of India.
Its name is believed to have been drawn from Persian: ‘taj’ meaning crown and ‘mahal’ meaning palace, thus making this the ‘palace of the crown’. Interestingly, the queen in whose memory it was built, originally named Arjumand Begum, held the name ‘Mumtaz Mahal’, meaning ‘the crown of the palace’.
The Taj Mahal is known as a monument of love and a grieving emperor’s ode to his beloved deceased queen. Another legend considers the Taj as an embodiment of Shah Jahan’s vision of kingship.
