Love and splendor: The Taj Mahal

Twelve thousand men, 1,000 elephants, 22 years. Rumors have it that he planned to build a replica for himself across the river, but his son incarcerated him for the sins of love—squandering the treasures of his kingdom to build a final resting place for his beloved. After his third wife passed away, the Mughal emperor spent the rest of his years professing his undying love through the construction of one of the world’s most graceful structures. In 1983 Unesco declared the Taj Mahal a World Heritage Site.

Love not only conquers all, it also builds monuments to pledge everlasting affection.  In this case, love for Mumtaz Mahal, the fifth Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan’s third wife. She was mother to 14 of his children, said to be his most trusted political adviser, and known to be his most favored consort. Located in the City of Agra, south of New Delhi, the Taj Mahal is looked upon as the most beautiful mausoleum built by the ancient world. This monument is approached through a 30-meter high gateway constructed from slabs of local red sandstone.

Last week, I walked through this gateway into the courtyard in the sweltering heat, reveling in my second and very much anticipated visit to India. As we came through the gateway into the courtyard, the Taj Mahal gleamed in the distance with all her white majesty! Her scale and proportions so delicate, it was difficult to tell how tall she actually stood.

We were fortunate that our wishes for a sunny day overpowered the weather forecast’s prediction of cloud and rain, for it is with the sunlight, shade and shadows that her architecture would be best appreciated. The Taj Mahal’s domes, the crevices of its arches and the mass of its walls interplay so faultlessly that the structure seems to sit in perfect weight and balance. Because of its symmetry, it appears to have infinite depth when viewed from the center, and has its scale determined and framed only by the four independent “minarets” or towers.

The approach to the Taj Mahal is via an ornamental garden designed in the classic Mughal “charbagh” style, with an elongated pond running through its centerline onto the façade of the mausoleum. We walked along this axis, arriving at the base of its  courtyard platforms. Steps led up to the lower platform covered with large pavers of alternating red sandstone and white marble, providing a gradual transition from courtyard to memorial tomb (quite like earth to paradise). From here, one climbs through an enclosed steep and narrow staircase unto the uppermost courtyard where the Taj Mahal’s walls rise from the pavement.

Assembly of carvings

Being this close to the structure, the mass of white floors and walls dissolve into an assembly of “lacework” carvings, gracefully flowing floral arabesques, embossed stone carvings and molded arches. It is at this distance that the Taj Mahal is best experienced, for one can appreciate both the monumental massing as well as the delicate detailing. The entire structure is built from white Makrana marble from Jodpur, in the Mughal style that fused Islamic, Persian and Central Asian architecture.

Each face of the building has a central pointed arch or “iwan,” a pattern repeated as smaller arches and window openings, creating rhythm and harmony throughout. The main arch is framed with soft ornamental inscriptions of the Koran, inlaid in black onyx, the texts graceful and elongating as they approach the top in order to correct the visual distortion and appear consistent in size when viewed from the ground.

The building layout is perfectly symmetrical with a square footprint and a central structure as the mausoleum chamber of Mumtaz Mahal. This chamber is almost devoid of illumination, except for the high windows that allow sunlight to stream through marble fretwork. In the late afternoon that we were there, the chamber was dark, and only the (unauthorized!) light of camera flash allowed us to see the fine details of the interiors.

Inlays of semiprecious stone in floral motif embellish the walls of this chamber, and they glowed when shone with light, as their transparency makes light bounce from the marble backdrop and shimmer through the gems. On display in this chamber are the false tombs of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan. Their real tombs are within another locked compartment below.

This main chamber is capped by the prominent double dome of edifice, while its four outer corner compartments are beveled and each capped by a smaller dome. Towers or “minarets” frame the four corners of the structure’s base, standing apart from the main mausoleum like soldiers guarding their queen. Fittingly so, for there is no other funerary structure so stately and dignified as this one.

Humanity’s great interest in the Taj Mahal lies in its design as much as it is in the need to comprehend the depth of love that can drive a man to build architecture so exquisite. Love springs eternal. And while the Mughal emperor now resides with his beloved, his earthly expression of love remains for the world to cherish.

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Correction to last week’s column: architect Miguel Guerrero is a co-founder of Green Architecture Advocacy of the Philippines and a member of the Philippine Green Building Council

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