How Agra got the Taj
6 Apr 2008, 0235 hrs IST,Atul Sethi,TNN (from Times of India)
Wahan toh road bahut kharab hai ," (the road is bad there) was our guide's first reaction, when
informed about the intention to visit Mumtaz Mahal's grave, or kabr . It is
early morning in Burhanpur, a small town in southern Madhya Pradesh, near the
Maharashtra border, and despite the threat of the kharab road, we set out for
the kabr .
Not many would have heard of Burhanpur
( http://burhanpur.nic.in/ or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burhanpur )today, but it occupied a prominent place
in the empire during Mughal times, since it was a strategic point from which to
control the Deccan region. It was here that Shah Jahan spent a considerable
number of years as governor of the Deccan region, before his ascension to the
throne. And it was in Burhanpur, two years after he became the emperor — on June
17, 1631, to be precise — that his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal passed away, while
giving birth to their 14th child.
A grief-stricken emperor had her laid to rest near the banks of the Tapti river
and a monument was built, where her remains were kept. Simultaneously, work also
started on a grand mausoleum near the kabr . Shah Jahan wanted it to be a
monument of unparalleled beauty, conceptualised in white marble, whose
reflection in the Tapti river would increase its beauty manifold. Yes, the Taj
Mahal was initially planned to be built at Burhanpur. However, destiny had other
plans. Today, the vast stretches of open land on the banks of the Tapti river,
near Mumtaz Mahal's kabr in Burhanpur, stand mute testimony to what could have
been.
How Agra got the Taj
By the time we reach the kabr , located almost 10 km away from the town of
Burhanpur, the sun is shining brightly overhead. A few kilometres away from our
destination, the road gives way to a wobbly dust track that finally leads to a
monument, now largely a ruin. A signboard next to it proclaims it as Begum
Mumtaz Mahal ki kabr and claims that it is ostensibly protected by
the state
archaeology department. Two boys, playing cricket nearby, offer to show us
around the ruins. We go down a flight of stairs to a small chamber, where Mumtaz
Mahal's body was presumably buried. Debris and rubble now covers the floor.
Sometime back, we are informed, the ground here was levelled. So, any sign of a
kabr has now disappeared. The ruins of a masjid, built in her memory, lie
nearby. This state of disrepair is a little ironical because almost 400 years
ago — during Shah Jahan's time — this complex would perhaps have been one of the
most important buildings of the Mughal empire. One can almost visualise the
scenes that must have unfolded here.
History books tell us that Shah Jahan was devotedly attached to Mumtaz Mahal, to
a degree rarely seen in polygamous households, especially royal ones. Her death,
therefore, had a profound impact on him, with one account suggesting that
because of the shock, his hair turned completely grey. His grief found other
expressions too. Every Friday, it is believed, the emperor would come to the
kabr and light a lamp in his wife's memory, even as maulvis recited verses from
the Quran and pandits chanted shlokas near the burial chamber. In fact, the
alcoves where the lamps were lit — known as chiraagdaan — can still be seen in
the wall around the complex. Much of the surrounding landscape has also not
changed, with the Tapti river flowing placidly nearby, as it would have, during
those times.
No wonder then, that Shah Jahan wanted to have his Taj built here. Three things,
however, prevented this from happening, says Vinit Sharma, head of the history
department of Burhanpur's Seva Sadan college. "First, there were logistical
problems in transporting marble from the quarries in Makrana in Rajasthan to
Burhanpur. Then, when the builders evaluated the site, they found that the black
soil along the Tapti could not support the weight of a structure of the
magnitude that they were planning. They advised Shah Jahan to shift the
mausoleum away from the river, but he was adamant that it should be built along
the river, so that he could see its reflection. Therefore, the hunt began for a
better location and finally, the project was shifted to Agra. Being the capital
of the empire, it was felt to be a more practical choice, since the emperor
could then visit the mausoleum more frequently. Further, its proximity to marble
quarries and the presence of better soil along the Yamuna also went in its
favour," says Sharma.
While the location of the mausoleum was being decided, Mumtaz Mahal's body
remained in the kabr at Burhanpur. It is generally believed that it was kept
here for six months and a temporary burial, known as amanat was performed,
although there is no clear account of whether the body was preserved. However,
according to Armanul Haq of Jamia Hamdard, who published a research on this
subject some years ago, Mumtaz Mahal's body would have been preserved according
to Unani techniques. In his research report, Haq says that the body was probably
kept in an air-tight box, filled with herbs like camphor, acacia, sandalwood,
ash etc, that created a vacuum and prevented it from decaying. Since Islam
prohibits cutting a body after death, these herbs were packed tightly in layers
around the body, points out Haq.
However, according to Sharma, it is highly unlikely that the body could have
been preserved for long. By the time it would have been taken to Agra, only the
skeleton would have remained, he says. Nevertheless, it is fascinating to know
that Mumtaz Mahal's body was buried at three different places at various times.
According to KK Muhammad, superintending archaeologist of Bhopal circle, first
the body was kept at the royal hunting palace, the ahukhana, located near the
kabr in Burhanpur. Here, the ceremony of takfeen or wrapping it in a kafan was
performed, before it was taken to the kabr , where it was interred for six
months. It was then taken to Agra where it was buried for a few years, while the
Taj Mahal was being built, before finally being shifted to its ultimate resting
place in the monument's basement.
The Taj, of course, has been associated with Mumtaz Mahal for centuries and has
got its due recognition. But perhaps, it's time the other monuments that have
played their part in this saga — like the kabr and ahukhana in Burhanpur — also
get their due. For, Agra may have got the Taj, but the story behind it, still
reverbrates in these monuments in Burhanpur.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/How_Agra_got_the_Taj/articleshow/2929624.cms see this with images here.