The Taj Mahal: Architecture, Symbolism, and Urban Significance Author(s): Ebba Koch Reviewed work(s): Source: Muqarnas,

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EBBA KOCH

THE TAJMAHAL: ARCHITECTURE, SYMBOLISM, AND URBAN SIGNIFICANCE

Much has been written on the Taj Mahal, but little has been said about its architecture. There has been of the symbolism of the only one interpretation
mausoleum,1 and the urban situation of the monument

in the city ofAgra has been almost entirely neglected. In brief form, this essay presents the main results of a recently completed monograph in which I address
these issues.2

in Dr. Yunus Jaffery from Dr. Zakir Hussain College Delhi,5 I have established from the Persian sources a corpus of thirty-five Shahjahani palaces (sing, dawlat khana) and garden residences (sing, bdgh), of which twenty-fourproved upon field investigation to exist in
varying sizes and states of

The Taj Mahal

world architecture,

is theMughals'
and, as the

great contribution to
contemporary sources

of Islamic architecture, this is the largest extant body of palaces built by a single patron. aces were prepared
Entirely new measured

preservation.

In

the whole

was conceived as such from the very beginning reveal, it In the words of Shah Jahan's early historian 1). (fig. Muhammad Amin Qazwini, writing in the 1630s:
of great of high foundation and a building to it the was founded?a and equal similar magnificence these nine vaults of eye of the Age has not seen under And a dome the enamel-blue ear of Time be adds sky, and has not heard of anything resembling in any of the past ages.. it the .itwill

by the Indian architect Richard

them on the basis of measure

drawings

of

seventeen

pal

A.

Barraud,

who

drew

ments he and I made during extensive fieldwork,6 which I undertook because many of these complexes are hardly or not at all recorded. Altogether, Mughal architecture, like the Islamic architecture of India in
general, cannot is not well documented. drawings The to the art historian extent on measured rely same

of the days to come, and that which the masterpiece at of humanity to the astonishment large.3

Not only was themonument to be a magnificent burial place for Mumtaz Mahal, Shah Jahan's beloved wife this is explicitly pointed (d. 1631), but also?and
out by the Lahawri?it emperor's was to main testify to historian the cAbd and al-Hamid glory of power

areas of Islamic possible for the better-documented architecture or forWestern historical architecture in general. The pioneering surveys of theArchaeological Survey of India from the end of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth centuries included sev eral Mughal sites, but only a few?such as the mono graphs of Edmund W. Smith on Fatehpur Sikri and on Akbar's Tomb at Sikandra?were published.7 More
often than

Shah Jahan

(r. 1628-58)

and Mughal

rule:

They laid the plan of high foundation of Resurrection ambition Lord

and a dome for a magnificent building which for its loftiness will until the Day remain a memorial to the sky-reaching

it.On the of a building one has to go and measure other hand, while establishing this basic documenta in the span of tions the discipline has developed its existence, during which the approach has moved
from tual formal studies. assessment and analysis towards contex tion, the art historian is confronted by all the ques

not,

when

one

wants

to have

an

exact

plan

the Sahib Qiran-Thani of His Majesty, (Second of the Planets Jupiter of the Auspicious Conjunction the firmness and its strength will represent and Venus), of its builder.4

of the intentions

In other words, the Taj Mahal

in mind, and we the viewers

was built with posterity

are part of its concept.

in the context of a I came to study the Taj Mahal survey of the palaces and gardens of Shah Jahan that I have been conducting since 1976 as part of a larger
survey of Mughal architecture. With the assistance of

I began my survey of the palaces at Agra and, dur mea ing the 1980s, spent months in the Red Fort, From here its buildings. suring and photographing the Taj Mahal was always before my eyes at a distance across the riverYamuna, popularly called Jamna (fig.
2), and one of these views

image ofmy book Mughal Architecture (1991),

eventually

became

the cover

inwhich

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THE

TAJ MAHAL:

ARCHITECTURE,

SYMBOLISM,

AND

URBAN

SIGNIFICANCE

129

Fig.

1. Agra,

Taj Mahal

(1632-43),

mausoleum

and

flanking

buildings

seen

from

the upper

level of the gate.

(Photo:

Ebba

Koch, 1996)

I dealt with the Taj Mahal for the first time, albeit only briefly.8 I felt overwhelmed by its perfection,
splendor, as a scholar and sheer not size. alone I was Eventually in my awe I realized of the that famous

vey of India. With Richard Barraud I have been mea the buildings of the com suring and photographing in intermittent expeditions during the last ten plex
The years.11 est corners ter with tion mason of the the survey of has brought and me into this close the the remot the Taj Mahal, has architecture workmen stones.12 encoun contribu their

building. The
prises

vast literature on the Taj Mahal

few serious

com
and,

as I pointed

surprisingly

out at the beginning,

analytical to realize Jahan's The

scholarly

studies

revealed who

there is as yet no
dedicated

monograph to its architecture.9 At the same questions

or modern

treatise

anonymous on the marks

inscribed

time

I came Shah

that many palaces

answers and gar

dens
his

to my

about

lay in the Taj Mahal

patronage.

as the ultimate project of

final incentive to

I began my analysis by looking at the entire com plex of the Taj Mahal and at its urban situation. I invites could not help noticing that the Taj Mahal an approach that coincides with what since the 1970s
might be termed a "deconstructive

architectural

study it in detail came in 1994, when the editors of the second edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam asked me to write the article on the building.10 This started my project of newly documenting and analyzing the
entire mausoleum

the main propagator of this ing to Jaques Derrida, method of disassembling and questioning established notions, all Western thought is based on the idea
of centers?Origin, Immovable Mover, Truth, Essence, Ideal God, Form, and Fixed Presence?that Point,

reading."

Accord

scholar since India gained

have received

complex;

I am

the

first Western

independence
for such an

in 1947 to
undertaking,

through

the generosity

permission

of the Archaeological

Sur

cen with these The all meaning. guarantee problem so to exclude. In ters is that they doing they attempt or those Even others.13 repress, marginalize ignore,

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130

EBBA KOCH

____ fir ^ i_^ ? J^?r-J ? _Hm_^HHp?! s ^^^^^H^HHT'

__* -4. Sm * ^

__________ t ? ________ _ ____. ra 4__^__^__^__|__^__|ilr _^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_Ui_>

Fig. 2. Taj Mahal, Ebba Koch, 1985)

mausoleum

flanked

by mosque

(right)

and Mihman

Khana

(left),

seen

across

the river Jamna.

(Photo:

who of

are

tiring

of deconstruction illustrates

will the

see

that

the of

idea the

Taj too tellingly not to be included in this discussion. the white building of the mausoleum Traditionally,
takes the

center-and-margin

perception

of the beholder,
plex inence at the of end the very

position

of

the

center

in

the

who hardly notices

of which it stands. Due surrounding attention?in its

the large com

to the prom has it has architecture

conception

sures 896.10 x 300.84 m (fig. 3), which works out to 1112.5 x 374 Shahjahani gaz. Of this complex, the tomb garden and its forecourt are fully preserved; we measured it as 561.20 x 300.84 (300) m, that is, x 696 374 (373) gaz (fig. 4).14 The Shahjahani linear
yard, cm, it was called or 32 not gaz inches; an exact or zim our unit , corresponds field studies but a relative, to about have shown 81-82 that

tomb, little

received been

other

words, the

used one, the length of which could vary slightly, even

within one and the same

proportionally For

marginalized. It thus seems

complex, emerge tion, as

especially

important its

first subsidiary

to consider

entire which

overall
figure The nents:

I have

components integral extended the of the Taj to its

courtyards, of its design. of investigation environment,

comes

length of the Taj

to 80.55 garden tomb

building

complex.

the

cm.

complex,
of

the average

gaz

In addi the sur to its

consists four-fold

two main

compo the form

cross-axial, raised terrace

roundings

relationship

to the city of Agra. OF THE

at the

larger

of a classical
river, a

chdrbdgh (fig. 3: B)?and,

on which are

garden?in

towards the
the mau

ANALYSIS
The main mausoleum axis of a vast

COMPLEX
northern complex end of the

soleum and its flanking buildings (fig. 3: A). In this, the Taj Mahal garden follows the form of the typical
of garden Mughal Agra, have shown elsewhere, the waterfront this is a specific garden. form As of the I

placed

is set oblong

walled-in

that mea

chdrbdghdeveloped

by theMughals

in response

to the

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THE

TAJ MAHAL:

ARCHITECTURE,

SYMBOLISM,

AND

URBAN

SIGNIFICANCE

131

conditions of the Indo-Gangetic plain, geographic and more specifically for the riverfront situation at
Here Agra. on a mountain tral Asia, but the water slope, a large, source was not a as in the Mughals' river, lively spring native Cen from which

Ram Bagh, originally Nur Jahan's Bagh-i Nur Afshan (fig. 5: 3 and 4; fig. 6).19 The evidence indicates that most of these gardens followed the riverfront design,
with river the main and a building chdrbdgh on on a terrace landward the overlooking side.20 the

the desired running water had to be brought into the garden by means of water lifts.Accordingly, the
Mughals not sical conceived a

slow-flowing

ANALYSIS OF THE COMPLEX RESUMED

The design of the Taj garden thus introduces an established Mughal residential garden type into the
context waterfront of a monumental scheme not mausoleum. imperial determines the only The shape of

of this waterfront
placed Mughal in the

garden of but

situation;
center

the main
an

type

to

take

building was
as in the oblong the clas ter

advantage

race (kursi) running along the riverfront. The garden This

component was on the landward side of terrace.

chdrbagh,

the garden, on rather

shift towards the riverfront provided

with the climatic a advantages

the main
of run front From

the funerary garden of the Taj, it is also a key element in the planning of the entire Taj complex. At the part
of it to the south of the

garden

ning to viewers

pavilions water and on

the garden itself, the buildings presented satisfying backdrop (fig. I).15

composed presented carefully or across a boat the river (fig. 2).

an equally

(fig. 3: C) whose central square forms the Taj fore court, called jilawkhdna by Shah Jahan's chroniclers, the officially appointed court historian Abd al-Hamid
Lahawri his own and Muhammad Both Salih provide Kanbu, us with who almost wrote on account. identical

garden

is a

large

rectangle

URBAN CONTEXT
Mughal Agra consisted of two bands of such river front gardens lining the Jamna, of which only a few
survive today. The key which to my reconstruction of this

detailed descriptions of the entire Taj Mahal complex, on the occasion of its official completion on 17 Dhu
are

'1-Qacdal052

(February 6, 1643).21 Both historians

consistent their in their use of architectural terminology.

remarkably I follow terms;

The jilawkhdna square (fig. 3: 11) is framed on riverfront context formed the urban scheme, its shorter both of two smaller of the Taj, is a plan of Agra dating from the 1720s, sides by courtyard An street in the Maharaja bazaar Sawai Man Singh II Museum in the enclosures. 12b) open (fig. 3: 12a, divides these access and provides the main City Palace inJaipur; tomy knowledge it is the earliest courtyards to the a monu and, that, through jilawkhdna plan of the city (fig. 5).16 It shows forty-four garden beyond to mental 3: the the tomb the river 9), gateway (fig. complexes (including Agra Fort) along garden. The of and gives their names, which are usually those of their northern contained the residential pair courtyards
owners, these Devanagari can also gardens in script.17 be pieced Information together about from the

Mughal histories and eulogistic descriptions of Agra, in which gardens of members of the imperial family
and of nobles are in the context occasionally of an imperial mentioned, visit. Another especially source is

(fig. 3: 10a, 10b). The southern pair contained sub sidiary tomb gardens of lesser wives of Shah Jahan, whose identity is still under debate (fig. 3: 13a, 13b). These tomb enclosures echoed the design of themain
tomb the garden characteristic on a smaller scale because scheme oblong of waterfront with an they followed a cross-axial on which

quarters

for

the

tomb

attendants,

the

khawdsspuras

topographical descriptions informants for by local

of Agra in Persian written British after administrators

the British took Agra in 1803. In his Tafrih al-imdrdt (1825-26), Sil Chand describes the gardens of Agra by
the same names as feature on the owners emperors of the riverfront Jahan and The plan.18 were of gardens Agra members Aurangzeb, Jaipur

main the

Shah

stood the tomb structure and its flanking buildings. (These buildings, with one exception, are no longer preserved.) On the outside of the Taj complex are three buildings, two to the west (fig. 3: 20, 21) and
one to the east; the latter

chdrbdgh

combined

terrace

of their imperial family, and their nobility the amirs and mansabddrs. Even Mumtaz Mahal had a garden at to her daughter Jahanara; Agra, which she bequeathed what is left of this Bagh-i Jahanara is now known by the corrupted name Zahara Bagh and lies south of the

iary tomb complex

The waterfront

of this type (fig. 3: 13c).

scheme is thus transferred to a land

represents

another

subsid

locked situation in theseminiature

garden. also used Not as only the that, ordering but scheme

replicas of themain
for the is garden entire sub

the waterfront

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132
4a O-

EBBA KOCH
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2

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u_

?>7asJ
f:

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^r^i
1 |:' ''" Il

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i|?[i j *?j O \oa j 14a 11 12a

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_4e

gfl

l|

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eb

04f -* r
C |j)14b
'? -**

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11 12b

16a

12c

16 b

18a I

12d

17

12e

118 b

16c

I2f

16 d

$ t I
I ^ -__

W ? 2005 EbbflKOCH and Kanbu of 1643: A. from the Persian with terms derived descriptions by Lahawri Fig. 3. Site plan of the Taj Mahal D. complex with cross-shaped of the forecourt front terrace (kursi), B. tomb garden {jilawkhdna), (bdgh), C. complex 3. assembly hall (mihman khana), 1. mausoleum and four caravanserais 2. mosque (rawza), su) bazaar (sami), (masjid), wall towers larly called (burj), Naubat 5. pool Khana (hawz), (Drum river (char 4a-f.

10a, b. quarters (darwdza), called Saheli tombs (maqbara) all popularly subsidiary called Fatehpuri 14b. called Fatehabad Gate, popularly

6. first temporary burial site of Mumtaz Mahal, 7a, b. garden wall pavilions (Hmarat) popu to the south of the 9. gate 8. double arcaded (iwan dar iwan), House), garden galleries streets (bazar), 13a-c. 11. forecourt for tomb attendants 12a-f. bazaar {jilawkhdna), (khawasspura), Burj Gate, (Tower of the Female (darwdza) Friend), popularly 15. gate 14. gates 14a. popularly (darwdza): 16. caravan called Sirhi Darwaza,

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THE

TAJ MAHAL:

ARCHITECTURE,

SYMBOLISM,

AND

URBAN

SIGNIFICANCE

133

I-1

?-&

i-!

I |j

,: i_i L_i

I ;| 1

I_11_I

i ||

lULJlULi H
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1 ?nM?HR""| il^D^J

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tr

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^nr^

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i_i I_I i_I I_I

JJ

j jl rJiiJi?, I1-TT "Ti1-'L

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i1 giiiiiiiiiiiLfjiii'iiiiiirTTTij ^L^%

irmiiii:ii;u.'iiimiiiui.iJ

ig BKTTTTTTTTTT.^

_2f PrTTTTTTTTTT-l^

10 ^0

20

60

m 80 -4*4^

?
Fig. 4. Plan of the preserved complex.

Ebba KOCHI
Richard A. Barraud and Ebba Koch)

(Drawing:

Omar 16b. Katra Fulel Khan, (Market of Perfumes), and (chawk), 18a, b. west and east gates of the bazaar square 19. south gate of the bazaar and caravanserai called Dakhnay 20. outer caravanserai Darwaza, complex popularly complex, western A. Barraud called Fatehpuri Richard and Ebba Koch) tomb, 21. mosque (Drawing: Masjid. popularly serai (sarai) known since 16a Katra (Market) 16c. Katra Resham (Silk Market), 17. central

the eighteenth century as: 16d. Katra Jogidas,

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134

EBBA KOCH

wl kI
Efrr. ]. R7i_ir_l
^^_^_^_^_^ I-1-.-.-1? 3

p p
11 JJJ^
) IHE)

J r
}

1'?I" I "

?\*/y L-^^^

; \

Fig.

5. Plan

Maharaja

of Agra, Sawai Man

drawn Singh 9. Tomb

with

added

numbering City Palace, al-Dawla,

after a plan

painted 126):

on

cloth

datable

to the 1720s,

294 x 272

cm,

in the

II Museum, of Ttimad

(Bagh-i Jahanara), raud and Ebba Koch)

(cat. no. Jaipur 17. Mahtab Bagh,

Bagh (Bagh-i Nur Afshan), 20. Taj Mahal, 28. Agra Fort. (Drawing:

3. Ram

4. Zahara Richard

Bagh A. Bar

to understand of the In order sidiary complex Taj. we must the turn to complete design, contemporary at and look and nineteenth description eighteenth-

den plots. We meet

creative transfer civic of utilitarian tion and of the the

of a

here with a unique

design Hence onto the

and highly
a complex configura

chdrbdgh architecture.

century plans (compare figs. 3 and 7).22 From these it becomes apparent that south of the jilawkhdna therewas
another

unit the jilawkhdna rectangular containing to its south cross-axial unit echoed the water

ment

(fig. 3: D). It was formed by open, intersecting bazaar streets (fig. 3: 12c, 12d, 12e, 12f), which cor
responded squarish to sarais, the of the walkways that is, caravanserais and garden, or inns four (fig. 3:

courtyard

complex

with

a cross-axial

arrange

front scheme of the Taj garden. The entire complex of the Taj Mahal thus consisted formally of two units of the Taj gar following the waterfront design?that
den, locked a true waterfront of garden, subsidiary and units. that of the land variant the

16a, 16b, 16c, 16d), taking the place of the four gar

The

tomb garden and the subsidiary complex were

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THE

TAJ MAHAL:

ARCHITECTURE,

SYMBOLISM,

AND

URBAN

SIGNIFICANCE

135

-1
1.

' |
,.-. -.I

T
bJUJ

?l

20 0

20 4060 m \^
Zahara as

Fig. (late

6. Plan 1620s

of preserved and reconstructible substance of the so-called building to 1630s), Richard A. Barraud and Ebba Koch) Agra. (Drawing:

Bagh,

identified

Bagh-i

Jahanara

connected not only formally but also functionally. The utilitarian unit serviced the funerary unit of the tomb garden. By imperial command the upkeep of the tomb was financed by the income generated from
the bazaars and caravanserais, in addition to that of

also

to the dialectics

of

the Islamic

dunya , the domains

life.25 Furthermore, of quarters complex elers ensured "that admire jeweler its

of the spiritual and the material

the addition to the mausoleum and foreign see should trav and for merchants the whole world

concept

of din

wa

unit

thirtyvillages from the district of Agra.23 The

was the counterpart the (qarina)24 of the tomb

service
com

plex, linked to it by design and function.

The two zones, funerary and the "wordly," relate

inAgra

in the words of magnificence," and traveler Tavernier, Jean-Baptiste world

the French who was

in 1640-41, and again in 1665.26 Its reception

travelers?jahdn-nawarddn or rawandahd

through

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136

EBBA KOCH
yi cdlam, Of as

integral part of the concept of the Taj Mahal.

this two-part service unit, the southern cross-axial

the Mughals

called

them27?thus

forms

an

component is the great mystery of the Taj Mahal: we do not really know how much of it survives. Hardly anybody who walks through the southern gate of the jilawkhdna (fig. 3: 15) and enters the narrow street
with the marble

known as the Taj Ganj, was originally part of the Taj complex. Here a densely built city quarter has grown up in which the architecture of Shah Jahan has been
buried almost of fragments caravanserais. one can make out only entirely; today and bazaars the wings of the original of the central The four square gates

inlay workshops

realizes

that

this area,

or chawk are preserved (although two only in part) and protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (fig. 8). The Taj Ganj is, however, an integral part of the Taj Mahal, an indispensable component of its plan no doubt that it ning. It has been lost, but there is I should be given back to the Taj by some means. am planning to do this in the form of an architec
tural model that will reconstruct the entire

of the Taj Mahal, the River Jamna, and the imperial garden called Mahtab Bagh on the opposite side of
the river. The model will enable visitors to understand

complex

that the Taj

ness of the fully planned also part draw of

is unique
tomb

not only because

but also the because scale, as I

of the grand
of and the care the multi

functional complexity of the entire compound.

attention the urban the Taj Mahal of scheme Agra. and western to envisage

building creative design,

Itwill
plac

a constituent

ing the model

in the

in the new Visitors' Center

eastern

at the Taj
of the

Mahal,

khawdsspuras (fig. 9), today called, respectively, Fate habad Gate Court and Fatehpuri Gate Court. The Taj Mahal Visitors' Center is part of a new initiative for
"the and conservation surrounding Indian and areas restoration...of and a new the Taj site visitor Mahal manage

courtyards

ment,"
the ological

realized
Survey

since 2001

in a partnership

between

government, of India,

Indian Hotels Company Ltd., that is, the Tata Group of Hotels. The project ismonitored by the Taj Mahal
Collaborative, directed by the conser

by represented and the private

the Archae sector?the

Conservation

MIK 10060.

complex Fig. 7. Plan of the entire Taj Mahal late in Persian, tions of the main buildings Museum fur Indische nineteenth century, early

with

designa or Berlin,

vation architect Rahul Mehrotra and by Amita Baig, and advised by a body of global experts of which I am
part.28

eighteenth Kunst,

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THE

TAJ MAHAL:

ARCHITECTURE,

SYMBOLISM,

AND

URBAN

SIGNIFICANCE

137

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to the northeast chawk (square) bazaar and caravanserai leading complex (fig. 3: D), gate of the central area is now built in and over in the by the city quarter Taj Ganj; today called Katra Fulel (fig. 3: 16b). The can be seen the gate of the and to the right the Mihman behind it part of the mausoleum, Taj Mahal garden, background Khana. 1999) (Photo: Ebba Koch, Fig. 8. Taj Mahal, ern caravanserai

THE TAJAS BUILT ARCHITECTURAL THEORY

The reconstruction of the

Mughal
major would ested

literary preoccupation.
theme have elsewhere in the the Indian expected in the ancient

True,
Islamic

itwas hardly a
world, but one inter the

Taj establishes the determinant role of the waterfront garden in itsplanning. The complex of the Taj Mahal
not only as garden form, We had ders no explores an ideal potential and funerary canonically turn the of the waterfront a utilitarian the worldly architectural

original

complex

of

the

Mughals textual

to become tradition of art

ory, all the more since, like the Muslim dynasties in India before them, they continued to absorb Indian
artistic and no even texts conventions newly exist does into revived not their them. mean art and architecture, the fact that the However, that

it also

principles
have

of the period.
no texts to

expresses

architectural

to because theory, affected

written

architectural they were

the Mughals one won and by the ancient

to what

extent

Shastric
texts

tradition of building
in an extensive

theory. The
program under

Sanskrit
Akbar

translated

did not include

and architectural shdstras,

the outstanding
theory, the

Indian genre of art

vdstu not a

ory was absent from Mughal thinking, especially in the time of Shahjahan. My investigations have shown that theory was laid down in the architecture itself. I have tried to establish this for As in painting?and the historical images illustrating Shah Jahan's history, the Pddshdhndma29?the ruler's buildings and formal we can derive them from their form itself.The Taj
gardens express these concepts so systematically that

respectively;

shdstras and shilpa art was about theorizing

is

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138

EBBA KOCH

Fig. 9. Taj Mahal, called Fatehabad

view Gate

from

the roof

Ebba Koch, 1995)

Courtyard

level of the gate towards southeast tomb (fig. 3: 10b) and the subsidiary

onto

to the east

now the khawasspura of attendants) (quarter of the jilawkhdna 3: 13b). (Photo: (fig.

"built like mar a

architectural literary and vocabulary text

theory," we once of

which have

can

be

read the

almost gram The

an Arabic ing and

word

that

expresses but also

the notion of integration,

of

mastered

the architectural

buildings
bizabdni), est

as Lahawri of of

speak to us "withmute eloquence"

a the note it.30 We puts consistent formal entire and art of Shah

language. here

(bazabdn
the pur

into the ideas of universal fitting conceptually a that great role in the imperial harmony played of Shah ideology Jahan. In a typical Shahjahani
qarina roring central, scheme, the other, dominant two symmetrical are arranged feature. features, on both one mir of a sides

counterparts

pair thus

expression characteristic resents

systematization it rep Jahan; spe

a distinctive

cific to this period. The principles of Shahjahani

interact as follows: closely with one

outstanding

contribution

architecture, which
can be identified

3. Hierarchy.
governs 4. Proportional sions. all

This
the

is the overriding principle, which

others. expressed in triadic divi

another,

formulas

5. Uniformity
1. 2. planning. Favored in Symmetry. particular we even for which have metry, porary descriptions of buildings, Geometrical accents. is bilateral a term namely, sym in contem qarina,31 6. 7. 8. Sensuous Selective Symbolism.

of shapes,

ordered

by hierarchical

attention use

to detail.

of naturalism.

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THE

TAJ MAHAL:

ARCHITECTURE,

SYMBOLISM,

AND

URBAN

SIGNIFICANCE

139

jjjfiKfjJP?____________

'

___3__i_HH_4____i

p^^^^^^^^^^E^^^^^^^^^^^t

^^^^H^HB*

??^^ erMhgb ^^^^ ^ kv_j!_^__^_^_B^^_^_^_^_^_^n^^^^^^^^^^I^!J^^^^^^^I

now called Machchhi Bhawan, Fig. 10. Agra Fort, courtyard Audiences" south wing with marble (Dawlat Khana-i Khass),

originally baldachin

the "Ground for Shah

Floor

Jahan's

throne,

of the Hall of Private Courtyard 1630s (Photo: Ebba Koch,

1980)

A palace wing of the so-called Machchhi Bhawan in fort the illustrates these (1630s) Agra principles very clearly (fig. 10). The wing consists of uniformly shaped
arcades form feature in a of with the and a hierarchical accent in the center, The sides or in the central express The marble baldachin. emperor's on both the identical arcades division bilateral symmetry,

overflowing columns?a architecture

leaves

out

of which or

grows

each

of in

the four Indian

purna ghata an ancient

and prosperity
This ciples palaces, are, example govern however, in the

kalasha, purna of growth, symbol to suggest architecture and most that of

fecundity,

(fig. II).33
ismeant the entire mosques, Mahal, the same prin Shahjahan? mausoleums. most

triadic

baldachin
use with

attains its hierarchical

accentuation

qarina.

by the

gardens,

expressed Taj

white marble?and material?namely, it is formed of naturalism: bal organic uster decorated with columns, naturalistically sculpted as decoration in stucco acanthus leaves that also appear selective of the sensuous interior cupola. to detail attention of These elements and are shaped in stark contrast are with

of nobler

sistently mizes the

and grandly whose architecture

They con epito

Shahjahani

system.

ARCHITECTURE

THE PRINCIPLES OF SHAHJAHANI THE TAJ MAHAL

strict geometry

AS EXPRESSED

IN

forms

to the arcades plainer of the baldachin throne stood below

and wellbeing.32

This

the wings. The organic plant the emperor, whose symbolize of it, as the generator blossoming

First,

a rational

and

is ensured

is underlined

by the pot with

use of grid systems based on the Shahjahani

ent modules are used for the garden and the

gaz. Differ
subsidiary

by

the

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140

EBBA KOCH gate (darwdza) to the garden (fig. 3: 9), the forecourt (jilawkhdna) (fig. 3: 11) and its southern gate (fig. 3: 15), the square (chawk) (fig. 3: 17), and the south
ern

3: 19). These elements are flanked on both sides by pairs of identical buildings: the mosque (masjid) (fig. 3: 2) and the assembly hall (mihmdn khdna) (fig. 3: 3),
two Khana of the garden wall pavilions (Hmdrat), terrace now called the step, Naubat corners pairs 3: 7a, 7b), and, (fig. enclosure wall and the to accentuate

gate

of

the bazaar

and

caravanserai

complex

(fig.

three

of tower pavilions (burj) (fig. 3: 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4e, 4f). The elements of the subsidiary unit (fig. 3: C, D) are
arranged Integrated in the same mirror the overall symmetry. qarina the symmetry four-part are gar into

centrally planned den (bagh) (fig. vanserai complex

elements, 3: B), (fig. the

namely

111 I^^^h ^IHP-4L2jiH

of the subsidiary tombs (fig. 3: 13a, 13b); the individ ual buildings of the mausoleum (fig. 3: 1) and gate are over 3: raised central 9) (fig. plans (compare figs. 3 and 4). Each element plays an indispensable
part ing, in the composition; of the the balance if entire just one part were miss be composition would

bazaar-and-cara four-part 3: D), the miniature charbaghs

destroyed. Bilateral has ple

dominated symmetry as been generally recognized of the architecture of rulers of the symbol ruling and For Earl harmony.

by an

a central ordering at

accent princi absolute about this is

power?a balance Fig. 11. Marble throne, baluster column with of the baldachin and of Shah

aiming force that E.

brings

Rosenthal,

Jahan's topped out of a pot with acanthus overflowing (Photo: Ebba Koch, 1979) ghata.

an acanthus

leaves,

capital growing the Indian purna

in expressed in the palace built into the Alhambra Granada by Charles V in 1526 as a statement of the Christian Reconquista of Spain, "a striking symbol of
the ized stratification authority."35 formulas and is of aristocratic society under central

Third,
tional own

triadic divisions bound

determine the ornament architectural

together in propor
of shape plans, of the Taj. eleva A leit of a

complexes,

and even individual buildings

The unit on of a the garden a with and the

have their
riverfront and

tions, motif dominant cal

grid 23-gaz the jilawkhdna and bazaar and caravanserai on a In the of the module. complex planning 17-gaz a in that of the mausoleum module is used and 7-gaz a gate 3-gaz module.34 is there with Second, perfect symmetrical planning on bilateral a cen symmetry emphasis (qarina) along are tral axis on which the main features. The placed axis main north-south is represented running by the the unit of canal garden set On it are and the bazaar street features: in its extension. the dominant the mausoleum

grid. terrace is based

module,

archy as well as to qarina symmetry (figs. 1 and 12).

Fourth and color is the hierarchical down striking marble of to grading the minutest of material, ornamental use of color: forms, detail. the

tripartite composition consisting in the center two identi feature flanked by in turn to hier the relates elements; configuration

the

Particular

is hierarchical

only building
with iary white structures

in the whole
the Taj features

complex

faced entirely
All the subsid red clad

is the mausoleum.

sandstone;

(rawza)

(fig. 3: 1), the pool

(hawz)

(fig. 3: 5),

the

in white marble (figs. 1, 2, 12). This hierarchic use of white marble and red sandstone is typical of impe

special

are faced with complex such as domes be may

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THE

TAJ MAHAL:

ARCHITECTURE,

SYMBOLISM,

AND

URBAN

SIGNIFICANCE

141

- i'

- -

*--*.*'

? _L ?"^_ti^^l^^_^^^^^^^_^^^_^^^^^^_^^_^^_^^^^^^^^^^

_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_P^^^_^_E__^_^_k>

<dL ^^^^^^^^^HKl

^^^^Km?,s?,?t ^^^BF^^^^^^H^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^h

___________________m^i___S bSBHBI^H
H^_|_^_^_^_^_^_^_H__^_Q_[__fi_l_^_^_^___i __^^^fl_^^^^^^^Hs|J|^5Ki___r_~^_H_

i.

! I - IB^^^^^^^E^^^^H^^^^^^^^^^^^HH ,* |f>?^p^>>f?i^p^nii? . ^>_i__>Z*'*^*>* _

^?,>2___HBSyvi'"-' I

jfly^^^^^^^^^H^H|^^^^H^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H fi^^^BB9^^^B^^^^^__^______________________|

____________________|3: 1_Q___kIv_I^^K_^B ^^^^^^^^^^H4^^I^^^^iH

^^^^^^^^^H ^^^^^^^^^h

I I

jMEbBbI_B_^___B_l^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_i Il_^__________^__^______^____________________H

Fig.

12. Taj Mahal,

Mihman

Khana

(Photo:

Ebba

Koch,

1996)

rial Mughal
unparalleled est link to expresses an

architecture, but here

It

it is explored with
the clear

represents sophistication. Indian Shastric and concepts pre-Islamic social stratification. The Mughals elaborated praxis that already down an had been

were emperors ers in Indian

concerned as well

to define

themselves terms; the

as

rul

as Muslim

historian

Abd
an his

al-Qadir Bada'uni
orthodox own Muslim and account, be and addressed other

(d. 1004/1595-96),
wrote the an a history emperor

who was
on for "like letting Rama,

of Akbar

here

architectural

criticized as infidel

adopted
forms tric

by the early sultans of Delhi

Indian The concepts laid Vishnudharmottara,

and

that con

himself Krishna, archical nar entire nas

incarnation kings."38

to older

in the Shas authoritative

literature.

compilation
century,

composed

in Kashmir
white-colored

in about the eighth

stone for Brah

Fifth is the uniformity of shapes, ordered

accents: for instance, support?the complex. and capital, The vary Shahjahani It has a multifaceted a base formed of one only column?is

by hier

recommended

type of colum in the used shaft, a muqar

min buildings and red for those of the Kshatriyas, the

warrior caste:36 "White, it would seem, is

to the red as the purity of the Brahmin is opposed of the of the The Kshatriya." synthesis ruling power
two colors had an

opposed

to

panels39 and
arch. may

is always combined
and to their

multicusped-arched of the

with a multicusped
columns in the complex. and

proportions according form

details position arcades

white and red in their buildings,

resented est levels themselves of the Indian in the social terms

auspicious

connotation.37

the Mughals
of the two

By using

rep
high

In the galleries on both sides of the gate

they monumental (fig.

(fig. 3: 8a,
13, back cf.

speaking, Kshatryas

system: were the new Brahmins they of the age. Until Aurangzeb,

architecturally and the new the Mughal

fig. 10); on the roof level of the mausoleum

arcades on a smaller scale are set in the

8b)

similar
sides

of the pishtdqs (portals), and Shahjahani

half-columns

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142

EBBA KOCH

MIS

^^^^^^^^^^^H^K,

on both sides of south of garden Fig. 13. Taj Mahal, galleries the gate column with faceted shaft, (fig. 3: 18), Shahjahani muqarnas panels, capital, and base formed of four multicusped each enriched with a flowering plant in relief. (Photo: Ebba

Fig. 14. Taj half-columns

Mahal, of roof

roof

level, pillar (kiosk),

with behind

chhatri

paired Shahjahani the back side of columns

Koch, 1995)

the pishtaq (porch) with gallery formed of Shahjahani and multicusped arches. (Photo: Ebba Koch, 1996)

flank the pillars of the four marble chhatris (kiosks) surrounding the main dome (fig. 14).
is true of uniformity and its decoration; vocabulary This cartouches, of decorative and to the the it entire applies architectural to the panel

intomarble in the central dome and half vaults of the pishtdqs of the mausoleum (fig. 16).
Sixth, mausoleum erally, "hard the

ing of the walls with shallow multicusped

treatment for of vaults. the main facing is used

niches and
One vaults type and

is expressed most
dado

principle and

of

sensuous

attention

to detail

exemplarily
in the gemstone

in the flowers of the

inlay) pietra decoration dura of (lit the

exquisite

stone":

the half vaults of the mausoleum

16)?a centric as qdlib network circles, kari, developed which Shah or mold from Jahan's because work,

and gate

points

in con arranged authors described in the original

(figs. 15,

cenotaphs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan and the screen that surrounds them (figs. 17, 18, 20, 21).
Seventh, in the Taj the The selective most use of naturalism decor hierarchy. naturalistic

plaster form of the vault the pattern was applied by means of molds (fig. 15). The design was transferred

appears in the chief building of the entire complex, the mausoleum (figs. 17, 18, 20, 21). Eighth, the sophisticated symbolism in the architec

emphasizes

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THE

TAJ MAHAL:

ARCHITECTURE,

SYMBOLISM,

AND

URBAN

SIGNIFICANCE

143

H/^t^_!_H_i^^H^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

^_HE^>-^::^i^^_^_______________________________ ____ff^-^v^^?""^jBB-fS^S

i_ _9^_____________________Pl'

^^^^^^^^^^H^^v

n_______________________Bk

__^H

^SIh^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^h ^^^S^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Hr

'^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^HHB i^^^^^^^^^^^^bh

< $v;l!l^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_|R_8H_K ^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_HM^vK

Fig.

15. Taj

Mahal,

garden

gate,

half

vault

of the southern from stars

pishtaq

forming

kite-shaped

compartments

developed

arranged

showing plaster facing with qalib kari, in concentric tiers. (Photo: Ebba Koch,

that 1996)

is, a network

__bBH__^_P_Bb_m^_He_|B_|___E^

Fig.

16. Taj Mahal,

mausoleum,

central

dome

with

qalib kari in marble

relief.

(Photo:

Ebba

Koch,

1996)

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144
tural cept mansion program expresses, of the mausoleum of Mumtaz in as as the I have earthly garden suggested, realization of Paradise. the of

EBBA KOCH
con the This to brought it was raised The the its ultimate to a level monumentalized above the thus design; of mortals.

is clearly formulated by Lahawri

of the emperor's exalted reign: mausoleum, ...the Rizwan

in the official history

imitates the gardens gives of an

concept elaborate

which of Paradise],

by Amanat have ley ment, for

[the guardian of Paradise impression (rawza-i mu alia

and which

for the inscriptions focus on themes of the Last Judg

divine

sphere house also governs eschatological of the program inscriptions, designed Z. A. Desai Khan Shirazi. and Wayne Beg shown that passages of the selected Qur'an of the the reward of the faithful, of the

haza'irfrat

the holy enclosures) (literally, wa az riydz-i Rizwan hikayat kard nishan al-] quds dahad).40 ki az references have a complexity of

Paradise

(fig. 19).42 Such

in for Mumtaz

mercy,

and

themes are entirely fitting

evocation abode however, Begley, close-at-hand read realiza the

the mausoleum

their

Mughal eulogistical their own; while convention,

prepared uses the evidence ing tion and sees

in Paradise. less an

for another, Mahal

a represent they may purely literary can also have a direct on the they bearing or art that of architecture In order work they praise. to arrive at their in such the metaphors used meaning, eulogies In thus have to be

in the Taj

architectural scheme?namely, in a

of an

Islamic

concept
ment, as

of the Throne
envisaged and

cosmological

of God

on the Day of Judg

diagram by the

recorded

the evidence

brought forth by formal analysis.41

carefully

evaluated

against

the Taj Mahal, of the architecture every aspect of the the concept mansion. paradisiacal in the overall It is of the entire expressed planning a The waterfront residential complex. garden, typical was in ideal forms form of Agra, realized and garden supports

thirteenth-century Spanish mystic Ibn al-Arabi in his Futuhdt al-Makkiyya (1238).43 Why then, as Maria Eva
Subtelny has

(Qur'an extolling God's majesty40 absent from the inscriptional program of the Taj Mahal? Begley's 2:255)
interpretation ignores not only that, but also the use

pointed

out,44

is the famous

Throne

verse

of an established Agra garden plan for the layout of

Fig.

(Photo:

17. Taj Mahal, pishtaq Ebba Koch, 1978)

of mausoleum,

marble

dados

with

rows of naturalistic

flowers

representing

heavenly

flowerbeds.

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THE

TAJ MAHAL:

ARCHITECTURE,

SYMBOLISM,

AND

URBAN

SIGNIFICANCE

145

_^_^__^_H_S__.'*^?^i^_^_^_^_^_^___|SilH Fig. 18. Taj Mahal, pishtaq of the mausoleum, dado flowers of mixed botanical species, detail. (Photo: Ebba Koch, 1978)

the mausoleum.46 relevant aspect,

He that

also is, the to our

another highly disregards that forms floral decoration

"

an integral part of the building.

In a direct appeal senses, is the expressed at the garden paradisiacal flowers that appear the beholder. represent botanical They naturalistic house on are of the concept in the delicate the eye level of and

.-^l_H_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_i '~^_H__^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_I

dados,

carved but

in sensuous

detail

species47 the mausoleum into

that

not necessarily the transform

identifiable lower walls of

beds
The rior, taz them. and

ever-blooming decoration

paradisiacal culminates

flower

(figs. 17, 18).

naturalistic in the central and Shah These plants in the inte ensemble of the with semi-precious the cenotaphs screen that spectacular stones, of Mum surrounds flowers in com

and Jahan are covered inlaid with

messo (composition) di pietre dure', the Mughals called the technique parchin kari (literally: "driven-in work") (fig. 20). The poet Abu Talib Kalim tells us that the painterly effects that could be obtained with parchin
kari made flowers, it possible to create thus the desired superior naturalistic of their permanent in nature: counterparts On Have each ments become apparent through the chisel's blade. stone and images 19. Taj Mahal, interior of the central hall, south arch. with the colophon of the inscription of Qur'an 39:53-54, "Finished with His of the calligrapher, [God's] reading help; in the Khan written by the humble al-Shirazi, faqir Amanat Fig. End thousand and year one twelfth of His Majesty's Koch, 2001) and the [1638-39], forty-eight Hijri Ebba accession." (Photo: auspicious

a hundred

colors,

paintings,

and

orna

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146

EBBA KOCH

Fig.

20. Cenotaphs

of Mumtaz

Mahal

(1632)

and

Shahjahan

(1666)

in the main

tomb hall.

(Photo:

Ebba

Koch,

1981)

of Shahjahan Fig. 21. Cenotaph stones inlaid with semi-precious

in the lower

tomb chamber

in pietra dura/parchin

("crypt"). kari technique.

of poppies and yellow Ebba Koch, 2002) (Photo: Detail

flowers

set in cartouches,

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THE The chisel has become

TAJ MAHAL: the pen upon

ARCHITECTURE, of Mani48 the translucent marble

SYMBOLISM, and to

AND provide

URBAN a

SIGNIFICANCE memorial

147 to his fame. Strict

Painting

so many

pictures

(ab-i marmar). Pictures become manifest from every stone; of a flower

formal principles served to express within each work of art and each building the hierarchy and timeless order of Shahjahani rule.With their successful appeal to our
senses, the seductive aesthetics make

lasting

In itsmirror have

behold inlaid

the image

garden.

more
a

They What Those are When The

flowers in smell

of stone they make flowers

in the marble: up with color. the heart's

persuasive. and the sensuous

successful Lastly, the close

monument

It is the fusion of the intellectual that has made the Taj Mahal such
up to the present day. between form and mean

the message

the

they lack red and

connection

yellow out

that dispel and amber.

ing in Shahjahani
plar of general

artmakes
art-historical

ita methodological
relevance; a

exem
us

it reminds

grief, completely of such deceased of carnelian the surface [want to]

that formal analysis should not be in opposition

approach but rather starting point as history.

to a
for

contextual ismade, pictures art

stones will

of a tomb

clasp

the flower

to her heart.49

On both cenotaphs of Shah Jahan, which were placed next to those of Mumtaz after his death in 1666, the
decoration ence even with over paradisiacal inscriptions. flowers was Inscriptions given prefer had deco

Institutefur Kunstgeschichte University of Vienna

NOTES
Author's fellowship from the Aga Khan Program at Harvard in autumn 2002 University enabled me to work on the manuscript of Taj Mahal, and to pres ent my findings in a lecture in the Aga Khan Program Lecture Series on Nov. 14, 2003, which forms the basis of this article. I note: A visiting for Islamic Architecture

rated the sarcophagus-like element of both cenotaphs of Mumtaz, the one in the lower and the other in the upper tomb chamber, and full flowering plants
appear But only of both on the platform of her cenotaphs Shah Jahan's upper are cenotaph. covered all

over with flowers (figs. 20, 21); the only epigraphy appears in the form of a brief historical epitaph at the south end of each cenotaph. The weight given to
floral decoration concept is in of tune, on the one as hand, with the overall the mausoleum paradisiacal

thank Gulru Necipoglu, David Roxburgh, Jeffery Spurr, Andras and Sunil Sharma for their interest in my research Riedlmayer, and their help during my stay in Cambridge. For supporting my and analysis of the Taj Mahal, I wish project of the documentation to thank the Jubilaumsfonds der Osterreichischen Nationalbank, the Bundesministerium W. fur Unterricht E. Alkazi. und Kulturelle heiten, Austria, 1. and Mr. Angelegen

garden house, but the exclusively floral decoration

the ment, in his The was emperor's relating, court court "the cenotaphs even after settings and makes his a more death,

of

specific to the use of flora

state

to express writers

poets

of the spring the renewer generosity,"50 "Hindustan has become and age his reign...has in which the

imperial propaganda. tell us that Shah Jahan of justice flower and garden under whose rule (mujaddid) the rose the nights garden spring are of the earth, of the season young."51

E. Begley, "The Myth of the Taj Mahal and a New The The Art Bulletin 61 (1979): 7 ory of its Symbolic Meaning," 37. Begley's interpretation of the building as a replica of the of God became widely known, probably because Throne of its eccentricity and also because there was no proposed alter itsway into the popular travel guide lit native; it even made erature: see Lonely Planet: India, 8th ed. (Hawthorne: Victo

2. 3.

become days and

ria, Australia, 1999), 392. The Complete Taj Mahal and the Riverfront Gardens ofAgra (Lon don: Thames and Hudson, 2006). forthcoming Muhammad Amin Qazwini, Padshahnama, British Library Asia, Or. Pacific, and Africa Collections (henceforth BL APAC), refoliation 235b), my translation; 173, foi. 234b (librarian's cf. the translation Taj Mahal: Desai,

CONCLUSION
From our
emerges consistently the as

investigations,
a time when and systematically seen as

the reign of Shah Jahan

the visual explored arts were as most a means

4.

and European Documentary Sources (Cam teenth-Century Mughal and bridge, MA: Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture Seattle: University of Washington Press, ca. 1989), 42. Abd al-Hamid Lahawrl, The Badshahnamah (Persian text), ed. M. Kablr al-Din Ahmad and M. Abd al-Rahim (Calcutta: Asi atic Society of Bengal, vol. 1, pt. 1, 403, my trans.; 1865-72) cf. the trans, of this passage in Begley and Desai, Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb, 43.

of this passage inW. E. Begley and Z. A. The Illumined Tomb: An Anthology of Seven

of promulgating
and arts were the represent

imperial ideology. The written texts

and equally state his means to necessary for a wider public 5.

I thank Dr. in reading

S. M. Yunus and

ruler

translating Mughal

assistance Jaffery for his continuing source material.

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148
6.

EBBA KOCH
In Koch, have given differing measurements of the complex. of in the rendering 58, a misprint occurred "Tadj. Mahall," of the preserved part, which are indicated the gaz equivalents as 690 x 313 gaz instead of 696 x 374 gaz. In my essay in Sev entyArchitectural Wonders, 61, the overall length of the com x 300 m, because we took it from the plex is given as 897.3 outer face of the southernmost 1.20 m gate, which projects from the enclosure wall. From this comes the overall length 58, which differs

7.

My field research provides thematerial for a constandy expand ing archive, which today comprises several hundred architec tural drawings prepared mainly by Richard A. Barraud and ca. 50,000 photographs taken by myself. E. W. Smith, The Moghul Architecture ofFathpur-Sikri, Archaeo

8. 9.

35 (Allahabad: Illustrated, ASINIS Superintendent ment Press, United Provinces, 1909). In the second Indian edition (New Delhi: Oxford Press, 2002), 98-101. The most useful studies

logical Survey of India: New Imperial Series (henceforth ASI 18, 4 vols. (1894-98, NIS) repr. Delhi: Caxton Publications, 1985); idem, Akbar's Tomb, Sikandarah near Agra, Described and Govern

University

15.

Der Taj Mahal in 59-88; Dieter Brandenburg, (Bom (Berlin, 1969); R. Nath, The Immortal Taj Mahal to the Taj "From Tamerlane bay, 1972); and Lisa Golombek, in Islamic Art and Architecture: In Honor ofKatharina Mahal," Islamic Art and Architecture, Otto-Dorn, ed. A. Daneshvari, The His 1 (Malibu, Moin-ud-din, 1981), 43-50. Muhammad tutes 24 (1961): Agra for the first time the tory of the Taj (Agra, 1905), recorded effort was superseded inscriptions of the Taj; his pioneering The Illumined Tomb. For excel by Begley and Desai, Taj Mahal:

are Muhammad Abdulla Chaghtai, "The Le Tadj Mahal 1938); R. A. Jairazbhoy, (Brussels, d'Agra in the Context of East and West: A Study in Com Taj Mahal Journal of theWarburg and Courtauld Insti parative Method,"

Brill, 1997), 140-60, repr. in Ebba Koch, York, and Cologne: Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology (New Delhi: Oxford Univer 183-202. sity Press, 2001), 16. Cat. no. 126. The plan is painted on cloth and measures 294 x 272 cm. I have studied it since the mid-1980s and discussed see Ebba Koch, "The Zahara Bagh it in several publications: at Agra," Environmental Design 2 (1986): 30 (Bagh-ijahanara) inM. C. Beach, Garden" 37; idem, "The Mughal Waterfront and Wheeler

in Gardens in "The Mughal Waterfront Garden," Koch, theTime of theGreat Muslim Empires: Theory and Design, Supple ments to Muqarnas, 7, ed. Attilio Petruccioli (Leiden, New Ebba

of 1114 gaz cited in Koch, "Tadj. Mahall," from the one given here as 1112.5 gaz.

Ebba Koch, Padshahnama:

see Amina Okada and M. C. lent photographs by Jean Nou, and Paris: Abbeville (New York, London, Joshi, Taj Mahal the illustrations are only partly Press, 1993): unfortunately see Ebba identified. For further literature on the Taj Mahal,

Thackston, King of theWorld: The An Imperial Mughal Manuscript from theRoyal Library, Windsor Castle (London: Azimuth Editions and Wash Institu ington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian

tion, 1997), cat. no. 29, 185-87 and cat. no. 45, 209-10, fig. for of Manuscripts, 132. I thank Dr. B. M. Jawalia, Keeper me in reading the inscriptions of the plan in July assisting then Direc 1985 and Feb. 1986, and Dr. Asok Kumar Das,

10.

Koch, of Islam, 2nd ed. (hence Encyclopaedia "Taglj. Mahall," and vol. 10, 58-60, forth EI2) Brill, 1960-2004), (Leiden: idem, Complete Taj Mahal. new overall Koch, plan of fig. 4 presents my "Tadj Mahall," based on for the first time. A brief assessment the complex in The Seventy Architec this survey is idem, "The Taj Mahal," turalWonders ofOur World, ed. Neil Parkyn (London: Thames and Hudson, 2002), 57-61.

Sawai Man Singh II Museum, tor of the Maharaja Jaipur, for to study and to publish it. the permission a fur 17. As no. 45 on the line drawing of fig. 5 I have added ther complex, which represents the Chhatri of Jaswant Singh that 1678), a well-preserved (d. probably funerary complex does not appear on the Jaipur map.

18.

11. We measured

60. in Koch, is published "Taj Mahal," "Structure, Sign, and Play," Writing and Dif Derrida, 1978). ference, trans. A. Bass (Chicago, 14. The width of the complex at the southern, jilawkhana, end mea sures 300.84 m; at the riverfront it is 300 m. This is explained selection 13. Jaques by Richard

12 .A

the buildings with metal and plastic tapes and instrument called Disto Basic, made with a laser measuring by Leica. Based on our survey, Richard Barraud did the scale with a Nikon FS I took the photographs drawings by hand; Photomic. All plans and photographs illustrating this article are part of this survey.

for James Ste Sil Chand, Lalah Tafrih al-imarat, compiled of Agra, and Magistrate Acting Collector phen Lushington, 1825-26, BL APAC, Pers. Or. 6371. I have used the copy pre Sessions Judge, Agra, for James Davidson, in 1836-37 pared BL APAC, Pers. ms. 2450. "Zahara Bagh Koch, (Bagh-i Jahanara)." of the Agra riverfront scheme, For a full discussion chap. 1. Taj Mahal, see Koch,

19. 20. 21.

in his pioneering A. Barraud study "The Modular on our measurements and based the of Mahal," Taj Planning in Koch, Complete Taj Mahal. illustrated with three drawings, of that the planning refutes Begley's Barraud assumption a decimal grid over the Taj can be reconstructed by putting and explaining the whole away the features that complex The Illu do not fit into it. See Begley and Desai, Taj Mahal: of mined Tomb, figs. 13-15, and W. E. Begley, "The Garden Plan Architectural A Case Study of Mughal the Taj Mahal: in Mughal Gardens: Sources, Places, Repre ning and Symbolism," and J.Wolschke sentations, and Prospects, ed. J. L. Wescoat,Jr. I Bulmahn (Washington, DC, 1996). In earlier publications

Salih and Muhammad vol. 2, 322-31; Lahawri, Badshahndma, vol. 2, 315 cAmal-i Sdlih, 3 vols. (Lahore, 1967-72) Kanbu, The Illumined in Taj Mahal: 20; both trans. Begley and Desai see the new study Tomb, 65-82. On Mughal historiography, ah Sinnstiftung: Indo Historiographie by Stephan Conermann, derMogulzeit (932?1118/ persische Geschichtsschreibung wdhrend 422 (on Reichert Verlag, 2002), (Wiesbaden: 1516-1707) In his and passim and 125, 395-96, (on Kanbu). Lahawri) not Conermann assessment, regrettably does painstaking as sources of history, as I have consider art and architecture Ideology, xxiii-xxvii. The first dated plan pleaded for in the introduction of the entire to Mughal Art and Imperial

22.

is by the British complex who had it pre Daniell, landscape in their Two Views of the in 1789 and published pared in Agra Taken in 1789 (Lon Hindostan at theCity ofAgra in Taje Mahel on cloth, is in the don, 1801). A similar plan, but painted artists Thomas and William

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THE Museum

TAJ MAHAL:

ARCHITECTURE,

SYMBOLISM,

AND

URBAN

SIGNIFICANCE

149

23.

ice Leoshko, Joseph M. Dye III, and Stephen Markel, Romance and exhibition (London: Thames catalogue of theTaj Mahal, of Los Angeles and Los Angeles: Hudson County Museum Art, 1989), 55, fig. 41. The plans differ in the areas of the and the caravansarais. jilawkhana cAmal-i Salih, vol. 2, 329-30; Kanbu, Lahawrl, Badshahnama, The Illu vol. 2, 319-20. See also Begley and Desai, Taj Mahal: mined Tomb, 75, 81. For the term, see below. For din wa-dunya, in particular 295. see L. Gardet, "Din," EI2, vol. 2, 293-96,

set of the Taj Mahal (ace. no. 22), in the pavilion wall of the garden; another plan of this type, fur Indische Kunst, Berlin, 280 x 85 cm, is in the Museum no. I 10 060. It has been published in Pratapaditya Pal, Jan in the western

at Akbar's Court," in John and Artistic Climate A Monument Adventures The Mughal of Early ofHamza: Seyller, DC: Editions and Washington, (London: Azimuth Painting 18-31. Smithsonian Institution, 2002), Intellectual 39. 40. 41. Koch, Mughal Architecture, 93. cf. trans, vol. 2, 323; trans. E. Koch; Lahawri, Bddshahnama, The Illumined Tomb, 66. in Taj Mahal: of Begley and Desai to Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology, introduction see also idem, "Diwan-i Amm and Chihil Sutun: xxiii-xxiv; 11 (1994): Halls of Shah Jahan," Muqarnas The Audience in particular 143-65, 149-52, repr. inMughal Art and Impe E. Koch, For

24. 25. 26.

42.

Jean-Baptiste V. Ball, 2nd

27. 28.

29.

cal Survey of India (March 2003); for my mission statement, delivered on Sept. 28, 2001, at the end of the first advisors' on the conservation of the Taj Mahal meeting (Sept. 25-28, see 66-67 and 70, fig. 12. see 5-6; for the model, 2001), in "The Principles of Shah-Jahani Ebba Koch, Painting,"

vol. 1, pt. 1, 155. e.g., Lahawrl, Badshahnama, laid down in Taj Mahal aims of the venture have been out by the Taj Mahal Site Plan, brought Agra Management Conservation Collaborative together with the Archaeologi See, The

Tavernier, Travels in India, 2 vols., English trans. Crooke ed. ed. William (London: Oxford Uni Books Reprint versity Press, 1925; repr. New Delhi: Oriental 1977), vol. 1, p. 90. Corporation,

in particular rial Ideology, 229-54, 242-43. see a and translation of the inscriptions, compilation The Illumined Tomb, 195-244; Taj Mahal: Begley and Desai, see W. E. of their meaning, for a discussion Begley, "Amanat on the Taj Mahal," Kunst des Ori Khan and the Calligraphy

Mahal 43. 44. 45.

ents 12 (1978-79): 5-39; W. E. Begley, "The Myth of the Taj The Art and a New Theory of Its Symbolic Meaning," Bulletin 61 (1979): 7-37. in particular 25-27. Begley, "Myth of the Taj Mahal," Dec. 5, 2002. Personal communication, Toronto, in epigraphical For the frequent use of the Throne Verse

46.

see E. D. Cruikshank "The Image of the Dodd, programs, of Islam," Bery Word: Notes on the Religious Iconography tus 18 (1969): 35-61, 59; S. S. Blair, Islamic Inscriptions (New York: New York University Press, 1998), 69, 198, 214. Mughal I pointed this out inMughal Architecture, 99; and Waterfront Garden," 143-44, repr. in Mughal Imperial Ideology, 196; but I could not convince Laura "'The Distilled Essence of the Timurid in "The Art and

30. 31.

32. 33.

of the Mihman the Taj Mahal, namely, the placement to both sides of the mausoleum. and mosque in more of rulership is explained This concept below. On

World, 131-43; repr. Beach, Koch, and Thackston, King of the in Ebba Koch, Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology, 130-62. vol. 1, pt. 1, 149. Lahawrl, Badshahnama, vol. 2, 327 with regard to See, e.g., Lahawrl, Badshahnama, Khana

detail

the adoption of the puma ghata in Mughal architecture, see R. Nath, History ofDecorative Art inMughal Architecture and Patna: Motilal Banarsidass, 1976), 6 (Delhi, Varanasi, 10. "Modular Planning of the Taj Mahal," in Koch, Com

toMughal I have come back to the issue in the introduction Art and Imperial Ideology, xxiv. Both Begley and Parodi over look the fact that, however their realization, the spectacular as a art were conventional, themes of Shahjahani befitting 47. Robert ruler aspiring to classical equilibrium. Skelton first drew attention these floral creations in "A Decorative to the ambivalence Motif inMughal of

Parodi, Spirit': Some Obser vations on the Taj Mahal," East and West 50, 1-4 (Dec. 2000): in particular 539, where she considered my interpre 535-42, as tation of the "ideal paradisiacal garden for the deceased" "reductive" and preferred Begley's Throne of God hypothesis.

34. 35. 36.

Barraud,

37.

The Palace (Prince of Charles V in Granada University Press, 1985), 249-50. a Text of See Priyabala Shah, trans., Shri Vishnudharmottara, Ancient Indian Arts (Ahmedabad: The New Order Book Co., n.d. [1990]), 268, 271. Brenda E. F. Beck, "Colour and Heat in South Indian Ritual," ton: Princeton Man: The Journal of theRoyal Anthropological Institute, n.s., 4: the quoted passage is on 559. Beck investigates the 553-72; use of the two colors, red and white, in South Indian ritual; her findings harmotara. tally with the recommendations of the Vishnud

plete Taj Mahal. E. E. Rosenthal,

48. 49.

Art," in Aspects of Indian Art: Papers Presented in a Symposium at the Los Angeles County Museum ofArt, Oct. 1970, ed. Pratapaditya Pal (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1972), 147-52. The founder of the Manicheans, and in Persian lore the ulti mate painter. Abu Talib Kalim, Pddshdhnama, Persian ms., BL APAC, 1570, foi. 164a margin; my translation differs somewhat Ethe from

50.

that of Begley and Desai, Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb, 83. I thank Sunil Sharma for his advice. Bahar-i gulistan-i cadl u karam: Hajji Muhammad Jan Qudsi, BL APAC, Persian ms. Ethe 1552, foi. Zafarnama-i Shahjahan, 129a.

38.

Abd

al-Tawarikh, English trans, al-Qadir Bada'uni, Muntakhab (vol. 2) W. H. Lowe, 2nd ed. (Bengal: Asiatic Society, 1924; repr. Delhi: 1973), 336. For Akbar Idarah-i-Adabiyat-i-Delli, himself on Indian terms, see Ebba Koch, "The representing

51.

cAmal-i Salih, vol. 3, 24; see also Ebba Koch, Kanbu, "Mughal to Shahjahan Palace Gardens from Babur (1526-1648)," 14 (1997): 143-65, quotes on 159; repr. inMughal Muqarnas Art and Imperial Ideology, 203-28, quotes on 227.

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