Described by Rabindranath Tagore as “a tear on the face of eternity,” the Taj Mahal in Agra is easily the most famous example of Mughal architecture. Here are a few little-known facts about the monument to love.

The white-splendored tomb was built by Emperor Shah Jahan in the memory of his second wife, Arjumand Banu Begum, better known as Mumtaz Mahal (literally, “Chosen of the Palace”), who married him in 1612. At her death in childbirth in 1629, Shah Jahan was, it is said, inconsolable. The court went into mourning for over two years.

A council of the best architects was assembled to prepare designs for the tomb. Though some attribute the design to Geronimo Verroneo, an Italian in Mughal service, evidence suggests that it was designed by Ustad Isa Khan Effendi, a Persian, who assigned the detailed work to his pupil Ustad Ahmad. The dome was designed by Ismail Khan.

The tomb, which is higher than a modern 20-story building, took 22 years to complete with a workforce of 20,000. In those days it cost Rs. 32 million to build. Craftsmen from as far as Turkey came to join in the work. The marble was quarried at Makrana near Jodhpur in Rajasthan. Precious stones were imported from distant lands. A two mile ramp was built to lift material up to the level of the dome. Transportation of the marble was done by a 10-mile long parade of elephants and bullock carts.

There are four, 162.5 feet tall minarets at the corners of the structure. Each has a deliberate slant outwards so that in the unlikely event of an earthquake, they would not fall on the tomb, but away from it.

It is alleged that on its completion, Shah Jahan ordered the right hand of the chief mason to be cut off so that the masterpiece could never be recreated.

Though Shah Jehan’s treasury was well filled, caravans traveled to all corners of the empire and beyond in search of precious material to adorn the Taj. From Chinese Turkestan in Central Asia came Nephrite jade and crystal; from Tibet, turquoise; from upper Burma, yellow amber; from Badakhshan in the high mountains of northeastern Afghanistan, lapis lazuli; from Egypt, chrysolite; from the Indian Ocean, rare shells, coral, and mother-of-pearl. Topazes, onyxes, garnets, sapphires, bloodstone.

Inside the dome is the jewel-inlaid tomb of the queen. The workmanship is so exquisite that the Taj has been described as “designed by giants and finished by jewelers.”

Shah Jahan spent his final years under arrest at the Agra Fort, following his ouster by Aurangazeb ----- who was apparently afraid that his father would empty the royal treasury by building a second Taj, this time from black marble, on the opposite shore of the Yamuna.

On either side of the Taj Mahal are buildings of red sandstone. On the west is a mosque that faces Mecca. A small enclosure nearby marks the site where the remains of Mumtaz Mahal were deposited when they were first brought to Agra. From this temporary grave they were removed to the Taj Mahal. The mosque has a twin on the other side, which is a rest house.

(Compiled from various Web sites by Shaji Iype)