Taj Mahal: Difference between revisions

The current name for the Taj Mahal is of [[Urdu]] origin, and believed to be derived from [[Persian language|Persian]] and [[Arabic]], with the words ''tāj mahall'' meaning "crown" (''tāj'') "palace" (''mahall'').<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of Taj Mahal |website=Dictionary.com |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/taj-mahal |access-date=2021-03-01 |archive-date=21 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121035749/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/taj-mahal |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Taj Mahal definition and meaning |website=Collins English Dictionary |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/taj-mahal |access-date=2021-03-01 |archive-date=8 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308094825/https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/taj-mahal |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":0" /> The name "Taj" came from the corruption of the second syllable of "Mumtaz".<ref>{{Cite book |title=Islamic Culture|year=1975|volume=49-50|pages=195 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I24uAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Taj+Bibi%22+Mumtaz+corruption}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Calcutta Review|year=1869 |volume=149|pages=146|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TWsoAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Taj+Bibi%22+Mumtaz+corruption&pg=RA1-PA146}}</ref>

The Taj Mahal was commissioned by Shah Jahan in 1631, to be built in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died on 17 June that year, while giving birth to their 14th child, [[Gauhara Begum]].{{sfn|Asher|1992|p=210}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Taj Mahal: Memorial to Love |work=Treasures of the World: Taj Mahal |publisher=PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/a_nav/taj_nav/main_tajfrm.html |access-date=7 February 2015 |archive-date=13 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013173327/https://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/a_nav/taj_nav/main_tajfrm.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Construction started in 1632,{{sfn|Sarkar|1919|pages=30, 31}} and the mausoleum was completed in 1648, while the surrounding buildings and garden were finished five years later.<ref name="Creation History">{{cite web |title=Creation History of Taj Mahal |website=Department of Tourism, Government of Uttar Pradesh, India |url=https://www.tajmahal.gov.in/creation.html |access-date=19 October 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170606065504/http://www.tajmahal.gov.in/creation.html}}</ref> The imperial court documenting Shah Jahan's grief after the death of Mumtaz Mahal illustrates the love story held as the inspiration for the Taj Mahal.{{sfn|Chaghtai|1938|p=46}} According to contemporary historians Muhammad Amin Qazvini, [[Abdul Hamid Lahori]] and [[Muhammad Saleh Kamboh]], he did not show the same level of affection to others as he had shown her while she was alive. He avoided royal affairs for a week due to his grief, along with giving up listening to music and dressing lavishly for two years. Shah Jahan was enamored by the beauty of the land at the south side of Agra on which a mansion belonging to Raja [[Jai Singh I]] stood. This place was chosen for the construction of Mumtaz's tomb by Shah Jahan and Jai Singh agreed to donate it to the emperor.<ref>{{cite book|title=Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb : an Anthology of Seventeenth-century Mughal and European Documentary Sources|author1=Wayne Edison Begley|author2=Ziauddin Abdul Hayy Desai|year=1989|publisher=Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture|pages=13-14, 22, 41-43}}</ref>