The+Taj+Mahal+-Monica+Mandi

Standing tall and gracefully in its glory and splendor, the beauty of Tajmahal can be discovered and rediscovered time after time for it not only changes color according to the time of the day but also with every change in the season. The splendid Tajmahal sparkles like a jewel on a starlit night as the semi-precious inlaid stones reflect the glow of moon. However, it is on a full moon night that silver brilliance of the Taj Mahal becomes evident. Dawn and dusk to flirt with the radiance of the Taj Mahal as it responds to the blush of the skies. The sight is indeed mesmerizing to the visitor. A real **Tribute to Beauty and Human Love**, The Taj Mahal monument is located in Agra, India and is constructed between 1631 and 1654 by a workforce of 22,000 humans. The **Muslim Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan** commissioned its construction as a mausoleum for his favourite wife, Arjumand Bano Begum, who is better known as Mumtaz. The **Taj Mahal** (sometimes called “the Taj”) is generally considered the **finest example of Mughal architecture**, a style that combines elements of Indian, Islamic and Persian architectures. The Taj Mahal has achieved special note because of the romance of its inspiration. While the white domed marble mausoleum is the most familiar part of the monument, the Taj Mahal is actually an integrated complex of structures. The Mausoleum of the Taj Mahal at Agra stands in a formally laid-out walled garden entered through a pavilion on the main axis. The tomb, raised on a terrace and first seen reflected in the central canal, is entirely sheathed in marble, but the mosque and counter-mosque on the transverse axis are built in red sandstone. The four minarets, set symmetrically about the tomb, are scaled down to heighten the effect of the dominant, slightly bulbous dome. The mosques, built only to balance the composition are set sufficiently far away to do no more than frame the mausoleum. In essence, the whole riverside platform is a mosque courtyard with a tomb at its centre. The great entrance gate with its domed central chamber, set at the end of the long watercourse, would in any other setting be monumental in its own right. The postcard picture of Taj Mahal does not adequately convey the legend, the poetry and the romance that shroud what Rabindranath Tagore calls “a teardrop on the cheek of time”. Taj Mahal means “Crown Palace” and is in fact the most well preserved and architecturally beautiful tomb in the world. It is best described by the English poet, Sir Edwin Arnold, as “Not a piece of architecture, as other buildings are, but the proud passions of an emperor’s love wrought in living stones.” It is a celebration of woman built in marble and that’s the way to appreciate it.
 * The Taj Mahal, the most magnificent tribute to love and beauty and one of man’s proudest creations**, is easily the most identified image to be associated with India. **Built between 1631** and **1648 by Emperor Shah Jahan** for his beloved wife, this fairytale like marvel took twenty two years and the labor of twenty thousand workmen employed on it daily for its completion. The intensity of the Emperor’s love is carved in white marble as the most beautiful and wondrous expression of love ever.