Taj Mahal (with photos)

Taj Mahal is the MOST beautiful building in the world.  The Taj is a story of transformation and a story of LOVE!

It took 22 years to build the Taj Mahal. 22,000 workers labored to build it.  It is made in the Persian-Hindu style.  Shah Jehan was married to his wife, Arjumand Banu, for 19 years.   Her goodness had the power to change Shah Jehan from being a destructive ruler to a benevolent one!

One day while Arjuman Banu was pregnant, she had a dream in which she heard the cry of her baby.  She woke up and interpreted the dream to mean that she would die in childbirth.  She told her husband about the dream, but he didn’t believe that she would die.  Unfortunately, she did die in childbirth.  Shah Jehan built the Taj Mahal as a mausoleum for her and to show the world how great his love for her was.

The Taj is perfectly symmetrical.  Jehan wanted to be buried in a mausoleum to be built across the river from the Taj so as not to upset the perfect symmetry of the Taj.  However, his son, a fanatical Muslim, had his father buried next to his mother.  The son purposely upset the perfection of balance, placing his father to the side of his mother’s tomb, stating that nothing is perfect except Allah.

Precious and semi-precious stone inlay detail:

Koran scriptures carved into the marble:

Sarah and Fran’s feet.  We had to cover our feet with these shoe covers.  Either that or go barefoot on the scorching hot marble:

Indian woman sitting in the shade of the Taj Mahal: