TAJ MAHAL THIRD GRAVE
Famous As: 7th Wonder of the world
Taj Mahal Was Built By: Mughal Emperor Shahjahan
Built In The Memory Of: Mumtaz Mahal
The Basement Chambers and a probable Third Grave at Taj
Mahal
Two
staircases on the northern side of the red sandstone plinth of the Taj
Mahal lead below into the basement chambers which are seventeen in number
and have been laid out in a line on the riverside of a narrow
through-corridor. The rooms and corridor are of arcuate construction in
brick and plaster, with stucco and painting ornamentation, distributed
aesthetically on the soffits. At the extreme points on both sides of Taj
Mahal there are doors sunk in the northern wall. They were blocked up
permanently and securely with thick masonry at some unknown date,
undoubtedly for some well calculated purpose. As may be surmised, the set
on the northern side could have been repeated on the sides below the
marble structure, with a rotating corridor, chambers and probably a crypt
in the centre - all being interconnected.
This crypt would have contained the third and the real set of graves. The
custom of providing cenotaphs or replicas had been followed by the Turks
and the Mughals alike as we meet with this practice at the tomb of
Iltutmish at Delhi and at the tombs of Saqid Khan and Akbar at Agra. The
tomb of Akbar has three tombstones, one on the grave and two as cenotaphs.
The tomb of Itmad-ud-Dauhlah and Chini-ka-Rauza too had three tombstones
each. The lowest of the former was contained in a crypt which was
originally accessible from the riverside and has now been completely
blocked up. These examples indicate that the Mughals liked to provide
three tombstones in a mausoleum.
At the Taj Mahal, the third is traditionally claimed to exist. It is only
in these underground vaults that the third set could have been placed. The
doors in the basement corridor no doubt exist and must have originally
given entry to some underground arrangement of chambers and corridors.
Though they are now impregnably blocked, their existence lends weight to
the legendary version.
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