Monument to an Absence

Arjumand Banu Begum died giving birth to her fourteenth child on June 17, 1631, in Burhanpur, central India. She was 38. Her husband, Shah Jahan, emperor of the Mughal Empire, was reportedly inconsolable. History remembers her as Mumtaz Mahal, the Chosen One of the Palace. What he built for her became the most recognized building on Earth.

Construction began in 1632 with over 20,000 workers. White marble from Makrana, Rajasthan. Jade and crystal from China. Turquoise from Tibet. Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan. Twenty-eight types of precious stones inlaid in floral patterns using pietra dura, so precise individual stones fit without visible gaps.

portrait of shah jahan, mughal emperor and patron of the taj mahal. source: wikimedia commons

The structure is symmetrical on every axis except one. Four minarets tilt slightly outward so they would fall away from the tomb in an earthquake. The complex sits on a raised marble platform, approached through gardens divided by water channels -- a layout derived from Persian paradise descriptions. Court chronicles describe Shah Jahan shutting himself away for eight days after the death. When he emerged, his beard had turned white. The dome seems to float. The marble changes color -- white in morning, pink at sunset, golden under the moon.

After completion in 1653, his son Aurangzeb seized power in 1658 and imprisoned Shah Jahan in Agra Fort, where he spent eight years in a cell overlooking the Taj Mahal. When he died in 1666, he was buried beside Mumtaz Mahal, breaking the perfect symmetry he had designed. The Taj Mahal endures as one of the few buildings that lives up to its reputation. Love built it. Time sustains it. Absence given form.