WAS THERE A PLAN TO CREATE A BLACK TAJ MAHAL? AND, SOME OTHER POPULAR MYTHS?
Some
myths and legends, mostly floated by guides, have become ingrained in popular
history and folklore. The idea of a second, rivalling Taj, the Black Taj, was
floated by Jean Baptiste Tavernier, who, during his visit to Agra in 1665,
wrote that Shah Jahan wanted to build his own tomb in black marble on the other
side of the Yamuna in Mahtab Bagh but his sons opposed the plan and Aurangzeb
finally abandoned it. There is no historical evidence to support this claim and
even archaeological excavations carried out in the 1990s did not reveal any
evidence of such a tomb.
Another very popular tale is that Shah Jahan killed the architects and workers who built the Taj (other versions say he chopped off their hands or had their eyes gouged out or had them thrown into the dungeons of Agra fort) so that they could not build a second monument like that. This again has no historical basis. Art historian Ebba Koch points out that such tales are a part of folklore surrounding monuments in many cultures, including England, Ireland, Russia and parts of Asia.
Finally, the tale of the British administration’s plans to demolish the Taj. It is said that Lord William Bentinck, Governor General of India in the 1830s, planned to demolish the Taj Mahal and auction the marble. His biographer, John Rosselli, clarified that the basis of this rumour was Bentinck’s fundraising sale of discarded marble from Agra fort.
Another very popular tale is that Shah Jahan killed the architects and workers who built the Taj (other versions say he chopped off their hands or had their eyes gouged out or had them thrown into the dungeons of Agra fort) so that they could not build a second monument like that. This again has no historical basis. Art historian Ebba Koch points out that such tales are a part of folklore surrounding monuments in many cultures, including England, Ireland, Russia and parts of Asia.
Finally, the tale of the British administration’s plans to demolish the Taj. It is said that Lord William Bentinck, Governor General of India in the 1830s, planned to demolish the Taj Mahal and auction the marble. His biographer, John Rosselli, clarified that the basis of this rumour was Bentinck’s fundraising sale of discarded marble from Agra fort.
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