Building Details of Taj Mahal
Material Used
Along with the labourers flocking to Agra, materials for construction also began
arriving : principally red sandstone from local quarries and marble dug from the
hills of far-off Makrana, slightly southwest of Jaipur in Rajasthan.
Although the treasury was well filled, such prodigious quantities of rare stuffs
were required that caravans travelled to all corners of the empire and beyond
in search of precious materials. From Chinese Turkestan in Central Asia came Nephrite
jade and crystal; from Tibet, turquoise; from upper Burma, yellow amber; from
Badakhshan in the high mountains of northeastern Afghanistan, lapis lazuli; from
Egypt, chrysolite; from the Indian Ocean, rare shells, coral, and mother-of-pearl.
Topazes, onyxes, garnets, sapphires, bloodstone, forty three types of gems
in all - ranging in depth from Himalayan quartz to Golconda diamonds - were ultimately
to be used in embellishing the Taj Mahal.
In order to transport the
marble, a ten mile long ramp of tamped earth was built through Agra, and on it
trudged an unending parade of elephants and bullock carts dragging blocks of marble
to the building site.
Once the marble reached the Taj, it was hoisted
into place by means of an elaborate post-and-beam pulley manned by teams of mules
and masses of workers tugging and hauling.
The first buildings to be
constructed were the tomb proper and the two mosques that flank it; then came
the four minarets; finally the gateway and auxiliary buildings were erected.
All were built as integral parts of a single unit, carefully planned to harmonise,
for a law of Islam decrees that once a tomb is completed nothing can be added
to it and absolutely nothing can ever be taken away from it.
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MORE ABOUT BUILDING DETAILS OF TAJ MAHAL
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Mahal Agra —› Taj Mahal Location
—› Taj
Mahal Story —› History
of Taj Mahal —› Taj
Mahal Architecture —›
Garden of Taj Mahal —›
Mumtaz Mahal —›
Building of Taj Mahal —›
Actual Tomb of Taj Mahal —›
Excursions of Taj Mahal —›
How to Reach Taj Mahal —›
Mosque of Taj Mahal —›
Inside The Taj Mahal —›
Pictures of Taj Mahal
