Taj Mahal, Agra - Revision history

Jyoti: /* Floods */

2025-11-20T19:03:55Z

‎Floods

Jyoti: /* A plant sprouts from the dome */

2024-12-31T18:08:46Z

‎A plant sprouts from the dome

Jyoti: /* Cracks appear, verses fade, gems erode */

2024-12-28T19:01:20Z

‎Cracks appear, verses fade, gems erode

Jyoti: /* 2020: Shah Jahan, Mumtaz graves undergo ‘mud pack’ therapy */

2024-12-28T18:18:55Z

‎2020: Shah Jahan, Mumtaz graves undergo ‘mud pack’ therapy

Jyoti: /* Details */

2023-08-06T09:32:09Z

‎Details

Jyoti: /* Finances */

2023-08-02T05:29:46Z

‎Finances

Jyoti: /* April 2018: Storm damages minarets, dome at the gates */

2022-08-07T09:00:01Z

‎April 2018: Storm damages minarets, dome at the gates

Jyoti: /* Blend of Islamic, Hindu, European traditions */

2022-06-20T01:31:13Z

‎Blend of Islamic, Hindu, European traditions

Jyoti: /* 2017: No, says ASI */

2022-06-17T20:19:13Z

‎2017: No, says ASI

Jyoti: /* Was it a temple */

2022-06-13T19:53:07Z

‎Was it a temple

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  TOI reported that the water of the swollen river touched the back wall of the Taj Mahal and submerged a garden behind the monument, after 45 years.  TNN
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 ==2024==
 ===A plant sprouts from the dome===
 [https://epaper.indiatimes.com/article-share?article=19_09_2024_013_013_cap_TOI  Sep 19, 2024: ''The Times of India'']
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  Meanwhile, the roof of a toilet at the Taj Mahal’s Shilpgram parking lot collapsed on Tuesday due to heavy rain, though no injuries were reported, said officials. The Agra Development Authority has closed the toilet for repairs. On Wednesday, tourists faced waterlogging at the monument’s assistance centre.
 ===Cracks appear, verses fade, gems erode===

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 ==2024==
 ===Cracks appear, verses fade, gems erode===
 [https://epaper.indiatimes.com/article-share?article=22_09_2024_016_004_cap_TOI Deepak Lavania, Sep 22, 2024: ''The Times of India'']
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 The clay-pack treatment is based on a traditional mix which is used by Indian women to restore their natural glow on the face. “A thick layer of lime-rich clay is plastered over the affected part and left to dry,” said an official.
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 As per an official estimate, over 500 bighas of agricultural land have been submerged in Agra and Mathura districts. Around 100 villages and urban localities are without power for the past two days. Residents of flood-affected areas of Mathura claim that they have run out of ration and drinking water.
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← Older revision		Revision as of 09:00, 7 August 2022
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	Several electricity poles and trees were also uprooted in the storm which killed four in Mathura and one in Bijnor. Three children and a 70-yearold woman were killed in two separate incidents in the storm that was accompanied by heavy hailstones.		Several electricity poles and trees were also uprooted in the storm which killed four in Mathura and one in Bijnor. Three children and a 70-yearold woman were killed in two separate incidents in the storm that was accompanied by heavy hailstones.
		+
		+
		+	==2020: Shah Jahan, Mumtaz graves undergo ‘mud pack’ therapy==
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2020%2F02%2F22&entity=Ar01614&sk=68AE6ED3&mode=text Anuja Jaiswal, February 22, 2020: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+
		+	[[File: It was the first time in 389 years that the graves were given a ‘facelift’.jpg\|It was the first time in 389 years that the graves were given a ‘facelift’ <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2020%2F02%2F22&entity=Ar01614&sk=68AE6ED3&mode=text Anuja Jaiswal, February 22, 2020: ''The Times of India'']\|frame\|500px]]
		+
		+	The replicas of the graves of Mughal emperor Shahjahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal are undergoing a clay-pack treatment for a ‘facelift’.
		+
		+
		+	Ever since the two were buried here 389 years ago (Mumtaz Mahal in 1631 and Shahjahan in 1666), this would be the first time that the replicas of their graves are being treated to look clean. The real graves of the royal couple, much austere than their false marble copies, lie in a chamber below the crypt containing them. The real graves are opened only for three days in a year for devotees who come to offer prayers during Shahjahan’s Urs. The 22-step staircase leading to the real graves is narrow and no visiting foreign dignitary in the past expressed desire to see the real graves.
		+
		+	Confirming this, superintending archaeologist (science branch) of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), M K Bhatnagar, said that the mudpack treatment on the graves was started last week and will be finished by Friday evening.
		+
		+	The clay-pack treatment is based on a traditional mix which is used by Indian women to restore their natural glow on the face. “A thick layer of lime-rich clay is plastered over the affected part and left to dry,” said an official.
		+
		+	[[Category:India\|A
		+	TAJ MAHAL, AGRA]]
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	=Monkeys=		=Monkeys=

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:31, 20 June 2022
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	To make our past reveal its humanity our attention must shift from history to heritage, and from documents to monuments.		To make our past reveal its humanity our attention must shift from history to heritage, and from documents to monuments.
		+
		+	==Mughal Rajput ties==
		+	[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/the-mughal-rajput-ties-that-gave-india-its-taj-mahal/articleshow/91637614.cms Manimugdha S Sharma, May 19, 2022: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+
		+	In November 1556, after newly crowned Mughal emperor Akbar had defeated an Afghan army led by Hemu in Panipat and retaken Delhi, a Mughal general named Majnun Khan Qaqshal informed the boy king about the “excellent loyalty” of Amber king Raja Bharmal at another engagement.
		+
		+	The Kachhwaha Rajput king had, as an Afghan ally, convinced Sur general Haji Khan to let the besieged Mughal garrison at the fort of Narnaul led by Qaqshal peacefully surrender and go to Delhi to join up with the emperor. A grateful Qaqshal wanted to repay Raja Bharmal’s kindness by securing for him some imperial favour.  Akbar invited Raja Bharmal to his durbar in Delhi, and in December that year, the Amber king showed up with his sons and other relatives. Akbar cordially received them and presented Raja Bharmal with a khillat or a robe of honour and gave gifts to his sons and relatives. The delegation stayed back in Delhi to enjoy the imperial hospitality for a few days. But when they came to say goodbye to the 14-year-old king, something dramatic happened.  This encounter was depicted in the 2008 Bollywood blockbuster Jodhaa Akbar . The Rajput delegation led by Bharmal (played by Kulbhushan Kharbanda) arrived to find Akbar (Hrithik Roshan) taming an out-of-control elephant. The sheer physical prowess of the emperor and his reckless bravery overawed them. But the real incident played out differently.
		+	Akbar’s court chronicler Abu’l Fazl says in the Akbarnama that the emperor was dangerously riding an elephant in musth . As the crazed animal ran amok, everyone ran helter-skelter. But not the Rajputs. They didn’t flinch and held their ground. This impressed the young monarch a lot, possibly giving him ideas for the future. He remarked (in Farsi): “Nihaal khwaahim kard.” (We shall plant/cherish/rear you). Perhaps that was the moment that changed the destiny of the Kachhwahas of Amber.
		+
		+
		+	''' Ties of blood '''
		+
		+	Amber in the 16th century wasn’t a large and powerful kingdom like Marwar and Mewar. To safeguard its interests against aggressive manoeuvres by powerful neighbours, it had to seek alliances with others from time to time. During the Sur interregnum, (1540-1555) Raja Maldev Rathore of Marwar attacked and seized four districts of Amber, forcing Amber to seek a military alliance with Sher Shah Suri. In 1562, an internal succession struggle in Amber once again forced Raja Bharmal to seek an external alliance with the Mughals.
		+
		+	This time, though, it was more than political, for Raja Bharmal offered his daughter in marriage to Akbar, thus binding his clan and the Mughals with ties of blood. It was a bold move by Bharmal as no other Rajput family had sent their daughters to the Mughal harem until then. It paved the way for other Rajput houses to seek matrimonial alliances with the Mughals.
		+
		+	The Muslim Mughals, referred to as mlechhas (savages) in Rajput accounts until then, now came to be seen as Rajputs of a different faith. Akbar was projected as an avatar of Vishnu in bardic literature and someone whom even Lord Indra and his fellow gods feared. This was a massive intellectual exercise by the Rajputs to justify their own ties with the Mughals and make them acceptable suzerains.
		+
		+	But it wasn’t that Bharmal’s daughter entered the Mughal household alone; he himself, along with his son Bhagwan Dass, grandson Man Singh and other kinsmen, joined imperial service as mansabdars (a military title).
		+
		+	Amber’s fortunes soared due to this relationship as cash flows from the imperial treasury filled its coffers as did income from the jagirs (feudal land grant) elsewhere in the empire. As they moved around the empire as imperial officers, viceroys and governors, the Kachhwahas of Amber built great buildings wherever they went: a temple here, a fort there, even mosques. The Rajputs found in the Mughal state a patron that encouraged and utilised their war-making potential and allowed them to mimic the pomp and pageantry of the imperial court in their own kingdom.
		+
		+	The Mughals benefited equally from this relationship as they now had a steady flow of military manpower that was locally available, which somewhat eased their overdependence on Central Asian recruits. It also served another purpose for the Mughals: the Rajput nobility acted as a counterbalance to the dominance of the Turani (Central Asian) and Irani nobles, which helped maintain equilibrium in the imperial court.
		+
		+
		+	''' The ties blossom '''
		+
		+	But political exigencies apart, the Kachhwahas of Amber rose very high in the Mughal military bureaucracy or the mansabdari and occupied key positions in Akbar’s court. In more ways than one, the emperor cherished them just as he had promised at their first meeting.
		+
		+	In 1572, at the crucial battle of Sarnal in Gujarat against revolting Mirzas in which Akbar fell upon the unsuspecting enemy with just 150 horsemen, Bhagwan Dass saved Akbar’s life from certain death though couldn’t save his own brother Bhupat. Akbar personally avenged Bhupat by killing Shah Madad, the man who had killed Bhupat. Bhagwan Dass was presented with a banner and a kettledrum by Akbar — the first Hindu to be honoured that way.
		+
		+	But it was Man Singh who was the prince among Akbar’s nobles and the emperor’s favourite. By relation, Akbar was his phupha (uncle), but the emperor declared him his farzand (son) and bestowed on him the title of Mirza, a title until then used by Timurid princes and nobles. Man Singh became the first Mughal noble to be raised to the rank of a haft-hazari (7,000) mansabdar — the highest rank that any nobleman could attain in Akbar’s time.
		+
		+	He was the empire’s firefighter who defeated Mewar king Pratap Singh Sisodia at Haldighati, subdued Afghans as the Mughal viceroy of Kabul and completely subdued Bihar, Bengal and Odisha.
		+
		+	For his service, Man Singh was allotted a premium plot of land on the banks of the Yamuna in Agra on which a haveli or a mansion came up.
		+
		+	The property stayed with the family until Man Singh’s great grandson Jai Singh sat on the Amber throne. The family’s fortunes at the Mughal court had dimmed somewhat during the reign of Emperor Jahangir, but they soared again when Shah Jahan became emperor. In 1631, Shah Jahan lost his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal in Burhanpur in the Deccan. Her mortal remains were temporarily interred in Burhanpur, but Shah Jahan resolved to build a grand mausoleum for her in Agra.
		+
		+	His surveyors zeroed in on the plot and mansion of Man Singh, now owned by Jai Singh. Mughal records suggest that Jai Singh readily offered to part with the land as a sign of solidarity with the emperor in his hour of grief. He may not have had much of a choice after the emperor wanted something, but it would have been haram for a Muslim funerary monument to stand on illegally-acquired property. So, Shah Jahan acquired the property legally.  A firman issued to Jai Singh in 1633 orders that he be given four crown properties — all of them havelis — in exchange for this property and also refers to a fifth haveli that was originally allocated. It isn’t clear if these were in addition to the first mansion granted earlier or were replacements, but Jai Singh didn’t have to part with his family property without compensation.
		+
		+
		+	''' Flaunting a Mughal title '''
		+
		+	Jai Singh became a successful Mughal general who fought the Uzbeks in Balkh and Badakshan and the Safavids in Kandahar for Shah Jahan, led Aurangzeb’s armies in the Deccan and defeated Shiva ji and forced him to sign a humiliating treaty at Purandar, and captured a fugitive Dara Shukoh and brought him to his victorious brother in the War of Succession of 1657-58. Like his grandfather, he, too, was bestowed with the title of Mirza Raja.
		+	But his son and successor Ram Singh didn’t fare very well in the Mughal political firmament. He was disgraced when Shiva ji escaped from Agra from under his watch. He was further disgraced when he led a punitive expedition to Assam and was defeated by the Ahoms at the Battle of Saraighat in 1671. His career ended in disgrace, but his great grandson Jai Singh II revived the family fortunes to a great extent.
		+
		+	He expanded the kingdom and laid out a new capital city that was called Jaipur after him. As a child, his ready wit and courage impressed Emperor Aurangzeb, who gave him the title of ‘sawai’ or someone as good as ‘one and a quarter’ men.
		+
		+	The title was formalised by Emperor Farrukhsiyar in 1713, and till today, Jaipur rulers have used the ‘Sawai’ title with great pride. This pride is visible when the maharaja is in residence at the City Palace in Jaipur and the state flag is flown with a smaller flag on top of it to symbolise the ‘sawai’ honorific.
		+
		+	When the maharaja is in residence at the City Palace in Jaipur, the state flag is flown with a smaller flag on top of it to symbolise the ‘sawai’ honorific
		+
		+	Ultimately, it’s a Mughal title that the Jaipur royals flaunt — something that Diya Kumari is loath to admit perhaps?  Manimugdha S Sharma is pursuing a PhD in History at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and a fellow at the Institute of Asian Research, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. He is the author of Allahu Akbar: Understanding the Great Mughal in Today’s India
		+
		+	[[Category:India\|A
		+	TAJ MAHAL, AGRA]]
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	==Was it a temple==		==Was it a temple==

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:19, 17 June 2022
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	The ASI also challenged the locus standi of the plaintiffs in the matter, arguing that while the Taj is an Islamic structure, the plaintiffs were from other religions, and no practices of these religions had ever taken place at the monument.		The ASI also challenged the locus standi of the plaintiffs in the matter, arguing that while the Taj is an Islamic structure, the plaintiffs were from other religions, and no practices of these religions had ever taken place at the monument.
		+
		+
		+	===No, say historians===
		+	[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/no-taj-mahal-was-never-a-hindu-temple-say-historians/articleshow/91611242.cms Aditya Mani Jha, May 18, 2022: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	''' The history revisionist '''
		+	This Taj Mahal/Tejo Mahalaya idea was first floated by the notorious conspiracy theorist P N Oak (1917-2007) in books like The Taj Mahal Was A Rajput Palace (1965) and Islamic Havoc in Indian History (1993).
		+	These books are little more than right wing-inspired fantasias and they rail against, what they perceive as, an anti-Hindu bias on the parts of contemporary historians. They latch on to phonetic similarities and other risible superficial points to float dubious claims; Oak also claimed, for example, that “Christianity” is ‘krishna-neeti’, and that because ‘Vatican’ sounds like ‘vatica’, the papacy was originally an order of Vedic monks.
		+	For obvious reasons, therefore, Oak was never taken seriously in his lifetime by historians (or indeed, anybody in academia) and his claims were thoroughly debunked by the likes of academics Srinivas Aravamudan (who called Oak a ‘mythistorian’) and Gilles Tillotson.
		+
		+	Speaking about the recent Taj Mahal petition, historian and author Rana Safvi says: “He [PN Oak] was talking about so many ridiculous theories during his lifetime. In those days, whatever historical awareness people had was through academics and textbooks. There was no social media during that time. Today after his death, these bogus claims have again begun to circulate over the last five to six years due to some WhatsApp memes which have given people a false sense of victimhood.”
		+
		+	Safvi adds: “Till 1978, those rooms were open to the public. After 1978, which is when the floods came, they were flooded and after that there was leakage in those rooms. There were already some cracks since the 17th century because of the heavy superstructure, so there was a fair bit of repair and conservation work to be done.”
		+
		+	“If you look at the theories around the Taj Mahal, it is very obvious that the people who came up with this Hindu temple theory are extremely ignorant about the history, the architecture, etc surrounding the monument”, says Ruchika Sharma, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU
		+
		+	Oak’s influence on the Taj Mahal petition can also be gauged by the fact that he himself had put forward a similar set of demands in the introduction to The Taj Mahal Was A Rajput Palace .
		+
		+	Oak said that the ASI should be ordered to stop attributing the origin of the Taj Mahal to Shah Jahan, that all the locked rooms in the monument should be opened to visitors. Significantly, he demanded that “free entry on Fridays causing a revenue loss to the government should be discontinued because there is no mosque in the Tejo Mahalaya premises”.
		+
		+	''' Behind closed doors '''
		+
		+	According to Safvi, the plot of land on which the Taj Mahal is built belonged to Raja Man Singh, Akbar’s famed general. When Mumtaz died in 1631 AD, Raja Jai Singh, Raja Man Singh's grandson, was the owner. The Mughals administration was “very bureaucratic, thousands of documents were generated and preserved”.
		+
		+	Though many have been lost over the years, some still remain. Apart from the memoirs by emperors, many contemporary accounts were written which record minute details of the period. The texts refer to the mausoleum that was built by Shah Hahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal as Rauza-i Munavvara (the illuminated tomb). In the Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb , W E Begley and Z A Desai have compiled an anthology of these sources, and it was from this book, she says, that we get a glimpse of how well documented the building of the mausoleum was.
		+
		+
		+	“The Taj Mahal was built on the land where Raja Jai Singh had a mansion and there is no mention of any religious building on that land,” writes Safvi. “These historians mention that though Raja Jai Singh wanted to give it for free for the noble purpose, the emperor was unwilling and gave another mansion loftier than the one he had acquired in lieu thereof. Two books give details and a translation of the royal ‘farman’ giving four ‘havelis’ in lieu of Raja Jai Singh’s haveli. The word mentioned is ‘haveli’ or mansion.
		+	Begley and Desai have translated the ‘farman’ in its entirety and have given all the details of endorsements and scrutiny that were given on the back, which were necessary before it could be admitted in the royal office.”
		+
		+	So, why are Oak’s ideas gaining so much currency in recent times? A big part of the answer is, of course, that it’s politically convenient in these polarised times. But there’s also another reason – the widely misunderstood and misapplied idea of ‘decolonising’ the practice of history-writing.
		+
		+	According to an article by Manimugdha Sharma, author of the 2019 book Allahu Akbar: Understanding the Great Mughal in Today's India , “The criticism of ‘western’ retelling of history has gained volume in India over the past few years. ‘Indic’ or ‘dharmic’ readings of history proliferate and anyone with access to a couple of history books or a research archive is lauded as a historian. Which is not necessarily all bad…It is, perhaps, time that Indian history moves beyond the white gaze. But any such effort must necessarily be based on fact; fact that has been hidden or forgotten or deliberately erased. Sadly, that’s not what is happening today.”
		+
		+	Oak's idea of the Taj Mahal's origins is gaining traction because of the widely misunderstood and misapplied idea of ‘decolonising’ the practice of history-writing
		+
		+	Sharma points to “an amazing proliferation of misinformation surrounding this monument in various languages on social media”. He cites the work of Ebba Koch, professor of art history at University of Vienna, to say “this tendency to reimagine the Taj Mahal as a Hindu temple is not something new. Koch says the Jat conquerors of Agra [also] thought about converting the monument into a Hindu temple to spite the Mughals.”
		+
		+	According to Ruchika Sharma, who’s pursuing a PhD at the Centre for Historical Studies, JNU (her area of specialisation is art history), historical revisionism has always been one of the key political projects of hardliners.
		+
		+	“If you look at the theories around the Taj Mahal, it's very obvious that the people who came up with this Hindu temple theory are extremely ignorant about the history, the architecture, etc surrounding the monument,” says Ruchika.
		+
		+	“So much is made of the fact that there is the symbol of the lotus used in the Taj Mahal at a few places. But to interpret that as a ‘Hindu symbol’ is something no historian would do. Even the British were guilty of this; any element or geometric motif they did not understand was branded 'Hindu'. Historians are supposed to question and critically analyse every feature. But in the case of the Taj Mahal and other monuments across India, neither 'Hindu' nor 'motif' is critically challenged by those who are determined to see a Hindu temple there.”
		+
		+	According to her, this is a popular notion of history that India was defiled by the Turks or the Mughals – they engaged in mass conversions, they were cruel and barbaric, and so on. “Like the idea that Aurangzeb was some sort of uniquely monstrous tyrant, for example, is an inaccurate one that has been popularised amongst the general public,” she adds. “Not everybody will say ‘demolish a mosque’, but a lot of them will say that nothing was the same since the Turks came.”
		+
		+
		+	''' Some lesser-known facts about the Taj Mahal '''
		+
		+	The cost of making the monument nearly 400 years ago, is estimated to be close to a whopping 32 million rupees.
		+
		+	The minarets of the Taj Mahal have been constructed in such a way that they function as an optical illusion — the monument appears massive as you enter the front gate but seemingly shrinks as you approach it.
		+
		+	The central white onion dome, the most recognisable feature of the Taj Mahal, is 35 metres tall and surrounded by four other domes.
		+
		+	During what is generally considered the First War of Indian Independence in 1857, British soldiers removed several previous stones from the mausoleum located within the Taj Mahal.
		+	There are architectural influences from both India and Persia in the making of the Taj Mahal, for example there are lotus symbols at numerous places.
		+
		+	In John Milton’s “Paradise Lost”, the city of Agra is shown to Adam after his fall as a future wonder of the world.
		+
		+	When Mumtaz Mahal died, and it was decided to bury her in Akbarabad, as Agra was known then, a search for the best place to build her mausoleum was undertaken. This plot of land belonged to Raja Man Singh, Akbar’s general who had marriage ties with the Mughals.
		+
		+	[[Category:India\|A
		+	TAJ MAHAL, AGRA]]
		+	[[Category:Places\|A
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	==The “22 locked rooms”==		==The “22 locked rooms”==

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:53, 13 June 2022
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	The ASI also challenged the locus standi of the plaintiffs in the matter, arguing that while the Taj is an Islamic structure, the plaintiffs were from other religions, and no practices of these religions had ever taken place at the monument.		The ASI also challenged the locus standi of the plaintiffs in the matter, arguing that while the Taj is an Islamic structure, the plaintiffs were from other religions, and no practices of these religions had ever taken place at the monument.
		+
		+	==The “22 locked rooms”==
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/article-share?article=13_05_2022_019_020_cap_TOI Anuja Jaiswal, May 13, 2022: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+
		+	Agra: Contrary to claims made in a petition to the Lucknow HC seeking unlocking of the Taj Mahal’s “22 permanently locked rooms”, many in its basement, “as they could be housing Hindu idols from ancient times”, top Archaeological Survey of India officials told TOI on Thursday that the contention in the plea is wrong on both counts. One, these rooms — officially called “cells” — are “not permanently closed” and they were only recently opened for conservation work. And that all records scrutinised so far over the years “have not pointed to the presence of any idols”.
		+	A senior official privy to the restoration work done just three months ago said, “Various records and reports that have been reviewed till now haven’t shown the existence of any idols”. If those with the deepest access to the Taj are to be believed, there are over 100 cells in various parts of the mausoleum complex which have remained closed to the public for reasons of security and safety, and none have thrown up any such findings.
		+
		+	“The petitioner’s claim of 22 rooms being permanently locked is factually incorrect as conservation work — including filling of cracks, replastering and anti-ageing treatments — are periodically done. In fact, the most recent work cost us Rs 6 lakh,” a senior ASI official told TOI.
		+
		+	Another senior ASI official added that 100 cells in the monument’s complex that remain locked to the public are located in the basement, the upper storeys of the main mausoleum, the corner ‘burjs’, the four minarets, inside the baolis (near the mosque) and on the Chameli floor on east, west and north sides. Besides these, several portions of the other world heritage sites in the region — Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri — have also remained closed to the public for years due to security reasons.
		+
		+	Controversy over the Taj Mahal was first stirred by historian PN Oak who, in a 1989 book, claimed that the monument was originally ‘Tejo Mahal’. He argued that the monument was originally a Hindu temple and a palace built by a Rajput ruler. However, his theory has been repeatedly debunked by several historians. In fact in 2000, the Supreme Court rejected a petition by Oak to declare that the Taj Mahal was built by a Hindu king.
		+
		+	[[Category:India\|A
		+	TAJ MAHAL, AGRA]]
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	=Admission =		=Admission =