FIRST POSTING - READING FOR INFORMATION

The Taj Mahal


The activity of this subject on this week is regarding to reading. According to the Longman dictionary reading is explained as the act or practise of reading and an opinion about the meaning of a statement, set of events. There are certain types of reading were given in this activity. Reading for information, reading for entertainment, accidental reading, relaxing reading and reading.
In this activity I have to choose one type of reading among the five were given and choose a topic or paragraph regarding to that reading type. Then I have to explain about it according to my own point of view. The type of reading that I have chosen is reading for information. Reading for information means that act or practises of reading for knowledge in the form of facts, news and etc. It also can be categorized as a way to improve our knowledge or getting more information about something. So I have chosen a passage or a topic regarding to reading for information and the topic is Taj Mahal. Why I’m saying that Taj Mahal is a passage about reading for information? Is there anyone can guest it? As I know, Taj Mahal is well known among the people in this world as one of the place out of the seven wonders in the world. That is right but actually there are a lot of information were still they don’t know about it. That’s why I’m telling that this passage is regarding to reading for information.
What is Taj Mahal? The splendid love story begins in 1612, when a Persian princess Arjumand Bano married Shah Jahan (then prince Khurram), the fifth Mughal emperor. Arjumand Bano, who later became known as Mumtaz Mahal (the Chosen of the Palace), was a second wife to the emperor. Both a companion and an advisor, the queen followed the emperor on his journeys and military expeditions. Such was the effect of the queen on his emperor-husband that Shah Jahan was inspired to perform acts of charity and benevolence all throughout his life.

The love story took a serious turn when, on a campaign at Burhanpur with her husband, Mumtaz Mahal took his last breath giving birth to their 14th child. So heartbroken was the emperor that the whole court went into mourning for a span of over two years. It is said that, within a few months after the queen's death, the hair and beard of the king had turned white. And Shah Jahan was recklessly determined on building a monument in his consort's loving memory that the world had never seen.

The dead body of the queen was brought to Agra and buried in a garden on the banks of river Yamuna. A group of the finest architects was assembled to devise a plan for erecting the tomb.
The construction of Taj Mahal was started in AD 1631 and completed at the end of 1648 AD. For seventeen years, twenty thousand workmen are said to be employed on it daily, for their accommodation a small town, named after the deceased empress-'Mumtazabad, now known as Taj Ganj, was built adjacent to it. Amanat Khan Shirazi was the calligrapher of Taj Mahal, his name occurs at the end of an inscription on one of the gates of the Taj. Poet Ghyasuddin had designed the verses on the tombstone, while Ismail Khan Afridi of Turkey was the dome maker. Muhammad Hanif was the superintendent of Masons. The designer of Taj Mahal was Ustad Ahmad Lahauri. The material was brought in from all over India and central Asia and it took a fleet of 1000 elephants to transport it to the site. The central dome is 187 feet high at the centre. Red sandstone was brought from Fatehpur Sikri, Jasper from Punjab, Jade and Crystal from China, Turquoise from Tibet, Lapis Lazuli and Sapphire from Sri Lanka, Coal and Cornelian from Arabia and diamonds from Panna. In all 28 kind of rare, semi precious and precious stones were used for inlay work in the Taj Mahal. The chief building material, the white marble was brought from the quarries of Makrana, in distt. Nagaur, Rajasthan. This is what I know and what I get about Taj Mahal. For more information, click here : http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_history_of_the_Taj_Mahal

TAJ MAHAL

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Located at the city of Agra in the State of Uttar Pradesh, the Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful masterpieces of architecture in the world. Agra, situated about 200 km south of New Delhi, was the Capital of the Mughals (Moguls), the Muslim Emperors who ruled Northern India between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Mughals were the descendents of two of the most skilled warriors in history: the Turks and the Mongols. The Mughal dynasty reached its highest strength and fame during the reign of their early Emperors, Akbar, Jehangir, and Shah Jehan.
It was Shah Jehan who ordered the building of the Taj, in honor of his wife, Arjumand Banu who later became known as Mumtaz Mahal, the Distinguished of the Palace. Mumtaz and Shah Jehan were married in 1612 and, over the next 18 years, had 14 children together. The Empress used to accompany her husband in his military campaigns, and it was in 1630, in Burhanpur, that she gave birth to her last child, for she died in childbirth. So great was the Emperor love to his wife that he ordered the building of the most beautiful mausoleum on Earth for her.
Although it is not known for sure who planned the Taj, the name of an Indian architect of Persian descent, Ustad Ahmad Lahori, has been cited in many sources. As soon as construction began in 1630, masons, craftsmen, sculptors, and calligraphers were summoned from Persia, the Ottoman Empire, and Europe to work on the masterpiece. The site was chosen near the Capital, Agra on the southwest bank of the River Yamuna. The architectural complex is comprised of five main elements: the Darwaza or main gateway, the Bageecha or garden, the Masjid or mosque, the Naqqar Khana or rest house, and the Rauza or the Taj Mahal mausoleum. The actual Tomb is situated inside the Taj.
The unique mughal style combines elements of Persian, Central Asian, and Islamic architecture. Most impressive are the black and white chessboard marble floor, the four tall minarets (40 m high) at the corners of the structure, and the majestic dome in the middle. On closer look, the lettering of the Quran verses around the archways appears to be uniform, regardless of their height. The lettering spacing and density has been customized to give this impression to the beholder. Other illusionary effects have been accounted for in the geometry of the tomb and the tall minarets. The impressive pietra dura artwork includes geometric elements, plants and flowers, mostly common in Islamic architecture. The level of sophistication in artwork becomes obvious when one realizes that a 3 cm decorative element contains more than 50 inlaid gemstones.