Professor P.N Oak to declare that Taj Mahal was built by Hindu King Parmar Deva and not Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan. The key points raised by Professor Oak in his research from 1965 are as follows: [1] Shah Jahan’s own court chronicler Mulla Abdul Hamid Lahori in the Badshahnama (the court chronicle of Shah Jahan) mentions that the body of Mumtaz was removed from Burhanpur where she was originally buried. Oak discovered that the Shiva temple palace had been unsurpassed by Shah Jahan from then Maharaja of Jaipur, Jai Singh. Shah Jahan then remodeled the palace into his wife’s memorial. In his own court chronicle, Badshahnama, Shah Jahan admits that an exceptionally beautiful grand mansion in Agra was taken from Jai Singh for Mumtaz’s burial. The ex-Maharaja of Jaipur is said to retain in his secret collection two orders from Shah Jahan for the surrender of the Taj building. The use of captured temples and mansions as a burial place for dead courtiers and royalty was a common practice among Muslim rulers. For example, Hamayun, Akbar, Etmud-ud-Daula and Safdarjung are all buried there. The term ‘Mahal’ has never been used for a building in any of the Muslim countries. ‘The usual explanation that the term Taj Mahal derives from Mumtaz Mahal is illogical in at least two respects. Firstly, her name was never Mumtaz Mahal but Mumtaz-ul-Zamani,’ he writes. ‘Secondly, one cannot omit the first three letters from a woman’s name to derive the remainder as the name for the building.’ [6] If a stupendous monument like the Taj Mahal were specially built for the burial of a consort, there would be a ceremonial burial date and it would not go unrecorded. Taj Mahal entrance faces south. Had it been a Muslim building it should have faced west. [17] According to the old chronicles, Akbar on his early visits to Agra used to stay in Khawaspura and Jaisinghpura area of AgraMany rooms in the Taj Mahal have remained sealed since Shah Jahan’s time, and are still inaccessible to the public. Oak asserts they contain a headless statue of Shiva and other objects commonly used for worship rituals in Hindu temples. Fearing political backlash, Indira Gandhi’s government tried to have Oak’s book withdrawn from the bookstores, and threatened the Indian publisher of the first edition with dire consequences. In July 2000, The Indian Supreme court refused to declare Taj Mahal a Hindu shrine. The only way to really validate or discredit Oak’s research is to open the sealed rooms of the Taj Mahal, and allow international experts to investigate processes like radio-carbon dating on various parts of the building. Professor Marvin Miller of New York took samples from the riverside doorway of the Taj. Carbon dating tests revealed that the door was 300 years older than Shah Jahan. [20]
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 16:00:59 +0000
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