Typical frontal views of the Taj fail to capture its full magic the magic that has inspired many , including Rabindranath Tagore to poetry. The 17th century Mughal emperor Shah Jehan fell in love with Mumtaz Mahal at first sight and waited full five years for her hand to be granted to him in marriage. In their 19 years of married life, she bore him 14 children(of which only 6 survived to adulthood, and only 3 to old age), before dying in childbirth in 1632, the fourth year of Shah Jehan"s reign. Devastated with grief, Shah Jehan determined to build the world"s most beautiful mausoleum for her. For two decades, workers from all over India and also from Central Asia, worked on it. The main architect was Isha Khan of Iran, but experts included Austin of Bordeaux, France and Veroneo of Venice, Italy.
The Taj Mahal complex in Agra is situated on the bank of river Yamuna, and is approached through a high red sandstone gateway with Koranic inscriptions. The gardens, walks, watercourse, fountains and subsidiary structures of the complex are dominated and unified by the multi-domed Taj Mahal itself which stands on a raised marble platform with four tall but purely decorative minarets at four of its corners. The actual tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jehan are in the basement while in the main chamber, there are false tombs surrounded by lace-like marble screens. The marble all around is inlaid with semi-precious stones in the pietra dura process. From every view , in every weather , in dawn and dusk, in nights moonlit and moonless, the Taj is an unique experience.