Heaven on Earth: An Analysis of the Taj Mahal

Word Count: 3851

A mausoleum, a memorial, a “tear drop on the cheek of time,” in the words of

poet Rabindranath Tagore, the Taj Mahal (1632-53) is a feat of Islamic architecture, a

gem in the rich, syncretic history of Mughal India.1 Designed as the final resting place of

Mumtaz Mahal, wife of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, the site is regarded at once as a

labour of love and a monument to the wealth and power of the Mughals.2 An exquisite

work of architectural and artistic prowess, the Taj is steeped in religious symbolism and

paradisiacal references and allusions. By analysing the complex’s garden structure, floral

ornamentation, and calligraphic decoration, I will put forth the argument that the Taj

Mahal is an earthly representation of jannah (heaven/paradise), as depicted in the Islamic

tradition.

The Taj complex, set upon the river Yamuna in Agra is composed, broadly, of the

main tomb, set between a guesthouse on the left, known as the Mihman Khana, and a

mosque on the right (Figure 1). The complex is housed within a 300-square meter (980

square feet) charbagh: a quadrilateral garden, hailing from the Persian architectural

tradition, divided into quarters by avenues or flowing water (Figure 2). Walkways dotted

with cypress trees as well as canals of water run along the four sections. A paradisiacal

garden, the Taj Mahal’s charbagh is an extended metaphor for the reproduction of

heaven on earth. Wayne E. Begley explains, ‘Persian gardens in general, and Mughal

garden tombs in particular, are often described metaphorically in Persian poetry and

inscriptions as being like Paradise.’3 The layout of the Taj charbagh finds its closet

predecessors in Shah Jahan’s great-grandfather Emperor Humayun’s tomb (1565-1572)

1 Begley, ‘Myth of the Taj Mahal’, p. 7. 2 Migeon and Saladin, Art of Islam, p. 94. 3 Begley, ‘Myth of the Taj Mahal’, 1979, p. 11.

(Figure 3). From the structure the Taj borrows the late Timurid tradition of having rows

of fountains across the waterfront garden, suggesting the structure was one in an

evolution of Mughal funerary art. The charbagh in its original Persian conception was to

be paradisiacal in form and thus its repeated use in imperial tombs suggests a royal

interest in connecting the grace and majesty of the divine to the power of the emperor.4 If

the power of God was, indeed, limitless and His bounty in heaven plentiful, then who

besides the great emperor could bestow his riches and resources to reproduce it?

Figure 1: Taj Mahal, 1632-53, Agra, India (Photo:

http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/map/Taj_Mahal.htm)

4 Koch, ‘The Taj Mahal’, p. 128.

Figure 2: Taj Mahal (view of charbagh), 1632-53, Agra, India (Photo:

https://dome.mit.edu/handle/1721.3/38582?show=full)

Figure 3: Emperor Humayun’s tomb (view of charbagh), 1565-1572, New Delhi,

India (Photo: http://www.voyagerboheme.com/humayuns-tomb/)

Depicted throughout the Qur’an (the holy book of Islam, composed of God’s

words as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel) and Hadith

(sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) as a garden, replete with flowing rivers and ever-

blooming flora, heaven comes to life through the Taj. The complex’s charbagh fashions

into form the promise of the second ayah (verse) of Surah al-Baqarah, the second chapter

of the Qur’an; in it, God states, ‘[O Prophet] Give good tidings to those who believe and

do righteous deeds that they will have gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow.’5

The Taj garden also takes from a famous hadith, relayed by the Prophet Muhammad after

his Mi’raaj or miraculous ascension into heaven: ‘I saw four rivers flowing out from

beneath Sidrat al-Muntaha [the Lote Tree which marks the end of the seventh and highest

heaven].’6 The four rivers of heaven are represented through the four canals of the

charbagh (char meaning four and bagh garden). The Taj diverges from the classic

charbagh, both in its original Persian conception and as the Mughal waterfront garden,

by having the prominent feature of the structure – the tomb – situated at the end of the

oblong complex, rather than in the centre.7 Babur’s tomb (1528), for example, had its

main building as its focal piece. The centre of the Taj’s charbagh is occupied, instead, by

a marble water tank named al-Hawd al-Kawthar (Figure 4). In first ayah of Surah al-

Kawthar, the 108th chapter of the Qur’an, God explains to the Prophet Muhammad,

‘Verily, We have granted you [O Muhammad] al-Kawthar [a river in Paradise].’8 The

river is said in numerous hadith to continually replenish a cistern which will forever grant

5 Abdel Haleem, The Qur’an 2:25. 6 Imam Muslim, Sahih Muslim: 6807. 7 Begley, ‘Myth of the Taj Mahal’, p. 11. 8 Abdel Haleem, The Qur’an 108:01.

cool water to the Muslims; fittingly, kawthar means abundance in Arabic.9 The al-Hawd

al-Kawthar (The Tank of Abundance) of the Taj charbagh is named in direct reference to

the eponymous river in heaven.10 Given such locational significance, the architectural

feature is a symbol of the divine on earth. Set apart from the four other garden

waterways, the tank offers a key addition to the heavenly garden metaphor manifest

throughout the charbagh. By having the tank in the centre, the innovative and meaningful

creation of the Taj is emphasised. Such a marked difference from earlier Mughal works

stresses the purposeful structuring of the complex and its garden to arguably reflect

heaven in a manner more vividly and closer to scripture than before.11

Figure 4: Taj Mahal (view of al-Hawd al-Kawthar), 1632-53, Agra, India (Photo:

http://www.taj-mahal.net/newtaj/textMM/GardensParadise.html)

9 Imam Muslim, Sahih Muslim: 4255. 10 Begley, ‘Myth of the Taj Mahal’, p. 26. 11 Parodi, ‘Distilled Essence’, p. 538.

The intimate ties between the garden of paradise – jannah, the word for heaven in

Arabic, also means garden – and the garden of man were certainly not lost on the Mughal

architects.12 The word ‘paradise’ itself comes from the Persian pairidaeza, a compound

construction of pairi (around) and daeza (wall or space); the word eventually entered

Arabic, via the Greek paradeisos, as firdaus – the highest level of heaven.13 Official court

historian Abd al-Hamid Lahawri confirms the purposeful likening of the Taj charbagh to

firdaus, writing in his account of Shah Jahan’s rule, ‘the exalted mausoleum […] imitates

the gardens of Rizwan [the guardian angel of Paradise], and […] gives an impression of

Paradise.’14 The Mughal tombs which preceded the Taj similarly espoused the connection

between the earthly and the divine garden. An inscription on the gateway of Emperor

Akbar’s tomb (1605-1613), with which Taj shares multiple design similarities as well as

a calligrapher, Amanat Khan, reads, ‘These are the gardens of Eden, enter them to live

forever!’ 15 In contrast to this arguably boastful and unsubtle declaration glazed upon

Emperor Akbar’s tomb – the words being the last the beholder reads before entering the

emperor’s resting place – the Taj opts for a more symbolic artistry. Amanat Khan, who

composed the inscriptions on Emperor Akbar’s tomb, including the aforementioned

invitation on the gateway, chose instead to use Qur’anic verses in the decoration of the

Taj.16 The Taj extends the paradisiacal metaphor beyond that of its predecessor to

replicate more fully the Qur’anic exegesis of paradise.

12 De Lafayette, Thesaurus Lexicon of Similar Words, p. 149. 13 Hobhouse, Hunningher, and Harpur, Gardens of Persia. Kales Press, pp. 7–13. 14 Lahawri, The Badshahnamah. Cited in Ebba Koch. ‘The Taj Mahal’, p. 144. 15 Khan. Cited in Edmund W. Smith. Akbar’s Tomb, p. 35. 16 Begley, ‘Myth of the Taj Mahal’, p. 13.

The ornamentation, interior and exterior, of the mausoleum expands on the central

theme of the heavenly garden. A variety of mediums – painted stucco, parchin kari

(inlaid pietra dura), and munabbat kari (uncoloured high relief) – are used to breath

divine essence into the man-made structure. Painted stucco flowers bloom along the

highest spandrel (the space between an arch and its enclosure) of the entrance iwan (a

vaulted hall or space open on one side), to the pockets of space between the calligraphy

of the lower walls. These blossoms intersect with geometric vines, saturating the structure

with careful symbolism. The naturalistic motifs that run along the walls, in particular the

dado (the lower part of the wall), of the tomb complement the flowing thuluth (a cursive

style of Arabic in which one-third of each letter is written at a slant) of the calligraphic

detail, offering a pleasing unity of design (Figure 5). Such visual harmony follows the

qarina scheme associated with Shah Jahan’s reign; Ebba Koch defines the style as, ‘two

symmetrical features, one mirroring the other […] arranged on both sides of a central,

dominant feature.’17 The qarina scheme takes from Timurid principles of design, in

which geometric patterns and well-proportioned, symmetrical designs were seen as

indicators of divine harmony and peace. 18 The painted flora of the Taj is notably non-

descript, unidentifiable with any specific plant on earth. Such a design affords an other-

worldly aura to the vegetation, reinforcing its paradisiacal origins – the garden of the Taj

is unlike any that we would see in this life.

17 Koch, ‘The Taj Mahal’, p. 139. 18 Sobti. ‘Taj Mahal’, p. 393.

Figure 5: Taj Mahal (view of dados), 1632-53, Agra, India (Photo: http://www.taj-

mahal.net/newtaj/textMM/Dados.html)

Yellow marble, jasper, and jade stones form sparkling designs in a form of

parchin kari, which is the art of arranging stones to create an image (Figure 6).

Complementing the semiprecious stone designs is munabbat kari, a form of carving in

which figures protrude only slightly from their background surface (Figure 7). The

marble of the munnabat kari flowers gleams, reflecting the jeweled beauty of the parchin

kari arabesques. The parchin kari and munnabat kari designs recall ayahs twenty-eight to

thirty-three of Surah Waqi’ah, the fifty-sixth chapter of the Qur’an, and its promises of

ever-green vegetation in paradise: ‘Trees, one above another, and extended shade, and

water flowing constantly, and abundant fruit, neither intercepted nor forbidden.’19 Also

recalled is the seventh through ninth ayahs of Surah Qaf, the fiftieth chapter of the

Qur’an, in which God exclaims, ‘And the earth – We spread it out [..] and made grow

19 Abdel Haleem, The Qur’an 56: 28-33.

therein [something] of every beautiful kind. Giving insight and a reminder for every

servant […] We have sent down blessed rain from the sky and made grow thereby

gardens.’20 The filling of the building with natural motifs serves further as a tribute to the

natural beauty of the world and its conception as a divine blessing in Islam. Gardens,

whether on earth or in heaven, are ayat or signs of God’s existence and might, as well as

His love for His Creation. The vegetation of this world, however, is no match for the

fields of jannah, where flora blooms unperturbed in an endless spring and the pulchritude

of nature reaches its zenith. The cenotaphs of the Emperor and his wife make evident the

dedication to the paradisiacal theme; Mumtaz’s resting place showcases a balance of

calligraphic inscriptions alongside floral detailing, with the latter dominating her upper

cenotaph. Shah Jahan’s cenotaphs, upper and lower, display a marked preference for

parchin kari over calligraphic decoration (Figure 8).21 The exploration of the floral motif

in every aspect of the Taj’s ornamentation reinforces the plenteous nature of heaven; the

beholder is spoiled for choice in terms of alluring sights of flowers, painted, carved, and

jeweled, across the mausoleum.

20 Abdel Haleem, The Qur’an 50: 7-9. 21 Koch, ‘The Taj Mahal’, p. 147.

Figure 6: Taj Mahal (view of parchin kari), 1632-53, Agra, India (Photo:

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietra_dura#/media/File:India-6190_-_Flickr_-

_archer10_(Dennis).jpg)

Figure 7: Taj Mahal (view of munnabat kari) 1632-53, Agra, India (Photo:

https://www.robertharding.com/index.php?lang=en&page=search&s=shah&smode=0&z

oom=1&display=5&sortby=1&bgcolour=white)

Figure 8: Taj Mahal (view of Shah Jahan’s cenotaph, right), 1632-53, Agra, India

(Photo: http://searchoflife.com/taj-mahal-a-symbol-of-love-2013-12-04)

The mausoleum interior, in particular, draws out the metaphor of paradise to its

grandest end: a timeless, ever-blooming garden guarding the graves of Shah Jahan and

Mumtaz.22 Unlike the surrounding charbagh, the ornamental, lyrical garden of the Taj’s

inner walls is eternal. Detailing along the interior is once again formed by parchin kari

and painted stucco on the plinths of the inner iwans, more intricate and delicate than that

of the exterior. Devoid of figural representation, the ‘aniconic floral imagery’ of the Taj

follows the storied preference in Islamic art for vegetal and geometric embellishment

over human faces or portraiture.23 The vast swaths of emptiness that permeate the

mausoleum interior serve a central purpose in the grand design of the structure. The

22 Koch, ‘The Taj Mahal’, p. 142. 23 Necipoğlu and Payne, Histories of Ornament, p. 138.

ostensible simplicity of the negative space, so to speak, draws the beholder’s attention

instead to the floral detailing. Seyyed Hossein Nasr concurs that the lack of distraction

from literalistic depictions of humans, ‘bestow[s] upon emptiness within the space of

Islamic architecture a spiritual significance of the greatest importance.’24 The focus of the

viewer’s sight rests solely upon the ornamentation of the structure, reinforcing the

centrality of the paradisiacal imagery. Ebba Koch adds, ‘the delicate flowers that appear

on the dados, at the eye level of the beholder […] transform the lower walls of the

mausoleum into ever-blooming paradisiacal flowerbeds.’25 The purposeful placing of the

ornamentation at eye-level dismisses any claims of coincidence in the decoration of Taj;

the flowers of the earthly paradise were crafted to be seen, observed and noted. Like the

ayat (signs) of God’s bounty on earth, the paradisiacal vegetal motifs of the mausoleum

remind the beholder of the power of the Creator and the fate that awaits Shah Jahan and

Mumtaz in heaven. The purpose and message of the Taj Mahal’s conception is brought to

fruition in every portion of its design – its meaning blooms, quite literally, ever-green in

its ornamentation.

The heavenly imagery of the Taj finds, arguably, its clearest voice in the careful

calligraphy of Abd al-Haqq of Shiraz, also known as Amanat Khan. Court records

suggest that Khan, responsible for the inscriptions on both the Taj and Emperor Akbar’s

tomb, chose personally the twenty-two Qur’anic passages which adorn the mausoleum.26

Composed in black marble and jasper parchin kari, the carefully selected passages

confirm the purposeful likening of the Taj to paradise.27 Begley confirms, ‘The choice of

24 Nasr, Islamic Art and Spirituality, p. 46. 25 Koch, ‘The Taj Mahal’ p. 145. 26 Begley, ‘Calligraphy on the Taj Mahal’, p. 25. 27 Begley, ‘Myth of the Taj Mahal’, p. 12.

these Qur’anic passages was deliberate, and not haphazard.’28 A synthesis of the themes

raised in the physical structure and ornamentation of the complex, the calligraphic

detailing offers the clearest source material for the design of the complex. Rife with

descriptions of heaven and its beauty, the inscriptions form the final piece of the man-

made rendering of paradise. The fragments of Qur’an that line the white walls and

cenotaphs of the Taj discuss, broadly, the beauty and sights of jannah, God’s boundless

mercy, the spoils of paradise as reserved for the believers, and the Day of Judgement.29

By prominently displaying this assortment of surahs (chapters of the Qur’an), Khan

reveals the heavenly model upon which the complex is directly structured and designed.

Forming a fluid succession of ideas, the eschatologically focused passages create a

cohesive statement of purpose for the building. They are to be taken and understood

together, complementing and reinforcing the individual meaning of one another.30

Alongside aesthetic appeal and display of Amanat Khan’s mastery, the grand thuluth

calligraphy serves critically to refine, in writing, the glimpses of paradise that the

waterfront garden and floral decoration of the complex physically recall.

By walking through the mausoleum, the beholder not only undergoes a journey

through an earthly paradise, but also through the heart of the Qur’an. Beginning at the

eight arched openings of the domed hall, octagonal in shape, one notes the gateway

adorned with four surahs (chapters of the Qur’an). The last words the beholder reads

before entering the hall are also the single occasion in the Qur’an where God invites

directly the faithful into heaven: ‘O thou soul at peace. Return thou unto thy Lord, well-

28 Begley, ‘Myth of the Taj Mahal’, p. 13. 29 Begley and Desai, Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb, pp. 195-244. 30 Begley, ‘Calligraphy on the Taj Mahal’, p. 8.

pleased and well-pleasing unto Him! Enter thou among My servants – And enter thou My

Paradise!’31 This selection is taken from ayahs twenty-seven to thirty-three of Surah al-

Fajr, the eighty-ninth chapter of the Qur’an, and covers the south façade of the main Taj

gateway (Figure 9). The entirety of the surah discusses, as is common in the Qur’an, the

hellfire and suffering which awaits the disbelievers on the Day of Judgement in contrast

to the goodness and everlasting joy which awaits the believers.32 The fourth ayah of

Surah ad-Duha, the ninety-third chapter of the Qur’an, too adorns the gateway of the

mausoleum, offering a clear reminder to onlooker: ‘The Hereafter is better for you than

the first [life].’33 The life of the coming world, of heaven and hell, is more valuable than

the transient and ephemeral one of this world; such a thesis is found throughout Islamic

tradition and is offered as a potent reminder in the form of the charbagh and the floral

detailing – symbols of the Hereafter.34 The emphasis upon the Hereafter is evident in the

selection of passages; an undertone of apocalyptic envisioning graces the entrance to the

inner hall, preparing the beholder, as well as Mumtaz and Shah Jahan, for the journey

through the Day of Judgement to the reward of the afterlife of the faithful.

31 Begley, ‘Calligraphy on the Taj Mahal’, p. 35. 32 Abdel Haleem, The Qur’an 89:25. 33 Abdel Haleem, The Qur’an 93:4. 34 Sajoo, Companion to Muslim Cultures, p. 19.

Figure 9: Taj Mahal (view of gateway detailing Surah al-Fajr), 1632-53, Agra, India

(Photo: Wayne E. Begley, ‘Myth of the Taj Mahal’)

Entering the mausoleum, the reader gazes upon the entirety of Surah Ya-Sin, the

thirty-sixth chapter of the Qur’an, and its rich description of paradise; ayahs fifty-five to

fifty-six detail in particular the visions of reward for the faithful: ‘Indeed the companions

of Paradise, that Day, will be amused in [joyful] occupation. They and their spouses - in

shade, reclining on adorned couches.’35 The surah also redirects attention to the vegetal

detailing of the mausoleum, reminding the reader of God’s mercy as manifest in the plant

life of the world in ayahs thirty-three to thirty-four: ‘And a sign [of God’s might] for

35 Abdel Haleem, The Qur’an 36: 55-56.

them is the dead earth. […] We placed therein gardens of palm trees and grapevines and

caused to burst forth therefrom some springs.’36 Such a reference harkens back to the

floral detailing of the mausoleum and its appreciation for natural beauty. The eighth ayah

of Surah al-Bayyinah, the ninety-eighth chapter, graces the tomb exterior and promises

the faithful an alluring vision of paradise, replete with a reference to the flowing water of

the charbagh: ‘Their [the faithful’s] reward with Allah will be gardens of perpetual

residence beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever.’37 The Qur’anic

calligraphy of the interior not only supports the overall theme of paradise, but also offers

additional backing to the other features of the complex, suggesting remarkable

interconnectedness and forethought in the planning of the structure.

The tomb interior is decorated with verses which further describe paradise and

delineate the nature of those who will enter it from those who will not. Official Mughal

court historian Abd al-Hamid Lahwari’s boast, at the time of Shah Jahan’s reign, that the

Taj was to, ‘until the Day of Resurrection remain,’ complements the inscribed passages

promising heavenly reward to the patient.38 In being created for the patient believers, the

Taj was built to survive until the end of time. Such an example would be ayahs eleven to

twelve of Surah al-Insan, the seventy-sixth chapter of the Qur’an, running along the tomb

interior. It claims that God, ‘will reward them [the faithful] for what they patiently

endured [with] a garden [in Paradise].’39 Gazing upon the upper cenotaph of Mumtaz, the

beholder notes the eighth ayah of Surah Ghafir, the fortieth chapter, quote the only

occasion in the Qur’an where the angels who guard God’s kursi (throne) speak,

36 Abdel Haleem, The Qur’an 36: 33-34. 37 Abdel Haleem, The Qur’an 98:8. 38 Lahwari, The Badshahnamah. Cited in Ebba Koch. ‘The Taj Mahal’, p. 128. 39 Abdel Haleem, The Qur’an 76:11-12.

imploring, ‘And allow them [the faithful], O Lord! to enter the Gardens of Eden which

Thou has promised unto them!’(Figure 10).40 Presumably a prayer for the Empress, the

inscription alludes notably to the gardens of heaven, as opposed to, say, general notions

of the afterlife. Such a choice reaffirms the centrality of the vision of the paradisiacal

garden in the conception of the Taj. In commissioning the mausoleum, Shah Jahan

realised the dream of his great-grandfather Emperor Humayun, who in 1533 elucidated

his wish to create a palace seven stories high, bordered by a rich, blooming garden.41 The

twelfth ayah of Surah al-Fussilat, the forty-first chapter of the Qur’an, runs along

Mumtaz’s upper cenotaph and dictates heaven as having seven levels: ‘And He [God]

completed them as seven heavens within two days’.42 The vivid image of the seven levels

of heaven is repeated in the Qur’an, appearing again in the last ayah of Surah at-Talaq,

the sixty-fifth chapter: ‘It is Allah who has created seven heavens and of the earth, the

like of them.’43 The intimate ties between Emperor Humayun’s vision and the seven

heavens of Islam are thus re-emphasised on Mumtaz’s grave. The royal interest in

representations of paradise found, arguably, their zenith in the planning and execution of

the Taj. Upon reaching the lower cenotaphs, the beholder finds further promises of

paradise; an inscription on Shah Jahan’s cenotaph, in particular, reads, ‘firdaus ashiyani’,

meaning in Persian the one nesting in highest level of Paradise.44 The promises of the

passages are to be a message of comfort to the faithful, including the Shah Jahan and

Mumtaz.

40 Begley, ‘Myth of the Taj Mahal’, p. 28. 41 Jairazbhoy, ‘Context of East and West’, p. 82. 42 Abdel Haleem, The Qur’an 41:12. 43 Abdel Haleem, The Qur’an 65:12. 44 Jairazbhoy, ‘Context of East and West’, p. 83.

Figure 10: Taj Mahal (view of Mumtaz’s upper cenotaph), 1632-53, Agra, India (Photo:

http://www.indianetzone.com/34/calligraphy_taj_mahal_taj_mahal.htm)

Despite their shared eschatological subject matter, the Qur’anic passages adorning

the interior contrast and clash in tone. The gateway’s invitation to paradise turns to

foreboding and apocalyptic visions of the Day of Judgement in the tomb exterior before

once again returning on the tomb interior and cenotaphs to whispers of paradise. As one

moves closer to the heart of mausoleum – the resting place of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz –

the warnings of God’s wrath fade into comforting reminders of the next life. The

assortment of surahs offer a diverse cross-section of the Qur’an as well as expand in

discourse and dialogue the symbolism of the Taj complex. Begley explains, ‘the thrust of

the entire inscriptional program is to compare the tomb and its garden to the celestial

Paradise, of which they are symbolic replicas – the gateway a replica of the gateway of

Paradise, the gardens replicas of the celestial gardens’.45 The journey through the Taj is a

journey through revelation and Islam; the Qur’anic passages build upon one another in a

crescendo, culminating in a seamless rendering of heaven.

The magnificence of the Taj’s careful design and seamless structure invite the

onlooker to contemplate its deeper meaning – an Islamic symbolism that permeates every

aspect of the complex. The complex is to be at once a sanctuary for Empress Mumtaz’s

soul (and later for Shah Jahan, as well), a reprieve on the journey into the next world, as

well as the destination itself. The defining features of the Taj – its charbagh, floral

ornamentation, and Qur’anic calligraphy – stress the connection between the mausoleum

complex and the Islamic vision of paradise. They recreate, or perhaps preemptively

envision, the hopeful resting place of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz in jannah. An attempt,

grand indeed, by man to capture the essence of God, the complex is an earthly paradise.

Teeming with heavenly imagery, its physical structure, decoration, and scriptural

detailing realise the Qur’anic visions of the afterlife. A veritable masterpiece, the Taj

Mahal is a landmark work in the corpus of Islamic art.

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