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• The Taj Mahal, which was constructed in 1632 by Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, had been initially named 'Roza-e-Munavvara' which means Unique Building, but was then renamed by Shah Jahan as Taj Mahal as a loving tribute to his wife for whom his love surpassed all belief.

  
  

  The Taj was constructed when Shah Jahan's most beloved wife Arzumand Banu Begum, popularly known as Mumtaz Mahal, died giving birth to her 14th child near Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh where she had been accompanying Shah Jahan on one of his military campaigns. Mumtaz died at the age of 39.

  
  

  Shah Jahan was so distraught upon Mumtaz's death that he confined himself in a room for a week and when he came out of the room, all his hair had turned grey. Mumtaz's body was interred temporarily in Burhanpur itself and was later on transferred to the Taj Mahal's central hall.

Inside the Taj Mahal, the cenotaphs honoring Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan are enclosed in an eight-sided chamber ornamented with pietra dura (an inlay with semi-precious stones) and a marble lattice screen. But the gorgeous monuments are just for show: The real sarcophagi are in a quiet room below, at garden level.
Walk down to the burial chamber, lying just beneath the central chamber and you are at last in front of the graveyards of the two love souls, Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and his Empress, Mumtaz Mahal. In sync with the ethics of Islam, the cenotaphs are not opulent but spiritual. While the cenotaph of Mumtaz Mahal has inscriptions from holy Quran, the side tombs are inscribed with 99 names of Allah. The cenotaph of Shah Jahan is larger than the queen’s but is also simple with designs resembling that of the other sarcophagus.