It can be confidently claimed without an iota of doubt that the Taj Mahal is the most well known and familiar building on the globe, today. Even within this structure, its white domed marble mausoleum is the greatest recognizable component. By most accounts, it has been established that the Taj Mahal has been designed as a ‘Symphony in Stone’ as a dedication to Shah Jehan’s eternal love for his stunningly beautiful wife and companion Mumtaz Mahal. This account of Taj Mahal’s origin is accepted by most experts as valid and convincing.

However, as a countervailing argument, some experts have tried to put this hypothesis vis-à-vis various accounts of Shah Jehan’s personality gleaned from other records from his own court historians and find that Shah Jehan was an exceedingly vainglorious, haughty character prone to extensive sex escapades. Looking at this image, it is difficult to digest that he could really be such a dedicated lover and a committed husband for a single woman, howsoever beautiful she was. This school of thought takes into account –

· In complete reversal of the state policies followed by Akbar and Jahangir, Shah Jehan reversed the established practice of moderation in dealing with his non-Muslim subjects and in the sixth year of his reign, imposed stiff Shania mandated terms in his empire.

· He rose in open revolt against his father Jahangir in 1622 when he realized that his younger brother Shahzada Shahryar was being cultivated as a likely successor to the throne.

· Upon ascending the throne in 1627, his first act was to execute all his rivals and even jailed his step mother, the Empress Noor Jehan.

· Shah Jehan married Arjumand Bano (later Mumtaz Mahal) in 1612, but despite his professed love and devotion, he still had two other wives Akbarabadi Mahal and Kandahari Mahal.

As an alternative premise, some experts argue that the building of Taj Mahal was actually an imperial project which had originally been conceived by Shah Jehan as a propaganda instrument to emphasize the perfection of Mughal influence in India. These experts assert that the Emperor was already contemplating such a building irrespective of the coincidental death of Mumtaz Mahal. A great and versatile builder as he was, he was already toying with the idea to implement the plan, when suddenly Mumtaz expired which proved to be a handy pretext.

However, the matter does not rest here. After Mumtaz expired and her remains were buried at the site, the construction of her white mausoleum commenced in right earnest, but by far the still greater project was to whitewash and transform the personality of the emperor before the world as a tender, doting, dedicated husband instead of a ruthless womanizer. Here again, the diabolical imperial propaganda machinery swung into action to conceive and implement a feasible action plan in bits and pieces by sowing a juicy tidbit here and planting a salacious morsel there which highlighted Shah Jehan as a loving and compassionate companion and an adoring husband for all times to come.

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The Power of Propaganda Behind Taj Mahal