The mausoleum and garden were made between 1632 and 1654 as a memorial to Mumtaz Mahal, favourite wife of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The plan of the gardens was recorded in 1828 by the British Surveyor-General of India. It is a classical four-fold paradise garden with the tomb on the edge overlooking the River Jumna. The gatehouse is at the end of the axis and there are pavilions at the ends of the cross-axes. The garden was Europeanized during the nineteenth century with informal tree-planting.
The original design for Taj Mahal, by Ustad Ahmad, is analysed in Begley, W.E., 'The garden of the Taj Mahal: a case study of Mughal architectural planning and symbolism' pp 213-231 Westcoat, J.L., Wolschke-Bulmahn, J Mughal Gardens: sources, places, representations and prospects (Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection Washington DC 1996). Begley suggests that the plan was laid out on a grid. This method is known to have been used elsewhere and is shown in a corner of the c1580 illustration showing Babur laying out his garden. It is of course an instance of the classic charhar bagh (four-garden) plan as used by Babur himself. Begley further argues that the symbolism of the plan was inspired by 'the then well-known cosmological diagrams depicting the garden of paradise on the Day of Judgement'. He therefore regards the design as a 'symbolic replica of the heavenly throne of God ('Arsh), which Islamic tradition situates directly above Paradise, and upon which God will sit in judgement on the Day of Resurrection'. This quotation comes from an earlier article: Begley, W.E. 'The myth of the Taj Mahal and a new theory of its symbolic meaning' The Art Bulletin 61 (1979) pp7-37.
Babur
