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Effect of Muslim Atrocities on Hindu Society 

The Islamic onslaught destroyed centers of learning in North India. A historical fact worth noting that the last great school of Indian mathematics flourished in far away Kerala in the 14-15th century, where
Madhava and his students worked on problems of Calculus and Infinite Series more than two centuries before Newton and Gregory. India before the coming of Islam had many great centers of learning. Taxila, Nalanda, Vikramashila, Sarnath and many more used to attract students from all over the world. Following the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate, for the next six hundred years, not a center of learning worth the name was established.

Effect of Muslim Atrocities on Indian Society can be summed up in the words of Abu-Raihan Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Alberuni, Muslim scholar from Central Asia. He wrote a very comprehensive book "Indica" in1030 AD. "Alberuni felt a strong inclination towards Indian philosophy. He learnt Sanskrit and Hindu literature and sciences. He seems to have thought that the philosophers both in ancient India and Greece, held in reality the very same ideas, the same as seem to have been his own i.e. of pure monotheism. He seems to have to have reveled in the pure theories of Bhagavad-Gita. He accompanied Mahmud of Ghazni on his campaigns in India wrote: "Mahmud utterly ruined the prosperity of the country, and performed there, wonderful exploits, by which the Hindus became like atoms of dust scattered in all directions. ... Their scattered remains cherish, of course, the most inveterate aversion of all the Muslims. This is the reason, too, why Hindu sciences have retired far away from those parts of the country conquered by us, and have fled to places, which our hand cannot yet reach."

(Refer to Edward Sachau -- translator Alebruni's 'Indica and article 'Earth's rotation, its globular shape and gravity' - By Vinod Kumar, June 1999  http://www.americanfriends.org/kashmir/earth-shape_K62.html 

The Moghuls neglected practical and secular learning, especially the sciences. Throughout their long rule, no institutions was established comparable to modern university, although early India had world-famous centers of learning such as Taxila, Nalanda and Kanchi. Neither the nobles nor the mullas were stirred into learning. Nor did Akbar show any curiosity in European science and philosophy, although both Hindus and Muslims had made notable scientific contributions in the past. Akbar was presented with printed books and a printing press, yet even the Indian classics were first printed by Europeans. It is therefore, not surprising that during the period of European struggle for power, India was in a state of unparalleled decline. 

(source: India and World Civilization  - By D. P. Singhal  p. 198).

Akbar was illiterate. So were most of the Muslim rulers. They did not build one good college in eight centuries, complains Nehru. Naturally, the Muslim invaders saw no good in the two great universities of India—Taxila and Nalanda. They destroyed them. Peter Mansfield - historian of the Middle East, writes: “The great movements of ideas in western Europe from the Reformation through the Renaissance and counter-Reformation left the Ottoman world almost untouched.” The French and Russian revolutions were not different. They made little impact on the thinking of the Muslim world.

(source: Knowledge is suspected in IslamBy M.S.N. Menon).
Refer to Heroic Hindu Resistance to Muslim Invaders (636 AD to 1206 AD) - By Sita Ram Goel. Voice of India, New Delhi.

Naipaul flays Islam

Novelist V S Naipaul has caused an outcry by comparing the "calamitous effect" of Islam on the world with colonialism.

Speaking after a reading of his new book, Half a Life, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Sir Vidia said Islam had enslaved and attempted to wipe out other cultures. "It has had a calamitous effect on converted peoples. To be converted you have to destroy your past, destroy your history. You have to stamp on it, you have to say 'my ancestral culture does not exist, it doesn't matter'."

(source: Guardian News Service) .http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/051001/detFOR05.asp 

Dhan Gopal Mukerji (1890­1936) was the first South Asian immigrant to the United States and author of Caste and Outcast, sees the Muslim period of Indian history as horribly oppressive to the Hindus, during which the Hindus had to abandon some of their highly evolved traditions: 

"The Mohammedans wanted to convert all India to Mohammedanism . . . the Hindus were not willing converts but resisted to the point of death . . . When the Hindu men died fighting, the entire female population of garrison towns, in order not to fall into the hands of their conquerors, burned themselves alive. It was this measure that saved India from being overpopulated by Mohammedan children . . . . Girls before they reached the age of maturity were irrevocably betrothed to young Hindus, so that they could be protected from the Mohammedan enemies . . . Mohammedan rule saw in India a new marriage system totally unlike the ancient sayamvara , meaning the choice."

(source: Caste and Outcast - Review - Indiastar.com).  Refer to Heroic Hindu Resistance to Muslim Invaders (636 AD to 1206 AD) - By Sita Ram Goel. Voice of India, New Delhi

Refer to Muslim contribution to civilisation - By Dr Farrukh Saleem - Twenty-two per cent of humanity is Muslim, at least 1.4 billion followers of Islam. Omar al-Khayyam has been dead for 833 years, and since then Muslims have contributed next to nothing to physics, chemistry, medicine, literature or economics.

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Islamic Scholarship on India

The Arabic, Turkish, and Persian invaders brought their historians to document their conquests of India as great achievements. Many of these historians ended up loving India and wrote excellent accounts of life in India, including about the Gandhara and Sindh regions. Their translations of Indian texts were later retranslated into European languages and hence many of the European Renaissance inputs from Islam were actually Indian contributions traveling via Islam.

Many Muslim scholars showed great respect for Indian society. For instance:

“The Arabic literature identifies numerous ministers, revenue officers, accountants, et cetera, in seventh- and eighth-century Sind as 'brahmans' and these were generally confirmed in their posts by the conquerors. Where these brahmans came from we do not know, but their presence was regarded as beneficial. Many cities had been founded by them and Sind had become 'prosperous and populous' under their guidance.”

“Of caste divisions very little mention is made. The stereotype social division is in professional classes rather than a ritualized caste-hierarchy: 'priests, warriors, agriculturists, artisans, merchants'.”

“As Sindh was under the actual rule of Khalif Mansur (AD 753 - 774), there came embassies from that part of India to Baghdad, and among them scholars, who brought along with them two books, the Brahamsiddhanta to Brahamgupta (Sirhind), and his Khandkhdyaka (Arkanda). With the help of these pandits, Alfazari, perhaps also Yakub ibn Tarik, translated them. Both works have been largely used, and have exercised a great influence. It was on this occasion that the Arabs first became acquainted with a scientific system of astronomy. They learned from Brahamgupta earlier than from Ptolemy."

“Another influx of Hindu learning took place under Harun, AD 786 - 808. The ministerial family Barmak, then at the zenith of their power, had come with the ruling dynasty from Balkh, where an ancestor of theirs had been an official in the Buddhistic temple Naubehar, i.e. nava vihara = the new temple (or monastery). The name Barmak is said to be of Indian descent, meaning paramaka i.e. the superior (abbot of the vihara).”

“Induced by family traditions, they sent scholars to India, there to study medicine and pharmacology. Besides, they engaged Hindu scholars to come to Baghdad, made them the chief physicians of their hospitals, and ordered them to translate from Sanskrit into Arabic books on medicine, pharmacology, toxicology, philosophy, astrology, and other subjects. Still in later centuries Muslim scholars sometimes traveled for the same purposes as the emissaries of the Barmak, e.g. Almuwakkuf not long before Alberuni's time…”

“Many Arab authors took up the subjects communicated to them by the Hindus and worked them out in original compositions, commentaries and extracts. A favorite subject of theirs was Indian mathematics, the knowledge of which became far spread by the publications of Alkindi and many others."

Alberuni leaves no doubt as to the origin of the so-called Arabic system of numbers:

“The numerical signs which we use are derived from the finest forms of the Hindu signs… The Arabs, too, stop with the thousand, which is certainly the most correct and the most natural thing to do... Those, however, who go beyond the thousand in their numeral system are the Hindus, at least in their arithmetical technical terms, which have been either freely invented or derived according to certain etymologies, whilst in others both methods are blended together. They extend the names of the orders of numbers until the 18th order for religious reasons, the mathematicians being assisted by the grammarians with all kinds of etymologies.”

In Islamic Spain, European scholars acknowledged India very positively, as evidenced by an important and rare 11th century book on world science commissioned by the ruler of Spain. Its author, Said al-Andalusi (1029 -1070) Islamic scholar, who was a prolific author and in the powerful position of a judge for the king in Muslim Spain. 

He focused on India as a major center for science, mathematics and culture. Some excerpts:

“The first nation (to have cultivated science) is India. This is a powerful nation having a large population, and a rich kingdom. India is known for the wisdom of its people. Over many centuries, all the kings of the past have recognized the ability of the Indians in all the branches of knowledge.”

“The Indians, as known to all nations for many centuries, are the metal (essence) of wisdom, the source of fairness and objectivity. They are peoples of sublime pensiveness, universal apologues, and useful and rare inventions.”

“To their credit, the Indians have made great strides in the study of numbers and of geometry. They have acquired immense information and reached the zenith in their knowledge of the movements of the stars (astronomy) and the secrets of the skies (astrology) as well as other mathematical studies. After all that, they have surpassed all the other peoples in their knowledge of medical science and the strengths of various drugs, the characteristics of compounds and the peculiarities of substances [chemistry].”

“Their kings are known for their good moral principles, their wise decisions, and their perfect methods of exercising authority.”

“What has reached us from the work of the Indians in music is the book… [that] contains the fundamentals of modes and the basics in the construction of melodies.”

“That which has reached us from the discoveries of their clear thinking and the marvels of their inventions is the (game) of chess. The Indians have, in the construction of its cells, its double numbers, its symbols and secrets, reached the forefront of knowledge. They have extracted its mysteries from supernatural forces. While the game is being played and its pieces are being maneuvered, there appear the beauty of structure and the greatness of harmony. It demonstrates the manifestation of high intentions and noble deeds, as it provides various forms of warnings from enemies and points out ruses as well as ways to avoid dangers. And in this, there is considerable gain and useful profit.”

Even as late as the 12th century C.E, al-Idrîsî (1100-1166), a geographer and scholar from Spain and Sicily, included the Gandhara region, including Kabul, with India.. The region was famous for the export of its three local products: indigo, cotton, and iron.

(source: How 'Gandhara' became 'Kandahar' - By Rajiv Malhotra and The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Volume I – Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7th-11th Centuries - By Andre Wink. Oxford University Press, New Delhi 1999. p.112 -193). 

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Taj Mahal – A Rajput Palace/Hindu Temple ?  

The story has been challenged by Professor P.N. Oak (1917 - 2007) was the author of Taj Mahal: The True Story, who believed that the whole world has been duped by the history regarding this monument.

Mr. Oak graduated from Agra University and completed his MA LLB from Bombay University . He was one of the organizers of the Indian National Army, a director and commentator at the Free India Radio, Saigon , and later a co-worker of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. He later worked on the editorial staffs of the Hindustan Times and the Statesman. He also worked as an editor in the American Embassy’s Information Service in New Delhi.

He has claimed that the Taj Mahal is not Queen Mumtaz Mahal's tomb, but an ancient Hindu temple palace of Lord Shiva (then known as Tejo Mahalaya), worshipped by the Rajputs of Agra city.

In the course of his research, Oak discovered that the Shiva temple palace had been usurped by Shah Jahan from then Maharaja of Jaipur, Jai Singh. Shah Jahan then remodelled the palace into his wife's memorial. 

In his own court chronicle, Badshahnama, Shah Jahan admits that an exceptionally beautiful grand mansion in Agra was taken from Jai Singh for Mumtaz's burial. 

The ex-Maharaja of Jaipur is said to retain in his secret collection two orders from Shah Jahan for the surrender of the Taj building.

The use of captured temples and mansions as a burial place for dead courtiers and royalty was a common practice among Muslim rulers. For example, Hamayun, Akbar, Etmud-ud-Daula and Safdarjung are all buried in such mansions.

(source: The Taj Mahal - BBC).

"Is world history written from a Christian or Islamic perspective alone credible?"

There are no final answers to our questions about humanity's past. In world history, all "conclusions" must be tentative. Yet, accounts of the past construed by Western historians usually come neatly packed in western cultural and sociological paradigms. But the nagging question diligent seekers of truth about the past ask remains, "Is world history written from a Christian or Islamic perspective alone credible?" The fact is, world's distant past is pre-Christian and pre-Islamic. Though it remains unknowable, scattered evidence of an older world (that is periodically reported in world media) tends to arouse the speculative impulse of a historian like India 's P.N. Oak who believed that our world's origins go back to its Vedic heritage.

(source: P.N.Oak: The lone fighter, etymologist, and historian - By Prof. Shrinivas Tilak).

Many believe that the Taj Mahal was a 12th century temple-palace seized from Raja Jaisingh of Jaipur and converted to accommodate Mumtaz's tomb. Mullah Abdul Hamid Lahori, Shah Jehan's own official chronicler, has written, that Mumtaz's body was laid to rest in a "lofty sky-high palace with a majestic dome" procured from Raja Jaisingh.

The journals of Tamerlane (1336-1405) and Babur (1483-1530) show that this palace pre-dates Shah Jehan and also points to the notable absence of any claim by Shah Jehan himself for its construction.

A passage from Shahjahan’s court chronicle, the Badshahnama, which despairingly admits that the Taj Mahal is a commandeered Hindu palace. Mansingh’s mansion (manzil) was then in the possession of his grandson Jaisingh – says the Badshahnama.  

French merchant Jean Baptiste Tavernier (1605 - 1689) who visited India during Shah Jahan’s reign, has said in his book, Travels in India, the cost of the scaffolding exceeded that of the entire work done regarding the mausoleum. This proves that all Shah Jahan had to do was engrave Koranic texts on the walls of a Hindu palace; that is why the cost of the scaffolding was much more than the value of the entire work done.  

The Encyclopedia Brittanica states, that the Taj Mahal building complex comprises stables and guest and guard rooms.

Mr. Nurul Hassan Siddiqui’s book, The City of Taj, admits that the Badshahnama states that a Hindu palace was commandeered to bury Mumtaz in.  

Historian Vincent Smith, also states that Babur died in the Taj Mahal 100 years before the death of the lady for whom the Taj is believed to have been built as a mausoleum. 
On page 321, Smith in his book Akbar the Great Moghul, says: " It is surprising to find unmistakable Hindu features in the architecture of the tomb of a most zealous Musalman saint, but the whole structure suggests Hindu feeling and nobody can mistake the Hindu origin of the column and struts of the porch."

(source: Proof of Vedic Culture's Global Existence - By Stephen Knapp p. 280-9). Refer to Heroic Hindu Resistance to Muslim Invaders (636 AD to 1206 AD) - By Sita Ram Goel. Voice of India, New Delhi.

Taj Mahal - A Symbol of Love?

Lesser known facts about Shah Jehan

Mumtaz Was Shah jahan's 4th Wife Out Of 7
Shahjahan Killed Mumtaz's Husband To Marry Her
Mumtaz Died while delivering his 14th kid
He then Married Mumtaz's Sister

 

 

Sir V. S. Naipaul had called the Taj Mahal  a vulgar, crude building, a display of power built on blood and bones. "The Taj is so wasteful, so decadent and in the end so cruel that it is painful to be there for very long. This is an extravagance that speaks of the blood of the people."

As one famous Telugu poet wrote, "It is not to remember who built the Taj Mahal.  It is to remember who are the labourers"  

Refer to Eminent Historian Displeased with The Ayodhya Verdict – By Dr. Koenraad Elst and Media Manipulation - By Sandeep and Ayodhya: Has India really moved on? – By Amitabh Tripathi and Verdict leaves ‘secular intellectuals’ aghast – By Swapan Dasgupta and Ram Ki Nagari, once again – By Kanchan Gupta

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Dr. Ernest Binfield Havell (1861-1934 (principal to the Madras College of Art in the 1890s and left as principal of the Calcutta College of Art some 20 years later) has observed: " His first point was that whatever the inspiration, ‘there is one thing which has struck every writer about the Taj Mahal and that is its dissimilarity to any other monument in any other part of the world.." 

Havell insisted that the Islamic architecture in India was influenced by the Hindus. He supplied the following quotes from the opening quotes of his book, Indian Architecture - Its Psychology, Structure and History from the First Mohammedan Invasion to the Present Day. These give evidence at the admiration the Muslims had for Indian architecture: "  

Alberuni, the Arab historian, expressed his astonishment at and admiration for the work of Hindu builders.  

"Our people, he said, "when they see them, wonder at them and are unable to describe them, much less to construct anything like them." 

Abdul Fazal author of  Akbar-nama, wrote, "It passes our conception of things, few indeed in the whole world can compare with them." 

Outside India, its supposed precursor, Humayun’s tomb in Delhi, or the other two white marble tombs, those of Itimad-ud-Daula in Agra and Salim Chishti at Fatehpur Sikri, were so inferior as to be unworthy of comparison. There was no precedent in the strictly non-representational art of Islam. And only an Hindu artist with his purely conceptual approach could have created a building that was so blatantly seductive.

"The best Agra workers of the present day are also Hindus..." In my opinion the Delhi pietra dura (the figure drawing of birds inlaid in the rear wall of the royal balcony in the Diwani-i-Am, Red Fort) has been wrongly attributed to Shahjahan's reign..the naturalistic representation of birds and animals are a violation of Muslim law. The strict letter of (Koranic) law forbade the representation of the likeness of anything which is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath." (Note: Taliban recently has banned images of animals in Afghanistan). The Taj Mahal had a grand garden. A graveyard never boasts of luscious fruit and fragrant flower trees, since the idea of enjoying the fruit and flowers of graveyard is revolting. The garden could therefore, only have been the adjunct of a palace. 

An American visitor named Baynard Taylor has been quoted on page 177 of Keene's Handbook. Taylor observes: "I have been struck by the singular fact that, while at the central seats of the Moslem empire art reached but a comparative degree of development here and there, on the opposite and most distant frontiers (i. e. Spain and in  India) it attained a rapid and splendid culmination." In other words, in lands so distant as Spain and India Muslim invaders apparently built stupendous and magnificent monuments but in their own lands like Syria, Iraq and Arabia they have pretty little to show of the same caliber. 

Also Shah Jahan was no patron of the arts. Had he been one, he would not have had the heart to chop off the hands of those who are said to have toiled to 'build' the monument for his wife. An art lover, disconsolate over his wife's death, would not indulge in an orgy of maiming skilful craftsmen.

Emperor Shahjahan’s wife Arjumand Banu died in Burhanpur somewhere between 1629 and 1632 A.D. Her body was buried in a garden there but is said to have been exhumed after about six months and transported to Agra. Jean Baptiste Tavernier, 17th century French jewel merchant, toured India for trade between 1641 and 1668 A.D. In his book, Travels in India, he has recorded all kinds of information on India. Mumtaz died somewhere between 1629 and 1632. Tavernier arrived in India nearly 11 years after Mumtaz’s demise. According to Tavernier the work commenced and ended during his stay in India. According to some Muslim accounts the Taj Mahal was complete starting from the foundations, by 1643, while Tavernier tells us that the work concerning the mausoleum was not begun by at least 1641. That means that even if the work began in 1641 it ended only in 1663. This was impossible since Shah Jahan was no longer on the throne after 1658. If a stupendous monument had been built for the burial of a consort, there would have been a ceremonial burial date and it would not go unrecorded.

Even Encycopedia Brittanica states that Tavernier began a journey (1638-43) as far as Agra and Golconda. His visit to the Great Moghul and to the diamond mines.  

Tavernier has recorded: “ Of all the tombs which one sees at Agra that of the wife of Shahjahan is the most splendid. He purposely made the tomb near the Tasimacan (which had six large courts) where all foreigners come, so that the whole world should see and admire it. “ 

The word Tasimacan is Taz-I-macan, ie. Royal residence, which is synonymous with Taj Mahal. That is to say, the Hindu palace was known as Tasimacan alias Taj mahal even before Mumtaz’s burial, according to Tavernier. He tells us that foreigners used to flock to see the magnificent palace and that Shahjahan’s object in burying Mumtaz there was precisely to cash in on the sculptural grandeur of that dreamland palace. "Mahal" is exclusively used in India, is not of Arabic or Persian origin therefore not of the Mughal period, and contends that it is instead of Sanskrit origin. One can easily identify "Mahal" as a contraction of the Sanskrit "Mahalaya" or "Maha-alaya" meaning "Grand Residence" and when "Taj or Tej" meaning a crown is the qualifying adjective, the term takes on a whole new meaning, i.e. Grand Residence of the Crown, or Grand Royal Palace. "Tejas" is also the Sanskrit term for "resplendence" and "Teja Mahalaya" also means "Resplendent Shrine". The entire Taj building consists of over 1000 rooms along its corridors, in the two basements, on the upper floors and in its numerous towers, which clearly bears out that the contention that it was meant to be a temple-palace. The Taj Palace is located in the twin township of Jaisinghpura and Khawaspura, which are Rajput words, not Muslim. The Taj complex houses a pair of Nakkar Khana, i.e. drum houses. Drum houses are not only superfluous in a tomb but is a positive misfit for a departed soul. 

Radiocarbon dating was performed on some door samples taken from the Taj Mahal by Prof Marvin Mills of the Pratt Institute Archaeological History Department, New York, who with Dr. Evan Williams of the Brooklyn College radiocarbon laboratory, thereby determined that the monument pre-dates Shah Jehan by at least three centuries. 

The ex-Maharaja of Jaipur still retains in his secret collection two orders from Shah Jahan for surrendering the Taj building. Using captured temples and mansions, as a burial place for dead courtiers and royalty was a common practice among Muslim rulers. For example, Humayun, Akbar, Etmud-ud-Daula and Safdarjung are all buried in such mansions. European traveler Johan Albert Mandelslo, who visited Agra in 1638 (only seven years after Mumtaz's death), describes the life of the city in his memoirs. But he makes no reference to the Taj Mahal being built. 

The writings of Peter Mundy of the East India Company (The Travels of Peter Mundy) an English visitor to Agra within a year of Mumtaz's death, also suggest the Taj was a noteworthy building long well before Shah Jahan's time. Many rooms in the Taj Mahal have remained sealed since Shah Jahan's time, and are still inaccessible to the public. Fearing political backlash, Indira Gandhi's government tried to have Oak's book withdrawn from the bookstores, and threatened the Indian publisher of the first edition with dire consequences. The current Indian government should open the sealed rooms of the Taj Mahal and let experts investigate.

Shah Jahan is often misrepresented in Indian histories as a fabulously rich Mughal. The image o his derives from the belief that he built a number of costly buildings while he actually did not build even a single one. Far from being a monarch possessing fabulous wealth Shah Jahan could hardly command any resources worth his name because his near – 30 –years reign was marred by 48 military campaigns.  Shah Jahan’s relative poverty is fully borne out by Tavernier’s remark  that from “want of wood” the scaffolding, including the support of arches, had all to be made of bricks. The reader may well consider whether a monarch who cannot muster even the timber necessary for a scaffolding, in a country like India which had vast stretches under dense forest, can ever hope or dream of ordering a building as magnificent and majestic as the Taj Mahal??? 

Mumtaz mahal – The Lady of the Taj

According to Shah Jahan’s own court chronicle, the Badshahnama, which says, “ On the 17th Sil-I-Kada, 1040, died Nawab Aliya Begam, in the 40th year of her age…She had borne him eight sons and six daughters…” 

Maulvi Mionuddin Ahmed observes that Mumtaz's original name was Arjumand Banu Begum, and she was conferred the honorific title Mumtaz-ul-Zamani by her father-in-law Jehangir, but never Mumtaz Mahal, and she acquired the addition "Mahal" posthumously by virtue of being entombed in a palace, and that on the contrary it was not the monument which acquired her name, as latter-day historians would have us believe.

What was the status of this lady? 

Arjumand Banu’s father was Khwaja Abul Hasan (also known as Yamin-ud-Daula Asaf khan) and mother, Diwanji Begum. Born in 1594, Mumtaz was married to Shah Jahan in 1612. She was 18 while Shah jahan was 21 years of age at the time of marriage. But she as not Shah Jahan’s first wife. Shah Jahan’s first wife, the queen, was a great grand-daughter of the ruler of Persia – Shah Ismail Safwi. Shah Jahan had numerous other wives and many consorts. He not only was married before taking Mumtaz as his wife but also married again after her death. In between these  weddings he also used to take consorts by the hundreds into his harem. It is, therefore, futile to argue, as is traditionally done, that Shah Jahan was so devoted to Mumtaz as to lose all interest in life after her death and that he, therefore, perpetuated her memory in a magnificent monument. 

During the 18 years of her married life she bore 14 children of whom 7 survived her. That meant in no single year was she free from pregnancy, which shows Shah Jahan’s utter disregard to his wife’s health, so much so that Mumtaz died soon after her last delivery. She was only 37 years of age. 

This questions the whole myth that Taj Mahal is a monument of Love?

The Taj Mahal originated as a Shiva Temple 

The Taj edifice which Shah Jahan’s own chronicle  (The Badshahnama) admits to be a Hindu mansion could have been an ancient Hindu temple. It is often wondered what determines the size of Mumtaz’s centoph. It is neither of the average height of a Muslim woman of the 17th century nor is it of the average height of an Islamic grave. It could be possible that the height of Mumtaz’s cenotaph is the height of the Hindu Shiva Linga consecrated in the Taj Mahal may have been the deciding factor. It could be then that the ancient Hindu sacred Shiva Linga is buried in the cenotaph while the grave in the basement may or may not contain Mumtaz’s body because bodies are always buried in the earth and not on a two-storey-high stone flooring.  

Tavernier also mentions the six courts in the Taj Mahal building complex where a bazaar use to be held. It is common knowledge that in Hindu tradition bazaars and fairs are held around temples which constitute the focal points of Hindu life.

(source: Taj Mahal: The True Story - By P.N. Oak 
http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/modern/taj_oak.html
 
 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0961161442/qid=996716357/sr=1-1/ref=sc_b_1/102-5083664-1858564)
Shah Jehan did not build the Taj - By Arvind Ghosh 

Some antecedents of Taj Mahal. It was built over a pre-existing Hindu temple on the banks of Yamuna and has been extensively documented by few archeologists who smelled foul. It is like King's clothes story - nobody dares to question it because of sheer image of the Taj Mahal in the world. It is very rare to have Muslim structures near banks of rivers, esp. Indian rivers. And all the builders of Taj Mahal had their hands chipped off which is a fact.

For more information please refer to
Was the Taj Mahal a Vedic Temple? The Photographic Evidence).

The confession is contained in the "Badshahnama", a chronicle containing an account of Shah Jahan's reign by his court employee, Mulla Abdul Hamid Lahori. Printed copies of the "Badshahnama" (Bibliotheca Indica Series of the Asiatic Society of Bengal) are now available in all prominent historical libraries. A photostat of the relevant extract in Persian is provided herewith. The passage reads: 

"Before this (i.e. being taken over) it was the manzil of Raja Mansingh. At this time, it was in the occupation of Raja Jaisingh, his nephew. This was selected for Mumtaz's heavenly abode...Although Raja Jaisingh deemed the take over of the grand mansion (Ala manzil) as a great honor done to him yet as a matter of etiquette and since it (taking over without compensation) is not permitted by religious convention - he was paid a (certain sum for it from the royal treasury."

(source: Shah Jahan did not build the Taj - By Arvind Ghosh). Refer to Heroic Hindu Resistance to Muslim Invaders (636 AD to 1206 AD) - By Sita Ram Goel. Voice of India, New Delhi. For more on destruction of Hindu temples, refer to Hindu Temples: What Happened to Them : (A Preliminary Survey) - By Arun Shourie. For more on the Taj Mahal controversy, please visit: Refer to The True Story of the Taj Mahal - By P. N. Oak

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An Architect looks at the Taj Legend
by Professor Marvin H. Mills -
Pratt Institute, New York
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/3440/tajm.html

The architectural historian, Marvin Mills of the Pratt Institute in New York had a piece of wood from a door in the north facade of the Taj carbon-dated. When tested at the Brooklyn College Radiocarbon Laboratory, the date came to 1359 AD, about three hundred years earlier than Shahjahan's time. But such a single reading cannot be given too much of importance in the weighing of the evidence.

The Taj Mahal Controversies
by Subhask Kak
http://www.sulekha.com/column.asp?cid=231036 

The Taj Mahal - BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A5220

Many rooms in the Taj Mahal have remained sealed since Shah Jahan's time, and are still inaccessible to the public. Oak asserts they contain a headless statue of Shiva and other objects commonly used for worship rituals in Hindu temples. Fearing political backlash, Indira Gandhi's government tried to have Oak's book withdrawn from the bookstores, and threatened the Indian publisher of the first edition with dire consequences. The only way to really validate or discredit Oak's research is to open the sealed rooms of the Taj Mahal, and allow international experts to investigate.  

The Question of the Taj Mahal
By P. S. Bhat and A. L. Athawale
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/question_of_the_taj_mahal.htm 


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Jan. 30, 2007

Editor
Atlanta Journal Constitution

Dear Sir,

Re.: Taj Mahal – Mausoleum or Hindu Temple Palace ?

In Anna Johnson's article, 'Egypt Scorns 7 Wonders Contest' (AJC 1/29/07), a picture of Taj Mahal is shown with comments that Taj, "mausoleum was built on the orders of Shahjahan, Muslim Mogul Emperor to honor his beloved late wife" and that "it is 'regarded as the best jewel of Muslim art in India ." 

The following scientific analysis questions the validity of the fairy tale of Shahjahan's romantic love for Mumtaz and suggests that Taj Mahal was the Hindu temple palace owned by Hindu king, Raja Jaisingh and was commandeered by Shah Jahan and desecrated and subsequently revamped by him for use as a Muslim tomb. 

The 'Badshahnama', an official chronicle written by Mulla Abdul Hamid Lahori confirms that "the site covered with a majestic magnificent lush garden, to the south of that great city (Agra) and amidst which the building known as the palace of Raja Mansingh, at present owned by Raja Jaisingh, grandson, was selected for the burial of the Queen whose abode is in heaven." ( P.3 the History of India as told by its own Historians, Vol. VII, Sir H. M. Elliot) ( Click ) (The Taj Mahal is a Temple Palace by P. N. Oak - 1993).

Mumtaz died and buried at Burhanpur in June 1631. Her body was exhumed and taken to Agra on Dec. 11, 1631 and was reburied on the Taj ground on Jan 8, 1632. Is it humanly possible to build such a vast magnificent complex within six months? The first farman (emperor's decree) issued on 9/20/1632 by Shahahan urges Raja Jaisingh to expedite shipment of marble for facing the interior walls of Taj which suggests that the building was already in existence. 

Aurangazeb wrote to his father (Shah Jahan) on Dec. 9, 1652 reporting serious leaks on the north side and several other parts of the complex. Would Taj building have shown symptoms of decay within mere 13 years of its construction? Since Taj was built a few hundred years ago, it was showing normal wear and tear.
Islam forbids building such mausoleum for a dead person's tomb and therefore it is farfetched to believe that Taj is an Islamic construction. 

A piece of a wooden panel was subjected to a carbon-14 test by Evan T, Williams, Chemistry professor, City of New York College (Itihas Patrika- a quarterly Journal, Vol. 4, dt. 12/31/1984). As per the test report, the age of wooden samples was determined to be "1359 + - 89 AD. Thus there is a 67% probability that the age of the sample lies between 1448 and 1270 AD. (Click).

Professor Marvin H. Mills (an architect and architectural historian), Pratt Institute, New York had written to Archaeology Survey of India (ASI) on Oct. 3, 1984 requesting for permission to carry out tests on 20 samples from different locations of Taj by using science of thermo-luminescence. The permission was denied by ASI on flimsy grounds. 

Other valid questions mentioned below have never been answered:

Why does the "mosque" face west instead of facing Mecca against the Islamic norm?
Why does a mausoleum need hundreds of rooms- unusual for a mosque?
What are the sealed-up rooms on the south side of the long corridor opposite the twenty contiguous rooms? Why is public allowed to see only the garden level floors and not the rest of the several seven-storied edifices? 
Why ASI does not allow scholars and research workers to enter and study whatever objects and décor are within? Why has ASI blocked carbon or any other scientific tests to verify the age of Taj? 
Why are there Hindu symbols of lotus and 32 tridents ( Lord Shiva's weapon) in the concave dome ceiling of Mumtaz's cenotaph?
Why does the dome of Taj bear a trident pinnacle with crescent? Islamic crescents are always oblique. Where are the texts and manuals on Islamic architecture? Where are the records and architectural designs of Taj Mahal?

The Goebbelsian lie, started by Shah Jahan and his courtiers was perpetuated by the British as per their 'divide and rule' policy. The old cliché "History is written (distorted) by the victors" rightly fits into the story of Taj Mahal. Unfortunately, the Indian politics of minority appeasement, fear of Muslim violence and vote bank since 1947 has prevented the truth of age and origin of Taj Mahal being revealed to the world at large. All said and done, Taj Mahal or if we go by its original name 'Tejo Mahalaya' is wonder of the world, no doubt.

Sincerely,
D. Shah

(source: http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2007/02/taj-mahals-historical-description.html).

***

Lord William Bentinck
, considered dismantling the Taj Mahal and putting it up at a public auction and sold for the value of its marble. to meet the shortage of money in the East India Company's treasury. The Taj Mahal was also used as a stable during the Raj. 

(source: India and World Civilization  - By D P Singhal p. 272).

 

 

Rama's hallowed place.

(image source: History of India - By A V Williams Jackson). 

***


Author V. S. Naipaul
has said: "The Pakistanis boast of the history. So why should people just across the border in India pretend it doesn't exist? What kind of nonsense is this? In their junior history books it's there. " We conquered, and looted. And we destroyed. We did away with all the idols, we did away with all the temples. Yes, it was our land'. The Pakistani dream is one day that there'll be a Muslim resurgence and they will lead the prayers in the mosques in Delhi. You can hear that in Pakistan." 

(source:
www.tehelka.com).

(Afghan Hindus forced to wear labels: The ruling Taleban leadership in Afghanistan announced plans on Tuesday to force Hindus to wear identity labels on their clothing to differentiate them from Muslims. The proposal - reminiscent of the yellow Star of David that Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany).

(source: http://www.msnbc.com/news/576476.asp

Comparisons have been drawn with the Nazi regime, which in the 1930s had similarly asked Jews to wear a yellow star so that they were clearly marked. Today Hindus have been marked out, tomorrow they may well be targeted for crimes real or imagined and there will be no one to save them. The US and the West, leaders and believers of the Free World, supporters of the creed of liberty and justice, are doing even less. All they have done is impose economic sanctions, which only hurt the poor and the weak in Afghanistan.

(source:
They now come for the Hindus - By Amberish K Diwanji
Jihadis (Holy Warriors) restoration of Islamic rule over all parts of India. 
http://www.sreevideos.com/indianews/library/weekly/aa122400c.htm
 

Kashmir's Hindus run scared of rising violence

A wave of grisly killings of Hindus by Muslim guerrillas over the past six weeks has terrorized the minority community in revolt-racked Kashmir. The latest victims were two Hindu priests who were dragged from a temple by Muslim rebels and beheaded, police said.

(source: Yahoo News.com - By Ashok Pahalwan).

Sir V. S. Naipaul author, Nobel laureate, writes in his book Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions Among the Converted Peoples is: 

"There probably has been no imperialism like that of Islam and the Arabs....Islam seeks as an article of the faith to erase the past; the believers in the end honor Arabia alone, they have nothing to return to." In the Indian context, Naipaul views Islam as far more disruptive than the British rule.

Muslim insecurity led to the call for the creation of Pakistan. It went at the same time with an idea of old glory, of the invaders sweeping down the northwest and looting the temples of Hindustan and imposing faith in the infidel. The fantasy still lives: and for the Muslim converts of the subcontinent it is the start of their neurosis, because in this fantasy the convert forgets who or what he is and becomes the violator."

(source: Beyond Belief - IndiaStar). 

Kashmiri Hindus (Pandits) are in their eleventh year of exile after Islamic religious fundamentalists in the valley of Kashmir took to armed subversion and terrorism and drove them out of their centuries old habitat. 

(source:
Panun Kashmir.org).

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