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their place on two stories, inscribing the koran along the arches and
walling up six of the seven stories of the Taj. It was this plunder, desecrating and plunderring of the rooms which took 22 years.

26. Peter Mundy, an English visitor to Agra recorded in 1632 (within only
a year of Mumtaz's death) that 'the places of note in and around Agra,
included Taj-e-Mahal's tomb, gardens and bazaars'. He, therefore,
confirms that that the Tajmahal had been a noteworthy building even
before Shahjahan.

27. De Laet, a Dutch official has listed Mansingh's palace about a mile
from Agra fort, as an outstanding building of pre-Shahjahan's time.
Shahjahan's court chronicle, the Badshahnama records, Mumtaz's burial in
the same Mansingh's palace.

28. Bernier, a contemporary French visitor has noted that non-muslim's
were barred entry into the basement (at the time when Shahjahan
requisitioned Mansingh's palace) which contained a dazzling light.
Obviously, he reffered to the silver doors, gold railing, the gem studded lattice and strings of pearl hanging over Shiv's idol. Shahjahan
comandeered the building to grab all the wealth, making Mumtaz's death a convineant pretext.

29. Johan Albert Mandelslo, who describes life in agra in 1638 (only 7
years after mumtaz's death) in detail (in his 'Voyages and Travels to West-Indies', published by John Starkey and John Basset, London), makes
no mention of the Tajmahal being under constuction though it is commonly erringly asserted or assumed that the Taj was being built from 1631 to
1653.

SANSKRIT INSCRIPTION

30. A Sanskrit inscription too supports the conclusion that the Taj
originated as a Shiv temple. Wrongly termed as the Bateshwar inscription (currently preserved on the top floor of the Lucknow museum), it refers
to the raising of a "crystal white Shiv temple so alluring that Lord Shiv
once enshrined in it decided never to return to Mount Kailash -- his
usual abode". That inscription dated 1155 CE was removed from the
Tajmahal garden at Shahjahan's orders. Historicians and Archeaologists
have blundered in terming the insription the 'Bateshwar inscription' when
the record doesn't say that it was found by Bateshwar. It ought, in
fact, to be called 'The Tejomahalaya inscription' because it was
originally installed in the Taj garden before it was uprooted and cast
away at Shahjahan's command.

A clue to the tampering by Shahjahan is found on pages 216-217, vol. 4,
of Archealogiical Survey of India Reports (published 1874) stating that a "great square black balistic pillar which, with the base and capital of
another pillar. . . now in the grounds of Agra, . . . it is well known,
once stood in the garden of Tajmahal".

MISSING ELEPHANTS

31. Far from the building of the Taj, Shahjahan disfigured it with black koranic lettering and heavily robbed it of its Sanskrit inscription,
several idols and two huge stone elephants extending their trunks in a
welcome arch over the gateway where visitors these days buy entry
tickets. An Englishman, Thomas Twinning, records (pg. 191 of his book
"Travels in India - A Hundred Years ago") that in November 1794 "I
arrived at the high walls which enclose the Taj-e-Mahal and its
circumjacent buildings. I here got out of the palanquine and . . .
mounted a short flight of steps leading to a beautiful portal which
formed the centre of this side of the 'COURT OF ELEPHANTS" as the great
area was called."

KORANIC PATCHES

32. The Taj Mahal is scrawled over with 14 chapters of the Koran but
nowhere is there even the slightest or the remotest allusion in that
Islamic overwriting to Shahjahan's authorship of the Taj. Had Shahjahan
been the builder he would have said so in so many words before beginning
to quote Koran.

33. That Shahjahan, far from building the marble Taj, only disfigured it
with black lettering is mentioned by the inscriber Amanat Khan Shirazi
himself in an inscription on the building. A close scrutiny of the
Koranic lettering reveals that they are grafts patched up with bits of variegated stone on an ancient Shiv temple.

CARBON 14 TEST

34. A wooden piece from the riverside doorway of the Taj subjected to the carbon 14 test by an American Laboratory, has revealed that the door to
be 300 years older than Shahjahan,since the doors of the Taj, broken open
by Muslim invaders repeatedly from the 11th century onwards, had to b
replaced from time to time. The Taj edifice is much more older. It
belongs to 1155 A.D, i.e., almost 500 years anterior to Shahjahan.

ARCHITECHTURAL EVIDENCE

35. Well known Western authorities on architechture like E. B. Havell,
Mrs. Kenoyer and Sir W. W. Hunterhave gone on record to say that the
TajMahal is built in the Hindu temple style. Havell points out the
ground plan of the ancient Hindu Chandi Seva Temple in Java is identical
with that of the Taj.

36. A central dome with cupolas at its four corners is a universal
feature of Hindu temples.

37. The four marble pillars at the plinth corners are of the Hindu style.
They are used as lamp towers during night and watch towers during the
day. Such towers serve to demarcate the holy precincts. Hindu wedding
altars and the altar set up for God Satyanarayan worship have pillars
raised at the four corners.

38. The octagonal shape of the Tajmahal has a special Hindu significance because Hindus alone have special names for the eight directions, and
celestial guards assigned to them. The pinnacle points to the heaven
while the foundation signifies to the nether world. Hindu forts, cities, palaces and temples genrally have an octagonal layout or some octagonal features so that together with the pinnacle and the foundation they cover
all the ten directions in which the king or God holds sway, according to
Hindu belief.

39. The Tajmahal has a trident pinncle over the dome. A full scale of
the trident pinnacle is inlaid in the red stone courtyard to the east of
the Taj. The central shaft of the trident depicts a "Kalash" (sacred
pot) holding two bent mango leaves and a coconut. This is a sacred Hindu motif. Identical pinnacles have been seen over Hindu and Buddhist
temples in the Himalayan region. Tridents are also depicted against a red
lotus background at the apex of the stately marble arched entrances on
all four sides of the Taj. People fondly but mistakenly believed all
these centuries that the Taj pinnacle depicts a Islamic cresent and star
was a lighting conductor installed by the British rulers in India.
Contrarily, the pinnacle is a marvel of Hindu metallurgy since the
pinnacle made of non-rusting alloy, is also perhaps a lightning
deflector. That the pinnacle of the replica is drawn in the eastern
courtyard is significant because the east is of special importance to the Hindus, as the direction in which the sun rises. The pinnacle on the dome
has the word 'Allah' on it after capture. The pinnacle figure on the
ground does not have the word Allah.

INCONSISTENCIES

40. The two buildings which face the marble Taj from the east and west
are identical in design, size and shape and yet the eastern building is explained away by Islamic tradition, as a community hall while the
western building is claimed to be a mosque. How could buildings meant
for radically different purposes be identical? This proves that the
western building was put to use as a mosque after seizure of the Taj
property by Shahjahan. Curiously enough the building being explained away
as a mosque has no minaret. They form a pair af reception pavilions of
the Tejomahalaya temple palace.

41. A few yards away from the same flank is the Nakkar Khana alias
DrumHouse which is a intolerable incongruity for Islam. The proximity of
the Drum House indicates that the western annex was not originally a
mosque. Contrarily a drum house is a neccesity in a Hindu temple or
palace because Hindu chores,in the morning and evening, begin to the
sweet strains of music.

42. The embossed patterns on the marble exterior of the centotaph chamber
wall are foilage of the conch shell design and the Hindu letter "OM".
The octagonally laid marble lattices inside the centotaph chamber depict
pink lotuses on their top railing. The Lotus, the conch and the OM are
the sacred motifs associated with the Hindu deities and temples.

43. The spot occupied by Mumtaz's centotaph was formerly occupied by the
Hindu Teja Linga -- a lithic representation of Lord Shiv. Around it are
five perambulatory passages. Perambulation could be done around the
marble lattice or through the spacious marble chambers surrounding the centotaph chamber, and in the open over the marble platform. It is also customary for the Hindus to have apertures along the perambulatory
passage, overlooking the deity. Such apertures exist in the
perambulatories in the Tajmahal.

44. The sanctom sanctorum in the Taj has silver doors and gold railings
as Hindu temples have. It also had nets of pearl and gems stuffed in the marble lattices. It was the lure of this wealth which made Shahjahan
commandeer the Taj from a helpless vassal Jaisingh, the then ruler of
Jaipur.

Continues in Part 2

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