According to the Black Taj Mahal myth, Shah
Jahan had planned to build mirror image of the Taj Mahal in black colour on the
other side of the river Yamuna and connect the two by a bridge. This Black Taj
was to be dedicated to Shah Jahan himself. A European traveller, named Jean
BaptisteTavernier, who visited Agra in 1665 first mentioned the idea of Black
Taj in his fanciful writings. And considering Shah Jahan's obsession with
symmetry, the idea certainly seems possible.
More credibility to the story is added by an
observation made by archeologists in 2006, when they reconstructed a part of
the pool in the moonlit garden and it reflected a dark reflection of the white
mausoleum! The writings of Tavernier mention that ShahJahan began to build his
owntomb on the other side of the river but could not complete it as he was deposed
by his own son Aurangzeb.Fuel to the fire is further added as some scholar
suggests that the blackened marbles in Mehtab Bagh, that lie on the other side
of the river, are actually grim remains and foundations of an abandoned plan.
On the other hand, scholars totally dismiss
the theory of Black Taj as it was discovered that the black marble remains in
the Mehtab Bagh are not natural black but have become black over the course of
time due to staining and wear and tear. Also, Mehtab Bagh was built by the
first Mughal Emperor Babur, years before construction of Taj Mahal even
started. The theory is once again dismissed by some scholars who believe that
if Shah Jahan wanted to build a Black Taj Mahal, he would have started working
on it immediately after completion of the first Taj Mahal in 1653, after which
he had 5 years before he got arrested.
