t by Jahanara, Shah Jahan's eldest daughter. It
is in the same style as the splendid mosque built by Shah Jahan
at Delhi, but far inferior in merit. There is a tameness about the
whole design very unusual in the buildings of this epoch. The zig-zag
striping of the domes is decidedly unpleasant.

An inscription over the main archway states that it was completed in
the year 1644 A.D. a cost of five lakhs of rupees.

The Taj

Arjumand Banu Begam the favourite wife of Shah Jahan, is better known
by her other name, Mumtaz Mahal ("the Crown of the Palace"). Her
father was Asaf Khan, who was brother of the Empress Nur Mahal,
Jahangir's wife. She was thus the granddaughter of Itmad-ud-daulah,
Jahangir's Prime Minister, whose tomb, on the opposite bank of the
river, will be described hereafter.

In 1612, at the age of nineteen years she was married to Shah
Jahan--then Prince Khurram--who, though hardly twenty-one, had already
another wife. This second marriage, however, was a real love-match,
and Mumtaz was her husband's inseparable companion on all his journeys
and military expeditions. Shah Jahan, like his father, allowed his
wife a large share in the responsibilities of government. Like Nur
Mahal, she was famed as much for her charity as for her beauty. Her
influence was especially exercised in obtaining clemency for criminals
condemned to death. She bore him fourteen children, and died in
childbed in 1630, or the second year after Shah Jahan's accession to
the throne, at Burhanpur, whither she had accompanied her husband
on a campaign against Khan Jahan Lodi. The Emperor was overpowered
with grief. For a week he refused to see any of his ministers, or
to transact any business of state. He even contemplated resigning
the throne and dividing the empire among his sons. For two years the
court observed strict mourning. No music or festivities were allowed;
the wearing of jewels, the use of perfumes and luxuries of all kinds
were forbidden. The month of Zikad, in which she died, was observed
as a month of mourning for many years afterwards. The body of Mumtaz
was removed to Agra, and remained temporarily in the garden of the
Taj while the foundations of the building were being laid. It was
then placed in the vault where it now lies. A temporary dome covered
the tomb while the great monument grew up over it.

The building of the Taj.

It was one of those intervals in history when the whole genius of a
people is conce