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Home :: Vacation Taj :: Taj Mahal Third Grave

Third Grave at the Taj Mahal

Two staircases on the northern side of the red sandstone plinth of the Taj lead below into the basement chambers which are seventeen in number and have been laid out in a line on the riverside of a narrow through-corridor.

The rooms and corridor are of arcuate construction in brick and plaster, with stucco and painting ornamentation, distributed aesthetically on the soffits. At the extreme points on both sides there are doors sunk in the northern wall. They were blocked up permanently and securely with thick masonry at some unknown date, undoubtedly for some well calculated purpose. As may be surmised, the set on the northern side could have been repeated on the sides below the marble structure, with a rotating corridor, chambers and probably a crypt in the centre - all being interconnected.

This crypt would have contained the third and the real set of graves. The custom of providing cenotaphs or replicas had been followed by the Turks and the Mughals alike as we meet with this practice at the tomb of Iltutmish at Delhi and at the tombs of Saqid Khan and Akbar at Agra. The tomb of Akbar has three tombstones, one on the grave and two as cenotaphs. The tomb of Itmad-ud-Dauhlah and Chini-ka-Rauza too had three tombstones each. The lowest of the former was contained in a crypt which was originally accessible from the riverside and has now been completely blocked up. These examples indicate that the Mughals liked to provide three tombstones in a mausoleum. At the Taj, the third is traditionally claimed to exist. It is only in these underground vaults that the third set could have been placed. The doors in the basement corridor no doubt exist and must have originally given entry to some underground arrangement of chambers and corridors. Though they are now impregnably blocked, their existence lends weight to the legendary version.

Some very important facts resulted from this survey. It was discovered that the plinth of the mausoleum on the northern side (or the riverside) is lower than on the south by 3.5cms. Cracks were not noticed on the exterior wall, but they were definitely present on the second storey vaults of the marble structure and, on a much larger scale, in the underground vaults below the northern side.

The long series of cracks in the underground vaults may be due to the crushing of lime on account of the excessive weight, or as seems more probable, this may be due to the sinking of the whole structure towards the riverside!! Such a sinking would shift the load out of balance slowly and gradually and the unequal settlement would crack the weak points, particularly the soffits of the vaults and arches, which is actually happening in the underground chambers. A structure which stands on the edge of water has a natural tendency to move towards the more open side, the higher edge always acting as a strong buttress, thrusting it in the opposite direction. It is the whole mass, and not a part of it, that is gradually sinking. This is what can justifiably be concluded from the available data.


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