As the legend says, Taj Mahal was built on the last will of Mumtaz who asked her husband for a paradisiacal abode while passing away. It happened in Shahi Quila, close to Burhanpur, where Shah Jahan had settled down to hide from constant attacks of his enemies to Delhi. There was a sprawling garden with a deer park and a small palace which later became the resting place for Mumtaz for about 6 months before her body was moved to the banks of Yamuna River in Agra where it rested in the gardens 22 more years until Taj Mahal was finally built.
But why was the mausoleum built in Agra in Uttar Pradesh, 800 km north, and not in Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh then?
It is believed that there were three main reasons which made Shah Jahan to choose Agra. The termite-infected soil of Burhanpur was unlikely to be able to support a huge mausoleum; the Tapti River in Burhanpur was not wide enough to allow the new mausoleum to reflect in all its size and glory; and the main source of white marble for construction was located in Rajastan, twice closer to Agra than to Burhanpur.
Agra lies 210 km south of Delhi. It is an easy 3-hour train journey or bus ride from the capital.
Do You Know Why Agra Was Chosen for Construction of Taj Mahal?
News in Asia
Drawn by an incredible beauty of Taj Mahal, cordes of tourists come to visit the mausoleum of Mumtaz Mahal, Shah Jahan's favourite wife. But few know that it is in fact not the place where Mumtaz's body was primaily kept.