Taj Mahal remains a Muslim tomb, not a Hindu temple, archaeologists tell Indian court

For centuries the Taj Mahal has been recognised as the glittering triumph of Mughal architecture and a flamboyant monument to romantic love.

Commissioned in 1632 by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, the white marble masterpiece in Agra was designed as an epic mausoleum for his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

The main building took 11 years to build, employing 20,000 artisans, as well as an estimated 1,000 elephants.

The history of the building’s construction has never really been in doubt, but despite this, for the second time in the last two decades, an Indian court has had to respond to claims the Unesco World Heritage site was originally a Hindu temple.

This week the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which protects the country's monuments of national significance, was ordered to give its official assessment of the building’s heritage after a petition renewed calls to re-evaluate its origin.

Six lawyers are refuting the accepted history of the Taj Mahal’s construction, and their petition also demands that Hindus be allowed to worship in it.

Dr Bhuvan Vikrama, the ASI’s superintending archaeologist in Agra, said he rejected the new claims: “Our written statement called the claims concocted and we asked the court to dismiss the petition. It’s up to the judge to decide what happens.”

The claims that the Taj Mahal was originally a Hindu temple first sprung from a 1989 book named Taj Mahal: The True Story, published by Indian writer PN Oak. In it he claimed the building had been constructed in 1155, before Muslim invaders came to India, and said it had originally been a temple called Tejo Mahalaya dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva.

In 2000 India’s supreme court dismissed a petition by the author claiming the Taj Mahal had been built by a Hindu king. At the time, the court described the petition as “misconceived”, with one judge dismissing the petition saying: “Somebody has a bee in his bonnet”.

Some Hindu groups who are supporters of Oak’s theory claim that when the Mughals invaded and destroyed many Hindu temples or converted others into mosques, it follows that the Taj Mahal must have originally been a Hindu structure.

“History shows conquerors all over the world converting existing monuments to suit their own ideas,” Parsa Venkateshwar Rao, an author and columnist told The Guardian.

“But this claim about the Taj is absurd because features such as the dome and minaret cannot be found in earlier periods and it is silly for the judge to have even allowed the petition.”

Hari Shankar Jain, one of the six lawyers who has brought the case to the Agra court, said he was looking forward to winning the case and performing Hindu prayers at the Taj Mahal, The Guardian reports.

Asked if he would disinter the body of Mumtaz Mahal, buried inside the mausoleum, he said: “Of course not because there is no body inside. It’s built on a Hindu temple so there is no question of anyone being buried in it.”