History of Taj Mahal and emperor Shah Jahan

The exterior decorations of the Taj Mahal are the greatest in Mughal history. The decorative elements were created by painting, carvings and stone inlays. Interesting fact about the Taj Mahal and other Islamic buildings such as mosques or mausoleums it is prohibited to use the images of anybody at any circumstance. Thus, decorative elements can be devided into calligraphy which is very famous and ancient type of writing , especially Arabic words as well as abstract forms and vegetative motifs that represents stock images such as leafs of the tress and flowers. Throughout the complex there are passages from Qur’an that comprises some decorative elements. It could be found in higher panels with larger scripts to reduce skewing effect when read and viewed below. The interior itself reaches far beyond traditional decorative components. The inner chamber is an octagon, which has 8 corners allowing for entering from each sides, however, there is only one door facing to the garden. The interior walls are 25 metres tall and on the top of it there is a dome with a sun motif. There are 4 balconies in the four central arches and each balcony has an intricate screen with difficult carving. Furthermore, one of the common architectural decoration in Indo-Islamic architecture is jail, that is usually perforated stone with ornamental pattern built through the use of calligraphy, geometry or natural patters. The octagonal jail in Taj Mahal made from eight marble panels. The remaining surfaces are inlaid in delicate detail with valuable stones forming twining vines, fruits and flowers. Another fact that, Muslim tradition forbids elaborate decorations of graves. Due to, the bodies of Mumtaz Mahal and ShahJahan were put in relatively plain beneath with their faces turned right, towards Mecca. There are also statues of both of them called cenotaph and it is placed in the exact center of inner chamber on a rectangular marble. Another most attracting and unique place is Taj Mahal’s garden. This complex is set around 300 meters square. The garden has pathways, that divide each of the four quarters of the garden. From gateway to the tomb there is a pool to reflect image of the mausoleum. The garden is laid out with bunch of trees labeled according to scientific names and fountains. The design of the garden is called charbagh, which is based of four gardens of Paradise that is mentioned in Quran. The design was inspired by Persian gardens and was introduced by Bobur. The garden describe the profusion of vegetation, including abundant roses, daffodils and fruit trees.
Taj Mahal attracts a large number of tourists. It is most commonly domestic tourism because of the low entrance price for Indian inhabitants and more expensive for foreigners. Annually it attracts from 7-8 million visitors, with more than 800 thousand from overseas. It is mostly considered to be a seasonal tourism and most visited in cooler months of the year starting from October to February. However, it is not so much recommended to go there, due to the climate. In the last decades and years the city Agra had witnessed a lot of environmental stress, due to the large number of tourists well as it is being observed within the premises of Taj Mahal. There are some industries in and around the Agra, that release gas pollution into the air, such as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which causes rain falls. Consequently, air pollution is causing fast discoloration of Taj Mahal, by changing the colour of the marbles from white-ivory to yellowish-brown. Agra is reputed to be one of the hottest cities in India and for those unaccustomed to hot weather and extreme humidity it is almost impossible and inconvenient to go there in summer time.
Tourism demand in Agra city witnessed a relief during the Covid-19 but it faced a huge economic fall because tourism was the money-spinner and re-opening historical places such as Taj Mahal and Fetehpur Sirki, that are connected to the tourism are hoping for a reversal in their fortunes, which were decreased dramatically to 84 per cent in 2020. However, the huge number visitors are locals who go back after seeing the monuments, and there is no demand for them to stay in the hotel or use some kind of luxurious services. Even if such tourists stay for two or three days , they live at small budget hotel , while three or five-star hotels remains not be used despite offering the huge discounts. Without foreign tourist, those who work as guides are facing tough times, because, as much as local will visit these destinations , they will get to know about this place and there would not be any demand for guide service . In terms of tourism resources in Agra city, apart Taj Mahal , it houses two more UNESCO World Heritage Sites , which are Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sirki. Other tourist attraction are alse mausoleums and mosques such as Akbar’s tomb, Diwan , Chini ka Rauza, Jama Masjid, Mankameshwar Temple and many more. India is well known for its national event, holidays and festivals. Some of the might be religious and cultural as well. These are Dussehra, cultural and religious is also called Dashahra as a reason of the victory of good over evil. Also, one of the famous festival also known as the Festival of Lights , where people decorate homes with candle, giving gifts and sweets and burning fireworks. It lasts for 5 days and celebrated during particular months of Hindu calendar. It also symbolizes the spiritual Victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance. The production in Agra is famous for its marble, textiles and handicrafts. Agra is famous for its exquisite marble products. You can find different types of souvenirs and gifts such as coasters, flower vases and jewellery boxes . Most people from all over the world that eating habits of Indian people could not be exemplary , however, the local food in the place give different experience to the visitor of the new country. Most famous dish in Agra is Petha, which is as old as Taj Mahal itself. It is a translucent soft candy from Indian subcontinent made fron ash gourd or white pumkin that will stay with you forever. The transportation is not so much developed in the city, but you can you public transport such as auto rickshaws or cycle rickshaws. They are available all around the city and these are the good way to get around the city. However, in some cases you should walk and it is also one of the best ways to to get around the city, because most of the places there are no parking lots. Its narrow roads and old infrastructure have been overwhelmed by the weight of the increasing population and tourist traffic. As a result, the city has been witnessing a rise in vehicle count, leading to dense traffic congestion. The need of the hour has been to mitigate the transportation issue. The key solution was the Agra Metro Rail Project, which will serve over 6million tourists and 2.6 million locals annually . In terms of carrying capacity the Agra has different results. For example, physical carrying capacity of Taj Mahal and accommodation carrying capacity, hospitality density, crowd at heritage place and average revenue generation from the tourism industry is also analyzed. Table 3 summarized the Tourism carrying capacity of Agra city. Taj Mahal is hit by overcrowding in India and the government is employing sustainable measures to limit the footfall. Scholars are researching on the best possible solutions to the problems of Taj Mahal so that the adversities can be curtailed. There is urgent requirement to improve the basic tourist infrastucture in the city to boost tourism. Ticket purchasing at Taj Mahal is very inconvenience activity due to huge number of visitors in peak tourist seasion. Lack of secure transportion facilicites to reach different monuments in the city became a cause of low satisifaction status of Local transportion. Numbre of low budget and unprofessional hotels staff make condition more worst, result decline the tourist satisfaction. All the indecater of satisfacion status shows that high number of percentage of respendent are not satisfied with current satisfaction status of tourism at Agra city.
Mirfayziyev Izzatilla Student ID:22/1/0311/586