The Taj Mahal & the Emperor Who Built It
Not Just the Tudors
History Hit
4.8 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 4 April 2022
⏱️ 50 minutes
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Summary
The Taj Mahal was commissioned 390 years ago by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. But what can we know about the king from the exquisite love temple he built? What do its inscriptions tell us about Shah Jahan's life, love and faith?
In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Father Michael D. Calabria, who has deeply studied this most beautiful and famous of buildings and the Emperor who created it.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The love story between Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan and his wife Arjumman Banu Begum, known |
| 0:11.8 | to history as Mumtaz Mahal or the chosen one of the palace, is one of the great romances |
| 0:17.8 | of history. They married 410 years ago. Their marriage lasted 19 years and produced 14 children. |
| 0:28.6 | It also produced one of the great wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. |
| 0:35.6 | Built in exquisite white marble, inlaid with precious stones arranged in floral arabesques |
| 0:42.9 | and inscribed with calligraphy in black stone. The Taj Mahal was commissioned by Emperor |
| 0:49.7 | Shah Jahan in 1632 as a funerary complex for his beloved wife. It is perhaps the most beautiful |
| 0:58.4 | building in the world. To discuss the story behind the Taj Mahal, I am joined by father |
| 1:06.5 | Michael Calibria. Father Michael is director of the centre of Arabic and Islamic studies |
| 1:15.0 | and associate professor at St Bonoventure University, New York and is a Franciscan |
| 1:20.6 | Freyr. He holds a PhD in Islamic studies from the University of Exeter UK as well as |
| 1:27.6 | three masters degrees. He specialises in Islam and Islamic culture including the Quran, |
| 1:34.6 | Islamic spirituality, art and architecture and Christian Muslim relations. His brand new |
| 1:40.7 | book The Language of the Taj Mahal, Islam, Prayer and the Religion of Shah Jahan has just |
| 1:47.9 | been published by I.B. Taurus. |
| 1:57.6 | Michael it is a real pleasure to welcome you to not just the tutors. Thank you for joining |
| 2:02.0 | us. I wonder if you can start by introducing us to the Emperor Shah Jahan. It would be my |
| 2:09.5 | honor and privilege to do that. The person we know as Shah Jahan was born in 1592 in Lahore |
| 2:18.5 | during the reign of his grandfather Akbar. He was the third son of Prince Salim who would |
| 2:26.0 | in time succeed Akbar as the Emperor Jahangir. When Shah Jahan was born he was named Khotum |
| 2:34.6 | by his grandfather Akbar and named which means happy apparently because Akbar was so delighted |
| 2:41.6 | by the birth of this new grandson. Khorm's mother was a Hindu Rajput princess as was his |
... |
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