Taj Mahal: The True Story

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Taj Mahal: The True Story is a book written by P. N. Oak, the founder-president of the 'Institute for Rewriting Indian History'. The book seeks to prove that the Taj Mahal was originally a Hindu temple whose existence predated the Mughal Empire. The following points are among the pieces of evidence presented:

Carbon dating of samples taken from the doorway of the Taj Mahal from the side of the Jamuna rivers revealed that the door was 300 years older than the period of Shah Jahan. The carbon dating was arranged by Marvin Miller, an economist in New York.

Johan Albert Mandelso, a European traveller who visited Agra in 1638, seven years after the death of Mumtaz Mahal, vividly described the life of the city in his memoirs, but makes no reference to Taj Mahal or any large construction activity going on to build it.

In direct contradiction of the above is the account of Peter Mundy, an Englishman who visited Agra within a year of Mumtaz’s death. From his writings, it appears that the Taj Mahal was already a noteworthy building well before Shah Jahan came to power.

The book argues that the Taj Mahal was an older structure that was originally known by different names, including Tejo Mahalaya. As Oak says:

The people who dominate the Agra region are Jats. Their name of Shiva is Tejaji. The Jat special issue of The Illustrated Weekly of India (June 28,1971) mentions that the Jats have the Teja Mandirs i.e., Teja Temples. This is because Teja-Linga is among the several names of the Shiva Lingas. From this it is apparent that the Taj-Mahal is Tejo-Mahalaya, The Great Abode of Tej.[1]

This belief is not one that is widely held.