Ustad Isa
Isa Muhammad Effendi, Ustad Isa (Persian: استاد عيسى translation Master Isa (Jesus in Arabic)) was a Turkish architect from Istanbul he and his colleague Ismail Effendi entered the service of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan after the Ottoman Sultan Murad IV and the Mughals exchanged ambassadors. Isa Muhammad Effendi is often described as the chief architect of the Taj Mahal.
The lack of complete and reliable information as to whom the credit for the design belongs, led to innumerable speculations.[1]
Recent research suggests the Persian architect, Ustad Ahmad Lahauri was the most likely candidate as the chief architect of the Taj, an assertion based on a claim made in writings by Lahauri's son Lutfullah Muhandis.[2][3][4][5]
See also
References
- ^ Scholars suggest the story of Ustad Isa was born of the eagerness of the British in the 19th century to believe that such a beautiful building should be credited to a European architect. Local informants were reported to have sated British curiosity regarding the origins of the Taj by also supplying them with fictitious lists of workmen and materials from all over Asia. Typically he is described as either a Turkish or Persian architect.
- ^ UNESCO advisory body evaluation
- ^ Asher, p.212
- ^ Begley and Desai, p.65
- ^ http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/ikram/part2_14.html
- Asher, Catherine Ella Blanshard (2003) (Hardback). The New Cambridge History of India, Vol I:4 - Architecture of Mughal India (First published 1992, reprinted 2001,2003 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 368. ISBN 0-521-26728-5.
- Begley, Wayne E.; Desai, Z.A. (1989) (Hardback). Taj Mahal - The Illumined Tomb. University of Washington Press. pp. 392. ISBN 978-0295969442.
- Koch, Ebba (Hardback). The Complete Taj Mahal: And the Riverfront Gardens of Agra (First ed.). Thames & Hudson Ltd. pp. 288 pages. ISBN 0500342091.