The Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful and costly tombs ever built, but there is something fascinating about its beginnings. In 1629, when the favorite wife of Indian ruler Shah Jahan died, he ordered that a magnificent tomb be built as a memorial for her. The shah placed his wife’s casket in the middle of a parcel of land, and construction of the temple literally began around it. But several years into the venture, the Shah’s grief gave way to a passion for the project. One day while he was surveying the site, he reportedly stumbled over a wooden box, and he had some workers throw it out. It was months before he realized that his wife’s casket had been destroyed. The original purpose for the memorial became lost in the details of construction.
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Dr. James Dobson, Coming Home, Timeless Wisdom for Families , (Tynadale House Pub., Wheaton; 1998), 122.
[Holwick: I have tried to verify this and cannot. Mumtaz Mahal was buried several times – in a golden casket in Burhanpur where she had died during childbirth, in a small building on the banks of the Jumna River, at the site of the Taj Mahal before it was built, and 12 years later in the the basement of the Taj Mahal. See < http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-was-mumtaz-really-buried-at-taj-mahal-1117182 >.]
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[Original illustration at this number was added to HolwickID #63338]