Was Taj Mahal inspired by Vastu?

June 24, 2018

Shah Jahan's mother was a Rajput, so was his grandmother, and Rajasthan was the citadel of Vastu architecture. The people who built it could not have been impervious to its influence. Let's look at some of the facts.

It has river Yamuna flowing in its north, coming from west to east. It's an excellent location from the Vastu viewpoint. Water in east and north directions is considered excellent. Moreover its flow dictates that ground on the west must be higher than the east. No wonder it has name and fame. Taj Mahal is one of the wonders of the world and India's main tourist attractions.

They say a Vastu structure should be square. Taj Mahal is not only square, but its height is also equal to its width. This could not have happened, if the people who designed it had been unaware of Vastu.

There's another feature, which suggests Vastu influence on Taj Mahal. If you look at it from top, there are three distinct shapes visible, a square, an octagon, and a circle. The floor is square; the minarets give it an octagonal shape, while its dome the circular shape. These three shapes represent the holy trinity in ancient Hindu architecture. The square stands for birth, the octagon for preservation and circle stands for death.

They say Taj Mahal brought ill luck to the builder, for Shah Jahan was imprisoned by Aurangzeb. Shah Jahan was imprisoned after he tried to build a black Taj Mahal, which he intended to join with the marble structure. It was doomed as it had water on the southern side.

Taj Mahal is a distinctly Mughal building. Shall we say it's exterior is Persian, it's soul is Indian?

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