Vikas S.
Google
Shah Jehan built this spacious garden, the Mahtab-bagh on the tradition of garden-craft founded by Babur, on side of the river Jamuna, facing the Taj Mahal just to provide a beautiful backdrop to the main tomb. It was ingeniously planned on one plain level. First, a large octagonal tank of brick masonry, each internal side of which measured 26.70 m (approx. 80 feet), was built. Each side had 16 scalloped arches, to make up a beautiful border of the tank. On its south, west, north and east sides were spacious bunglas (pavilions with curved chhajja and roofs) which were interconnected by wide dalans or covered corridors, on other sides. All these were built of red sandstone. Engrailed (cusped) arches, pillars, carved panels, and other architectural parts of this vast structure, in typical Shah Jehanian style, have survived in the ruins.
There were 25 fountains in the tank. These were inlets of water which was supplied by overhead tanks through water-tight terracotta pipes, which have all disappeared. On its northern side is an oblong red stone tank, with scalloped corners. Water from the main octagonal tank flowed, through a slit under the northern bungla, and fell into this oblong tank in the form of a water-fall (abshar), behind which a chini-khanah (series of niches for candles in the night, and flower guldastas in the day) is provided.
A large char-bagh (four-quartered garden) was laid out on its northern side. It was divided into four quarters, with a square lotus-tank in the center. It also has scalloped corners. Shallow stone canals, with stone-paved pathways on both sides, now extinct, were built from this general tank to the middle of the four sides. Water flowed from the main tank to the oblong tank and thence to the canals of this garden. There were barahdaris (open, arcaded pavilions) on the western, northern, and eastern sides of the char-bagh. These too have been destroyed. The enclosing wall has also disappeared and only its river-side, south-eastern tower has remained.
Aurangzeb, in his letter dated 8 muharram 1063 hijri (= 9 December 1652 CE.), mentioned Mahtab-bagh and noted that it was recently submerged under flood water. But the octagonal tank and bunglas had remained unaffected. In the later ages, the buildings collapsed and the garden was covered by sand deposited by river floods, and it was forgotten. The archaeological survey of India, has excavated it and it is now being restored and conserved. Nearly 8000 trees and plants from the Mughal repertoire have been planted by the ASI.
The Mahtab-bagh is laid out in perfect symmetry and alignment with the Taj Mahal, and there is absolutely no doubt that it was planned and built as an integral part of the original design of the Taj Mahal, during the period from 1631 to 1635 CE. It seems to have been named ‘Mahtab-Bagh’ (the moon garden) because it is an ideal place for viewing the Taj in moonlight.
