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Taj Mahal (Wonders of the World), by Giles Tillotson
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An enduring monument of haunting beauty, the Taj Mahal seems a symbol of stability itself. The familiar view of the glowing marble mausoleum from the gateway entrance offers the very picture of permanence. And yet this extraordinary edifice presents a shifting image to observers across time and cultures. The meaning of the Taj Mahal, the perceptions and responses it prompts, ideas about the building and the history that shape them: these form the subject of Giles Tillotson’s book. More than a richly illustrated history―though it is that as well―this book is an eloquent meditation on the place of the Taj Mahal in the cultural imagination of India and the wider world.
Since its completion in 1648, the mausoleum commissioned by the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, has come to symbolize many things: the undying love of a man for his wife, the perfection of Mughal architecture, the ideal synthesis of various strands of subcontinental aesthetics, even an icon of modern India itself. Exploring different perspectives brought to the magnificent structure―by a Mughal court poet, an English Romantic traveler, a colonial administrator, an architectural historian, or a contemporary Bollywood filmmaker―this book is an incomparable guide through the varied and changing ideas inspired by the Taj Mahal, from its construction to our day. In Tillotson’s expert hands, the story of a seventeenth-century structure in the city of Agra reveals itself as a story about our own place and time.
- Sales Rank: #920007 in Books
- Published on: 2012-11-12
- Released on: 2012-10-15
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 6.90" h x .60" w x 4.30" l, .44 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 208 pages
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- Taj Mahal (Wonders of the World)
Review
This wry, brisk book is a delightful and fascinating excavation of the Taj Mahal's many layers of meanings. Giles Tillotson deploys his formidable knowledge of India's artistic and cultural history to create a kaleidoscopic interpretation of the Taj...[he] unravels the fables and myths incited by this sublime creation, and yet succeeds in keeping its unworldly aura intact. (Sunil Khilnani, author of The Idea of India)
For all its fame, remarkably little has been written on the Taj Majal, and Giles Tillotson's slim and balanced book is, without question, the best short introduction yet produced...This is a much-needed and eminently readable book that is likely to remain a standard work for many years to come. (William Dalrymple Sunday Times 2008-09-07)
[Tillotson's] accessible and enjoyable style will engage a broader readership. Like every author in [Harvard's] "Wonders of the World" series, Tillotson considers not only architectural history but also cultural heritage and resonance--picturesque 18th-century aquatints of the Taj, early 20th-century restorations by Lord Curzon, literary responses such as Rabindranath Tagore's poem ("a teardrop on the cheek of time"), and the famous photo of Princess Diana posing alone in front of the "monument to love" shortly before her marriage break-up...Tillotson airs the many myths and legends with relish; then slays most of them with facts and reason, and a generous helping of illustrations. (Andrew Robinson The Independent 2008-08-22)
The Taj Mahal is one of the most instantly recognizable buildings in the world, endlessly painted and photographed, and currently welcoming an average of 8,000 visitors a day. Giles Tillotson's sprightly account of its structure and history, the stories that have accumulated around it and the impression it has made on tourists down the centuries is a welcome addition to [Harvard's] "Wonders of the World" series. These books are not only architectural monographs; they are equally concerned with what buildings mean, and few structures have meant more different things to people than the Taj Mahal...Witty and authoritative, this book achieves the remarkable feat of making us look again at a building we might otherwise think altogether too familiar. (Peter Parker Daily Telegraph 2008-09-13)
About the Author
Giles Tillotson is an art historian specializing in South Asia and the author of many books including Jaipur Nama: Tales from the Pink City.
Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
An excellent introduction to the Taj Mahal
By Cherry Fox
This is a splendid and very readable introduction to the Taj Mahal. Giles Tillotson's research cuts away at the various myths that have surrounded this supreme structure, such as the idea that it was designed by a European, or that Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj, intended to construct another Taj across the river as his tomb, which would have been black in contrast to the Taj Mahal's startling whiteness. Indeed, a lot of myths have built up about the Taj, usually born to serve the prejudices of each particular author, such as P. N. Oak, who claimed that the Taj had been built by a previous Hindu ruler rather than the Muslim Shah Jahan. Tillotson reveals how the Taj has been viewed in the past by quoting by historical accounts of the building, many of which aptly claim to be unable to convey its majesty. Tillotson shows how the treatment of the Taj by the British very much changed from the early nineteenth century, when colonials tended to graffiti and steal pieces from the monument, to later in the century, when Viceroy Lord Curzon empowered efforts to conserve Indian monuments through law (although even he was not adverse to embellishing the Taj with foreign objects, such as a lamp from Cairo). Furthermore, Tillotson relates how the Taj still influences modern architects today, since a replica has recently been built in Dubai. The question of who should care for the Taj on behalf of the Indian nation is still a hot political potato, as Tillotson reports, and there are worries that the building may one day be targeted by Al Qaeda. However, the many excellent illustrations within this book, combined with the views of numerous travellers throughout the centuries, should be enough to compel anyone to visit this fantastic monument, which has been very fittingly described as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
An Accessible Guide to the Most Famous of Buildings
By Rob Hardy
The most famous and easily recognized building in the world quite possibly is the Taj Mahal. It is like no other structure, and is one of the most photographed and visited of architectural sites. Eight thousand visitors a day go through it (only slightly fewer than go through the Sistine Chapel). Although there have been plenty of pictures taken of the place, over the centuries there has not been a great deal of scholarship devoted to it. There was a detailed scholarly monograph in 2006 by Ebba Koch, and Giles Tillotson has drawn upon it and upon many other sources to produce a guide to the building that is slim, accessible, and entertaining. _Taj Mahal_ (Harvard University Press) covers the personalities involved in creating the Taj, the architecture and its sources, its interpretation, and its current status and preservation.
The Taj was completed in 1643. Its builder was the Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan who may have had an eye for design, but could be a cold-blooded warrior. It was a tomb for his best-loved wife, who bore him fourteen children and died giving birth to the last one while she was with him on a military campaign. He went into deep and sincere grief, and after he returned with her body to the great Mogul city of Agra, the stricken emperor planned her tomb. We don't know for sure who the Taj architects were or how much responsibility they had for the eventual look of the building; there are no plans or statements of architectural purpose, and the lack of documentation may be a reason that the Taj has had relatively little scholarship directed toward it. With little documentation about the planning or building of the Taj, for centuries interest groups have been trying to claim it as their own. "For a building that is supposedly a symbol of love," writes Tillotson, the Taj has generated a lot of anger." The Victorians, convinced that no indigenous people could have produced such a masterpiece, developed the ludicrous theory that a visiting European had planned it all. Hindu supremacists would rather not acknowledge that this is a Muslim building, convincing themselves that it was actually produced in accord with ancient Hindu scriptures. A fellow named P. N. Oak published a book in 1968 to show how the Taj is really a Hindu palace (Tillotson calls it a "startling piece of pseudo-scholarship"), and this could be but laughable except that Hindu organizations have used such claims to attempt to wrest control of the site from the Archeological Survey of India which has custodianship of the Taj as a national monument.
Tillotson's book is a perfect guide for the armchair traveler, but there is a final chapter with practical information on how to make a visit to the Taj, and as long as you are in Agra, the other things you can see including the Agra Fort, inside which are palaces that Shah Jahan built. Tillotson addresses the nonsense about the Taj's "real" origins and its other myths with authority. He is a historian specializing in the art and architecture of India, but this guide gives good general information rather than being a scholarly tome. It also has a sense of fun. Although it never mention the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in New Jersey, it does allude to Taj Mahal brand teabags, for instance, and to the popular Hindi film _Bunty aur Babli_, in which flimflam artists sell the Taj to gullible Americans.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
A disappointment.
By Carl E. Ward, Jr.
I'd was hoping the book would tell who the architect was, describe how the stone was transported and placed, in other words tell how such a world wonder was constructed before the industrial revolution. But it did not. It read like a very boring doctoral thesis which it may have been. I was very disappointed. The February, '14 National Geographic has a wonderful article on the making of the Cathedral of Florence. Read that instead.
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