<h5>A quick refresher on the Taj Mahal.</h5>  <p>The Taj Mahal is India’s most famous monument and one of the seven wonders of the world. So, chances are you already know tons about it. It was built between 1631 and 1648 by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan. It’s a mausoleum for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth.</p>
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<p>Masons, stone-cutters, carvers, painters, and other artisans came from all over the world to work on its construction. Legend has it that Shah Jahan got the hands of these workers cut off so that they couldn’t build something like it again! But this is just a story, not the truth.</p>
<p>The highly polished and richly decorated monument with precious and semi-precious stones is unlike any other in the world. It is considered an architectural masterpiece. According to a survey of people across the world, any mention of India immediately brings to mind two things - the Taj Mahal and Mahatma Gandhi.
</p> <h5>Yes, the Taj Mahal is beautiful, but why is it in the news?</h5>  <p>The Taj Mahal is back in the news because of two things that happened recently. There are many rooms below the Taj where visitors are not allowed. 
A fellow named Dr. Rajneesh Singh believed that there were idols of Hindu Gods in these locked rooms. There is no historical proof of any form or factual evidence that supported his claims. However, Singh was convinced. </p>
<p>He filed a public interest litigation (PIL) with the Allahabad High Court to let a committee enter these locked rooms and check their contents. The Allahabad High Court rejected Singh’s petition. They said that such claims had to be made with proper research and were best left to historians. </p>
<p>Twenty-two locked rooms in a historical monument may sound mysterious and exciting but the truth is rather boring. You see, a huge monument like the Taj Mahal needs a super-strong and stable foundation to carry its weight. These rooms are a part of its foundation and it is not safe for people to go knocking about in there lest they affect the support structure of the monument.
</p> <h5>What’s the second thing that happened?</h5> <figure>
        <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/newsahoot.appspot.com/o/asi-releases-new-pictures-of-the-taj-mahal%2Fasi-releases-new-pictures-of-the-taj-mahal-section1.png?alt=media&token=4aed68d8-9e7f-42ab-909a-79f99834428f" alt="What’s the second thing that happened?" >
        <figcaption>Images of underground rooms of the Taj Mahal before and after maintenance. Photo by Archaeological Survey of India.</figcaption>
      </figure> <p>The court may have rejected Dr. Rajneesh Singh’s petition. But there are a lot of people in India who believe that the Taj Mahal was once a temple and that there’s evidence of this hidden in those twenty-two rooms.</p>
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The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) released two pictures of maintenance work going on in these underground rooms (called cells). One photo showed the decayed and disintegrating plaster on the walls of these empty rooms. The other photo showed how new and shiny these walls were looking after maintenance.
</p> <h5>How does this prove these people wrong?</h5>  <p>It proves them wrong in two ways:</p>
<p>1. The ASI declared that it’s wrong to say that the twenty-two rooms are permanently locked. The ASI routinely conducts maintenance work in these rooms and can confidently say that there are no idols hidden beneath the Taj.</p>
<p>2. By looking at these pictures, we can see they are empty rooms and nothing else. So much for exciting conjectures about hidden evidence.</p>
<p>We, the public, will never be allowed in these rooms below the Taj Mahal. But we can feast our eyes on these pictures and marvel at how these empty rooms have been holding up the weight and grandeur of the 390-year-old mighty monument.
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India’s most famous monument, the Taj Mahal, is around 390 years old. Why are these new images a big deal then? Let’s find out.

ASI Releases New Pictures of the Taj Mahal

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ASI Releases New Pictures of the Taj Mahal

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