Amid the ongoing claims of some Hindutva groups that the Taj Mahal in Agra was once a Hindu temple called Tejo Mahalaya, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officials have rejected all such controversies.
Rajneesh Singh had filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court seeking to open the doors of 22 sealed rooms within the Taj Mahal to enable research that would lead to the alleged “real history” of the structure. But a senior ASI official, rejecting the claims told The Times of India that the 22 rooms in the basement are not always closed.
Many argue that the 22 rooms in the basement of the structure are kept locked to hide the Hindu idols from being seen by the public.
However, according to ASI, the 22 “cells are not permanently closed” and they were also opened for conservation work, recently. And, so far, “all records examined over the years have not pointed to the presence of any idols.”
Further, they added that contrary to what the petitioners have claimed, there are over 100 ‘cells’ inside the Taj Mahal, which has been kept locked for various reasons.
Rejecting the claims, KK Muhammed, Former Regional Director (North), Archaeological Survey of India also told India Today, “The basement rooms of the Taj Mahal are not sealed, they are only placed under a lock to prevent tourists from venturing into the basement. The ASI maintains all these basement rooms. When I was the ASI Agra chief, I never saw any religious motifs inside these rooms.”
Muhammed said that there are many Mughal monuments in Agra that were built on such underground rooms and the Taj Mahal’s architecture is not unique in that sense.
The Allahabad HC verdict came days after a Divya Kumari, a Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Rajasthan, claimed that the land on which the Taj Mahal was built originally belonged to Jaipur’s ruler Jai Singh, and later it was acquired by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan.
She said that neither she nor her family have any records to prove that there was a Hindu temple before the magnificent structure was built, the MP but the claim should be investigated.
“It should be investigated what was there before the monument was built, and people have the right to know. There are records available with the Jaipur family, and it would provide these, if required,” Kumari, a member of the erstwhile Jaipur royal family said.
