The Taj Mahal, or commonly called just the Taj, was constructed between 1631 and 1645 by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and a work force of 20,000 as a monument to his late wife, Arjumand Bano Begum, also called Mumtaz Mahal. It all began back in the year 1607 when a prince of the royal Mughal household strolled down the Meena Bazaar and he caught a glimpse of a girl hawking silk and glass beads. Five years and a first wife later the then 20 year old Shah Jahan wed his 19 year old bride. It was a fairytale union and one that withstood the test of time, court intrigues and battles for succession. When Mumtaz died on the 19th year of their marriage, Shah Jahan etched her story in stone with the Taj Mahal being the living symbol of the monumental passion of Shah Jahan and Arjumand Banu. The Taj Mahal name is thought to come from Persian, the language of the Mughal court, meaning crown, and Mahal means palace. Most sources suggest that Taj Mahal is a shorter variant of Mumtaz Mahal, the nickname of Arjumand Banu Begum, meaning First Lady of the Palace. Soon after its completion, Shah Jahan was deposed and put under house arrest at the nearby Agra Fort by his son Aurangzeb. Legend has it that he spent the remainder of his days gazing through the window at the Taj Mahal, where it can be observed like a mirage from the Agra Fort across the river. Upon Shah Jahan’s death, Aurangzeb buried him in the Taj Mahal next to his wife, the only disruption of the otherwise perfect symmetry in the architecture. We visited the Taj as part of our 1995 India trip and there was a lot less people than what goes through the place today! Also, we had no scaffolding to block out various features. So, we had a good morning wandering around, took some great photos and as you can see, hardly any people shown in them! We stayed the night in Agra and after the Taj visit, left for Jaipur.