The burial chambers, also known as Rauza-i-Munauwara
Rauza-i-Muqqadas &. Rauza-i-Mutahhara. The central focus of the complex is the tomb.
This large,white marble structure stands on a square plinth and consists of a symetrical building with an iwan (an arch-shaped doorway) topped by a large dome and finial. Like most Mughal tombs, the basic elements are Persian in origin. The base structure is essentially a large, multi-chambered cube with chamfered corers, foming an unequal octagon that is approximately 180 feet on each of the four long sides. On each of these sides. a massive pishtaq, or vaulited archway, frames the iwan with two similarly shaped arched balconies stacked on either side. This motif of stacked pishtags is replicated on the
chamfered comner areas, making the design completely symmetrical on all sides of the building. Four minarets frame the tomb, one at each corner of the plinth facing the chamfered corners. The main chamber houses the false sarcophagi of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan; the actual graves are at a lower level.
The large hall, together with the lower tomb chamber over the actual burials below and the outer dome above, forms the core of the building.
Here, all the elements, architecture, furniture, and decoration combine to create an eschatological house for Mumtaz Mahal. Even sound was put to the task of eternity, through one of the longest echoes of any building in the world. The hall has the form of a perfect octagon, 24 feet to a side, with two tiers of eight radiating niches.
These niches termed nashiman ('seat), are equal in size but diferentiated in their elevations. In those on the cardinal axes, the inner wall is open and fitted with a screen that transmits light into the interior of the hall.
The naturalistic decoration of the interior culminates in the central ensemble of the cenotaphs of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan and the screen that surounds them.
The screen is octagonal reflecting on a smaller scale the octagon of the surrounding hall and intensifying the paradisiacal symbolism of the number eight.
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