TAJ MAIIAL, a mausoleum erected at Agra by the emperor Shah Jahan over the remains of his wife, Arjamand Banu Begum, Mumtaz Mahal, who died A.D. 1629. It is admitted to be the most beautiful pieee of Muhammadan arehitecture iu the world. It is on the bank of the river Jumna, and was begun on her demise, but was not completed until 1648. The materials are red sandstone from Futtehpur Sikri, and white marble from Jeypore. The internal decorations consist of inlaid work of precious stones, agate, and jasper, with which every spandrel or other salient point in the architecture is richly fretted, while brown and violet marbles are freely employed in wreaths, scrolls, and lintels, to relieve the monotony of the white walls. Brother Maurique, who was at Agra at the time, says that the plans and esti mates for it were supplied by a Venetian named Verrone°.
In the four chambers, answering to tho sides of the building, are inserted in the wall plates of white marble, 6 feet high, upon which flowers, in their natural colours, are wrought in a mosaic of precious stones, the sterns being worked in with negro-antico. So elaborate is the workman ship, that to form one flower nearly a hundred different gems have sometimes been used ; and so exquisite is the finish, that the eye might almost be deceived.
The mausoleum stands on a raised marble platform, at each of whose corners rises a tall and slender minaret of graceful proportions and exquisite beauty. Beyond the platform stretch two wings, one of which is itself a mosque of great architectural merit. The mansolemn is in the centre of the entire structure ; it occupies a square of 186 feet, with the angles deeply trunc ated so as to form an equal octagon. A great dome swells upwards to nearly two-thirds of a sphere, and tapers at its extremity into a pointed spire erowned by a crescent. Beneath it an en closure of marble trellis-work surrounds tbe tombs of the empress and of her husband the emperor. Each corner of the mausoleum is covered by a similar but much smaller dome, erected on a pediment pierced with graceful Saraeenic arches.
Light is admitted into the interior through o, double screen of pierced marble, which tempers the glare of an Indian sky, while its whiteness prevents the mellow effect from degenerating into gloom. In colour and design, the interior of the mausoleum may rank first for purely decorative workmanship.—Imp. Gaz. Taylor's Visit, p. 133 ; Schonberg's Tr. i. p. 183 ; Bishop Heber.
TAK. Colonel Tod suPposes the Tak to be the same as the Takshak, Nagbansa, or Serpent race, who act a conspicuous part in the legendary annals of ancient India. It is certain that the Tak pre ceded the Muhammadan kings of Gujerat before that province was absorbed into the empire of Akbar. The Tak of Gujerat are said by Tod to have adopted Muhammadanism when Wajih-ul Mulk was converted, and beeame the founder of the Muhammadan dynasty of Gujerat. FrOin this time the name almost disappeared, but there are Tak amongst the Bhangi, who, though of spurious descent, have evidently preserved the nam e. Th ere are also Tank Rajputs in the Central Doab and Lower Rohilkhand, whose privileges of inter marnage show them to be of high lineage ; and there is a tribe of nearly similar name existing near Jamu, not far from their aneicnt capital laksha-sfla or Taxila. Tonk Thoda and its lands on the Minas from remote times had been occu pied, perhaps founded, by the Tak race, and hence bore the name of Taksilla-nagar, familiarly Takit pur and Thoda. From the ruins of the Thoda temples, remnants of Takshak architecture, the amateur might speedily fill a portfolio. This tract abounds with romantic scenery at Rajmahal on the Bunas, Gokurn, and many others. Herbert calls Chitore the abode of Taxiles, the ally of Alexander. The Tak were all of the race of Pooru, so that Porus is a generic, not a, proper name. Taksilla-nagar has been a large city. The emperor Baber has given the position of the eity of Taxiles, west of the Indus.—Elliot's India, p. 504 ; Tod's Rajasthan, i. pp. 105, 673, p. 419.