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Purushottam Nagesh Oak
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Taj Mahal: The True Story Paperback – May 1, 1989

by P. N. Oak (Author)
3.2 3.2 out of 5 stars 16 ratings
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  1. Print length
    336 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    A Ghosh
  4. Publication date
    May 1, 1989
  5. ISBN-10
    0961161442
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0961161446
  7. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ A Ghosh (May 1, 1989)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0961161442
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0961161446
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.7 ounces
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.2 3.2 out of 5 stars 16 ratings

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Purushottam Nagesh Oak

Purushottam Nagesh Oak

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Customer reviews

3.2 out of 5 stars
16 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Dipak Basu
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Research
Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2007
Verified Purchase
I have read the book several times and was moved by the researched materials the author collected and presented in a logical manner to prove that Taj Mahal was a Hindu palace, taken over by Sahjahan to remould it to what it is now.
The materials presented are very authentic, with multiple references to prove the author must have spent several years to collect these.
A truely remarkable book, a must read for anyone interested in Indian history.
16 people found this helpful
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M. T. Nair
1.0 out of 5 stars Complete grabbage
Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2022
This book is a work of fiction. Oak writes anything that comes to his mind without any research and peer review. He is not a historian. If you want to learn about the history of Taj Mahal, you should read the books by real historians like Ira Mukhoty and Rana Safvi
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kewlking
5.0 out of 5 stars An Eye opening experience
Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2000
The Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan in the memory of his wife MumtazMahal built the Taj Mahal. It was built in 22 years (1631 to 1653) by 20,000 artisans brought to India from all over the world. Many people believe Ustad Isa of Iran designed it." This is what your guide probably told you if you ever visited the Taj Mahal. This is the same story I read in my history book as a student in India.
No one has ever challenged it except Professor P.N. Oak, who believes the whole world has been duped. In his Mahal's tomb but an ancient Hindu temple palace of Lord Shiva (then known as Tejo Mahalaya).
In the course of his research, Oak discovered the Shiva temple palace was usurped by Shah Jahan from then Maharaja of Jaipur, Jai Singh. Shah Jahan then remodeled the palace into his wife's memorial. In his own court chronicle, Badshahnama, Shah Jahan admits that an exceptionally beautiful grand mansion in Agra was taken from Jai Singh for Mumtaz's burial. The ex-Maharaja of Jaipur still retains in his secret collection two orders from Shah Jahan for surrendering the Taj building. Using captured temples and mansions, as a burial place for dead courtiers and royalty was a common practice among Muslim rulers. For example, Humayun, Akbar, Etmud-ud-Daula and Safdarjung are all buried in such mansions. Oak's inquiries begin with the name Taj Mahal. He says this term does not occur in any Moghul court papers or chronicles, even after ShahJahan's time.
The term "Mahal" has never been used for a building in any of the Muslim countries, from Afghanistan to Algeria. "The unusual explanation that the term Taj Mahal derives from Mumtaz Mahal is illogical in at least two respects. Firstly, her name was never Mumtaz Mahal but Mumtaz-ul-Zamani," he writes. "Secondly, one cannot omit the first three letters 'Mum' from a woman's name to derive the remainder as the name for the building." Taj Mahal, he claims, is a corrupt version of Tejo-Mahalaya, or the Shiva's Palace.
Oak also says the love story of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan is a fairy tale created by court sycophants, blundering historians and sloppy archaeologists. Not a single royal chronicle of Shah Jahan's time corroborates the love story. Furthermore, Oak cites several documents suggesting the Taj Mahal predates Shah Jahan's era, and was a temple palace dedicated to Shiva worshipped by the Rajputs of Agra city. For example, Professor Marvin Miller of New York took a few samples from the riverside doorway of the Taj. Carbon dating tests revealed that the door was 300 years older than Shah Jahan.
European traveler Johan Albert Mandelslo, who visited Agra in 1638(only seven years after Mumtaz's death), describes the life of the city in his memoirs. But he makes no reference to the Taj Mahal being built. The writings of Peter Mundy, an English visitor to Agra within a year of Mumtaz's death, also suggest the Taj was a noteworthy building long well before Shah Jahan's time. Oak points out a number of design and architectural inconsistencies that support the belief of the Taj Mahal being a typical Hindu temple rather than a mausoleum. Many rooms in the Taj Mahal have remained sealed since Shah Jahan's time, and are still inaccessible to the public. Oak asserts they contain a headless statue of Shiva and other objects commonly used for worship rituals in Hindu temples. Fearing political backlash, Indira Gandhi's government tried to have Oak's book withdrawn from the bookstores, and threatened the Indian publisher of the first edition with dire consequences.
There is only one way to discredit or validate Oak's research. The current Indian government should open the sealed rooms of the Taj Mahal under UN supervision, and let international experts investigate. END
112 people found this helpful
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Girish
1.0 out of 5 stars Half-truths and blatant lies
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2002
Oak's book is a farrago of false allegations. He claims that the only contemporary evidence for the Taj being built by Shah Jahan lies in Tavernier's book. This is a wilful deception. The official chronicles of Shah Jahan's reign, four of them, all mention the building of the Taj after the death of Mumtaz Mahal. Abdul Hamid Lahori, the official court historian, minutely describes the building of the monument from the foundations up. Subsequent Persian histories list the names of artisans employed for the task. It is true that LAND was taken from Jai Singh, but he was compensated for the land with four mansions.
The great love between Shah Jahan and Mumtaz is also clearly described in the Shahjahannama: about how some of Shah Jahan's hair turned white after her death; how he did not appear in public for a week; how he visited her first grave in Burhanpur and read the opening chapter of the Quran; how he made it a point to visit the Taj every year on her death anniversary.
I have tried to track down the Marvin Miller (sometimes referred to as Marvin Mills) who is supposed to have carbon dated a door from the Taj. It is claimed that he teaches at a leading design institute. I have verified that no Marvin Miller or Marvin Mills is, or ever has been, a member of the faculty of the Pratt Institute.
The Taj uses an inlay technique called pietra dura, which only came to India with florentine visitors in the late sixteenth century, so the question of the Taj being built earlier does not arise.
Oak cannot decide if the Taj is supposed to be a Rajput Palace, as he first argued, or a Shiva temple, as he now claims. It looks neither like a Hindu temple, nor a Rajput palace, nor a temple palace. No Hindu temples or palaces ever had domes or minarets, nor symmetrical gardens.
If you are one of those Hindus who believes that his religious pride depends on dismissing or appropriating every Indian Muslim achievement, then this is the book for you. Nothing I can say will convince you otherwise. But if you are open-minded, I can assure you that the arguments of this book are specious and dangerous, part of a concerted effort by the Hindu Right to spread their poisonous agenda.
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