PIL before Delhi High Court claims Taj Mahal was not built by Shah Jahan; seeks correction to history books

A public interest litigation (PIL) petition has been filed before the Delhi High Court seeking directions to the Central government to publish the correct history of Taj Mahal..The petition filed by Hindu Sena President one Surjit Singh Yadav claimed that Taj Mahal was originally the palace of Raja Man Singh which was subsequently renovated by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.The petitioner has, therefore, sought directions to the ASI, Central government, National Archives of India and the Uttar Pradesh government to remove historically wrong facts related to construction of Taj Mahal from history books and to issue directions to the ASI to carry out investigation about the age of the structure about the existence of palace of Raja Man Singh.The plea is likely to come up for hearing on Friday before a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela..In his plea, Yadav claimed that he has conducted deep study and research about Taj Mahal and it is important to rectify facts of history and impart correct information to the people about Taj Mahal.He said he examined several books on Taj Mahal and one of the books says that wife Shah Jahan was one Aliya Begum and there is no mention of Mumtaz Mahal.He further submitted that he referred to a book called ‘Taj Museum’ author by ZA Desai as per which a “lofty and a beautiful” site was selected for burial of Mumtaz Mahal which was a mansion (manzil) of Raja Man Singh and that was in the possession of the latter's grandson Raja Jai Singh at the time of burial.This mansion was never demolished, the petitioner stressed.He claimed that the present structure of Taj Mahal is nothing but “a modification, renovation and refurbishment of the mansion of Raja Man Singh which already existed”.“Further, the book titled Taj Museum mentions that the dead body of Mumtaz Mahal was interred under a temporary domed structure within the land premises of Raja Jai Singh. It is pertinent to mention that there is no account which states that the mansion of Raja Man Singh demolished to construct Taj Mahal,” the plea argued.It added that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has provided conflicting and contradictory information on Taj Mahal.“Under this, the ASI has mentioned that six months after the death of Mumtaz Mahal in 1631, her body was transferred to Agra to be enshrined in the crypt of the main Tomb of the Taj Mahal. This is contradictory to the information provided in the same web page for Taj Mahal where ASI has claimed that it took 17 years for the monuments complex to be completed in 1648. This is contrary to the above stated information provided by ASI on its same web page where it states that six months after the death of A Mumtaz Mahal her body was interred in the crypt of the main tomb of Taj Mahal because if Taj Mahal had taken 17 years to complete in 1648 then how come within six months in 1631 her dead body was enshrined in the main tomb of Taj Mahal when the ASI has stated on its website that Taj Mahal was completed in 1648,” it was contended. .The petition was filed through advocates Shashi Ranjan Kumar Singh and Mahesh Kumar.