IS Taj Mahal a hindu temple

Friends,

Just before we forget the fight on babri masjid...there is another debate. The world famous taj mahal is claimed by few people as a shiva temple taken over by shajahan....well the link below states the same.

http://www.stephen-knapp.com/was_the_taj_mahal_a_vedic_temple.htm


Real History of "Taj Mahal"
"The Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan in the memory of his ife Mumtaz Mahal
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.


NOW READ THIS.......
No one has ever challenged it except Prof. P. N. Oak, who believes the
whole
world has been duped. In his book Taj Mahal: The True Story, Oak says
the
Taj Mahal is not Queen Mumtaz's tomb but an ancient Hindu temple
palace of
Lord Shiva (then known as Tejo Mahalaya). In the course of his
research Oak
discovered that the Shiva temple palace was usurped by Shah Jahan from
then
Maharaja of Jaipur, Jai Singh. 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 began with the name of Taj Mahal. He
says
the
term "Mahal" has never been used for a building in any Muslim
countries
from
Afghanisthan to Algeria. "The unusual explanation that the term Taj
Mahal
derives from Mumtaz Mahal was illogical in atleast 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 Lord 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 dedicated to Shiva, worshipped by
Rajputs
of Agra city. For example, Prof. 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 well before Shah Jahan's
time.


Prof. 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 Lord Shiva and other objects commonly
used for
worship rituals in Hindu temples. Fearing political
backlash, Indira Gandhi's government tried to have Prof. Oak's book
withdrawn from the
bookstores, and threatened the Indian publisher of the first edition
dire
consequences. There is only one way to discredit or validate Oak's
research.


The current government should open the sealed rooms of the Taj Mahal
under
U.N. supervision, and let international experts investigate.


Well these are not my views...but just a information came to me...hope this doesn't break another series of communal rights....whether its a shiva temple or a mumtaz'a burial ground...it gives india proud. So lets not destroy this in the process of claiming whose it is...lets preserve it together.

gnana