By Shakir Husain
NEW DELHI, Sept 15 (Bernama) -- Serious concerns are being raised about the Taj Mahal's neglect after the renowned Mughal monument's main dome leaked in rain.
Built by Emperor Shah Jahan between 1631 and 1648 in memory of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, the monument housing the graves of the Muslim king and his queen, is India's most visited historic attraction and one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Videos posted on social media on Saturday showed an inundated garden next to the white marble edifice.
Water reached Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal's tombs in the inner chamber as incessant rains lashed the historic city of Agra, local media reported.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the government agency responsible for protecting historical monuments, admitted the water leakage but said the large central dome was not damaged.
"Yes, we have witnessed the leakage in the main dome of the Taj Mahal. When we checked, it was due to seepage and there was no damage to the main dome. We have checked the main dome through a drone camera," Rajkumar Patel, a top ASI official in Agra, was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Agra, located 220 kilometres southeast of New Delhi, once served as the Mughal empire's capital and houses many famous heritage buildings, including the massive Agra Fort on the Yamuna River not far from the Taj Mahal.
"For centuries, the Taj Mahal has stood as an enduring symbol of India's architectural brilliance and romantic heritage. However, in the wake of three days of unrelenting rainfall, the white-marble monument's iconic dome is facing an unexpected challenge -- water leakage," the Telegraph newspaper wrote on Saturday.
Historians react
Historians are aghast that the monument, which is a top foreign exchange earner and a symbol of India's past glory, can find itself in such a bad shape due to a little extra rain.
"The footfall at the Taj has no comparison with any other preserved iconic structure in the (South Asian) subcontinent. Unfortunately, its upkeep for decades has been extremely dismal," Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi, a professor of history at Aligarh Muslim University and secretary of the Indian History Congress, told Bernama.
The water leaking through its dome is only the latest in a series of concerns regarding the monument's preservation.
There have been reports that smoke from vehicles and industries is turning the Taj's white-marble surface yellow and green.
The heavily polluted Yamuna river flows beside the Taj Mahal.
Agra, rich in Mughal-era monuments, is a picture of urban neglect and congestion.
Fatehpur Sikri, which Emperor Akbar built between 1571 and 1573 as his capital but later abandoned, is another centre of spectacular Mughal architecture.
Most such monuments fall under the care of the ASI.
Mahmood Farooqui, an author and historian, told Bernama that the ASI lacks funding, staff, and expertise to handle its responsibilities.
But Rezavi says there is no shortage of funds because even if a fraction of what is collected in tourist revenues from the Taj is spent on its upkeep, "the conditions would not be so dismal."
"For a number of years, its marble and the carvo-intaglio patterns (a style widely used during Shah Jahan's period) on its subsidiary structures (mosque and mehman khana in the Taj complex) are falling apart and rotting," he said.
Mohammad Tarique Anwar, an associate professor of history at Delhi University, said the Taj Mahal cannot be treated as an ordinary monument and the problems like the dome leakage and the garden's flooding cannot be taken lightly.
"It shows that there are serious issues about the preservation and maintenance of this iconic monument which is part of not just Indian but world heritage," he said.
-- BERNAMA
