RIFLE RANGE BOY: ShahJahan

The Taj Story (2025)
Written & Directed: Tushar Amrish Goel

I have long heard that the Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, is a Hindu temple. Firstly, nobody builds a mausoleum in the shape of a mosque. i.e. with a dome. Furthermore, in the Islamic books, it is inappropriate to glorify the dead as they would be deified. That was one reason why the Prophet's grave was never marked till recently. There was the worry of overglorifying the dead so much as to forget worshipping Allah.

Overbuilding mosques at the expense of other places of worship is nothing new. We have seen that done in Andalusia, where churches were converted to mosques when the Ummayads conquered the Iberian Peninsula and reverted to churches after the Reconquista. Hagia Sophia in Istanbul was a church that was later converted into a mosque.

The rumour about the 22 secret rooms beneath the Taj Mahal, which hide the original deities of a Shiva temple upon which Shah Jahan's symbol of love was built, is well known. The alleged temple belonged to Shahjahan's loyal general, Mann Singh, who handed it over to curry favour.

This movie is partially based on a case filed in the Delhi High Court in 2023 claiming that Shah Jahan did not build the Taj Mahal. The Court directed the Archaeological Society of India (ASI) to investigate the matter. ASI determined that the sealed 22 rooms contained only structural elements.

A disgruntled guide at the Taj Mahal files a public interest litigation (PIL) at the Allahabad High Court, questioning Shah Jahan as the one who constructed the Taj Mahal. He wants the courts to instruct the historical society to investigate the matter. The guide ended up arguing his own case because no lawyers would take his case. His arguments are based on those Stephen Knapp put forward on his website.

This film skirted many controversies. It had been labelled as a Hindutva propaganda film, steeped in conspiracy theories and tries to create division in a society already deeply plagued by communal issues. Films like these are currently garnering much attention as more and more mosques in India have been claimed to have been built on former temple sites, e.g., the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya (resolved), the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi (ongoing), and the Mathura Mosque (soon).

https://www.stephen-knapp.com/jayasree_saranathan_was_the_taj_mahal_a_vedic_temple.htm