Taj Mahal Garden
The garden in Islamic Style of architecture is not just another feature it has a well-defined meaning and it symbolizes the spirituality. According to the holy Koran, a garden is symbolic of paradise. On leaving the entrance gateway, you can view a sprawling garden in front of you going all the way up to the plinth of the Taj. The Taj Garden covers most part of the Taj Complex. Out of a total area of 580 m by 300 m, the Taj Garden alone covers 300 m by 300 m.


Though the garden is now maintained regularly, there is still a patch on the original royal garden. The char bagh, separated by the watercourses originating from the central, raised pool, were divided into 16 flower beds, making a total of 64. There were 400 plants in each bed. All the trees, either cypress (signifying death) and fruit trees (signifying life) were planted to maintain symmetry.

Taj Mahal Garden The garden in Islamic Style of architecture is not just another feature it has a well-defined meaning and it symbolizes the spirituality. According to the holy Koran, a garden is symbolic of paradise.

A green carpet of garden, a Persian garden, runs from the main gateway to the foot of the Taj Mahal. Such gardens were introduced to India by Babur, the first Mughal emperor, who also brought with him the Persian infatuation with flowers and fruit, birds and leaves, symmetry and delicacy. Unlike other Oriental gardens - especially those of the Japanese, who learned to accentuate existing resources rather than formalise them - the Persian garden was artificially contrived, unbashedly man-made, based on geometric arrangements of nature without any attempt at a "natural" look.

The Water Devices
The architect e conduits, designed a clever system to procure water for the Taj through underground pipes. Water was drawn from the river by a series of purs (manual system of drawing water from a water body using a rope and bucket pulled by bullocks) and was brought through a broad water channel into an oblong storage tank of great dimensions. It was again raised by a series of thirteen purs worked by bullocks.

Except for the ramps, the other features of the whole water system have survived. An over-head water-channel supported on massive arches carried water into another storage tank of still greater dimensions. Water was finally raised by means of fourteen purs and passed into a channel which filled three supply tanks, the last of which had pipe mouths in its eastern wall. The pipes descended below and after travelling underground crossed into the Taj enclosure. One pipe line runs directly towards the mosque to supply the fountains in the tanks on the red sandstone plinth below the marble structure. Copper pipes were used for separate series of fountains in the north-south canal, lotus pond and the canal around it.



An ingenious method was devised to ensure uniform and undiminished water pressure in the fountains, irrespective of the distance and the outflow of water. A copper pot was provided under each fountain pipe - which was thus connected to with the water supply only through the pot. Water first fills the pot and then only rises simultaneously in the fountains. The fountains are thus controlled by pressure in the pots and not pressure in the main pipe. As the pressure in the pots is uniformly distributed all the time, it ensures equal supply of water at the same rate in all the fountains.

The main supply of the water was however obtained through earthenware pipes. One such main was discovered under the bed of the western canal. The pipe is 9" in diameter and has been embedded in masonry at a depth of 5 feet below the level of the paved walk. Evidently, the Mughal water expert was a master of his art and successfully worked out the levels in relation to the volume of water to ensure its unobstructed supply for centuries. He anticipated no repair work and therefore made no provision for it; hence the extraordinary depth at which the pipe was sunk.