<P> The erection of Mughal tombs to honour the dead was the subject of a theological debate conducted in part, through built architecture over several centuries . For the majority of Muslims, the spiritual power (barakat) of visiting the resting places (ziyarat) of those venerated in Islam, was a force by which greater personal sanctity could be achieved . However, orthodox Islam found tombs problematic because a number of Hadith forbade their construction . As a culture also attempting to accommodate, assimilate and subjugate the majority Hindu populace, opposition also came from local traditions which believed dead bodies and the structures over them were impure . For many Muslims at the time of the Taj's construction, tombs could be considered legitimate providing they did not strive for pomp and were seen as a means to provide a reflection of paradise (Jannah) here on earth . </P> <P> The ebb and flow of this debate can be seen in the Mughul's dynastic mausoleums stretching back to that of their ancestor Timur . Built in 1403 AD (810 AH) Timur is buried in the Gur - e Amir in Samarkand, under a fluted dome . The tomb employs a traditional Persian iwan as an entrance . The 1528 AD (935 AH) Tomb of Babur in Kabul is much more modest in comparison, with a simple cenotaph exposed to the sky, laid out in the centre of a walled garden . </P> <P> Humayun's tomb commissioned in 1562 AD, was one of the most direct influences on the Taj Mahal's design and was a response to the Gur - e Amir, borrowing a central dome, geometric symmetrical planning and iwan entrances, but incorporating the more specifically Indian Mughal devices of chhatris, red sandstone face work, and a' Paradise garden' (Charbagh). Akbar's tomb c. 1600 at Sikandra, Agra, retains many of the elements of Humayan's tomb but possesses no dome and reverts to a cenotaph open to the sky . A theme which was carried forward in the Itmad - Ud - Daulah's Tomb also at Agra, built between 1622 and 1628, commissioned by his daughter Nur Jahan . The Tomb of Jahangir at Shahdara (Lahore), begun in 1628 AD (1037 AH), only 4 years before the construction of the Taj and again without a dome, takes the form of a simple plinth with a minaret at each corner . </P> <P> The concept of the paradise garden (charbagh) was brought from Persia by the Mughals as a form of Timurid garden . They were the first architectural expression the new empire made in the Indian sub-continent, and fulfilled diverse functions with strong symbolic meanings . The symbolism of these gardens is derived from mystic Islamic texts describing paradise as a garden filled with abundant trees, flowers and plants, with water playing a key role: In Paradise four rivers source at a central spring or mountain . In their ideal form they were laid out as a square subdivided into four equal parts . These rivers are often represented in the charbagh as shallow canals which separate the garden by flowing towards the cardinal points . The canals represent the promise of water, milk, wine and honey . The centre of the garden, at the intersection of the divisions is highly symbolically charged and is where, in the ideal form, a pavilion, pool or tomb would be situated . The tombs of Humayun, Akbar and Jahangir, the previous Mughal emperors, follow this pattern . The cross axial garden also finds independent precedents within South Asia dating from the 5th century where the royal gardens of Sigiriya in Sri Lanka were laid out in a similar way . </P>

The taj mahal was built with influences from which two cultures