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1、Visit www.readinga- for thousands of books and materials.Taj MahalA Reading AZ Level Z1 Leveled BookWord Count:1,778WritingResearch to learn more about Shah Jahan and write a biography about him.Use facts from the book as well as additional resources in your biography.Social StudiesCreate a travel b
2、rochure for the Taj Mahal.Include information from the book to entice travelers to visit this historic landmark.Connectionswww.readinga-LEVELED BOOK Z1LEVELED BOOK Z1Written by Cheryl ReifsnyderTaj Mahal www.readinga-What is the significance of the Taj Mahal?Focus QuestionWritten by Cheryl Reifsnyde
3、rTaj Mahal Taj MahalWorld Landmarks Level Z1 Leveled Book Learning AZWritten by Cheryl ReifsnyderAll rights reserved.www.readinga-conservationdominatesdynastyIslamicmausoleummemorialsminaretsmosquerestorationsarcophagussymbolizesymmetricalWords to KnowFront cover:The white marble mausoleum at the Ta
4、j Malal reflects the colors of the sunset.Title page:A floral carving in one of the Taj Mahals red sandstone buildingsPhoto Credits:Front cover:Pakorn Lopattanakij/Alamy;back cover:Merlin Franc Anto/Alamy;title page:INDARCH/Alamy;page 4:saiko3p/iStock/Thinkstock;page 6(left):Dennis Richardson/D;page
5、 6(right):Xin Hua/D;page 7:India Picture/Corbis;page 8:Tim Graham/Robert Harding Picture Library/Superstock;page 9:Philippe Lissac/Godong/Corbis;page 10:Dinodia Photos/Alamy;page 11:Metropolitan Museum of Art,New York,USA/Bridgeman Images;page 12(main):REX USA/Amos Chapple;page 12(inset):Tommy Schul
6、tz/D;page 13:LEROY Julien/Alamy;page 14:Saiko3p/D;page 15:Ian Trower/JAI/Corbis;page 17:Fosco Maraini/Gabinetto Vieusseux PropertycFratelli Alinari/Mary Evans;page 19:imageBROKER/imageBROKER/SuperstockCorrelationLEVEL Z1WXN/A60Fountas&PinnellReading RecoveryDRA3Table of ContentsThe Taj Mahal .4Cente
7、r Stage:The Mausoleum .6The Story Behind the Taj Mahal.10Building the Mighty Taj.14The Taj Mahal After Shah Jahan.16A Lasting Memorial.19Glossary.20BAY OF BENGALARABIAN SEAINDIAAgraYamuna RiverBurhanpurTaj Mahal Level Z14The Taj MahalImagine a family so wealthy that their name signifies riches and p
8、ower.This situation describes the Mughal(MOO-guhl)dynastynorthern Indias rulers in the 1600s.The Mughals vied with one another to create the most beautiful mansions and memorials.Their family name gave rise to the term mogul,a word for someone as wealthy and powerful as the richest king and most fam
9、ous rock star bundled into one.Today,the Mughals are famous for the jewel-encrusted works of art and extravagant architecture they left behind.Their most famous creation is a tomb built by the fifth Mughal emperor,Shah Jahan:the Taj Mahal.Known for its perfect symmetry,the Taj Mahal is the most magn
10、ificent creation of the Mughal dynasty.5When people think of the Taj Mahal,most picture the mausoleum with its immense white dome.However,the Taj Mahal is actually a 16-hectare(42-acre)area designed to represent the paradise home of Shah Jahans favorite wife,Mumtaz Mahal.Buildings,walls,gates,and ga
11、rdens are all laid out in a symmetrical way to represent the Islamic idea of a perfect heaven.Although grass now fills the grounds,flowers and fruit trees once suggested paradises gardens.Four water channels divide the garden into four equal parts that meet at a pool in the gardens center.They symbo
12、lize the four heavenly rivers described in the Koran,the Islamic holy book.assembly hall(jawab)mosqueriverfront terracemausoleumminaretcentral poolgardenswater channelGreat GateforecourtTaj Mahal Level Z16Center Stage:The MausoleumTo enter the Taj Mahal today,visitors pass through the Great Gate,a f
13、ortresslike building constructed of red sandstone and marble.Letters spell out welcoming words from the Koran.The Great Gate is adorned with enormous archways,domed ceilings,and octagonal niches similar to those found in the mausoleumhinting at the luxury lying beyond.The Taj Mahals many structures
14、and gardens all point visitors toward the mausoleum where Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan are buried.The Great Gate is flanked by octagonal towers topped with white marble domes(top).The mausoleums onion-shaped dome is perfectly framed in the Great Gates archway(left).7Strolling through the gardens,visi
15、tors see the mausoleum reflected in the central water channel.Situated on a raised marble platform,the mausoleum dominates the landscape.Four minarets rise from the platforms corners like guards standing at attention.Each one is more than 40 meters(130 ft.)tall.Translucent white marble covers the ma
16、usoleum,the platform holding it,and the surrounding minarets.The marbles crystalline structure causes it to change color with the changing light.At times,the building seems to glow with unearthly radiance.White is the Islamic color of mourning and on a tomb,it is intended to show the faith of the pe
17、rson buried within.Other structures on the grounds,such as the mosque(MAHSK)and assembly hall that flank the mausoleum,are red sandstone.The white marble of the Taj Mahal seems to change color with changing light and atmospheric conditions.Taj Mahal Level Z18The mausoleum was designed to be a holy b
18、uilding,a reflection of Mumtaz Mahals mansion in the gardens of paradise.Muslims believe that the number eight symbolizes paradise,so Mughal tombs were often octagonal in shape.Mumtaz Mahals mausoleum follows this tradition,with four long and four short outer walls.Massive arches provide entry on th
19、e four long walls of the building,flanked by smaller arches on either side.Within,the building is honeycombed with rooms and passages laid out in perfect symmetry.Mumtaz Mahals sarcophagus(sar-KAH-fuh-guhs)sits at the center of an octagonal room in the center of the building.A second sarcophagus res
20、ts beside it,the sole off-center element,marking her husbands burial site.A perforated marble screen surrounds them both.The public sarcophagus of emperor Shah Jahan(left)is next to the one of his third wife,Mumtaz Mahal(right),in the Taj Mahal mausoleum.9Both sarcophagi are cenotaphs,or fake burial
21、 sites for visitors to view.The real burial sites are located in a private chamber on the lower level,directly below the cenotaphs.The word taj comes from the Persian word for“crown.”Some experts suggest that the mausoleum,the most richly decorated structure in the Taj Mahal,represents Mumtaz Mahals
22、 jewel-covered crown and is meant to honor her in death.Geometric designs cover nearly every inch of the floor.Vines,flowers,and butterflies decorate the walls,bright with precious and semiprecious stonesjade,jasper,turquoise,and lapis lazuli(LAP-is LA-zuh-lee).Artisans also set thousands of diamond
23、s,rubies,amethysts,and other gems into the designs,and a thin sheet of pearls was constructed to cover Mumtaz Mahals sarcophagus on holy days.Artisans carved elaborate floral patterns and embedded expensive colorful stones in the interior walls of the mausoleum.Taj Mahal Level Z110The Story Behind t
24、he Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal was not the first tomb created by Mughal rulers,but it was one of few such monuments created for a woman.Shah Jahans other two wives tombs are located on the Taj Mahal grounds in unmarked buildings near the Great Gate.What inspired Shah Jahan to build such a magnificent me
25、morial for Mumtaz?Shah Jahan met Mumtaz Mahal,then called Arjumand Banu,when he was a fifteen-year-old prince and she was fourteen.They were engaged shortly thereafter and married five years later,in 1612.Shah Jahan gave her the title Mumtaz Mahal,which means“Chosen One of the Palace.”According to p
26、oets of the time,Mumtaz Mahals great beauty caused the moon to hide its face in her presenceand few were permitted to see this beauty.As a noblewoman,Mumtaz had to keep her face covered in public.No paintings survive to show us her appearance,as painting noblewomen was an Islamic taboo.Paintings sho
27、w artists ideas of how she may have looked.Emperor Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal11Over the next eighteen years,Mumtaz traveled everywhere with her husband,even accompanying him when he traveled to war.She was in his battle camp when she died giving birth to their fourteenth child in 1631.She was only
28、thirty-eight years old.Shah Jahan was heartbroken.He gave up jewelry,fancy clothes,and music,and even delayed his sons weddings for two years.Every Wednesday,the day on which Mumtaz had died,Shah Jahan banned celebrations.On the yearly anniversary of her death,he would not allow celebrations during
29、the entire month and required his court to wear white in her memory.Shah Jahan was a powerful military leader at the peak of Mughal rule.He demonstrated skill in battle at an early age.Taj Mahal Level Z112Shah Jahan chose a site for Mumtaz Mahals memorial shortly after returning to his capital city
30、of Agra.He selected land beside the Yamuna(YAH-moo-nah)River,where Mughal royalty lived in large riverside garden mansions.The mausoleum would be built along a bend in the river where slower water protected the riverbanks from erosion.There,the river creates a natural mirror and reflects light onto
31、the mausoleums white marble walls and towers.Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal on the western bank of the Yamuna River.Water in the garden channels comes from the river.13At the time,mausoleums were usually placed in the center of a garden,so the position of Mumtazs mausoleumat one end of the gardenswa
32、s unusual.However,the ruins of a second garden property,called the“Moonlight Garden,”were discovered on the opposite riverbank.Archaeologists now think the Moonlight Garden was an important part of the Taj Mahal grounds,a spot from which visitors could view the mausoleum by moonlight.Across the Yamu
33、na River to the east is the Moonlight Garden.Restored in the 1990s,this was one of Shah Jahans favorite spots for viewing his wifes memorial.Taj Mahal Level Z114Building the Mighty TajConstruction of the Taj Mahal began in 1632,about a year after Mumtaz Mahals death.The Taj Mahal was the largest arc
34、hitectural project of the Mughal dynasty,requiring more than twenty thousand workers and more than a thousand elephants.Shah Jahan brought in architects,stoneworkers,and painters from all over the world.The mausoleum is about 70 meters(240 ft.)tall.Its dome is 44 meters(144 ft.)tall and is estimated
35、 to weigh 11,000 metric tons(12,000 tn.).The Taj Mahal took 22 years and about 32 million rupees to build in 1632.Building the Taj Mahal today would cost about$1.6 billionfour times as much as the cost of building Disney World.The minarets are built at a slight slant so they will fall away from the
36、mausoleum if they ever fall.15From the time he was imprisoned by his son,Shah Jahan could only view the Taj Mahal from afar.This view is from a room at Agra Fort.Gems,semiprecious stones,and different colors of marble came from China,Tibet,Afghanistan,and other countries.The slabs of white marble us
37、ed to cover the mausoleum had to be transported hundreds of miles on carts pulled by teams of twenty to thirty oxen.At the building site,workers constructed a dirt ramp 4 kilometers(2.5 mi.)long and a complicated system of scaffolds,ropes,and pulleys to move the marble into position.Work on the Taj
38、Mahal continued for the next twenty-two years.Late in his life,when three of his sons fought among themselves to decide who would be the next emperor,Shah Jahan was imprisoned in Agra Fort.The victor of the fightAurangzeb(aw-ruhng-ZEB)kept his father in the fort until his death in 1666.Taj Mahal Lev
39、el Z116The Taj Mahal After Shah Jahan Today,the Taj Mahal is open to the public from sunrise to sunset every day except Friday,the Islamic holy day.On Fridays,the Taj Mahal is available for religious use by local Muslims,who can offer prayers from the mosque located near the mausoleum.Visitors can a
40、lso view the Taj Mahal by moonlight on the night of a full moon and the nights immediately before and after,except during the holy month of Ramadan.However,the Taj Mahal today is not the same as the one Shah Jahan built in the seventeenth century.In the years after the Shahs death,it was practically
41、 abandoned.Looters and vandals chiseled out many of the gems and semiprecious stones that decorated the mausoleum.Gold lamps,Persian carpets,the pearl overlay for Mumtaz Mahals sarcophagus,and other decorations disappeared.The gardens became overgrown,and buildings fell into disrepair with no one to
42、 care for them.In the late nineteenth century,the British viceroy in charge of Agra began restoration of the Taj Mahal.He planted neat lawns in place of the former gardens,fixed broken marble inlay,and replaced missing screens and lamps.17However,even as looters and vandals were stopped,new enemies
43、arose to threaten the Taj Mahal.Iron foundries,factories,and other industries that came to Agra emitted high levels of air pollutants.Acid rain caused the white marble to deteriorate.“Marble cancer,”a yellow fungus caused by pollutants,began to discolor and eat away the soft marble surface.Behind th
44、e mausoleum,the Yamuna River now carries raw sewage and garbage from upstream cities.Scientists suspect that gas produced by these contaminants may contribute to the marbles discoloration.Increasing numbers of visitors to the Taj Mahal brought more attention to the monument,but they,too,brought prob
45、lems,as the moisture of thousands of visitors breath promoted the growth of marble-damaging algae.Artisans work to restore beautiful marble artwork created hundreds of years ago.Taj Mahal Level Z118In the 1980s,the Indian government put a number of measures in place to help protect the monument from
46、 pollution.The“Taj Trapezium”an area surrounding Agra where no major polluting industries would be permittedwas created in 1982.Two years later,the government created a 2-kilometer(1.2 mi.)emission-free zone surrounding the Taj Mahal.The Indian Supreme Court put additional measures in place in 1996
47、since air pollution levels remained high in the city.As a result,polluting industries located near the Taj Mahal had to switch to a cleaner fuel source(natural gas)or move beyond the protected zone.In 2001,several organizations came together to form the Taj Mahal Conservation Collaborative,a group d
48、edicated to the conservation,restoration,and beautification of the Taj Mahal.This group has undertaken projects such as removing stains from the Taj Mahals white marble using detergents and absorbent clay packs.Although the Taj Mahal faces numerous challenges,it has survived earthquakes,lightning,wa
49、rs,and floods over the past several centuries.With a bit of luck and a lot of hard work,it will survive the coming centuries as well.19A Lasting MemorialShah Jahan desired a memorial for his beloved wife so magnificent that it would be admired by the entire world for all time.Today,the Taj Mahal see
50、s thousands of daily visitorsmillions each yearfrom all over the world.The United Nations Educational,Scientific,and Cultural Organization(UNESCO)declared the Taj Mahal a World Heritage Site,and an international vote established it as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.Centuries after its con