A
green carpet of Persian garden stretches from the main gateway to the
base of the Taj, on the style introduced to India by Babur who was the
first Mughal emperor. The flowers and fruits, symmetry and delicacy,
reign the artificially contrived gardens that are based on geometric
arrangements of nature. The Persian gardeners and their formulas of
translating the paradisiacal perfection into terrestrial terms heavily
influenced the landscape artists of the Taj. Just as suggested in Islam,
the gardens were laid out in the quadrate plan as the two marble canals
ornamented with fountains and fringed with cypress trees (that symbolize
death) intersecting at the centre divide them into four equal squares.However, unlike the other Mughal mausoleums, Taj stands regally at the north end overlooking the river. Stone-paved pathways further subdivide them into sixteen flowerbeds. Located centrally, halfway between the actual tomb and the gateway, is an elevated marble lotus-tank with a beautiful cusped and trefoiled border. The water of tank perfectly reflects Taj and one can get a clear and unobstructed view of the mausoleum from any spot in the garden. The keen aesthetic sense is remarkable in the arrangement of the fountains and cypress trees only at the north-south water canal so as not to divert the attention of the viewer to the sides!
