It is said that Taj Mahal changes its colour thrice in a day. It looks more white on cloudy days. Not many people would know about the changing colours of the Taj Mahal. According to the ASI and a senior tour guide of Agra, Taj Mahal is made of several colourful precious stones, which is responsible for the monument changing its colour thrice a day. These stones are Neelam, Panna, Ruby, Aqeeq, Moonga and Firoza. According to the experts, the main white marble mausoleum is made of such precious stones. These stones are also found on the other parts of the monument and on the Royal Gate of the Taj Mahal. Experts say such
precious stones are responsible for making the main mausoleum more colourful and beautiful not only in sunlight but also on full moonlight, where people used to gather in a big way to get a glimpse of Taj in full moon light called “Chamki.” However, this has become a history now because the entry to the Taj has been banned now on the full moon light due to security reasons.
The precious stones of the Taj Mahal are missing not only from the Royal Gate but from the other parts of the monument as well. This was revealed in RTI reply. In reply to an RTI application, the ASI has admitted that it has issued a tender for the repair work of the Taj Mahal. As per the two RTI replies, the ASI disclosed that from the year 2015-16 to the year 2018-19, before the Covid lockdown, the agency had spent lakhs of rupees for filling the gaps of the missing precious stones of the Taj Mahal. But when asked about the missing precious stones of the Taj Mahal through RTI, the [ASI] officials replied as follows:
Questions posed in the RTI:
[ 1 ] What ASI does with the precious stones of the Taj Mahal, which comes out from any part of the monument or get broken after falling down on the ground ?
[ 2 ] Where the fallen and broken precious stones of the Taj Mahal are kept by the ASI. And how many precious stones of such kind, fallen from which part of the monument, are with the ASI ?
[ 3 ] How many incidents have occurred in any part of the Taj Mahal, where the precious stones have fallen naturally and broken down. But ASI have not recovered the fallen and broken precious stones from the spot?
