The Taj Mahal was built by which ruler, and for whom?
- A.Akbar, for Jodha Bai
- B.Shah Jahan, for Mumtaz Mahal
- C.Jahangir, for Nur Jahan
- D.Aurangzeb, for Dilras Banu Begum
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Shah Jahan, for Mumtaz Mahal. Work on the tomb began in 1632, a year after Mumtaz Mahal's death, on the right bank of the Yamuna at Agra, in white marble brought from Makrana in Rajasthan; tradition names Ustad Ahmad Lahauri as its chief architect, and the site was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1983.
Option A is wrong because Akbar's buildings at Agra are the red sandstone fort and Fatehpur Sikri, and his own tomb is at Sikandra. Option C is wrong because Jahangir built no tomb for Nur Jahan at Agra; it was Nur Jahan who built the tomb of her father Itmad-ud-Daulah there. Option D is wrong because Aurangzeb's queen Dilras Banu Begum was buried in the Bibi ka Maqbara at Aurangabad, a later building outside Uttar Pradesh.
Read the full article: Architecture and Monuments of Uttar Pradesh: Full Notes
Practice Questions
View allThe Buland Darwaza at Fatehpur Sikri was built in 1576 to commemorate Akbar's victory over which region?
- A.Bengal
- B.Gujarat
- C.Kabul
- D.Sindh
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Akbar's conquest of Gujarat gave the empire its western ports, and the gateway raised at Fatehpur Sikri in 1576 to mark it is one of the tallest in India, its height increased by the long flight of steps it stands on.
Read the full explanation →The Bara Imambara of Lucknow was built in 1784 by which Nawab, and with what purpose?
- A.Shuja-ud-Daula, as a victory memorial
- B.Asaf-ud-Daula, as famine relief work
- C.Muhammad Ali Shah, as a royal tomb
- D.Wajid Ali Shah, as a theatre hall
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A severe famine struck Awadh, and the Nawab set thousands to work on the Bara Imambara in 1784 so that wages reached the hungry, with the story that nobles worked at night to pull down part of the day's building and keep the work going.
Read the full explanation →Which of these monuments of Uttar Pradesh is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List?
- A.Bara Imambara, Lucknow
- B.Fatehpur Sikri, Agra district
- C.Jhansi Fort, Jhansi
- D.Dhamek Stupa, Sarnath
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Akbar's abandoned capital was inscribed in 1986, and the other two World Heritage properties of the state are the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort, both inscribed in 1983.
Read the full explanation →The Agra Fort, in red sandstone, was built by which Mughal emperor?
- A.Babur
- B.Akbar
- C.Shah Jahan
- D.Aurangzeb
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He rebuilt the old fort of Agra in red sandstone between 1565 and 1573, and his successors added to it: the Jahangiri Mahal belongs to his own reign, while Shah Jahan raised the white marble Moti Masjid and the pavilions of the Khas Mahal and the Musamman Burj, where he…
Read the full explanation →The tomb of Itmad-ud-Daulah at Agra, called the Baby Taj, was built by Nur Jahan for whom?
- A.Her husband Jahangir
- B.Her father Mirza Ghiyas Beg
- C.Her brother Asaf Khan
- D.Her son Shahryar
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Ghiyas Beg, a Persian noble who rose to be Jahangir's treasurer with the title Itmad-ud-Daulah, was buried in a garden tomb across the Yamuna that Nur Jahan completed in the 1620s. It is the first Mughal building faced entirely in white marble and decorated with pietra dura inlay, techniques later…
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