Who is named as the chief architect of the Taj Mahal?
- A.Ustad Isa
- B.Ustad Ahmad Lahauri
- C.Mir Abdul Karim
- D.Makramat Khan
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Ustad Ahmad Lahauri. Ustad Ahmad Lahauri is the architect named in the Mughal record as the chief designer of the Taj Mahal, the tomb Shah Jahan raised at Agra for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. He is also associated with the Red Fort at Shahjahanabad. Option A is wrong because Ustad Isa appears in later tradition and popular accounts rather than in the contemporary evidence, and is not the answer papers accept. Option C is wrong because Mir Abdul Karim was an architect of Jahangir's reign who worked on other imperial projects. Option D is wrong because Makramat Khan was a superintendent of construction who managed the work rather than designed it. Keep the Taj Mahal linked to Shah Jahan, Mumtaz Mahal, Agra and Ustad Ahmad Lahauri, and remember that it is built of white marble on a red sandstone plinth.
Read the full article: Mughal Empire: Emperors, Administration and Decline
Practice Questions
View allWhich of the following options have the correct sequence of the Mughal emperors chronologically?
- A.Jehangir, Akbar, Humayun, Shah Jahan
- B.Humayun, Akbar, Jehangir, Shah Jahan
- C.Shah Jahan, Akbar, Jehangir, Humayun
- D.Akbar, Shah Jahan, Humayun, Jehangir
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The Mughal throne passed from Babur, who ruled from 1526 to 1530, to his son Humayun from 1530 to 1540 and again from 1555 to 1556, then to Akbar from 1556 to 1605, to Jahangir from 1605 to 1627, to Shah Jahan from 1628 to 1658 and to Aurangzeb from…
Read the full explanation →Who was the Mughal Emperor at the time of Battle of Plassey?
- A.Alamgir II
- B.Siraj-ud-Daulah
- C.Mir Qasim
- D.Shah Alam II
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The Battle of Plassey was fought in 1757 between Robert Clive of the East India Company and Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal.
Read the full explanation →Which Mughal emperor built the city called Maksudabad, later popularly known as Murshidabad?
- A.Bahadur Shah Zafar
- B.Shah Jahan
- C.Humayun
- D.Akbar
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The town on the Bhagirathi that later became Murshidabad was founded as Maksudabad in the reign of Akbar, and it kept that name until the Bengal governor Murshid Quli Khan shifted his seat there in the early eighteenth century and renamed it after himself.
Read the full explanation →Which Mughal emperor is known by the name of Rangila?
- A.Farrukhsiyar
- B.Rafi-ud-Darajat
- C.Muhammad Shah
- D.Rafi-ud-Daula
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Muhammad Shah, who ruled from 1719 to 1748, was nicknamed Rangila for his love of music, painting and pleasure while the empire fell apart around him.
Read the full explanation →Who was the Mughal emperor during the Third Battle of Panipat?
- A.Akbar II
- B.Shah Alam II
- C.Bahadur Shah I
- D.Bahadur Shah Zafar
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The Third Battle of Panipat was fought in 1761 between Ahmad Shah Abdali of Afghanistan and the Marathas, who were defeated.
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