DELHI: One of the seven wonders of the world, India’s Taj Mahal, just got a little more interesting after a researcher discovered that its gardens align perfectly with the sun during the summer and winter solstices.
Architects originally built the gardens at the Taj Mahal in the Persian style, which means that the gardens are rectangular, with each corner of the garden representing the four corners of the Earth. The gardens at the Taj Mahal, in particular symbolize the Gardens of Eden.
However, the alignment of the gardens isn’t just symbolic. It’s also likely that architects used the sun for keeping the design of the garden perfectly straight on a north-south axis.
“However, in their planning, architects could also use some elements aligned in the directions of sunrise or sunset,” writes Amelia Carolina Sparavigna from the Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino. “In fact, architects have six main directions: two are joining cardinal points (north-south, east-west) and four are those given by sunrise and sunset on summer and winter solstices.”
Whatever the case, from the central north part of the garden, there is a waterway, and from that waterway if you look towards the northeast pavilion during the summer solstice, on June 21, you’ll see the sun rise directly above it. Later in the day, the sun sets below a pavilion in the northwest. During the winter solstice, the sun rises above a pavilion in the southeast and sets behind another in the southwest.
