It hasn’t been long since Vivek Agnihotri’s The Bengal Files hit the screens — and failed miserably. The filmmaker, who once boasted about the success of The Kashmir Files, now claims to be in financial trouble after investing all his earnings into this latest misfire.
But before the dust settles, a new controversy brews. A Bollywood film titled “The Taj Story”, starring veteran actor and BJP loyalist Paresh Rawal, is set to release at the end of this month. Its teaser sparked outrage when it depicted Rawal opening the Taj Mahal’s dome, revealing an image of Lord Shiva inside.
Following public uproar, the filmmakers released another teaser clarifying that the movie’s aim is to “uncover the mystery” behind the monument — echoing long-debunked claims that the Taj Mahal was once a Hindu temple. Let us see how the Hindu fanatics are trying to fanatise with the 7th wonders of the world in this article.
Reviving a Long-Discredited Myth
The film’s premise isn’t new. It regurgitates the pseudo-historical claim that the Taj Mahal was originally a Shiva temple named Tejo Mahalaya.
This idea first appeared in 1965, in P.N. Oak’s book Taj Mahal is a Rajput Palace, where he alleged that the Taj was a repurposed 4th-century Hindu palace. Oak, a lawyer by training, misinterpreted a 17th-century Persian text, Padshahnama, which mentioned that Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan purchased the land for the Taj from Raja Jai Singh I of Amber.
The text clearly stated that the land already contained a manzil (palace) built by Jai Singh’s ancestor, Raja Man Singh — a 16th-century noble in Emperor Akbar’s court. But Oak’s flawed reading led him to assume the existence of a 4th-century palace, despite the text disproving his theory outright.
When Fiction Masquerades as History
Historians like Giles Tillotson have repeatedly dismantled Oak’s claims, pointing out that the architectural techniques used in the Taj Mahal simply did not exist in pre-Mughal India.
This story was originally published in countercurrents.org. Read the full story here.
