Taj Mahal purses—are allowed inside the Taj Mahal. Ever since its construction, the building has been the source of an admiration transcending culture and geography, and so personal and emotional responses have consistently eclipsed scholastic appraisals of the monument. A longstanding myth holds that Shah Jahan planned a mausoleum to be built in black marble as a Black Taj Mahal across the Yamuna river. The idea originates from fanciful writings of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, a European traveller who visited Agra in 1665. It was suggested that Shah Jahan was overthrown by his son Aurangzeb before it could be built. Ruins of blackened marble
The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel were staying in the Taj Mahal Palace and Hotel at the time of the seizure. The attack was planned using information compiled by David Headley, a Pakistani-American, who had stayed at the hotel multiple times. Soon after (30 November), Tata chairman Ratan Tata said in an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria that they had received advance warning of the attacks and that some countermeasures had been taken. These may have been relaxed before the attack, but in any case were easily sidestepped by the operatives. The less-damaged sections of the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel reopened on 21 December