Style : Persian
Divided Into : Four Parts
Canals : Two (crossing in the center)
Flowerbeds : Sixteen
Trees : Cyprus and Fruit-bearing Trees

From the main gate of red sandstone some thirty meters high, the visitor may discover the ingenious, harmonious perspective of the gardens and canals, above which, by the river, towers the proud, massive the Taj Mahal . Planned according to the Persian model of the Chahar Bagh_ a model that Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire in 1526, had introduced into India. The garden stretches out in a vast triumphal way. Divide into for parts by two long canals (nahr) intersecting at right angles, and flanked by alleys (khiyaban) paved with red sandstone; each quadrant being subdivided into four units; the Gardens with its rigorous arrangements highlights the beauty of the mausoleum. At the intersection of the canals, a wide ornamental pool of white marble reflects the vaporous silhouette of the Taj Mahal and the outline of the tall, elegant cypress trees, underlying the subtle symmetry of the whole.

Graceful fountains in the form of budding flowers adorn the smooth surface of the ornamental pool, which is fed ingeniously by network subterranean conduits. To the west of the sepulcher, reservoirs collect the waters of the yamuna and feed the canals, ornamental pools and garden.

The gardens of this type (chahar bagh) are intended to be the earthy reflection of the Garden in Paradise popular in Islamic tradition. Thus the four canals after which the the Chahar Bagh is named symbolizes the four rivers of paradise mentioned in the Qur'an and at present the Taj Mahal garden is only a pale reflection of its former glory in the days of the Great Mughal.