There are two cenotaphs inside the Taj Mahal’s main chamber.
The cenotaphs represent Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan. Mumtaz’s cenotaph occupies the central position, while Shah Jahan’s was added beside it after his death in 1666. His placement interrupts the otherwise highly ordered symmetry of the central chamber.
A cenotaph is a commemorative monument for someone whose actual burial place is elsewhere. At the Taj Mahal, the visible marble forms in the upper chamber are therefore symbolic false tombs, not the bodies’ final resting places. The genuine graves lie in the simpler crypt directly below.
The chamber is an ornate octagonal space enclosed by a finely carved marble screen, or jali. The screen replaced an earlier gold enclosure planned for Mumtaz’s cenotaph. Visitors often confuse the two visible cenotaphs with the two actual graves beneath them, but both levels contain paired memorials connected to the same royal couple.