She bore him 14 children, and it was in childbirth that she died in 1630 while accompanying her husband on a military campaign. On her death bed, it is said, she begged the king to built a monument so beautiful that the world would never forget their love.

Thus, began the construction of the exquisite Taj Mahal. Shah Jahan put an army of 20,000 laborers to work, building a new village (Taj Ganj, which still stands)to house them as they spent 17 years creating the wonder in white Marble. On the banks of the Jamuna river, visible from the Agra fort, the Taj was completed on the exact anniversary of Mumtaz Mahal's death.