The world renowned Taj Mahal is no architecture at all, according to Union Urban Affairs Minister Ram Jethmalani, who says the ancient monument does not fit into his definition of architecture.

Architecture, to be qualified so, should serve the twin purposes of fulfilling practical needs of civilised men and give expression to the architect's inner soul, he told an international symposium on `Innovative architecture in Asia.'

Going by this definition, he said, Taj Mahal was by no means architecture, as the architect had not put his `inner soul' into the monument and had only satisfied the ego of a king, who merely wanted to perpetuate the memory of his wife.

``The architect was only depicting the pathos of a king, not of himself,'' he observed. ``This great monument (Taj Mahal) alsosymbolised ruthless exploitation by the King of his helpless subjects, thousands of whom must have died,'' he said. Money spent on it was from the poor man's resources commanded by the King, he said.

The Taj Mahal might be bringing in revenue from tourists ``but that was not something Shahjahan thought of and he only wanted to create a structure by which he and his wife would be remembered by posterity,'' Jethmalani said.

Jethmalani said he held a similar view about pyramids in Egypt as they did not fulfill the utility criterion and into which the architect did not put his soul.

``I don't think these things are architecture, though they are considered masterpieces of architecture,'' Jethmalani said.

Referring to ``India's practical needs,'' he said there was a colossal deficit in housing with 3.3 crore units to be built to meet the requirement of the poor. This was something beyond the capacity of Governments at the Centre and State.

Jethmalani said it was a great challenge for the architects to``produce something of utility to the poor and something that brings joy of possession and joy of civilised existence''.

The seminar was organised by Association of Consulting Civil Engineers (India) in association with Indian Institute of Architects, Practising Architects Association and Indian Concrete Institute.