The Taj Festival is currently underway and the Valentine’s day has just passed by. The theme for the weekly photo challenge this week is ‘kiss’. What better way to celebrate this spirit of love than with a post dedicated to the monument of eternal love – The Taj mahal
As the old king’s time drew near
What did he think about?
His many conquests and unchallenged might
Wars, victories, moments of pride
Or did he spend his time in deep thought
About the son who he had brought
To this world
The one whose heart
Didn’t shed a tear
When his own brothers he speared
Did he think in anguish
About the time
His favorite’s head was brought to him
On a bejewelled tray
Did he like a father bemoan
Not only the three sons he lost
But also the one who lived
The one, the world called, terribly wicked
Because as any parent knows
What one reaps is what one sowed
Or in his last time
Did he smile
Thinking of the treasured time
He spent with his precious queen
The girl he loved with all his heart
Since the day he sighted her at the ‘haat’
Was he scared
This fearless king
Of what impending death would bring?
Or did he welcome it with open arms
Taking comfort in the fact
That by shedding his body
He’d be free
to be
re-united with his soul
Did he look forward
To rest his tired limbs
In the majestic mausoleum he built
The unparalleled Taj
Or
Did he wonder
At the irony
That he who created the mecca of love
Breathed his last
Imprisoned in hate’s custody
Taj at night
Taj Mahal is the most famous and most precious architectural heritage of India. It is standing majestically on the banks of river Yamuna in Agra city of Uttar Pradesh, India. This monument is in white marble and is among the Seven Wonders of the World. On a recent visit to Agra – The city of Taj. We devoted a day to exploring the monument that the Indian classical poet Rabindranath Tagore described as a “tear on the face of eternity” . While the Taj enthralled me what captivated me equally if not more was the tale of Shah Jahan.
The Mughal king who built the Taj Mahal in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Mumtaz was Shaah Jahan’s third wife. A persian princess, who he had sighted while roaming in the bazaars of Agra. It was a remarkable tale of romance that lasted a lifetime. When Mumtaz Mahal died while delivering their fourteenth child, Shah Jahan promised to build her the richest memorial in the world. It is said that Shah Jahan was so heartbroken after her death that he ordered the court into mourning for two years. Sometime after her death, Shah Jahan undertook the task of erecting the world’s most beautiful monument in the memory of his beloved. It took 22 years and the labor of 22,000 workers to construct the monument.This magnificent monument came to be known as “Taj Mahal” and now counts amongst the Seven Wonders of the World. Later Shah Jahan was overthrown by his own son Aurangazeb and imprisoned in the Red Fort within sight of the Taj Mahal. Aurangazeb killed his three brothers including Shah jahan’s favored, Dara Shikoh, and was forced to spend the last eight years of his life in prison till his death in 1666. When Shah Jahan died in 1666, his body was placed in a tomb next to the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal.
While soaking in the majesty of Taj, my eyes kept wandering to the silhouette of the Red Fort. And my mind to the man behind this remarkable story. What did the imprisoned Shah Jahan see from those windows? What did he think about? What did he feel, as his own death approached. Did he have any regrets? Or was he just happy to be ‘free’ again?
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