Saturday, September 12, 2009

Taj Mahal- Monument of Love?

Truth is stranger than fiction. One of the most strangest truth in the history is concerning Taj Mahal. In this article , I want people to view Taj Mahal not as a mounement of love. I think Taj Mahal is not that beautiful. There are so many beautiful monuments in this world. After this article, please view Taj Mahal as a symbol of Shahjahan's cruel fate.In the Mogul dynasty, good kings were rare. They were opposite contrary to the dharmic kings of the native India. And fitting to their tradition, Shahjahan was a cruel king. He had improper relationship with his own daughter. His son imprisoned him in his later years, over the sucession issue.
Alot of people regard Taj Mahal as a symbol of love. It is one of the 7 wonder of the world elected by so much people in the world.A King built for the wife. Both are buried there. Everyone knows the story. King Shahjahan met this queen Mumtaz, fell in love with her. Married her, had so much children. In the 14th childbirth, she died. King could not forget her and built a cemetry that is Taj Mahal.
I don't find the story romantic in the first place. If Shahjahan really loved the Mumtaz, he would had just died with her in the longing for her.In this world, there are couples who die within 1 year, if one spouse died. That is true love. It took so many years for the monument to build, and Shahjahan actually lived after so many years after her death.
So, i dont really understand why this monument is so hyped about? If it is about the beauty of the structure, I am sure there are so much beautiful structures in India that is more beautiful like Mysore Maharaja palace.

9 comments:

  1. I disagree with u. We can also think like the following. He lived so many to erect the structure which will tell the whole world I lived to built a monument that no one on the planet earth can build. If he would die with her then the world may not know the person like shahjahan. Btw, you don't need to express true love by dying with ur spouse which is actually absurd.

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  2. i second velan's opinion.. true love doesn't mean that if one dies the other must die too. thats completely illogical..

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  3. not a good idea to state things as facts without references.(even though its only a blog.)
    by the way, bad kings were rare in mogul dynasty. this had nothing to do with dharma.
    cheers.

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  4. Concur with Gautham. Many were actually good. Aurangazeb was the real nutter of the lot. Cheerio!

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  5. I read somewhere that Shahjahan chopped off the hands of the sculptors/masons of the Taj Mahal. Is that true? Also that Taj Mahal was actually a temple and not Mumtaz s cemetery at all. Anyone knows anything about these?

    btw..I too disagree with the dying part. Among the billions of people in the world, only one is meant for me? creepy.

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  6. @velu and algappan...What i meant that he would not be able to know the meaning of true love. Because he was a king with a harem and was quite bad towards his own daughter. So if he really liked only mumtaz, he would be ekapathini virathan. And it is highly unlikely that he built the taj mahal for this one lady only out of his so many wives..that is like faveoritism.
    @gautham. there is so much facts to substantiate the atrocities commited by them. But this entry is not meant to be a history lesson. You can google and see the atrocities done by each kings.Firstly they were aliens to the land, and their culture was totally against the priniciples adopted by the native kings of india.this is not about religion, but it has to with the concept of rulership their dynasty adopted.
    @ Jagdish.
    Yes some research is also pointing out that taj mahal is built over a presising hindu temple in the past. but whatever it is, i just wondered why is there so much hype about this one monument which is not really worth the attention considering the availabitly of other beautiful places and monuments that abounds.

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  7. http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2009/08/taj-mahal-was-palace-of-raja-mansingh.html
    There is recent evidence that taj mahal was not even built by the mughul king.

    To quote from the article:
    Mumtaz died in Burhanpur and was buried there. Six months later Shahjahan exhumed her body and sent her coffin to Agra, on that site until then stood Late Raja Mansingh's Palace...... "
    Today that palace is called Taj Mahal.

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  8. @vani:
    i have read a some story regading shajahan about his personal life. He had 363 wifes and mumtaz is the 3 rd wife. Shajahan was so much adored on mumtaZ beauty and this made him to fall in love.
    The only thing shajahan cared in his life is girls and some say that even when he was in prison his son aurangazeb permited his female establishment for singing and dancing to pleasure him.
    No doubt about the love he had on mumtaz and that made him to build the first valuable monument for love. You cannot say totally that shajahan is a bad ruler. His personal life may have some ups and downs. But he is a great ruler.
    Under Shah Jahan the Mughal Empire attained its highest union of strength with magnificence and the military power is of twice when comapred to Akbar. He captured the rajputs who are great threats during his father reign.
    But instead of concentrating on wars , he gave importance to the architecture and that laid the foundation for history of mughal architect.
    his peacock thorone ($$$$billions) is one such example which tells about the wealth of his reign.
    I agree about the controversies that arise about the years and the number of workes involved, chopping of their hands after the completion of the monumnet.
    what so ever, your argument about tajmahal that it shouldn't be called as the monument of love, is like cursing the rich heritage.

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  9. The Taj Mahal or the Mumtaz Mahal still symbolizes "love". People from across the globe come here and admire this magnificent monument. No wonder it one of the seven wonder of the world.

    Taj Mahal history

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