Inside everyones dreams there is a bit of heaven
People all around the world know the story of this place. They know it was built as a tomb at the behest of the widowed emperor Shah Jahan. They know the majesty of the Taj Mahal cannot equal the beauty of Mumtaz Mahal, the love he had lost. The water that sparkles in the reflecting pool cannot match the volume of tears he shed for her. The birds that sing in the gardens can only aspire to song as sweet as hers once was.
Though she was his favourite, perhaps not everybody knows Mumtaz was the third of Emperor Shah Jahan’s wives. Nor do we recall that she died giving birth to their fourteenth child. Few will be aware that shortly after the building was completed, Shah Jahan was deposed by his son Aurangzeb and put under house arrest, where he remained until he died.
What almost nobody knows is that it was also Aurangzeb who commanded his father’s body be placed in a sandalwood coffin and transported by river to the Taj Mahal, where he could be interred beside his beloved Mumtaz.
Not every bubble has to burst.
Photo "6301630469" not found (invalid ID)Photo "6301630469" not found (invalid ID)Photo "6301630469" not found (invalid ID)Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, Rachel Irving and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
