Taj Mahal

Almost everyone has heard of the Taj Mahal located in India, and if you have every been luck enough to see it, you will know it is a beautiful creation. Yet what is more interest8ing, is that the Taj Mahal was built on a love story, which is truly touching.

<--- Red Fort of Agra

A long time ago, around 1520, the Mughal family ruled the land of India. They built and created beautiful gardens and palaces. During this empire, in 1592, a prince named Khurram was born. Being a prince we has taught by the best scholars and was a gifted hunter. As time went by, the young boy grew older was starting to think about love but never really had the chance to meet women. Yet one day while at the Meena Bazar, which the ladies of the palaces attended as shopkeeprs and only a few men were allowed to go, he met someone special. Khurram was with friends when he saw, what was to him, the most beautiful girl in the world. After talking to his friends he discovered her name was Arjumand, and she was the daughter of the prime minister. Eventually, Khurram summoned up the courage to talk to Arujmand. After talking to the prince Arjumand, also realized that she was as well in love. And after Khurram said that they must be together again, their fate was sealed. Khurram knew his father would never except him marrying a girl that was not of royal blood, but after seeing the passion in Khurram's eyes and consulting with royal astrologers, who said the love was written in the stars, he agreed. Khurram was overjoyed! Since according to religion, a husband and wife could not see each other before the wedding, so to keep in touch they wrote poetry back and forth to each other. After forever waiting, the day of the wedding arrives, and it is was a magnificent wedding. After the wedding, to celebrate, a royal banquet was held and during this banquet Emperor Jahangir, the father of Khurram, saw Arjumand dancing and found her so graceful that he decided to honor her and give her a new name, Mumtaz Mahal, Jewel of the Palace. Everybody in the kingdom adored Mumtaz Mahal. Her husband brought her expensive gifts, years passed and they had many children together. Eventually, Prince Khurram became a skilled commander of his father's army, but this meant travelling to battles. Since the two, Khurram and his wife, were inseparable they went everywhere together. When Prince Khurram returned home from a battle, he was renamed Shah Jahan "King of the World". Sadly, in 1627, Shah Jahan's father fell ill and died. Now Shah Jahan was the new ruler, and expanding and with Mumtaz Mahal by his side, they ruled kindly, wisely and were loved. Shah Jahan was conquering and expanding territory, but resistance was coming and just when he was set out to conquer Mumtaz Mahal announced she was pregnant. Even though she was told not to, Mumtaz Mahal insisted on travelling with Shah Jahan. During the battle, the child was born but soon after Mumtaz Mahal fell ill, and one night, told Shah Jahan she was dying. Her dying wish was so that the whole world would know of their love. For days when they returned, Shah Jahan was inconsolable. He would not eat, nor would he sleep. Days and nights went by and Shah Jahan only thought about the wish of the dying queen. What could he do? An idea came to him at night, he would build a tomb and garden as beautiful as Paradise, it would be one of the most magnificent sights in the world. That is exactly what he did, he built a stunning tomb on the banks of the river in Agra. It took years and year of painstaking work the timb was finally complete, it was then called the Taj Mahal. Shah Jahan planned to build a tomb for himself on the opposite side in black, so that there hearts could be together as one. Yet a few years later, he fell ill, and one of his sons (Aurangzeb) took advantage of this and locked him the Red Fort of Agra. Eight years until the day he died, he stayed in the fort, and realized that his black tomb would never be built. Yet looking out a small window and onto his magnificent creation he knew even if the fate of the Mughal was unknown, he was certain that their love would never be forgotten.