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Taj Mahal - A Marvel of Love
Take a constitutional down Shahjahan Park in the chilly mauve light
of dawn, and the pale white dome of the Taj Mahal, India looms in
the distance. Set against the azure skyline, it looks like a mirage
in a desert. Inch closer and the supreme majesty of the greatest
monument to love comes into focus – with its dew-coated lawns and
its pearl-white mausoleum.
Travel to Taj Mahal Agra to baptize into the true glory of this
passion of love. As the sun rises to cast a reverential beam on the
sepulchre, the ‘dream in marble’ turns from lavender to yellow,
while nightfall sees the monument bathed in moonlight – looking like
a woman wreathed in smiles while waiting for her lover.
There are many theories as at which time the Taj Mahal, India looks
the best, but there is no substitute to viewing it at all hours of
the day and the night if you want to understand its myriad facets.
Taj Mahal, India is a microcosm of the universe – it contains within
it both the yin and the yang, taking on a new personality to suit
the occasion. It can be harsh, dry and strong like alabaster,
delicately chaste and fragile like porcelain, noisily populous or
quiet and secretive.
The Monumental Heritage
A copious amount has been written about the Taj – Agra’s window to
the world. Nobel laureate Tagore called it ‘a tear on the face of
eternity’, while the painter William Hodges wrote in 1876 that ‘it
was like a most perfect pearl on an azure ground’. From Princess
Diana to President Clinton to Yanni – the Taj draws every éminence
grise from across the ‘seven seas’ to it like a magnet.
As Clinton said during his presidential visit to India, “the world
is divided into those who have seen the Taj and those who have not.”
The American President joined the list of ‘haves’ this year, but for
anyone bitten by the travel bug, a visit to the luminescent monument
is an essential part of their resume. To say the ‘miracle in human
design’ is the Mughal Empire’s magnum opus is to state the obvious.
Like Picasso’s ‘Guernica’, Omar Khayyam’s ‘Rubaiyat’ or Beethoven’s
‘Eroica’, the Taj instills in you a sublime passion. It uplifts you
– one feels more significant as a human being within its confines
than outside it.
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