THE HISTORY OF TAJ MAHAL

A week a go I was addicted to novel about The Legend of Taj Mahal. I started from the book "Beneat of A Marble Sky". The author is John Shors. I'm not really sure, it was a true story or some fictional story surrounding the building of the Taj Mahal. While historians agree that the Taj Mahal was built by an emperor in the seventeenth century who was grieving the loss of his wife, the true details surrounding this story have been lost. John Shors imagines them in Beneath a Marble Sky, bringing to life a story of love, war, beauty and tragedy. Its a fabulous story that inspire me alot.

Beneath a Marble Sky starts when Princess Jahanara is old. She is living in secret, and telling her story to her granddaughters for the first time. The reader is told that Aurangzeb, her brother, is the emperor. When no one can overhear, she tells them a fantastic tale of her true identity and their heritage. The woman is Jahanara, daughter of Shah Jahan, a descendant of Emperor Jahangir, the Emperor of Hindustan in the early 1600s who built the Taj Mahal in memory of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

The recent years have been the only peaceful ones Jahanara has know since the days of her youth, now forced to hide from her brother, the Emperor Alamgir, "Conqueror of the World," who would put his sister to death if he knew where to find her as he did with his brothers. As the oldest child, Jahanara is favored by both parents for her beauty and intelligence and willingly accepts an arranged marriage, although she is unhappy with her husband, who beats and humiliates her.

The Emperor Shah Jahan is obsessed with the Taj Mahal, directing his daughter to oversee the daily progress of the building; there she meets the love of her life, Isa. Through her father's machinations, Jahanara is able to enjoy private moments with her lover and bears him a daughter, convincing her husband the girl is his. With Isa and her daughter, life is bearable for Jaharana.

After the death of his wife, the bereft Shah Jahan, barely able to attend to the business of his kingdom, allows his warlike son Aurangzeb too much freedom, intending the more compassionate Dara to assume the throne after he dies. Unfortunately, Aurangzeb (later known as Alamgir) becomes more powerful, eventually seizing the throne and imprisoning his father, slaying any brothers who might claim the throne.

The following years are filled with turmoil for Jahanara, separated from her beloved and their daughter and eventually imprisoned with her father. Through a series of twists and turns, the princess endures years of hardship and betrayal, using her extraordinary guile to escape from her brother. In the most desperate hours of her confinement, the princess draws strength from the love of her mother and memories of the early years.

The struggles of the princess to protect her ailing father, endure the enforced distance from her lover and daughter and live with the constant acid of Alamgir's hate are depicted in vivid detail. Only with patience and cunning does Jahanara manage to survive, learning the true nature of humanity with the unexpected aid of those who also loved her mother.

Filled with the harsh beauty of the desert and the inimitable Taj Mahal, Shors guides the reader through the Scheherazade-like mysteries of the Middle East: the luxuries of the harem, the clashing swords of war and the ties of love that cannot be broken. With a passion that transcends the ages, the daughter of Emperor Shah Jahan learns the true meaning of her heritage and the obligations of royalty.

But its a dangerous book for people who doesnt really understand about Islam. I'm worried people will think Aurangzeb, Jahanara, Shah Jahan, Dara, Isa were trully muslim who has aplied Islam totally. In the book, Jahanara did zina with Isa, her lover. But we are as a reader will think that its true. Jahanara has a bad husband who always do zinah with woman slavers. He always hurts Jahanara. And Jahanara amrried her for the sake of political practice. Her daddy forced her to marry.

But then when Jahanara fell in love with Isa. But she was still in marriage although she was unhappy. She decided to run away with her lover Isa. She did zinah and gave birth Arjumand. Her the only daughter. And Shah Jahan permitted her to do that. Even Shah Jahan facilitated her. Its confusing.

Then Aurangzeb, the cruel emperor who always quoted verses in Quran to everybody is not a good muslem. He did zinah, killed many people even his own brother, as he also intended to kill Jahanara and Shah Jahan also. He is a tricky man. Wuahhhhh........there are not muslim.

First I thought because the author is a British and not a muslim. So he interpreted the history on his own imagination. Its a trully fictional story. Then I tried to read another book about Taj Mahal. A story of Mughal India by Timeri N. Murari. It has different point of view.

When his queen Arjumand Banu-Mumtaz-i-Mahal-the Chosen One of the Palace-died, Shah Jahan wanted to build a monument that was the image of his perfect love for her. For twenty-two years, twenty thousand men laboured day and night to fulfill the emperor's obsession. The result was the Taj Mahal, a marble mausoleum lined with gold, silver and precious jewels.

This powerful novel narrates the story of the Taj on two parallel levels. The first one tells the passionate love story of Shah Jahan and Arjumand. The second recounts the later years of Shah Jahan's reign, the building of the Taj Mahal and the bloody pursuit of the fabulous Peacock throne by his sons. Intertwined in the building is the story of Murthi, the Hindu master craftsman sent as a gift to the emperor to carve the famous marble jail around Arjumand's sarcophagus.

Murari has skilfully recreated the period against which the story is set, the sensual opulence of the palace, the grinding poverty of seventeenth century India, the vicissitudes of Shah Jahan's reign and the historical background of the conflict between men of different faiths.

Anyway, both of good novels. But please be objective when you read this books. Dont judge Muslim as you read on that books. Peace!!!

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