Friday 26th November 2021: A lovestruck Indian husband has built his wife a replica of Taj Mahal, the world’s most famous display of marital devotion.
Heartbroken Mughal emperor Shah Jahan Taj Mahal, constructed the “Monument to Love” to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz, in the 17th century.
However, Anand Prakash Chouksey’s wife remains alive and helped consult on the project and his version of the marble wonder of the world, around one-third the size of the original.
“My wife’s only demand was for a meditation room. She’s a spiritual woman,” the 52-year-old businessman told AFP.
“She says the dome creates a different environment, and there is a lot of positive energy.”
Dubbed a “teardrop on the cheek of time” by writer Rabindranath Tagore, the original Taj Mahal is located in the Agra south of Delhi. Its replica is, however, located 800 kilometres (500 miles) away in Burhanpur.
But the central Indian city is the place where Mumtaz died while giving birth to her 14th child in June 1632, having accompanied Shah Jahan to quell a local revolt.
While Mumtaz’s body was initially buried there, locals report that Shah Jahan had at first wanted to build the Taj Mahal for her on the banks of the river Tapti.
“The soil structure back then was not suitable to build the Taj here; that’s how it was decided to be built in Agra,” Chouksey explained.
The city is still home to the dilapidated remains of the palace where the royals lived, including a once-beautiful hammam or bathhouse built by Shah Jahan for his wife to relax in before she died.
Chouksey’s story is romantic, and building his new home has taken him three years — a dozen less than the mausoleum that inspired it.
It cost 15 million rupees ($200,000) to build.
“We used marble from Makrana to build the house, which is the same that was used to build the Taj Mahal,” he said.
Chouksey plans to mount an Indian flag on top of the main dome and add symbols from India’s most popular religions to the four minarets surrounding his new manor.”
“We want to send a message of peace and religious harmony. There is a lot of hate around. Love solves all problems in life, and the Taj Mahal is a symbol of that.”