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The Taj Mahal and Sir Isaac Newton

My wife and the Taj - Romance in 2011

“The Taj Mahal rises above the banks of the river like a solitary tear suspended on the cheek of time,” wrote Rabindranath Tagore.  The amazing monument has stirred the imagination of many poets, novelists as well as simple travellers like me.  The very image of the Taj conjures up a melange of feelings and fantasies in me.  I have visited it twice and would love to visit many more times if people like Sangeet Som don’t bring it down before I go down. 

I have no great regard for Shahjahan.  He appears as a villain in one of my stories.  His wife, Mumtaz Mahal, for whom the white marble monument was constructed, was not monumentally great either.  But the Taj Mahal – that’s a marvel, a poem, a romance, a dream, a fantasy.  No, Sangeet Som, I can’t agree an iota with you.  You are a rioter and hence cannot appreciate poetry and romance.  Your heart is filled with black hatred. I feel sorry for you.

Around the time the Taj was constructed on the bank of the Yamuna, Sir Christopher Wren created a similar wonder on Ludgate Hill in London: St Paul’s Cathedral.  I don’t think I will ever be rich enough to visit that architectural marvel, much as I would love to.  It is not any religious impulse that draws me to St Paul’s.  The Cathedral has other charms for me like the Taj Mahal.  It is a symbol of sophistication, an affluence of an elevated sort that I would love to feel and admire. 

When Shahjahan and Christopher Wren were presiding over the construction of their respective architectural marvels, another genius was writing a monumental work which would revolutionise science soon: Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica.  [This too became a subject of one of my short stories: Halley’s Fishes.]  While Christopher Wren found a match in India in the person of Shahjahan, Isaac Newton failed to do so. 

Years have passed.  Shahjahan and Mumtaz merged into the dust of the earth.  But the Taj stands reminding us about the immortality of romance.  If people like Sangeet Som succeed in razing it to dust, it will be because Sir Isaac Newton failed to find his counterpart in India. 

How long will the Yamuna continue to carry the shadow of the Taj?



Comments

  1. Murthy K v v sOctober 23, 2017 at 12:37 PM

    Tomichan ji...Perhaps Shajahan in you compelled you to write it.Politics temporary.Beauty endures.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalOctober 23, 2017 at 6:43 PM

      Indeed, Murthy ji, there is a romantic in me that has survived all the travails of life. :)

      Delete
  2. BloggerApril 2, 2018 at 12:43 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kshyamananda SahooAugust 20, 2021 at 6:19 PM

    Very good website, thank you.
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    ReplyDelete
  4. dheerajdixitOctober 19, 2022 at 4:25 PM

    Taj Mahal in Agra in such imposing and elegant structure full of complexities that one must borrow Gargantua’s mouth to describe About Taj Mahal salient features.About Taj MahalThis epitome of Mughal architecture is a world Heritage site and considered as one among the new 7 wonders of the World. Set amidst the sprawling lush green gardens it has been the fountain sprit for other architectural marvels.

    ReplyDelete

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