An Untold Story of The Taj Mahal
written by: Sanu Sharma
translated by: Suman Pokhrel
I carried a yearning, carved deep through a lifetime,
an ache echoing across countless years,
to gaze with the eyes of my soul
resting my heart within the courtyard of
the Taj Mahal, the celebrated shrine of undying love;
and proclaim myself a humble devotee of deep love.
Grasping a moment gifted by fate,
breaking through every barrier,
carrying an embrace full of wonder;
I reached the magnificent Mughal monument,
revered as the temple of love,
as if I had raced upon the wind to arrive.
As my gaze sank into
the majestic marble mausoleum,
a chill breeze, rebounding off pale stone walls,
swept past and brushed my spirit;
Mumtaz’s trembling spirit entered me,
achingly knocking upon my soul.
How different, truly, might it have been
for Mumtaz, the queen of an emperor,
compared to any ordinary woman?
Might she too have carried, deep within,
unfulfilled dreams,
yearnings never given voice?
How many moments, scattered and scarce
from a king’s fractured time
divided among many
might have fallen to her share?
Could Mumtaz have lived
the dreams she longed for?
Could she have laughed freely
even once, beside Shah Jahan?
Or did she fade away,
longing for a single joyful moment
waiting for a truly affectionate bond
adrift in silent piles of distresses
buried deep within her soul?
Would she have asked
for this hollow token of display
offered only after death,
instead of the countless forms of love
they might have lived while alive?
As that gust of cold wind
brushed past me,
it seemed to whisper another story:
Shah Jahan, crushed by guilt
for failing to embrace love’s truth,
burned with the torment
of reducing the woman who loved him
to a vessel for his lineage.
Melting in regret,
for treating the one he claimed to love
as no more than a shadow of his desires.
To soothe his wounded heart,
the powerful emperor locked himself in solitude,
just as countless truths
have been buried by history,
and infinite myths have taken their place.
He brooded endlessly for a year,
searching for a way
to appear a great lover
in the eyes of the world.
And so, Shah Jahan
built a tomb of marble,
just like his own heart:
COLD, HARD, and LIFELESS.
- An Untold Story of The Taj Mahal - June 29, 2025
- Fear of Serenity - March 14, 2025
- Interview Q&A With Sanu Sharma - December 28, 2024
