Taj Mahal, Agra (Uttar Pradesh), India
The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan built the Taj to enshrine the body of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died shortly after giving birth to her fourteenth child in 1631. He was devastated by her death and set out to create an unsurpassed, eternal monument to her memory.
The story is given an exquisite poignancy by the fate of Shah Jahan himself, who became a tragic and inconsolable figure.
Soon after the Taj Mahal's completion, Shah Jahan was deposed by his son Aurangzeb and put under house arrest at nearby Agra Fort, where I took the photo above from with the help of a little zoom. Upon Shah Jahan's death, Aurangzeb buried him in the mausoleum next to his wife.
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My contribution to Julie's Taphophile Tragics
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