Wither the Taj?
While some ancient temples in India attain limelight, the once glorified Taj Mahal, in all its splendour, now stands neglected and overshadowed. Braving the fierce winds of time and erosion by dust and pollution for hundreds of years, the Taj which is a World Heritage Site, a Wonder of the World and an eternal symbol not only of splendid Mughal architecture, but also of a man’s love for a woman, is feared to wither away in the saffron gusts of hatred, bigotry and prejudice.
The Taj Mahal is an iconic ivory white marble mausoleum built on the bank of Yamuna River in the Indian city of Agra, famed for its architectural beauty and perfect symmetry. Having remained the symbol of India for centuries, this year when the Indian state to which Taj Mahal belongs – Uttar Pradesh, published its list of tourist destinations, it removed the Taj.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath believes that the Taj Mahal does not represent Indian culture and its replicas should not be gifted to foreign dignitaries. Yogi believes that the Ramayana and the Geeta represent Indian culture and in true spirit to match these words, the Taj is out of the tourist brochure and temples from Mathura, Ayodhya and Gorakhpur are in.
Before we understand what really is Indian culture, let us explore why the Taj is an iconic monument. The Taj Mahal, meaning the Crown of the Palace, is said to be the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage. Commissioned by Mughal emperor Shahjehan to house the tomb of his favourite wife Mumtaz Mahal, it is also said to be a symbol of love. It took almost 20 years for Shahjehan to complete this symbolic monument for his beloved, during which he used every resource available in his empire. The design and architecture of the monument owes to Persian styles – a key ingredient in almost all of the Mughal monuments. Keeping the actual tomb free from decorations to follow Islamic injunctions and extensive use of calligraphy does make the monument quite ‘Muslim’, along with the fact that the emperor who commissioned it, was himself a Muslim, belonging to a dynasty which although tracing its roots back to Central Asia, ruled the subcontinent for nearly three centuries. Perhaps, these are the arguments Yogi Adityanath must be having in mind when saying that the Taj Mahal does not represent Indian culture, as it is not ‘Indian’ enough. Then what is Indian culture?
‘Culture is defined as the social behaviour and norms found in human societies. …..
Some aspects of human behaviour, social practices such as culture, expressive forms such as art, music, dance, ritual and religion and technologies such as tool usage, cooking, shelter and clothing are said to becultural universals found in all human societies.’ Whereas ‘the culture of India refers collectively to the thousands of distinct and unique cultures of all religions and communities present in India… Over the centuries, there has been significant fusion of cultures between Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Sikhs and various tribal populations in India.’ Considering the presence of multiple cultures and their fusion over the centuries, it is claimed by historians that ‘India is not now, and never has been, a single politico-cultural entity.’
Even the dominant Hindu culture, its deities and Sanskrit literature owe to historical feuds fought between migrants – ‘finer featured, fairer, taller and altogether a very superior people’ and the locals, ‘dark, flat nosed, uncouth, incomprehensible and generally inferior.’-as recorded in the Vedas. After presenting a series of theories and arguments, John Keay in his book ‘India: A History’ traces the arrival of Aryans, the generic title of a distinct race of people, in India sometime between 1500 B C and 1300 B C. ‘India’s history as currently understood must be seen as beginning with two woefully unconnected cultures… the Aryan coming has traditionally been seen as a full scale invasion. The indigenous people naturally resisted newcomers and a fierce and protracted struggle ensued. In a standard textbook on ancient India, RC Majumdar goes on to identify the indigenous resistance as coming from Dravidians, the assumption being that the indigenous dasaspoke a Dravidian, as opposed to a Sanskritic, language.’ The local form of early Dravidian language is now spoken only in the south. Keay goes on to say that ‘this process of Aryanisation by which arya culture spread to non-arya people continued throughout the subcontinent’s history, indeed is still going on to this day. In little frequented enclaves of central and north eastern India tribal communities of adivasi, or aboriginal, people may even now be found in various transitional stages of Aryanisation.’ Therefore, it is safe to assume that the Sanskrit literature and Vedic prayers around which the Hindu culture revolves, even after considerable ‘hybridisation’ belongs to migrants arriving thousands of years before and not to the original inhabitants of India.
Even if we were to accept that the process of ‘Aryanisation’ has seeped through India for millenniums and is now essentially it’s culture, what are we to do with the intervening cultures brought from as far as Burma, Persia, Afghanistan, Portugal and England? If Taj Mahal does not represent Indian culture, then the Red Fort of Delhi, Agra Fort, Qutub Minar and. Char Minar are also guilty of boasting Mughal influence, while Se Cathedral and Basilica of Bon Jesus in Goa belong to the Portuguese and Victoria Memorial and India Gate to the British. The sitar should be plucked out from Indian music, an instrument believed to have been derived from the veena, an ancient Indian instrument and modified by a Mughal court musician to conform with the tastes of his Mughal patrons and named after a Persian instrument called the setar. The verses written and composed by Amir Khusrao should be rendered out of tune, as he was a Muslim, as was legendary poet Mirza Ghalib, singer Muhammad Rafi and actor Dilip Kumar, to name a few. The cultivation and use of potatoes and chillies should be prohibited since they were brought to India by the Portuguese, while Mughal emperor Babur committed the crime of cultivating musk melon. In that case, the entire Mughalai menu should be scrapped out from Indian cuisine. The Indian ladies should not fondly wear churidar pyjama or gharara orLucknowi Kurta, as they are definitely not Indian. The sports of cricket should be banned throughout the country, although in international rankings of One Day and Test cricket the Indian team currently ranks first, with the sport having no roots in India. The shrines of Moinuddin Chishti and Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya should be closed, as spiritual wellbeing and the mystique of miracles in India should be confined only to the Vedic scriptures and its followers. As for Shahjehan, who would already be tossing and turning in his grave fearing a doomed destiny for his beloved Taj Mahal, he should be forced to leave the Indian ground and condemned to the obscurities of a land where his ancestral roots belong.
If Taj Mahal is not Indian, then someday the Americans would return the Statue of Liberty to the French, the Dutch would abandon the tulips for the Turks, and the Egyptians would raze to ground the pyramids. There would be no icons, symbols or cherished monuments. And all the words spoken in praise of the Taj would become incomprehensible and forgotten, including the ones said by Rabindranath Tagore – indisputably an Indian.
“Let the splendour of diamond, pearl and ruby vanish. Only let this one teardrop, this Taj Mahal, glisten spotlessly bright in the cheek of time, forever and ever.”