Читать книгу Intimacy & Diabetes - Janis Roszler - Страница 17

1. The Passion in Your Life5

India’s stunningly beautiful Taj Mahal was built as a monument to memorialize the love that Emperor Shah Jahan had for his wife. Shah Jahan was born in 1592. At the young age of 14, he met Arjumand Banu Begum, the prime minister’s 15-year-old daughter, and was immediately smitten. He quickly ran off to purchase a diamond for the price of 10,000 rupees ($300) and announced his desire to take her as his wife. The couple married 5 years later. When he ascended to the throne in 1628, he included his wife in many legislative duties, and she accom-panied him on military campaigns and even advised him on affairs of state. He adored her and called her Mumtaz Mahal, the “jewel of the palace.” She was loved and admired by her people, was famous for her generosity, and was considered a woman of legendary beauty and virtue.

But tragedy entered the lives of the two lovers when Mum-taz Mahal died while giving birth to their 14th child. Shah Jahan was heartbroken. Determined to find a way to keep her mem-ory alive, he emptied most of the money from the royal treasury and fulfilled his wife’s dying wish—he built a monument, the famous Taj Mahal, to memorialize their love. Eventually, Shah Jahan fell ill and a struggle for the throne began. Shah Jahan’s son, Aurangzeb, imprisoned him and kept him from his most precious possession—his view of the Taj Mahal. Fortunately, he was able to procure a tiny mirror, which caught the reflection of his treasured building and enabled him to see it once again. When he died in 1666, he was buried in the Taj Mahal with his wife.

Historic Romances: Shah Jahan and Arjumand Banu Begum