Page 50 - All About History - Issue 27-15

When imprisoned by his
son, Shah Jahan would
gaze at the Taj Mahal
from his balcony

Joe DiMaggio’s flowers
for Marilyn
Baseball player Joe DiMaggio and actress
MarilynMonroewereonlymarriedfor274
days, but DiMaggio remained infatuated
withherfortherestofhislife.Afterher
death, he sent red roses to her grave three
timesaweekfor20years.

it seems to float free of its foundations. Countless and garden residences, of which 24 survive in part
Gardens for a queen writershavestruggledtofindwords to describe or in whole today. Tax gatherers became rapacious,
OneoftheSevenWondersoftheAncient the sight – aloof, inviolable, dream-like, and ethereal taking from peasants up to half of their income.
World, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
were said to have been built by King are all well-used adjectives – and found that only Thousands fled from the land and banditry spread.
Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife, Amytis, metaphors serve to evoke what one poet called “a Perhaps the greatest damage to the Mughal
becauseshemissedthegreenhillsofher poem in stone, a tear-drop on the cheek of time.” dynasty was done by Shah Jahan’s third son,
homeland, Media, in north-western Iran.
Buttherewasmuchmoretothe Aurangzeb. In 1658, Shah Jahan fell ill.
A throne complex than the mausoleum: a His son declared himself emperor
given up mosque, lodgings for pilgrims, and soon displayed a disastrous
for love aplacewherethepoorcould combination of power,
In 1936, King receivealms,abazaar “the sight paranoia and religiosity that
Edward VIII (now mostly destroyed isamagical, set the whole empire at
foundhecould or covered with later risk. He imprisoned his
not marry buildings), a main gateway ever-changing father in Agra’s fort and set
American heiress interplay of
Wallis Simpson, of sandstone and the about trying to eradicate
because she garden, which was river, sky, Hinduism, sparking
was a divorcee. designedasastylised sunlight and violent opposition. Locked
Rather than face life as king without her,
he abdicated. Countless women admired versionoftheGardenof moonlight” in the fort, his ailing father
Edward for the gesture. Leading figures Eden and continues as the could see the Taj Mahal
thought him weak. The pair moved abroad so-called Moonlight Garden from a marble balcony on
as social outcasts.
on the other side of the river. one of the towers. Despite
A huge rectangle of some 580 recovering, he was forced to
by300metres,themaingardenhas remain there until his death in 1666.
fourequalparts,eachdividedinto four His empire started a long, slow and steady,
‘parterres’. Though lawns were laid in the 19th decline, torn by struggles over the succession
century, originally the open spaces were crammed and foreign wars, against neighbours and then
with flower-beds – narcissi, crocuses, irises, tulips, against India’s future conquerors, the British. But
jasmines, lilacs – and fruit trees, which were his greatest creation remained as a monument to
harvested to help pay the wages of the caretakers. his genius. He was buried next to the love of his
© Alamy; Sol 90 Images; Thinkstock In Greek legend, Alceste (or Alcestis) killed immense and ruinous, especially when added a cenotaph on view above. On it runs an inlaid
A wifely self-sacrifice
life in the chamber beneath the central hall, with
ThecostoftheTajanditssurroundings was
herfatherthenfledfromherbrother,
inscription hinting that the Taj was not to be
tothecostofShahJahan’shousehold expenses,
Acastus, finding safety by marrying
considered as all his own work:
hiscampaigns,hiscreationofanew capital
Admetus. Acastus captured Admetus and
The builder could not have been of this earth, For it
condemned him to death. Alceste offered
to take his place and was sacrificed, thus
programmeofbuilding,whichincluded 36 palaces
appeasingtheshadesofherfather. Shahjahanabad (now Delhi) and an unrivalled is evident that the design was given him by Heaven.
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