Many people believe that we leave imprints of our personality in a place, a house or inanimate objects. Some say the echoes of conversations of imprinted personalities can be heard in areas where they have been.
Whether it is true or just a fanciful thought, I can’t deny that when I go to an ancient place, a very old church or mosque, I can feel the holiness of it. What creates such hushed atmosphere?
Likewise, when I stood in front of a darkened arch outside the Colosseo – I felt the creeps crawling all over me. Did I feel the anguish of the many souls who perished to the violent amusement of crowds past? Was it the reason why I couldn’t even bring myself to enter and look at the brutal arena – though they are just broken rocks, empty pits and dust now?
Certainly, when I put my hand on a massive stone block used to make some of ancient Rome’s buildings – I swear I could hear it hum with life. The hum of a thousand personalities trapped within.
And that is when you feel the reverence, the wonder of history.
The Taj Mahal – Crown Palace
I realized I didn’t really know the meaning of the word AWESOME until I saw the imposing and literally breathtaking (I find proximity to massive stones or concrete with no vegetation can be overwhelming) Taj Mahal in Agra.
That it is a monument to a great love adds to its magnificence. It represents something greater than the self. The best of humanity.
Yet, this grandeur – like many others – did not come without a horrible price.
Our local guide to the place relished his role of storyteller and tourist guide. I can’t remember how many times he reprimanded me for taking photos instead of avidly hanging on to his every word, like my companions did. But I heard everything he said. He was very good, better than most even. Because he not only gave us the fairy tale of the Taj Mahal, he gave us the dirty laundry, too.
Love and Death
The Taj Mahal is all about precision architecture. The perfect calculated symmetry. If you move 4 floor tiles to the left from the center of the covered entrance to the Taj Mahal courtyard, you will see the perfect half of the mausoleum and its towers. It’s hidden half, a perfect mirror image.
It has its own optic illusion. The uniform-sized Arabic inscription on the façade was not just an intricate inlay of semi-precious stones. It was carefully laid out with the letters at the top bigger than those at the bottom so that seen from afar– they can appear of the same size and easily read. Canny.
The carvings on the marble stone walls are masterpieces. Whole slabs of marble must be used – when one broke, it had to be replaced. And work started all over again. Capricious.
Carving them and polishing them required great attention to detail and endless hours of focus. The marble lattice work of dividers inside the tomb was especially fragile and intricate (sorry no photos – flashbulb discolors the marble interior). One can only imagine the sweat and backbreaking labor it took for the artisans to carefully carve them out of solid marble and manually make them shiny.
And the reward for the master marble craftsmen? Amputation of their hands. The better to prevent further use of their skills - lest another rich ruler takes it upon himself to hire them and create similar magnificent artistry elsewhere. Craptacular.
And what of the great love story?
Yes it is true that Shah Jehan built the monument as an ode to his beloved Mumtaz Taj Mahal (Jewel of the Crown Palace). Yet rumors reach out across centuries of the affair between him and his daughter. Apparently, they all three lived in the main palace at the Red Fort (where he can view the Taj Mahal and) where he installed his wife’s quarters on one side and his mistress-daughter on the other side. Creepy.
As I stood taking yet another photo, with a half-cock ear to the web of intrigue being spun by our articulate guide, I figuratively stared at him wondering if he has gone mad sharing with us this ugly love triangle. Then again, this is his story, and his people’s history.
I wondered, would Lady Diana have made the dramatic decision to pose purposely alone in front of this ‘Monument of Great Love’ had she known the unpleasant side of it?
For that matter, is the Taj Mahal diminished in my sight upon knowing the dark side of its magnificence? How many other Wonders of the World hold similar unspeakable horrors? What of the slaves who built the Pyramids or the peasants who worked to build, and got buried, under the Great Wall?
No nation would get away with such atrocities in pursuit of grandeur now. Probably.
Yet we go and visit the great works of man, time and again marveling at the age-old skills and genius that created them. They are our history, after all. And reflect our nature, who we truly are – the best and worst of us.
Grand ancient architecture is splendor at its best because of its two facets – beauty and horror… light and dark, attraction and repulsion.
And we stand in perfect understanding, indeed, in great awe of it all.
I read a science fiction novel (The Collapsium by Wil McCarthy) where cops in the future use this to solve crimes. The "scientific" explanation is that inanimate objects resonate to strong emotions and can act as recording devices. Explains ghosts, but still kinda creepy.
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