Product Description

When his queen Arjumand Banu-Mumtaz-i-Mahal-the Chosen One of the Palace-died, Shah Jahan wanted to build a monument that was the image of his perfect love for her. For twenty-two years, twenty thousand men laboured day and night to fulfill the emperor's obsession. The result was the Taj Mahal, a marble mausoleum lined with gold, silver and precious jewels.

This powerful novel narrates the story of the Taj on two parallel levels. The first one tells the passionate love story of Shah Jahan and Arjumand. The second recounts the later years of Shah Jahan's reign, the building of the Taj Mahal and the bloody pursuit of the fabulous Peacock throne by his sons. Intertwined in the building is the story of Murthi, the Hindu master craftsman sent as a gift to the emperor to carve the famous marble jail around Arjumand's sarcophagus.

Murari has skilfully recreated the period against which the story is set, the sensual opulence of the palace, the grinding poverty of seventeenth century India, the vicissitudes of Shah Jahan's reign and the historical background of the conflict between men of different faiths.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #186321 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780143031161
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Customer Reviews

Beautiful, historical book--leaves you wanting more
This is a beautifully written book, which is a wonderful love story, but also gives a great deal of historical understanding about the Mughals and the construction of the Taj Mahal.

If you like historical fiction, this book is for you!

A Mughal History Lover
What a wonderful piece of work by Timeri Murari...this beautifully written story is about love and loss. Shah Jahan and his beloved wife Arjumand shared a deep bond of love and after her death, Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal. The story also covers extensive details about the day to day life in Agra of 16th century and the struggles inside the court of Mughal empire. I definitely love this book, would read it again and recommend to everybody who loves to read.

Sex and Death
A story of unimaginable power and suffering and how the two interrelate, Taj is a novel that is both serious and compelling. Unknown to many in the West, the Mughal Emperors of India ruled a vast kingdom and enjoyed unlimited power within their lands. To make their reign the setting for a book is a challenge; the reader must be transported into a very different time and place, and yet made to identify with the characters. The book succeeds on both counts. The characters are well developed and unique, while the details of their lives unfold in all of their exotic difference. Throughout, the question is asked what is the limit of power? The answer resounds darkly: death. The terse Mughal proverb Taktya Takhta Throne or Coffin is repeated along the bloody journey of Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor who commissioned the Taj Mahal, to the throne and beyond. Along with the historically accurate account of the political struggles of the time, a fictionalized yet plausible love story unfolds between Shah Jahan and his wife Arjumand Banu, a love that culminates in one of the most iconic monuments in the world, the Taj Mahal. The story is fictional because so little is known of the woman for whom the Taj Mahal was built. A few passages from old manuscripts and a giant mausoleum are all that remain of her, yet Timeri Murari does a beautiful job reading the architecture itself and the few written clues available in order to construct a moving tale of love and power.