Tuesday 7 April 2020

F is for ... Fusion ... n ...Famous Finial...




Firstly, here's Fossils with Phire Chaulo, a well known indie band from Calcutta. Followed by Fiddler's Green singing live in San Francisco - a fusion of West African with Bengali folk, Fatou Yo. Enjoy!









Finials. Fusion. Final Resting Places.


This is part of a photo I clicked on a monsoon day in 2017 - it must be the most famous finial in the whole entire world and probably the most photographed. In fact, the POTUS was the latest well-known figure to be seen there. Let me show you the building that stands under it and you’ll need no further explanations.... 

– yup, it’s the Taj Mahal, and the finial I am talking about is the one that’s attached to the central dome of the mausoleum. 

How is India 'in' this finial, a small detail stuck onto a building, albeit famous? Actually, there is practically nothing else that exemplifies the melting pot that's India as comprehensively as this finial, and by extension, so does the Taj. 


Just a recap of a few things about this monument - it was built by Emperor Shah Jahan, the mausoleum of his queen Mumtaz Mahal, a symbol of his devotion to her. When his time came, he too was laid to rest beside her.  It was started in 1632  and the entire complex took more than twenty years from start to finish. It was one of the most expensive buildings ever built in India and employed over 20,000 artisans brought in from as far away as Turkey and Iran.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is one of the Wonders of the World. Tagore, the Indian Nobel Laureate, wrote that the Taj was 'a teardrop on the cheek of Time.' It receives around 8 million visitors annually, both domestic and foreign. Most foreign visitors make it a point to stop by Taj. It is considered the finest example of Mughal architecture, right there on the pinnacle of all their groovy artistic achievements.


There are many elements in Taj that are influenced by indigenous Indian design, because the Mughals were assimilators par excellence. They took their own Central Asian heritage, cherry-picked local stuff and combined both into a sophisticated, glorious whole. For instance, the mausoleum is topped by 'chhatris' or these smaller domes atop a set of slender columns, a open mini-gazebo like structure - an import from Rajput funerary architecture seamlessly incorporated into the Perso-Islamic tradition. Similarly the shape of the 'onion' dome and more importantly its embellishment with the lotus, a characteristic Hindu motif, is a nod to local  building traditions. 


But the finial tops them all and no pun intended, let me tell you why. The crescent moon, an Islamic symbol, has been turned so that the points of the crescent face upward, and combined with the central Mughal tamgha (seal), it resembles a trident, the traditional finial of many Hindu temples to Shiva. Not just that, the knob on which the crescent rests is a stylistic representation of the Hindu mangal kalash (lit auspicious pitcher) that's used for temple finials too. So you have the 99 names of Allah, a whole heap of surahs from the Quran, a finial combining the Hindu trident and the kalash, sitting on a lotus atop the dome. What can better represent the sanjhi virasat or the shared socio-cultural heritage and religious tolerance of India?


There's a lot of wild noise right now about whether the Mughals were 'invaders' or 'outsiders' and not Indian. Some preposterous theory was also floated about Taj Mahal being a Hindu temple rather than an Islamic monument, which thankfully has died a swift and natural death. We are seeing a deliberate, sustained campaign of misinformation - to change Mughal names to Sanskritised Hindu ones. To rewrite history with scant respect for facts - entire personalities and eras have been tweaked to suit a particular political narrative. 


Babur was the first Mughal to conquer India and he never stopped pining for his homeland in Ferghana - typical of first generation immigrants. His bones were taken back and interred in Kabul as per his own wishes. But the subsequent Mughal generations knew no other home, they were born in India, lived and 'worked'  in India, built their architectural marvels in India and they are all, except one, buried in Indian soil. I really don't know what other ways there could be of being Indian!



The Mughal legacy is huge, not just in grand, visible monuments, syncretic religious observances  or in the distinctive, sophisticated Mughlai cuisine. But also in unobtrusive, everyday little things - surnames of people, place names,  damask roses, mangoes, muslin, music. In one way or another, every Indian living today has his life impacted, however infinitesimally, by the Mughals. 



The last Mughal emperor - Bahadur Shah Zafar, deposed and exiled in 1858 by the British, lamented his fate using the metaphor of the 'beloved' for his homeland - kitna hai badnaseeb Zafar ke dafn ke liye/do gaz zameen bhi na mili ku-e-yaar mein (how wretched your fate is Zafar! that you couldn't get even two yards for a burial in your beloved's land.) 


Babur had to flee Ferghana after losing his territories in battle, just like Zafar left Delhi under duress after the First Battle of Independence was lost to the British. Just like Babur, Zafar too wished to be interred in his own homeland. The only difference was that the definition of homeland had changed from Ferghana to India in the intervening three centuries.


Unlike Babur though, Zafar's sons had been either brutally killed or scattered by the colonialists - there was no one to take his casket back to Delhi, nor would the  British government permit it, had there been. Bahadur Shah Zafar's tomb remains in Yangon where he died in exile, a tormented, 87 year old man pining for home. The whole immigrant angst thing had come full circle.


Have you visited the Taj Mahal? Or Ferghana? Did you know that the Mughals were the Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates and Warren Buffet of their times? When you meet people from the subcontinent with names like Majumdar or Talukdar; or watch a performance of Kathak or listen to the sitar in Norwegian Wood; or eat a gulab jamun or a Mughlai paratha - that's a Mughal impacting your life right there!


I'm fond of history, not the grand history of kings and queens alone, but also fascinated by the small histories, the history of the 'ninety nine percent.' And that is why I'm a long term fan of Finding Eliza.  A huge treasure trove of details, family history and photographs to die for!






A-Z Challenge 2020

33 comments:

  1. Enjoying the second song. No, I've never been to India so haven't seen any of those places. I appreciate having shared a bit of Mogul culture.

    Finding Eliza

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    1. The second one is a bit of heaven for me - Africa and Bengal combined! :)

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  2. The songs were excellent, particularly the first...

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  3. I have been lucky enough to see the Taj. It blew me away - as did all of the tiny portion of India I was lucky enough to see. I found it confronting, exciting, incredibly beautiful, incredibly the opposite, the rich scents (good and otherwise), the sounds, the colours.
    Overwhelming would be the word if I had to be pinned down to one...
    And how I would love to see/experience more.

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    1. I hope you do, EC. India is intense. And it has 30+ UNESCO sites...each very different and unique.

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  4. I haven't had the chance to see the Taj Mahal building yet.

    But I often come to the Borobudur temple which is also a world cultural heritage of Unesco, because the Borobudur temple is in the city where I live.

    Hopefully one day you will be able to see directly the very large Buddhist temple in its size.

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    1. I hope so too. I've seen some of the Buddhist sites in India but there are many more I'd like to.

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  5. I was talking about it on another blog the other day. I don't understand why we always want people to chose just one identity, when identity is in fact liquid and changing.
    I didn't know the history of the Taj Mahal very well, but I love how you explained it. It's a bright example of acceptance and complexity.
    Thanks for sharing.

    @JazzFeathers
    The Old Shelter - Living the Twenties

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  6. Taj Mahal is very good but unfortunately I have never been there because there is no charge. Greetings from AGUS, Indonesia.😊

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  7. I had no idea about any of that, only that the monument was a mausoleum. That is some amazing history. Rewriting history is unfortunately not a new thing and it is a terrible thing because future generations just have to pray the people doing it don't destroy all the evidence.
    Tasha 💖
    Virginia's Parlour - The Manor (Adult concepts - nothing explicit in posts)
    Tasha's Thinkings - Vampire Drabbles

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    1. Future generation will be a fed a version of history that they won't even know is complete falsehood.

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  8. I would love to visit India, and your posts are so full of beautiful objects, songs and places, it's very tempting ;)
    F is for Free motion

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    1. It does have very many beautiful places and objects and monuments. It also has very many people, cities especially tend to be super crowded. Well worth a visit though if you're interested in history/art/architecture.

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  9. Always wanted to see the Taj Mahal in person. Quite a place and history. I've always known the word finial - after working in a furniture and dusting fancy lamps, folks often wanted different finials to top them. Hence my knowledge thereof.

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    1. I've always known it too, but I can't think why! Maybe because I've always been interested in ancient buildings?...you've started me off on a strange train of thought :)

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  10. 8 million people! It has to be a very crowded place on most days... I would love to see it anyway. I was reading Juanita Harrison's travel diary, and she wrote about sitting in the grass by the flower beds and taking a nap. I guess that was before the dawn of tourism :D

    The Multicolored Diary

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    1. It is crowded, especially on holidays and full moons. But only 1 million of those are foreign tourists. There is no cap on the entry of foreigners to the Taj. But I believe there is now a restriction on the numbers of tickets sold to Indians which costs 1/20th of what is charged to the international visitors. Too much pressure on the foundations is a concern, so now the authorities are trying to cap numbers as well as put a limit on how much time can be spent in the complex.

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  11. I was fortunate enough to visit a couple places in India last year, but it was a brief trip and we did not make it to the Taj Mahal. Even so, it has been on my travel wish list for a very long time. Someday!

    Thank you for all the details in this post. Really fascinating! I will be back. :)

    ~Tui Snider, @TuiSnider TuiSnider.som - Exploring Historic Cemeteries & Symbolism

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    1. So that statement in the post about international visitors stopping by Taj is not 100% correct? :) Oh dear! :) Thanks for being here.

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  12. Hari Om
    OOhhh, lovely point of Focus!!! Wonderfully brought forward, the integrated and melting-pot nature of the people who are 'Indians'. It is so disturbing that many are now determined to (re)create history... YAM xx

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    1. It would be ludicrous if it weren't so serious and upsetting...revisionist history is dangerous.

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  13. Wow! Good to know that'Mughals were the Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates and Warren Buffet of their times'... :)
    Have seen The Taj Mahal twice, once as a child and the second time around a year ago!

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  14. We visited the Taj Mahal in December 2018. We wanted to beat the long queues and so started pretty early.

    Beleive me, it was so foggy that the Taj was actually completely hidden. The sight of the fog gradually clearing out and the Taj appearing in front of us was magical.

    Thank you so much for addressing the bigotry with respect to the Mughals being outsiders, etc. The Mughals after Humayun especially were as Indian as they could get. Not only because of their part-Rajput heritage, but also because of how they imbibed everything Indian into their culture - food, arts, literature...even religious doctrine. The Hindu-Muslim and even Christian symbolism that we see in a lot of Mughal architecture in Agra and Fatehpur Sikri is because of a new religion called Deen-e-Illahi, which assimilated tenets of many religions around the world. The religion died with Shajahan's eldest son Dara.

    Although we Indians take great pride in our patriotism and like to show off the wealth and splendour of our erstwhile princely states, we forget that all the princely states that remained during our independence were those who pledged allegiance with the British, while 'outsiders' like the Mughals chose to fight and go into exile.

    Very insightful post!

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    1. Exactly! It is interesting to ponder the possible course of religious tolerance and syncretism in India had Dara got to rule the empire instead of Aurangzeb...

      Thanks for sharing your views here. Much appreciated!

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    2. I doubt that...Dara was more of a mystic than an administrator...and Aurangzeb was actually a great administrator and brilliant at strategy. He put an end to all of Shajahan's projects that were only emptying the empire's coffers. I guess his religious fanaticism started at the tag end of his rule

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    3. Agree that Dara was a bit of a dreamer and would have lost the empire sooner or later...also that Aurangzeb was a good ruler..Not sure how much his own religious views were imposed on the subjects. He was a pious Muslim, but I personally feel Aurangzeb/the Mughals didn't care about propagating or protecting Islam much, they were happy to have Hindu subjects and vassals so long as they didn't threaten their imperial power. Anyone who did so was despatched ruthlessly, the enemy's religion wasn't a part of the equation.

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  15. Very interesting about the history of the Taj Mahal. Such a beautiful buildin, too. I enjoyed hearing both video songs very much.
    Happy A to Z month! :)

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  16. My goodness, you have put so much into your posts! Yep, a book in the process makes sense. This is amazing! I love the story behind the Taj Mahal!

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