Taj: The Woman and the Wonder


Sandra Wilson
Amundson Davis (2007)
ISBN 9780976057543
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (5/07)


When I visited India some ten years ago, I encountered a world so different from what I was used to that I needed quite some time to sort out my feelings about it. There were sights so gruesome that I still have nightmares about them, and others so sublime that I still feel absolutely in awe that I was fortunate enough to witness them. Seeing Taj Mahal was definitely in the latter category. There really are no words fluid and shimmering enough to describe the wonder of Taj, and no words large enough to describe the impact it had on me. While there I learned about the great love between Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal and I promised myself that upon my return home I would delve deeper into that fascinating story. Well, life has a funny way of interfering with even the best of plans. I returned home and although I often thought of Taj Mahal, I never managed to look deeper into the story of the two people so essential to the creation of the incomparable Taj Mahal.

When Sandra Wilson’s book “Taj: The Woman and the Wonder” landed on my desk, I looked at the deceptively slim volume and said to myself that there was no way anybody could write about Taj in a mere 300 pages. Well, I was utterly and absolutely wrong. This is a monumental book. Yes, it looks quite slim, but in its own way it is larger than life, just like Taj Mahal itself. And just like Taj Mahal there are many sides to it.  The basic story of a love between two people who happened to truly care for each other, in spite of their marriage being an arranged one, is deftly interwoven with a story of a struggle for an enormously rich and important empire. The scheming courtiers, life in Zenana, culinary delights, richness of dress, poor villagers, majestic elephants, beautiful gardens, horrible wars… all of this and much more gives the story many layers of delightful descriptions and many pages of colorful, detailed narrative. Just like the precious stone flowers inlaid in the marble of Taj Mahal walls, there are many small, seemingly not very important scenes of everyday life in Shah Jahan’s household that make the characters of this book so wonderfully human and so endearing. Yes, Shah Jahan is a fierce warrior who will stop at nothing to get his throne, but when you read the passages of him catching his children, running through the many rooms of the palace; or of the intimate moments with his beloved wife Mumtaz; or even the pages where he agonizes about his spoiled relationship with his father, he becomes much more than just a great Mughal Emperor – he is a husband, a father and a devoted son. He is very human and very vulnerable. Always by his side, always unwavering in her support and love for her husband, her devotion to family and friends, is the incomparable Mumtaz Mahal. In their world of betrayal and intrigue, is it any wonder that the two are so close and so devoted?

Sandra Wilson’s “Taj: The Woman and the Wonder” is a wonder in its own right. I challenge you to read it and remain unchanged.

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