Taj Mahal: A Wonder of the World in Peril
Photo Credit: A mix of pollution, inadequate infrastructure and growing apathy is taking the shine off the Taj Mahal. Getty Images / Elena-studio
Skift Take
The Taj Mahal is many things to many people. However, some sectors in India are now keen to rewrite the monument's history. Already beset by problems of overcrowding, pollution, apathy and infrastructure, the Taj can do with some rewriting of its present, not its past, to secure its future. Much of India's tourism trade is riding on it.
What’s pink in the morning, milky white in the evening and golden under the moon? A few decades ago, this wouldn’t have been too hard to guess for India-returned tourists.
But the Taj Mahal these days finds itself embroiled in controversy, which takes off from an old theory of the Taj Mahal originally being a Hindu temple. The Taj Mahal was commissioned to be built by a Muslim emperor in the 17th century, so it underscores India's polarization between Hindus and Muslims.
In May, a petition was filed by one Rajneesh Singh, said to be the "media in-charge" of the ruling Hindu nationalist party Bharatiya Janta Party’s Ayodhya unit, seeking an inquiry from a fact-finding panel into the "real history" of the monument. The petitioner also urged the opening of the 22 sealed rooms, for the possible presence of idols of Hindu gods inside.
The Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is not just the Indian monument most visited by internation
