The Love Without Limits or the Secret of the TajMahal

«I will not release you», told Steve to Laaysa, just when his hands were gripping her forearms, had come in time, but not everything was done, the hardest thing was now the rescue. In an outgoing of Pachermo peak, in the Nepal, she had a small missteps while they were climbing, and this made that she were dragged by the force of gravity, by luck, he was fast and was able to grab her at the last moment. For grab her, he had given a small jump and dropped on the rocks, had hurt him, although not complained, he had quite hurt.

«In this stance I cannot raise you without danger for us of to fall into the void, and I will not roll on these 6,200 meters of descent without a good reason,» joked, «we have to wait for the rest of the group». Laaysa was about to tell him that he let her go («like in the movies», thought with a bit of irony) but she knew that Steve would never do that, without her he will not go, that was what most liked of him and, also, what most irritated of him. «Don’t talk, love, you do not spend more force than the necessary», thus, she thundered seeking help.

To avoid thinking about the pain that he felt in his left side (insurance that was bleeding), Steve began to remember its last stop before this expedition. Laaysa and he had reserved a suite in the TajMahal Palace and had had the opportunity to engage in a brief and cordial conversation with Stacy Martin, the famous actress, apparently was shooting a film there same. The hotel, open since 1903, happens to be one of the best in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and an excellent starting point to get to know the country, although the couple had clearly what would be their first visit: the legendary TajMahal.

The TajMahal is located in Agra, ancient capital of the extinct Mongol Empire, and is a complex of buildings built between 1632 and 1654, in total twenty-two years of contruction and about 20,000 workers were used to lift this marvel of architecture whose main characteristic, which gives an extreme beauty, is the symmetry. The symmetry is order and harmony, the ancient rulers used it as a symbol of power and Majesty, as well, the complex is distributed perpendicular to the river Yamuna, reflecting along its central axis all the constructive and vegetable elements with pinpoint accuracy.

Despite its hindu origin, for Laaysa it was the first visit to the mausoleum, «they say that it was built by love» he whispered, «I will make you a nicer House» snapped Steve without much conviction, would have to be very rich to do it and he did not have such fortune. She smiled mischievous: «I hope», concluded. A guide told them that the «King of the world», Shah Jahan I, who ruled between the years 1627 and 1658 (fifth Emperor of the Mongol dynasty), had built the TajMahal because he had promised on her deathbed to his favourite wife, MuntazMahal, hence the name, which also means «Crown of the Palace».

The complex consists of four buildings: the Jilaukhana (or access to the site) at the East end, the mausoleum next to the River at the other end and, on both sides of this, two symmetrical buildings, the mosque and the MihmanKhana (Guest House) built with red sandstone. Among the buildings a beautiful garden of rectangular shape with cypress trees, shrubs, trails and a pond that reflects the main building. The mausoleum, where lie the remains of MuntazMahal and Shah Jahan I, rises on a square pedestal covered with white marble, and at the ends rise four minarets which enhance the central figure of the construction, also covered with white marble.

The ground plant of the mausoleum is square with chamfered edges, it is covered of white marble with inlaid of black marble that narrate some verses from the Koran, this calligraphy is engraved with different sizes, so that the farthest verses are read with the same ease as the closest. «It is curious that in antiquity also they covered the facades of other material with marble» said Steve upon hearing that the interior construction is «lakhauri» (a type of mud bricks), «this does not detract from the charm» snapped angry Laaysa. In each facade a large arch marks the entry and to both sides two arches divide the two floors of the building into the corners. If the silhouette of far left them surprised, they thought that was impossible to take off your eyes from its marble surface.

But the absolute Queen of the construction is the typical onion dome of the Mongolian architecture, this rises on a drum of seven meters, giving greater elegance to the whole. The interior of the dome have a height of 24 metres and is situated just above of the grave, an octagonal room that houses the mortal remains of the two lovers, these are not symmetrically arranged because Shah Jahan was buried by his son, who had retained until his death. They say that from the prison, the King looked the TajMahal and died there facing to Muntaz, his beloved wife. The different tones of the marble is displayed according to atmospheric conditions, this made his more pleasant hours, certainly.

Inside, the enclosure is completely adorned with white marble with inscriptions of verses from the Koran and floral motifs, sculpted, in addition, have a lot of precious and semi-precious stones integrated in walls and ceilings, an incalculable fortune today. Laaysawasin love completely of one of these stones: the lapis lazuli, a stone misnamed by many ‘mineral’, given that it is not. At that time was extracted from mines in Afghanistan, today also are extracted from far away elsewhere: Chile, which has become the leading exporter of this stone for America and Europe.

The Lapis lazuli is highly prized as an ornamental stone due to its blue hues and its particular vitreous lustre. Its beauty was already known in the ancient Egypt and the European nobles boast of deposits of this material in its furniture and jewellery. During a time they said that its value was four times that of gold, in that time also used as a colorant in paintings and frescoes, Leonardo Da Vinci or Miguel Angel worked with this material (the Sistine Chapel attests this). Today there is a wide range of acrylic colours with the denomination «lapis lazuli», even if they don’t use it as pigment, of course, there are even plastic figures with a disturbing resemblance to the blue stone.

Steve had to make an extra effort to get out of his reverie, the TajMahal could not make him forget the situation in which they were, his forces were not going to last much longer. Making a last gathering of value whispered: «I will not release you, Laaysa,» «I know» she said with tears in her eyes, she had lost the hope did some time. Then they heard footsteps of people running, saved. Later, with a fire warming their bones, Laaysa made a promise to Steve: «I will build a house and I will paint the roof of blue lapis lazuli,» to which he replied «a home with a bulbous Dome, love».

Disclosure: «The characters that appear in this article, their different personalities and their relationships with each other and with the environment are part of a fiction. The author is not responsible for the views expressed in the article and has no business relationship with any of the companies listed on it.»