Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-07-28
IN MEMORY OF A WoMAN's LOVE.
Story of the Tai MahaI, the Worlds
Most Beautiful Monument.

There is nothing more interesting
or more tragic in India than the cruel
treatment of the women, and If did
not feel that 1 had already written
enough of my trip, should give a
chapter to the subject in this series Of
letters. l may do so later.
The lot of the Indian women, how
ever, may never be regarded as hope
less while the country holds the peer
less Tai Mahal, the most beautiful
monument ever erected in memory of
a woman's love. True, Shah Jehan,
the monarch who built it, was not a
Hindu; he was a Mohammedan. And
yet Mohammedanism, although it's
customs are less brutal, places woman
In almost the same low position as
Hinduism. In considering the status
of woman in India, therefore, scorned
alike by both the great religions of
the country, 1t is gratifying to be able
to find at least some relief for the
dark picture in the thought Of this
loveliest of s'l .emorial structures.
1 was especially fortunate in that
my visit to p era was so timed that l
saw the Tai in the full glory Of the
Indian full moon. The inscription in
Persian characters over the archway,
Only the Pure in Heart May Enter
the Garden Of God" Is enough to as
sure us that Armand Banu, 1.-The Ex-
allied One of the Palace" whose dust
1t was built to shelter, was a queen as
beautiful in character as she was in
form and feature. We know but little
about her; there are pictures which
are supposed to carry some sugges-
ton Of her charm, there are records
70 oh hot -, H.
became the bride of the prince, who
later began to rule as His Imperial
Highness, the second Alexander Uord
of the two Horns) King Shah Jehan,"
and we may see in Agra the rooms in
the palace where she dwelt for a time
in the Arabian Nights-like splendor
characteristic of oriental courts.
Misunderstanding" they called her
Pride Of the Palace" And seven
times Arjmand Banu walked the anci-
ent way Of motherhood-that way
along which woman finds the testing
of her soul, the mystic reach and in
finite meaning of her existence, as
man finds his in some bitter conflict
that forever frees him from the bonds
of selfishness-seven times she walked
the mothers ancient way down to the
gates of Death and brought back a
new life with her, but the eighth time
she did not return. And grief-stricken
Shah Jehan, carrying in his heart
sorrow which not all his pomp nor
power could ease, declared that she
should have the most beautiful tomb
that the mind of man could plan. So
the Tai was built-"in memory of a
deathless love-" and in a garden that
is always sweet with the odor of flow
ers, at the end of an avenue of foun-
toi, or fol, -
tains and stately cypress trees,
and guarded by four graceful, Heaven
pointing minarets, like four tall court
ladies tending their princess" there
stands this dream in marble, 1.-The
most exquisite building on earth
Let us hope that this one matchless
tribute to the nobility of woman, like
a morning star glittering from a single
rift i'm a darkened sky. may prove the.
prophecy of a fairer dawn for the
womanhood Of the country in which 1t
is now so anonymously placed
Clarence Poe in the Progressive Far
mer.