New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1911-08-26
THE WORLDS MOST BEAUT1
Full MONUMENT.

There is nothing more interest
ing or more tragic in India than
the cruel treatment of the wO-
men, and if l did not feel that |
had already witten) enough OF
my trip, l should give a chapter
to the subject in this series of let
ters. I may do so later.
The lot of the Indian women.
however. may never be a4ed
as hopeless while the country
holds the peerless 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 4
Hindu; he was a Mohammedan.
And vet Mohammedanism al
though it's customs are less bru-
tai. places woman in almost the
same low POSITION as Hinduism.
In considering the status Of wo-
man in India, therefore, scorned
alike by both the great religions
of the country, it is gratifying to
be able to find at least some relief
for the dark picture in the thought
Of this loveliest Of all memorial
structures.
l was especially fortunate in
that my.visit to Agra was so timed
that l saw the Tai in the full
glory of the Indian full moon.
The inscription in Persian char
acters over the archway. Only
the Pure in Heart May Enter the
Garden of God," is enough to as
sure US that Armand Banu.
"The Exalted one Of the Palace
whose dust it was built to shelter,
was a queen as beautiful in char
acter as she was in form and fea-
ture. We know but little about
her: there are pictures which
are supposed to carry some sug-
'gestion Of her charm; there are
records to show that it was in
1915 that she became the bride OF
the Prince who later began to
rule as Ellis Imperial Highness.
the second Alexander (Lord OF
the two Horns) King Shah Je-
ham," and we may see in Agra the
rooms in the Palace where she
dwelt for a time in the Arabian
Nights-like splendor characters
tic of Oriental courts. Mum
taz-i-Mahal," they called her
"Pride of the Palace" And sew
en- times Armand Banu walked
the ancient way Of motherhood
that way along which woman finds
the testing of her SOUL the mystic
reach and infinite meaning OF her
existence. as man must find his in
some bitter conflict that forever
frees him from the bonds of self
ishness- 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 a 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 deathless love, !" and
in a garden that is always sweet
with the odor Of flowers at the
end of an avenue. of fountains
and stately cypress trees and
guarded by four graceful, Heaven
pointing minarets. "like four tall
court-ladies tending their Prin-
cess" there stands this Dream in
Marble, 1.-THE most exquisite build
ing on earth. -
Let us hope that this one match
less tribute to the nobility Of wo-
man. like a morning-star glitter
ing from a single rift in q dark
ened sky, may prove the prophecy
of a fairer dawn for the woman
hood of the country in which it is
now so anonymously placed.
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